Vasilopoulos 1

Giorgos Vasilopoulos
Dr Thomas Melville
College Writing And Research
February 3, y

One of the most controversial issues today, relates to marijuana and the potential
legalization that is now closer that ever before. It has been the reason for extensive
researches, countless surveys and heated debates between economists and politicians.
Recreational use of marijuana was thought to have been introduced in the U.S.
early in the 20th century by immigrants from Mexico. Its existence as a legal substance
in the U.S. and throughout the world was terminated at the dawn of the twentieth
century, while the possibility of returning to its legal state, before the end of the century,
is very high if the political momentum keeps up. However, it has the singular distinction
of being both a commonly used illegal substance and also a legally prescribed medicinal
substance in some states. Since 1996, fourteen states have reauthorized its use for
medical purposes or decriminalized its recreational use. Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal
and many more countries have decriminalized the use of marijuana throughout their
borders, while many more countries including the United States are taking it under
serious consideration. Colorado and Washington are the first two states in the United

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States that voted in November of 2012 for the abolition of the laws rendering the
marijuana as a non legal substance.
Marijuana is the most commonly used recreational substance in the United
Stated. The interesting aspect of it is, why hasnt yet been legalized? The current drug
laws are doing more harm than good. Legalizing marijuana would be beneficial for the
country in many ways.
The war on drugs is leniently expensive. Every year the United States
government spend large amounts of money to enforce laws against marijuana use.
William Buckley, a college professor in Columbia college, on a national television show
in 1973 admitted to smoking marijuana and said Pot is harmful, but people should not
go to jail because of it (Buckley,1A).
Based on information from the Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, marijuana arrests consist of 5.54% of all arrests. Nearly eight
thousand American citizens were arrested in 2005 on marijuana charged and 44,480 of
them were imprisoned. According to those statics by the U.S. Department of Justice's
Bureau of Justice Statistics, American taxpayers are now spending one billion dollars
annually to incarcerate its citizens for pot. Jeffrey A. Miron, a Harvard economist, in his
report The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition explains that marijuana
legalization would save at least eight billion dollars per year only from expenditures on

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prohibition enforcement. His report was approved, singed and proposed to the United
States President and Congress by more than three hundred economists, including three
nobel laureates. Moreover, Jon Gettman in his study Lost taxes and other costs of
marijuana laws confirms Mirons research. He also points out that marijuana costs
taxpayers 41,8 billion dollars every year.
The reason for the multiple studies and the different outcome of each is that
nobody can know for sure how big the marijuana market is. It is extremely difficult to get
reliable information about an illegal substance. An important question to consider is,
How much money is made from this single illegal substance?
The real answers are somewhere inside the bands of all published studies,
Gettman says. It would be interesting to see what the government would do with
another 42 billion dollars (Gettman, 37).
According to recent figures there are twenty five to sixty million marijuana users in the
United States. Information from countries that have already decriminalized the use of
the substance, such as the Netherlands and Canada, suggest that every cigarette costs
about ten dollars. Assuming that the average person smokes one cigarette per day, the
marijuana industry could raise 40 to 100 billion dollars in just a year (Easton, 1). Miron
reports that if marijuana was taxed similarly to alcohol and tobacco it could generate at
least 8.7 billion dollars in tax revenue annually.
Washington and Colorado, the only states in the United States that have
legalized the recreational use of marijuana, will serve as a test to measure the potential
impact of it in national level. The state of Washington estimates that in just five years

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from now it will generate as much as two billion dollars due to the legalization of
marijuana.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy disagrees with those studies by saying
that tax revenue from marijuana would be offset by other,higher social costs, just like
alcohol and tobacco. Currently, 185 billion dollars are spend in alcohol-related costs on
health care,lost productivity and criminal justice when only about sixteen billion is
collected in taxes. In addition, legalization means wider availability and lower prices
which
would result in increased use. This raises another important question about the impact
that the legalized drug could possibly have on public health.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that every year 374,000
people enter an emergency room due to marijuana. This figure will increase drastically if
the availability of the product becomes wider. Illegality helps reduce the consumption
and acceptance of cannabis while it also keeps the prices higher.
On the contrary, studies has shown that there was only a 0,5% increase in
marijuana users from 10,2% in 2005 to 10,7% in 2011. The legalization would do little, if
anything, to increase the use among the citizens. Also, economist suggest that instead
of putting public health under danger, marijuana could have a positive impact on public
health. Jonathan Caulkins and three other drug policy scholars in their book Marijuana
Legalization: What Everyone Need to Know, discusses the positive features of the
substance. Based on multiple researches scientists discovered that marijuana is a noncarcinogenic substance unlike tobacco. Furthermore, it does not cause brain

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damage,genetic damage, or damage to the immune system. Some scientists note that
the active ingredient in the cannabis plant, known as Cannabis Sativa, is delta-9 tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) may not be addictive but it can result in dependence after
long term use. Also experiments are underway to define if cannabis can cause
bronchitis. Herbert Kleber, on his research states that this is just an proposed theory
and unproved at todays date (Kleber 139).
Unlike alcohol and tobacco, cannabis doesnt kill brain cells or induce violent
behavior. Nobody smokes marijuana and then beats their spouse and children, nobody
loses their kidneys, their liver or their pancreas no matter how much cannabis they
consume. The fact that there are no deaths directly cause by marijuana is remarkable.
In fact there are more deaths cause by aspirin rather than cannabis.
On the other hand, alcohol has killed thousand of people since this morning.
Almost two million people die annually because of alcohol and another eight million
because of tobacco. It is ironic how the given effects of marijuana inhabit also in alcohol
and tobacco, yet they are legal.
Aaron White studies adolescent alcohol use at Duke University Medical Center,
as he said parents should think twice about offering alcohol to teens because their
brains are still developing and are more susceptible to damage than adult brains. If

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you're going to do that, I suggest you teach them to roll joints, too, he said, because
the science is clear that alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana.
Another argument that is debatable is either or not the legalization will reduce
crime rates and violence. Today, its easier for a 12-years-old to buy illegal pot than a
six-pack of beer. Drug dealers wont hesitate to sell to anyone, including children. Many
high school students report that it is easier to obtain illegal drugs than tobacco and
alcohol. Federally-funded surveys indicate that despite the large amounts spend on law
enforcement, marijuana has remained widely available over the last 25 years. The
Monitoring the Future Survey estimates that at least 2 out 5 eighth grade students, 2 out
of 3 tenth grade and 4 out of 5 high school seniors find marijuana widely available. In
contrast, government-regulated liquor stores can legally sell alcohol and tobacco, but
they are not allowed to sell to children. Surely, even the most hardcore enemies of the
legalization would agree that violence would be dramatically reduced due to the
elimination of drug dealers and gangs, while at the same time, it would deal a massive
blow to drug cartels.
Over the past years, many credible minds conducted huge researches about the
outrageous spending on enforcing marijuana laws and the medical potential of the
substance. All of these minds have come to the same conclusion, which is that the
legalization would be profitable from any point of view.

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We can relate the current situation with the alcohol Prohibition in the 20s. It took
50 years for the U.S. government to bring the Prohibition and only 11 to get rid of it
(Easton, 1). No one could guess that the Prohibition would fail on such a large scale,
like marijuana laws have today.
All this information taken from important people and infuential minds indicate that
the legalization of marijuana would drastically boost the economy of the country and
form a more productive society through thousand of new jobs that would be created.
The medical importance of the substance is undeniable, studies have proven that
it is effective in reducing nausea, vomiting and that it can stimulate
the appetite. This could help in cancer treatment. Moreover, the legalization would
enable scientists to freely experiment with it and potentially find a life-saving cure. Our
medical treatments will never totally effective without the unconditional legalization of
the cannabis. Finally, it will provide a safer environment for both children and adults.
Without drug dealers in our streets and schools.
Tobacco,alcohol and even obesity are responsible for thousands of kills everyday,
yet it is legal to smoke tobacco,drink alcohol and eat as much as you want without being
illegal. The worst part is that, no one is taking action for it. Instead, the governments
fights this extended wasteful was against marijuana. It is time for the government to
realize how important the problem is and take action for it.