The Economics of Marijuana Legalization

After so many years, America still finds itself fighting a well-known and highly demonized "enemy". The enemy is not terrorism. It's an "enemy" that many Americans have dealt with face to face. This enemy is illegal drugs, marijuana in particular. Marijuana is the most widely used and criminalized drug in the United States. This highly sought after resource yields a black market price tag that creates a street economy all its' own. This is Marijuana by itself, it and all the other illegal drugs together combine to form the third largest economy in the world. This is because the demand for illegal drugs is so high. There can be benefits to a legalized drug trade that is certain. The following paper will defend that some uses of marijuana will benefit the economy if legalized. This is based on the premises that all illegal drugs can benefit the economy if legalized and that some illegal drugs include uses of marijuana.

In order to present a sound argument the middle, minor, and major terms will be defined so there is no question as to the basis of this argument. Illegal drugs are classified as controlled substances. Controlled substances are any of a category of behavior altering or addictive drugs whose possession and or use are prohibited by law. A few examples of controlled substances include heroin, cocaine, hallucinogens, and in the case of this argument marijuana. If found by the court of the law to be under the influence or possession of any controlled substance warrants penalization by the state or federal court which may include fines and or prison.

In the case of some uses of marijuana, the word some is highly emphasized. Especially when referring to the legalization there of. Legalizing some uses of marijuana includes distribution, possession and use. This does not mean that marijuana would be readily available for any willing participant to distribute, possess, or use. This means there will be laws and regulations governing the mentioned legalities of marijuana. Distribution would involve federal and state licensed distributors. They may only distribute to consumers of an appropriately mandated age. Laws concerning distribution of marijuana would have to be similar to those of alcohol and tobacco. Possession laws would also be very similar to those of alcohol and tobacco. Possession of marijuana by those under the mandated ...

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...houses and paraphernalia stores. Establishments like these would create more jobs and increase industry sales thereby creating more revenue. Opponents may argue that marijuana legalization will create large health problems. The fact of the matter is that the amount of revenue brought in from marijuana will more then cover the costs of addiction and any other health problems. Opponents may also argue that regulating the sale and distribution of marijuana would be too difficult. Marijuana regulation would be very similar to that of alcohol and tobacco. These have proved to be very strong and worthwhile economic benefactors to the United States. The numbers provided above prove that legalized marijuana would be a very welcomed addition to our economy.

In summary, the preceding exemplified that our ?enemy? a.k.a. ?illegal drugs? can have beneficial effects to our nations economy. Especially some legalized uses of marijuana. There are many far- reaching economical aspects involved with its legalization as illustrated above. By legalizing some uses of marijuana, the nations economy would greatly benefit, therefore some uses of marijuana should be legalized.