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Economic effects of legalization of marijuana
Economic benefits of legalizing marijuana
Economic effects of legalization of marijuana
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Initially, the vast amount of marijuana offenses are leading to violent crimes pertaining to drugs reaching an all time high in prohibition states while jails are being overcrowded with people that have committed marijuana offenses rather than violent crime. Normal.org shares the direct result of states with marijuana prohibition than states without prohibition. “The report states, ‘Violence that surrounds drug trafficking in the United States is largely absent’ in Western European countries that have liberalized their drug possession policies. The authors further note that the decriminalization of drugs, particularly marijuana, in regions that have enacted such reforms has not been associated with an increase in crime rate (norml.org).This quote suggests that states having less severe drug possession laws have a decrease in violent behavior relating to drugs. This is causing jails to be filled with innocent people in cities where violent crime is increased as a result of prohibition. …show more content…
economy than beneficial affecting the U.S. government. ”Marijuana prohibition now costs state and federal government as much as $20 billion a year, an economist told The Huffington Post — and legalization efforts are only just beginning to chip away at that.”(TheHuffingtonPost.com). Marijuana is hugely used today and with the ongoing prohibition, it affects the US every year by costing it billions of dollars just to keep it running properly while it's causing more problems than resolving it. Legalization is drastically decreasing that cost but since marijuana is illegal federally, it still affects the US today costing
One of the biggest controversies of the twentieth century is the eighteenth amendment. Mississippi was the first state to pass the bill of prohibition. From there on out the entire country followed in Mississippi’s lead in the crusade of prohibition. The eighteenth amendment was a law, which tried to reform and protect the American people against alcohol, as some called, “the devil’s advocate”. The outcome of prohibition was more negative than positive and reeked more havoc than good on the American society.
The United States and our government has been shaped entirely from its past. We have learned right from wrong, what has worked and what has failed. The 1920s was a time in our country where the government created a law that upset the people. This decade is often referred to as The Roaring 20’s, The Jazz Age, The Prohibition Era, The Cocktail Era, etc. All these names perfectly describe this time, but it was also a time to learn from the mistake of creating a law that prohibited alcohol. This law played such a huge role in the decade, and has been forever remembered. The Great Gatsby is a romance novel that also hints on the time of prohibition. F. Scott Fitzgerald talked greatly about alcohol and the part it took in The Roaring 20 's. Though
Observe, then, that an increase in the use of some drugs as a result of legalization might actually result in a net decrease in the independent harms of drug and alcohol abuse taken together” (Husak 112). Being that alcohol is currently legal, there’s a 99.9% chance that it won’t change soon. Some drugs are banned, but, alcohol is still being sold in stores. Marijuana is a nonviolent drug, whereas alcohol promotes anger and pure violence. By legalizing marijuana and making drinking alcohol illegal, there’s a chance that violence will decrease.
Out of all 27 Amendments of the Constitution, only one has been repealed; that would be the 18th Amendment, Prohibition. From 1920 to 1933 the manufacture, transport, and sell of alcoholic beverages in the United States was illegal. The Amendment passed in 1919 and went into effect during 1920, only to be repealed 14 years later. What made America change its mind about Prohibition? There are three main reasons America repealed the 18th Amendment; these include increase in crime, weak enforcement and lack of respect for the law, and economic opportunities.
Although the temperance movement was concerned with the habitual drunk, its primary goal was total abstinence and the elimination of liquor. With the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the well-organized and powerful political organizations, utilizing no holds barred political tactics, successfully accomplished their goal. Prohibition became the law of the land on January 16, 1920; the manufacturing, importation, and sale of alcohol was no longer legal in the United States. Through prohibition, America embarked on what became labeled “the Nobel Experiment.” However, instead of having social redeeming values as ordained, prohibition had the opposite effect of its intended purpose, becoming a catastrophic failure.
The Reason for Prohibition in the USA in 1919 In this essay it will be argued that there were many reasons why prohibition was introduced. The arguments of the various movements will be discussed, as well as the effect of WWI and patriotism. To begin with the law against the selling and making of alcohol in America was passed by congress in 1917, due to the eighteenth amendment; it didn't come into effect until January 16th 1920 at precisely midnight. Shortly after the amendment had been passed, the 'National Prohibition Act' or the 'Volstead Act', as it was called because of its Author J Volstead, was put into effect. This act prohibited the manufacture and selling of 'intoxicating liquors'.
“What America needs now is a drink,” declared President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the end of the Prohibition. The Prohibition was the legal prohibiting of the manufacture and sale of alcohol. This occurred in the United States in the early twentieth century. The Prohibition began with the Temperance movement and capitalized with the Eighteenth Amendment. The Prohibition came with unintended effects such as the Age of Gangsterism, loopholes around the law, and negative impacts on the economy. The Prohibition came to an end during the Great Depression with the election Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Twenty-First Amendment
In the last fiscal year alone, marijuana brought 70 million dollars in tax revenue in the state of Colorado. Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana recreationally in the fall of 2012, and since then three other states and the District of Columbia have legalized the plant. Based off of sales in states that have legalized marijuana recreationally, if all fifty states legalized marijuana, they would bring in a combined 3 billion dollars in tax revenue yearly. That much money from sales of the plant alone could help to stabilize the suffering economy. Moreover, the American Government would be able to control the plant and distribute it how ever they see fit. The economic growth marijuana legalization could bring to the United States outweighs any argument against
The legalization of marijuana has the potential to bring our economy back to life if it were to be legalized. There are a number of ways in which legalization could improve the economy. We could use the revenue from taxes on marijuana to provide for a better quality of life for Americans in need. Legalizing marijuana would also save us money by cutting the cost of putting someone in jail for harmless marijuana related charges that waste tax money. Also it would put more money into circulation by keeping the profits off the black market and into the legal and taxed market. With an estimated twenty-five million active marijuana smokers in America that consume nearly thirty-one million pounds of marijuana each year, we are missing out on extreme revenue that this country cannot afford to go without for much longer (Krulick).
Economic and Social Effects of Prohibition There are many ways in which prohibition of alcohol consumption in the United States of America, damaged the very economic and social aspects of American culture, that it was. designed to heal the body. “Prohibition did not achieve its goals”. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve.”
In America, marijuana is the most used drug after alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana is used by millions of Americans, despite the harsh laws illegalizing the drug. Some states, such as Washington and Colorado have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Efforts to legalize the drug in other states have been unsuccessful such as Proposition 19 in California, which failed in 2010 despite uptight campaigns. Billions of dollars are spent at the state, local, and federal level to fight the use of marijuana. Millions are arrested for marijuana offenses and sentenced for extended periods. Marijuana has negative effects on the human health and high potential for addiction. Legalizing marijuana will eliminate the black market, which is responsible for the increase in violence, crime, and corruption. Resources used for mass incarceration in the war on drug can be redirected to rehabilitation to decrease drug abuse and addiction.
Not only has the drug war failed to reduce violent and property crime, but, by shifting criminal justice resources (the police, courts, prisons, probation officers, etc.) away from directly fighting such crime, the drug war has put citizens’ lives and property at greater risk, Benson and Rasmussen contend. “Getting tough on drugs inevitably translates into getting soft on nondrug crime,” they write. “When a decision is made to wage a ‘war on drugs,’ other things that criminal justice resources might have to be sacrificed.” To support this conclusion, Benson and Rasmussen compare data on drug law enforcement and crime trends between states, and debunk numerous misconceptions about drug use and criminality.
With America’s war on drugs being highly focused on the increased use of marijuana, there is not much time for officers to focus on crimes of greater importance. Crimes related to illegal marijuana use are becoming more problematic due to drug deals that go bad, occasionally ending with murder. It has been estimated that one marijuana-related arrest is made every 42 seconds. With marijuana being illegal, keeping crime related activities under control cost the United States approximately twenty billion dollars per year (Sledge). According to Brian Bremner and Vincent Del Giudice, “A 2010 study by the libertarian Cato Institute, forecasted that states could save $17.4 billion annually from reduced drug enforcement costs and increased tax revenue, assuming marijuana production and sales were legal nationwide” (11). Several law enforcement hours are exhausted with pursing, questioning, and arresting citizens that are in possession of or consuming marijuana. There would be a decrease in the number of misdemeanor possession cases that are pending hearing. These cases would be dismissed, decreasing costs affiliated with each case. There are excessive numbers of people who remain incarcerated for nonviolent crimes related to illegal marijuana use. Legalizing marijuana would allow these people to be released, opening jail space for the true criminals. Legalizing marijuana would free up law enforcement officers from focusing on illegal marijuana use and allow focus to be put on more serious
Recently, an MTV documentary on the drug issue highlighted coffeehouses in Amsterdam as a model for controlled, successful environment in which young Europeans can enjoy marijuana. However, the experience with legalizing drugs has had its negative effects. For instance, violent crime is a major problem in the Netherlands. A 1992 study of crime victims in twenty mostly European countries ranks the Netherlands as the number one country in Europe for assaults and threats (Olson 79 ). The British system didn't work.
Leading to an increase in drug experimentation by the youth and an increase in crack houses, where most laced drugs are produced. There is a reason why these drugs are illegal and it 's because of their harmful effects and the damage they cause the human body. Drug users, are often recognized as people who commit crimes, murder, rape, and other violence including burglary. With drug laws, it creates a fear in people of getting in trouble with the law and is a major reason to not use drugs. The legalization of drugs would not lower crimes rates as there would be more and more addicts as well as large black markets for drugs. Although these drug users commit crimes to obtain these drugs, it is obvious to see they would still be committing these crimes to obtain the drug even if it is legalized. Either way, a crime is still being committed they just have an easier way to steal the drug from someone. Which means the crime rates would start to rise, leading to the population of prisoners increasing, which also leads to the government spending more money on organizing jail facilities to hold these prisoners. One state in particular where marijuana is now legal, has started to come to the realization that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to leaglize this drug. Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Florida and President of SAM points out that,