Jesse L.

Kirkland II

Professor Thomas

UWRT 1102 - Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts

April 8, 2018
 Thesis Final

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.

Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. 1948

It’s so easy to get lost in so many of today’s current events that we forget about what we

were for some time fighting for. We went from freedom, to equal rights, to equal pay and to now

where the biggest fight is against gender discrimination. Though the conversation tends to

change, the exceedingly high cost of higher education is constantly a reminder. Especially when

we have the opportunity to offset or completely remove the cost by decriminalization and

legalization/taxation of marijuana or cannabis.

I’m not naïve enough to think there is just one answer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s

plea for education reform, nor am I naive enough to believe this is what he had in mind but what

I am open enough to believe is that there are options. One that I would like to bring attention to

is a repeal of the present laws in lieu of decriminalization and legalization/taxation of marijuana

or cannabis. I mean how different is this from what we encountered and overcame with the

Prohibition with alcohol? Including the ratification of the 18th Amendment of the Constitution?

Is this really any different at all? To both questions I would say no.

However, there is a collective of people who are against marijuana or cannabis

legalization and are hung up on the “it’s an illegal drug” disposition. I would like to raise the

argument that alcohol is a much more dangerous substance than marijuana or cannabis and it

wasn’t always legal either. During the Prohibition (which lasted from 1920-1933) it was illegal

which led to illicit manufacturing and production practices until it was legalized in 1933. Now

fully legal and accessible alcohol yields an estimated 88,000 dying from alcohol-related causes

annually, making alcohol the third leading preventable (with the first being tobacco) cause of
death in the United States. Even to the point where it costs us money, in 2010 alcohol misuse

cost the United States 249 billion dollars (NIAAA, 2017). With a gross amount coming from

consumption in the form of binge drinking which leads to the saying that, “too much of anything

is bad for you.”

State and local governments collected 18 billion dollars in revenue from tobacco taxes

and 16 billion dollars in revenue from alcohol taxes in 2015. With the states collecting 97

percent of cigarette tax revenue and 87 percent of alcohol tax revenue (Urban Institute,

Unknown). With these figures coming in from alcohol, what difference might marijuana or

cannabis make? Could legalization be a way to close the gap needed between a much-needed

education for our economy? Could you imagine a world where we don’t have to concern

ourselves with how we are going to afford to send our children to college?

If college was free, at least at the public college or university level, how much would that

change our society? What if the only debt one had to worry about acquiring was for property?

Perhaps I am being a bit overzealous, but the truth is that where marijuana is legal and taxed the

consumers reap massive benefits in the form of tens of thousands of jobs and potentially

hundreds of millions (ranging to figures close to the billion-dollar mark) in gross tax revenue.

What if we could reallocate the use of such funds, in a direction that we all might be able to

benefit from such as education?

Right now, so many people go through so much just to raise their children (multiple jobs,

utilizing many state ran programs welfare, Women Infants and Children program, Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program and etc.) and the last thing that they can afford to think about is

college (at least not without help). The question becomes what if we could fix that, through a

logical means. What if we could fix a number of things through the legalization and/or
decriminalization of marijuana process and paying for education could just serve as the tip of the

iceberg?

While the idea of free higher education was brought up by our previous President of the

United States’ Barrack Obama (whom specifically referenced community college) and current

Senator Bernie Sanders (whom spoke ideally about public colleges and universities). Ranging in

costs from 60 billion over 10 years (for the “community college plan”) and generally 70 to 75

billion a year (for the “free college for all plan”). The previous President of the United States

himself is on record as stating, “that a college education should be as free and universal as high

school is today” (Obama, 2015). The problem itself comes down to funding, if it should fall upon

the shoulders of the federal government or the state and legalization of marijuana along with the

taxation will allow for those dollars to be accounted for equally between state and federal

funding. Whether you agree about the legalization and taxation of marijuana, one thing that

cannot be denied is the boost it would give the United States economically (both in jobs and in

revenue).

I mean if you think about it, we wouldn’t just be serving the families by putting their

children through school. We’d be serving the economy by educating millions of children and

providing them with the opportunity to be qualified for these jobs which we need young

graduates to fill. Not to mention employing a substantial amount of people in the cannabis

industry. So far, the states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal and recreational

consumption are Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon,

Washington and Washington D.C. I will begin this by first venturing through those states that

have already battled and came out the victor in the legalization of marijuana.
 (McVey, 2016).

Several states have already began allocating their marijuana revenue but out of all the

states that are redistributing the funding into the state, Nevada is leading the charge by saying

that all of its extra money will funnel into its general fund and support Nevada schools and

public education (Robinson, 2016). This is monumental, that something once depicted as a

“gateway drug” could open up doors for a better future. While the purpose of redistributing the

funding could drastically boost our economy, educationally what if it didn’t stop there? What if

we allocated funding into upgrades to the energy infrastructure system that is in dire need of

overhaul as well? What if it went past that as well and started to chip away at the over 19 trillion-

dollar national debt? If it meant that another child didn’t have to go without the promise of

education would you be for wage withholding in the amount of two dollars per pay period?
Is the government thinking peanuts when it should be thinking of a more progressive means of

which it cannot substantially avoid anyway? In California for instance, they are creating a tax

fund designed to go specifically in the state treasury which will fund: 10 million going to a

public university in California for research on legalization, 10 million (increasing annually for

five years until it reaches 50 million) will support efforts to help communities harmed by the war

on drugs, 3 million will be distributed to the California Highway Patrol for five years to help

establish protocol for identifying drivers under the influence of marijuana, 2 million will be spent

on medical marijuana research at the University of California at San Diego’s Center for Medical

Cannabis Research, The California bureau that oversees marijuana control and other state bodies

will receive funds “for their reasonable costs”, with remaining funds going toward youth drug

prevention, education and treatment, environmental restoration and protection, and state and

local law enforcement (hint, hint pay raises) (Robinson, 2016). After projecting 1 billion dollars

in revenue for its first year (which it will only grow thereafter) and with the allocations you have

over 950 million dollars remaining to invest in not only higher education but some of the other

needs within the state and federal government.

 (AgriMed Industries, 2017)

One thing that has been in the news a lot lately is the opioid epidemic, in the states that

have legalized marijuana the fatality rate for opioid overdoses have dropped by an average of 25

percent and hospitalizations due to opioid dependency/use has been reduced by 13-23 percent

(NBC News, 2017). While I’m not saying that the answer to all of our nation’s problems is in

marijuana legalization, there is something to be said for the end result and what can come from a

little thinking outside of the box. If we can shift the dependency from Oxycontin and Vicodin

which claims 91 lives a day to a substance which as of to date has claimed 0 lives (not counting

DUI related deaths), why shouldn’t we (NBC News, 2017). So, we could shift the conversation,

without the risk of any added danger, why not?

(Elite Rehab Placement, 2016)
 Before writing this paper, I wasn’t an advocate for marijuana legalization. I thought about

it as any other American might, as a drug a controlled substance. Not a potential treatment for

people that could use it: HIV/AIDS patients, cancer patients, patients with mental health

disorders, sufferers of multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, and chronic/severe pain. Not a potential

earner that can boost the economy through taxation bringing in amounts ranging from: Maine

10%, Massachusetts 3.75%, Nevada 15%, California 15% (just to name a few). Maybe if more

lawmakers opened their eyes to what was possible a conversation could lead to a longer lasting

result, that could impact our economic regions as well as our socio-economical and level the

playing field by providing opportunity not had by earlier generations. The way to continue to

advance with things is to continue to progress and to allow for a better future for our families and

our families families’.

Where might we be if we put more money into our schools? If we could raise the pay of

our educators, first responders and the like? The jobs that legalization would produce, the

funding that might be able to send someone to higher education that otherwise might not be able

to attend, and the opportunities that might result from having a smarter, more diverse population

of people. What are we waiting for?

To be both clear and fair one thing that this paper is not is intended to change your mind

or to deliberately provoke your way of thinking. I think it’s very important to note that I am not a

political activist, advocate or have anything to gain personally or professionally by portraying

either side of the discussion whether, it be viewed as a point to be taken or otherwise favorably

or unfavorably. I objectively chose a discussion point and I argued it to the best of my ability,

supported by facts and credible sources alike and I hope that is respectable to my audience. One

thing I do hope comes out of this is a renewed state of mind and the fact that all things are not
simply black and white and the point of writing, researching and analyzing things is to think and

to hopefully learn. As did I, my hope is you did as well. Even if all you did learn, was just barely

more than what you started knowing or you find yourself following a citation to get a better

perspective on the material. That is more than enough for me.

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