Marijuana is an illegal drug in the state of North Carolina. In some states, such as California and Delaware, medical marijuana is legal. Washington State and Colorado have legalized medical marijuana and the recreational use for adults. As a North Carolinian, I believe that we should legalize it in the state of North Carolina, whether it is for medical or recreational use. We, as North Carolina citizens, should take in consideration that legalizing marijuana has legal issues and cost for the justice system, cost for our local, state, and federal government, and positive use of medical marijuana. These issues can be addressed by the people of North Carolina to enforce a positive effect to our government instead of a negative one.
There are several reasons that legalizing marijuana could have a positive effect on legal issue and on the cost to the justice system in North Carolina. Tax payers spend millions of dollars a year on supporting state and federal prisons. This is a large cost to keep prisoners up while they do their time in jail. These are tax dollars that could be going to other areas in our government system. Legalizing marijuana would help control the impact on our court system which is currently overwhelmed.Law enforcement locks up 750,000 people a year for marijuana use which cause court overload and wasting up jail space (Marijuana). Half the people in jail are not in there for the drug use they are in there for possession of marijuana (Marijuana). Those
Capps 2 charges could lead to more time in jail and more cost to the government.This makesthe prison system less efficient than it already is. There are organizations that think that the legalization of marijuana would help both the economy and th...
... middle of paper ...
...tive affect that tobacco has on humans. If these farmers were given the opportunity to grow marijuana instead of tobacco this would make the North Carolina economy thrive with more jobs, and a better future for our local growers. It is how we as a society conform to these adjustments and accept the new laws that would be enforced on how much of a positive affect this will be to our state. This is why I believe these reasons need to be considered in the state of North Carolina when it comes to the debate on the legalization of marijuana.
Works Cited
Barbour, Scott. Should Marijuana Be Legalized? San Diego, CA: Refernce Paint, Zoll. Print Incontroversy
Marijuana, Piocon.org. Professor of Pharmocology, Oxford University Editorial, The Times, (U.K.) Aug. 6, 2001
Whitehouse. www.gov/ondcp/ondcp-fact-sheets/Marijauna-legalization Office of National Drug Control Policy.
I think that South Carolina should consider legalizing marijuana in South Carolina. It would help the economy by saving a lot of money on regulating its use, and the extra money could be used for many different things. Marijuana could be taxed and could make a lot of money. It also helps alleviate pain for those with a disease or cancer.
A big step in lowering incarceration rates is federally regulating marijuana. About 64% of inmates convicted of drug offenses have no history of violent crimes. These inmates need rehabilitation not incarceration. Possession of marijuana should be treated more like a traffic violation rather than a reason to send people to jail. The government would still collect their money and in turn not have to pay the costs of housing a prisoner.
In this essay I will explore the positive and negative effects of legalizing Cannabis in California. I support the legalization of Cannabis, these are my reasons why; If California does legalize Cannabis then it would decrease the money spent on drug enforcement and criminal persecution. Legalizing Cannabis would also reduce the value of the black market product. It would also generate revenue for the California economy because it would be a taxable item that is in high demand.
The cost of marijuana prohibition is gigantic. Including policing, court appearances, and incarceration, the bill on taxpayers is endless and a large amount of this money is for cases of simple marijuana possession. Daniel Egan and Jeffrey A. Miron estimate that, “[L]egalizing marijuana would save...$8 billion per year in prohibition enforcement costs”(Budgetary,17). This is a huge amount of money that could make its way elsewhere into the infrastructure like drug awareness and prevention. Not to mention the priceless amount of time given back to the police forces to peruse more harmful crimes. In their report the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs finds “[A]pproximately 50,000 drug-related charges in 1999.... Overall, 54%... were for possession [of cannabis]”(Cannabis,130). As far as budget costs for any part of the judicial system go, a 54% reduction in anything would go along way. The legalisat...
In conclusion Marijuana has positive effects on both society and the wellbeing of individuals and should be legalized. It would be a logical decision for the government to legalize Marijuana due to the fact that firstly the government can monitor and tax Marijuana thus helping the economy. Secondly Marijuana can be used as medical therapy; thirdly there would be less youth and adults in jails and prisons. Point in fact the government would be able to manage all facets about Marijuana as follows price, importation and exportation and diminishing any drug cartels/markets. Additionally youth would not be prosecuted with possession of cannabis and fear an undetermined future. Lastly the positives incidentally outweigh the negatives over this concerning topic and thus a monumental decisions to legalize Marijuana.
Marijuana is the cause of much commotion and debating, as the question of legalization becomes more of an issue. Drugs are a major influential force in countries all over the world today. Legalization is an option that has not had a chance, but really should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of drug use, legalization would benefit for the following reasons: 1)reduction of money spent on law enforcement 2)increase in the countries revenue 3)lessen crime 4)useful in treating certain medical conditions.
Criminalization of cannabis causes a weakened economy due to taxpayers paying to financially support America’s inmates and all of the tax money available if marijuana was regularly taxed. Also, with lawful cannabis not available, crime rate and violence within city our streets continues to be an issue. Prohibition of cannabis in the United States sponsors extreme violence and corruption and fails to curb the availability to children ("Marijuana Legalization and Regulation”). With cannabis being criminalized, the United States is also losing the largest potential cash crop because of marijuana’s many uses and benefits.
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).
...llegalized for a long time without any evidence of success. The drug has become purer, more available, and cheap in the recent past. Demand and supply for marijuana has increased despite the harsh policies and the war on drugs. Legalizing marijuana will reduce the boom in the black market and reduce crime, corruption, and violence associated with drug cartels. Millions of dollars used for incarceration will be redirected to rehabilitation, which will reduce dependence, especially among younger users. Legalization will allow users of marijuana to buy from legal and safe sources. The war on drugs has been ineffective in reducing drug use despite spending a lot of money on incarcerations. Mass incarceration in the drug war has had negative effects on the society because most imprisoned individuals are non-violent offenders who pose no legitimate threat to the community.
...only could marijuana be utilized to treat a variety of illnesses, but patients would no longer have to take pharmaceuticals with side effects and they could treat their ailments in a pleasurable way. With recreational marijuana legal dispensaries would no longer have to fear raids from the DEA, which would lead to more dispensaries opening and businesses thriving. Instead of having a few dispensaries making millions there would be many dispensaries making a decent profit, so employees can make a decent salary as opposed to six figures which would certainly help lead the state into prosperous times. One might say that drugs are dangerous and they kill people every day; however this is not the case with marijuana. According to drugfacts.org in the five thousand years of marijuana’s documented use there has been zero deaths caused primarily by marijuana. (drugwarfacts)
In conclusion The Legalization of Marijuana would benefit the U.S government and it would be more effective in controlling the drug usage. The prohibition of Marijuana has only been costing taxpayers billions of dollars every year and it hasn’t benefited the Economy. The Education and treatment would be the effective way to address Marijuana problems, whereas The Legalization of Marijuana would benefit and boost our economy especially during this economic recession; therefore the Legalization of Marijuana may be the beginning United States Economy re-form; due to the fact that Marijuana Legalization would help subsidize our Economy.
As you know, Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal drug in the U.S causing a huge controversy in today’s society. I think that in some ways not legalizing marijuana could hurt us and our country. I know that you, as a member of the CALM, feel very strongly on your opinion of legalizing marijuana. The CALM does make very convincing arguments about crime, youth, and health with the use of marijuana. While some of these arguments can be persuasive to many, I think that my following propositions on crime, health, and medicinal marijuana also provide a swaying argument.
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
Decriminalization would reduce the number of arrests made and would save enforcement resources. This would relieve some strain on the police force and save costs. However under decriminalization, despite the absence of sanctions against possession, marijuana would still not be freely purchasable. It can therefore be suggested that the wisest decision that legislators should make is the decriminalization of marijuana.