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Daniel Groza

Mrs. Robertson

English 111-126

November 27 2016

Should the Federal government legalize marijuana?

One does not forget the first time that they smoked marijuana. My friends and I were at

pizza hut on the clock when I had my first hit with the so called gateway drug. After I was done

taking hits, the only thing that I got addicted to was the couch in the dining room and some

leftover pizza that was remaining in the hot box. One remembers their first take, but also one

remembers the paranoia that comes with it. During intake, somehow I could always get the

feeling that the police would out come to arrest me, as if they were the boogey man to my

depressants paradise. One would always be on the lookout and remember to cower and hide

away in a remote and solitary location. Also, one remembers the cost of paying for the amount of

marijuana they needed for that special party or get together with their friends, and also buying

the bowl or pipe for their special ingredient. Marijuana is an illegal drug in almost half of the

United States because of the controversy that older generations make it to be; due to its implied

status as Drug, and the ability it has to get someone high. According to Lauter, David in his

newspaper article, Poll: Majority of Americans Support Legalizing Pot 52-45% of Americans

support the legalization of marijuana. 24 states have now either decriminalized the usage of

medical marijuana, legalized the drug, or permit medical uses for it. According to Lauters

survey from 2006, he suggests that more than half of Americans do not even consider marijuana

to be a moral issue anymore. 72% of Americans believe that the cost of the Federal government
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keeping the drug illegal costs more than legalizing it. Another statistic suggests that 77% of

Americans are onboard with the idea of medical usage of marijuana. Americans are waiting for

the federal government to legalize marijuana on a federal level for recreational usage because of

the amount of money and time saved for police who are investigating illegal marijuana dealers or

containing the incarcerated people who were caught with possession of the drug, the amount of

money that can be invested in stopping other serious drugs from being exported into the country

by the cartels, and also because it improves the economy/quality of life for most by legalizing

marijuana on the federal level.

Many Americans are disgusted by the fact that the government wastes money and time on

arresting people for possession of marijuana when there are more crucial cases or drugs to deal

with for the law enforcers. According to Donlan, Thomas G., in his journal Should Pot be

Legal? he states that the legalization of marijuana would put an ease on law enforcers. In 2011

alone, the amount of people arrested for possession of marijuana was around 663,000. Around

128,000 people are incarcerated for the possession of marijuana in federal or in state prisons.

This totals to 8% of all U.S. prisoners. Statistics from the Vera Institute of Justice in Christian

Henrichsons research article, states that the average inmate costs around $31,286 annually.

Therefore, if 8% of the U.S.s prisoners are marijuana users, that means the total cost for

incarcerating that 8% alone is worth $400,460,800, not including the costs for putting the people

on trial, summoning a jury, and etc. $400,460,800 goes to maintaining prisoners who have been

arrested for using a drug that is healthier/safer than cigarettes and alcohol. The money could be

used to prevent more life damaging drugs such as crack, cocaine or heroin from entering the

country or being produce here in the US. Based off the tremendous amount of spending that the

US government does to arrest marijuana users, it should legalize the drug for medical and
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recreational use; so that way the country will not spend millions of dollars to incarcerate people

for using a drug similar to cigarettes or alcohol while also helping law enforcers to complete

more serious cases at hand.

Finances are crucial in maintaining law and order, and by making marijuana illegal the

US spends millions of dollars on preventing illegal marijuana usage and spread. A drug that does

not even kill or cause addiction. According to Gould, Emily from the Charleston Gazette her

research suggests that less than 25% of marijuana users go on to using heavier drugs such as

heroin or cocaine. Thus, giving support to the claim that marijuana is not a gateway drug. In

world record, the article states that only two people have died of overdosing on marijuana; which

is considered safer than illegal drugs which kill over 200,000 people a year, not mentioning the

5,000,000 people who die from tobacco use annually in the US. Instead of focusing resources on

real hardcore drugs, the US imprisons those who use a medical prescription drug for recreational

uses, on contrary to actually spending money for law enforcers to stop the distribution of more

serious drugs. In an article, Cocaine Incorporated, by Patrick Keefe from the New York Times,

the US Justice Department states that the Mexican and Columbian cartels single handily make

around $18-39 billion dollars from exporting only cocaine here in the US; also Keefe states that

in Mexico, 50,000 people have died due to Mexican cartel wars and power struggles. Not only in

the US do people suffer from the actions of the cartels, but rather hundreds of thousands of

people in Central and South America have died as well from the drug cartel wars alone, not

including the people who get addicted to those drugs in those countries. Marijuana is not the

primary drug that the Mexican and Columbian cartels make profit off of, yet the US government

is accumulating all their resources and energy to arrest and prosecute the many people who do

use marijuana recreationally. As a result, the US cannot tackle serious issues such as the cocaine
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exportation epidemic that is coming into the US. If America would legalize marijuana on a

medical and recreational level then its law enforcers would have more money and resources to

track down the real criminals that are exporting addictive poison into the country. The money

would provide a more safe and prosperous nation in which not only crime rates would drop, but

also the increase of the economy and quality of life here in the US.

When discussing marijuana, the main advocate for pro-legalization of marijuana comes

mainly at the fact that it stimulates money just as well as cigarettes and alcohol, and perhaps

even more so. In an interview by Weekend All Things Considered, titled Where Does

Colorados Marijuana Money Go? Ricardo Baca, a cannabis researcher from the Denver Post

states that the government made around 135 million dollars alone from pox taxes in Colorado,

back in 2015. The sales for 2016 will rise to 1.2-.3 billion dollars in revenue, and 150-170

million dollars in taxes from taxes on pot sales. Also, the first 40 million dollars from the taxes

were sent to capital school reconstruction as well as helping the homeless and providing

scholarships from the pot taxes. Profits are skyrocketing from medium to small states such as

Colorado, Washington, and Oregon. Americas economy as the potential to skyrocket and come

out of the recession quicker if the government were to legalize recreational marijuana. The

quality of life would drastically improve with the extra funds going towards schools, education,

poverty, the homeless, hospitals, and etc. It was not until this election period in November that

Nevada and California, two large states have legalized the drug. If more populated states such as

these two were to do the same, billions of dollars would be flowing into the economy and

hundreds of millions of dollars would go to government spending as well; which in short,

drastically improves and benefits all Americans. Thus, providing a strong foundation to stop

wasteful spending on arrests for possession of marijuana, money and resources to help law
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enforcers prevent more life damaging/addictive drugs from being exported into the country, and

by providing more wealth and success to the economy and the American people.

Sometimes success only comes from progressing or exceeding traditional ideals or

misconceptions. Marijuana has had a bad reputation in the past; due to the fact that it was

classified as a drug, yet it is not lethal or progressively damaging ones body either, but rather

relaxing it and making ones brain think more creatively. Also, if smoking were the issue then

one can consume it rather than smoke the drug, causing the same effects of the drug with

delicious food to go along with it. The amount of money being wasted by the US to prosecute

and incarcerate people for possession of marijuana is absurd and wasteful at the least, and

because so the government wastes its money and intelligence. The government could use its

resources to prevent the cartels from making even more profit with the shipments of marijuana

that it already sends, and along with the even more deadly drugs that they are exporting into the

US such as cocaine or heroin. Thus, legalization would save reckless spending and help establish

less crime rates and drugs being imported into the country. And while establishing secure law

enforcement by focusing on more incentive issues, the US government could take all those

profits that the cartels make, and renovate schools, hospitals, stores, jobs, and etc. The economy

would quickly exist the recession period that it is in, and thus create more jobs, create foreign

trade, and increase the quality of life for the people of the United States. Money, Security, and

Wastefulness aside, the drug has affected millions of lives for better or for worse. Worse in a

sense that the cartels have killed thousands of people during their power struggle wars. The

money made through the cartels could be stopped, and used to help prevent our country and

other countries from suffering mass drug exportation and crime due to illegal distribution of

marijuana. Not only would recreational use prevent deaths, but it would also ease the pain and
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suffering that people experience mentally or physically on a daily basis. It is a drug that helps

ease pain without the extreme side effects that normal medicines provide, and maintains a longer

high as well. The legalization of recreational marijuana on a Federal level does not only affect

and improve the law enforcement and economy, but also the lives of ordinary people from all

around the world. Thus, recreational usage of the drug on a Federal level, will affect people in a

positive way, and cause an improvement in the quality of life that Americans and people around

the world have been desperately needing, and are waiting for.
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Work Cited

Donlan, Thomas G. "Should Pot be Legal?" Barron's 93.22 (2013): 25-7. ProQuest. Web. 1 Nov.

2016.

Gould, Emily. "MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION:" The Charleston Gazette May 06

2010.ProQuest. Web. 1 Nov. 2016 .

Henrichson, Christian and Delaney Ruth, The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs

Taxpayers. New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2012. Web 1 Nov. 2016

Lauter, David. "Poll: Majority of Americans Support Legalizing Pot." The Ledger Apr 04

2013. ProQuest. Web. 1 Nov. 2016 .

PATRICK, RADDEN KEEFE. "Cocaine Incorporated." Jun 15 2012. Web. ProQuest. 27 Nov.

2016.

Where does Colorado's Marijuana Money Go?. Washington, D.C.: NPR, 2016. ProQuest. Web.

27 Nov. 2016.