Legalizing Marijuana Pros And Cons

Doctors, lawyers, politicians, businessmen and women, television personalities, restaurant workers, janitors, construction workers, and even the police enjoy marijuana’s flavorful effects. A 2016 Gallup poll indicates that 1 in every 8 American adults smoke the herb (McCarthy). Transcending stereotypes, the market for legal weed spans all walks of life; the evidence is painfully obvious in those states that have chosen to legalize.
For example, in Colorado, a state where recreational marijuana is legal, an eighth ounce bag of your favorite strain with a price tag of $30 will include a $2.13 in wholesale tax levied upon the production and distribution. After that, when a consumer purchases the bag of the green stuff, they will also pay $6.35

From the master growers, to the bud-tenders and bud-trimmers, to the product packager, to the wholesale distributors, to the delivery drivers, to the dispensary owners, managers, and employees, to the chefs and bakers dreaming up new edible creations, to the IT professionals creating and maintaining websites, to all the business-related jobs such as CEO, CFO, marketing, bookkeeping, and everyone between, legal weed creates jobs. A 2016 report on Colorado’s marijuana market conducted by the MPG (Marijuana Policy Group) found that in 2015, over 18,000 new jobs were created by the exponentially growing legal marijuana industry. Furthermore, MPG reports that “spending on marijuana creates more output and employment per dollar spent than 90 percent of Colorado industries (Light, et all).” President Trump might want to take a look at this business rather than focusing on manufacturing and fossil fuels, which are both on their way

The most devastating example is the barrier of the banks. Because marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, banks will not provide start-up loans. This has been driving much of the “green investments” north of the border to Canada. While Canada holds a medicinally legal status countrywide, Prime Minister Trudeau is completely behind fully legalizing the herb. This has allowed for a much friendlier market. Understandably, moving investment operations to Canada is just a smart business move, while the U.S. figures things out. While the American government twiddles their thumbs, companies such as IAnthus Capital Holdings Inc., CannaRoyalty Corp., and Golden Leaf Holdings are actively trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange and making enormous profits investing in U.S., along with Canadian enterprises (Kaskey). For too long our Northern neighbor has been reaping the rewards of our recalcitrant reform. But, as the story goes, the tortoise won in the