The Whole Truth About the Legalization of Marijuana

For many years, the act of smoking has not only affected the lives of those. Who are in their adolescents, it has also caused problems for smokers of age as well. Though the rise of tobacco is nothing new, the increase of smokers in the US has significantly risen. Since the introduction of the legalization of marijuana. Tthe economic and social improvements that have come from. This new implementation has set forth a path to success for some states. Because Marijuana was an issue within the US that created controversy between the both the federal and state government, its legalization has created question for various other drugs that have surpassed legalization.

Throughout the years, tobacco companies have been able to generate a large. Amount of sales revenue that has provided the US with a generous economic contribution. With the newly implemented laws. Legalizing the recreational consumption of marijuana. Many states are experiencing an increase in tax contribution – due to the taxation of marijuana. One of the legal dilemmas that this issue holds with society is the good that it does for the medical industry. Though marijuana is legal in several states recreationally. Some states are only limited to its legalization for medicinal use. The dilemma with this is that drugs that have been proven to be more dangerous. Than that of marijuana is not only legal but approved for recreational and over the counter use. In general. One might assume that drugs that are not permitted for recreational use are more harmful than those who are. In fact, the biggest contrast. This has to society is that the most permitted drug for recreational use, alcohol, is not only accepted throughout the US, it is also encouraged in in various public locations. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination” (NIH, Alcohol’s Effects on the Body). From this, one would assume that its use would not be so openly encouraged – again, this is not the case. One of the legal dilemmas that this issue offers is that society is able to accept the use of a drug that has been proven to be more dangerous than that of one that is only permitted for medicinal use – and even prohibited in some states.

In addition to the dilemmas resulted from the legalization, and prohibition, of marijuana, the decriminalization of non-violent crimes that regard the involvement of marijuana is also a legal dilemma. In states such as California and Colorado, where the use of marijuana is legal for recreational use amongst those who are twenty-one an older, the decriminalization of non-violent crimes has been considered to bring forth a resolution to the dilemma of legalizing a drug that sent many to jail and prison. According to CNN article writer, Annie Geng, Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a new bill to decriminalize and regulate marijuana at the federal and state level. “By striking marijuana from the act, Schumer’s office said, the bill would effectively decriminalize the drug at the federal level. The measure would still allow states to determine their own marijuana laws while maintaining federal law enforcement against trafficking to states where it is illegal” (Geng, Schumer introduces bill to federally decriminalize marijuana). By offering a bill that serves to decriminalize the charges of those who were criminalized from the drug, this diminishes the dilemma of individuals incarcerated for the use of a drug that is legalized both state and federally. By continuing to hold those who were incarcerated from the possession of use of marijuana exemplifies a disconnect in transparency from the government to citizens (or society). By continuing this legal issue, the government is also imposing that it is situationally permitted to use the drug only if one is not already in trouble for having used the drug or possessed it, in the past during the acts of non-violent actions. With the decriminalization of those non-violent charges, citizens will be able to enjoy the use of the legalized drug without having to fear the possibility of incarceration – just as they are able to do with that of alcohol.

Aside from the medical and social attributes of marijuana and other drugs that compare to its legalization and recreational use, the benefits of its legalization have changed the economic and social health of several states. In states that have permitted the drug’s use recreationally, the direct benefit from its sale has positively reflected on that of society and as well as that of the economy. According to CNBC News in Colorado, marijuana sales have provided citizens with an astonishing employment rate as and as well as a large sales revenue to generate back into the state’s economic GDP. “Since becoming the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, that industry has been growing like the plant itself… Last year, the state took in $198.5 million in tax revenue from in-state marijuana sales of $1.3 billion. That’s up from $699.2 million in sales in 2014 and $996.2 million in 2015 sales” (Maloney, Against All Odds, the U.S. Tobacco Industry Is Rolling in Money). After the legalization of marijuana in certain states, the social and economic issue of unemployment has merely diminished. By taxing the drug at a rate of direct revenue for the state, citizens are able to directly benefit from its revenue through the creation of public goods and job creation from opportunity. Before its legalization and taxation, the rate for tobacco smokers was declining in that of Americans. Because marijuana is legal in some states and taxed at a higher rate than that of tobacco, the decline of tobacco sales does not harm that of the state’s economy.

If states nationwide would follow the procedures of states reaping the benefit of the legalization of marijuana, the legal dilemma of its use would decrease the negativity that surrounds it. Because marijuana is seen as drug first, instead of that of a stimulant (as other drugs are described), the logic behind its legalization is not clear to governments of different states. By offering the decriminalization of the non-violent crimes committed due to its possession or use, and as well as the legalization if the drug both state and federally, states will be able to social and economically benefit from its results. Although there are drugs that exist in the US hat are much more harmful than that of marijuana, until the drug is permitted throughout all fifty states recreationally, the legal dilemma of its use will remain.

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