Essay Example on Marijuana Legalization: A Century-long Debate

Introduction

Marijuana Legalization has been a topic of concern for centuries in the United States. The business of marijuana was regulated from the 16th century. Even if the policy on Marijuana has been changed by the United States since that century, legalizing it remains a debate amongst lawmakers. Many people want Marijuana to be legalized as it is considered to be medicine and effective illness treatment, but other individuals oppose the legalization of Marijuana for people who use it for recreation. A survey which was carried out by the United States government's mental health and Substance Abuse Data Archive showed people in America who use marijuana are 95 million (Robinson, 2019). The two sides which are against each other as one side, are pro-marijuana and the other anti-marijuana provides strong arguments as they try to support their views. The paper carefully examines the impact of legalizing marijuana on the economy of the United States.

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States have been doing a lot of experimentation with policies of marijuana liberalization. It was in the 1970s that the first State decriminalization policies were published, and medical access for patients was adopted in the 1990s and recent past States have been experimenting with recreational market legalization (Haney and Evins, 2016). The various policies of marijuana liberalization across America are not fully considered or recognized during policy change evaluations. The changes in policies are caused by rising budgetary costs which are utilized in incarcerating and arresting drug offenders, the often policy variation across States grant researchers an opportunity to quantitatively evaluate the impact of marijuana legalization policies on social and health outcomes.

The group that opposes marijuana legalization feels that those who smoke marijuana are the same as they smoke a cigarette and argue that smoking cannabis causes lung cancer just the same way as cigarette causes. Those who support marijuana legalization argue that it is medicine for patients who have cancer, and it assists in getting appetites back for patients, relaxes the patients and relieves pain (Caulkins & Bond, 2012). In patients suffering from Glaucoma, marijuana slows down the progression of the disease. Also, individuals who have epilepsy utilize marijuana in the prevention of epileptic seizures.

During the period when marijuana was highly illegalized, it had an immensely negative feeling which is associated with it, and many citizens now believe the negativity attached to marijuana was unfair and inaccurate (Haney and Evins, 2016). Currently, people are more connected, more vocal, and more informed; thus, the U.S government should encourage and allow more research to be carried out on the addictive nature and dangers of marijuana which, as a result, will legalize its recreational and medical use.

Furthermore, to evaluate the economic impact of marijuana, both the medical and recreational markets will be conducted. In analyzing the recreational marijuana market, the research will highlight laws made by States concerning regulation sales, creation of competitive pricing, pertaining taxes, the population of individuals admitting the usage and establishment of dispensaries. In analyzing the medicinal side, various medical benefits of marijuana will be researched. I wholeheartedly believe it is not possible to fully understand the magnitude of the marijuana as a medicine and its impact on the economy.

Literature Review

The United States Federal government fully retains its prohibition on the activities concerning marijuana, such as cultivation, processing, distribution, use, possession, and sale as the same as other U.S States prohibit (Caulkins & Bond, 2012).

According to the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, Medical marijuana laws removed all the penalties made by States for the utilization of marijuana for medicine under certain conditions and the federal government still maintains the classification of marijuana in 1970 as a substance under schedule I.

Haney and Evins (2016) showed that the legalization of marijuana removes monetary and criminal penalties for the use, supply, and possession of marijuana for recreation. Whereas countries such as the Netherlands which is decriminalized, have various histories, medical marijuana programs, and de facto legalization are mostly regarded as recreational legalization, which is thinly veiled.

According to Caulkins and Bond (2012), the ballot initiatives of November 2012, which was passed by Washington and Colorado voters marked the first instance of legal regulation of marijuana in the universal jurisdiction. More attention is on recently developed retail markets that legal marijuana is dealt in the two States. The States who were participants of the ballot era were the first seven who enacted marijuana legalization policies through ballot initiatives in which the laws aimed to protect patients who utilized marijuana for medical purposes and to protect the rights of the patients' caregivers. The federal opposition to the policies enacted in the ballot era was explicit as Barry McCaffrey; a drug czar issued a threatening of arresting physicians who endorse marijuana tom patient; the threatening came after passing the proposition of 215 in California (Caulkins and Bond 2012).

In the year 1996, California was the first State to pass Medical Marijuana Laws (MML) and more States passed the same legislation making a total of 25 States as of January 2016. Empirical evidence on research carried out by Guttmannova et al., (2015) showed strong correlation exists between the Medical Marijuana Laws and prevalence of both the use marijuana and disorders of marijuana use, while a study by Pacula & Smart (2017), did not support a causal interpretation of the variables.

Gieringer (1994), showed through calculations on external costs of marijuana that it has fewer net costs on health compared to tobacco in diseases that arise for smoking and other secondary illnesses. Then comparing to alcohol, marijuana has lower health costs, but there are higher accident costs due to users driving under marijuana influence.

Johnston and Lewis (2009) showed that in the same year 2009, there was a resolution of uncertainty concerning the response of the federal government regarding medical marijuana. The resolution happened after President Barack Obama was inaugurated through a statement that was issued by Attorney General Eric Holder stating that the interference of medical marijuana by federal authorities is ceased with no interference in the dispensaries who comply with the law made by States.

The only legalized jurisdiction in the U.S that does not allow marijuana to be sold for recreation is the District of Columbia. Under the Washington Dc law can grow up to six marijuana plants legally in their residence and can be allowed to transfer 1 ounce to adult of age 21 years if there is no remuneration, as sale of marijuana is a punishable and criminal offense which attracts a jail for six months and a fine that amounts to 1000 dollars (Pacula & Smart, 2017).

Economic Impacts of Marijuana

The legalization of marijuana causes essential implications for the economy of the United States. In 2017 the sales from the industry totaled to more than 8 billion dollars and the projected sales by 2022 are 23 billion dollars (Robinson, 2019). The active licenses for marijuana business in the United States by 2017 were 9,000 and the industry employs U.S people of more than 120,000 (Robinson, 2019). As the legalization of marijuana by States increases, the number of benefits to the economy continues to increase, providing jobs to local economies and a new stream of revenue.

When marijuana is legalized and regulated, cash crop is brought under criminal justice law, and jobs are created, used as a medicine, and it creates overall economic opportunities. The economic impact is realized after the legalization of marijuana through the saving of the taxpayers' money, which is always wasted through the process of keeping it outlawed (Pacula & Smart, 2017). The funds will instead be used to finance other developments in the country like infrastructural facilities which will accelerate economic activities leading to economic growth as output in the economy is increased with excellent and efficient infrastructure and other developments in the economy.

Employment

Through employment creation, marijuana has improved the economy. Limited legalization so far has created tens of thousands of employment opportunities.

According to the Census Bureau of the United States, the State of Colorado, where retail sales of marijuana started, is estimated to have employed many people through offering licenses to 30,391 people in 2016 (Pacula & Smart, 2017). The salaries given to workers in the marijuana industry are very high in comparison to the average salaries in States that are legalized. An estimate by Summer Meza who is from Newsweek through reports from New Frontier Data, projects the creation of jobs to be 782,0000 if legalization of marijuana is done federally (Pacula & Smart, 2017). The jobs created will reduce the number of unemployed citizens who according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployed people were 6.2 million in February 2019 (Robinson, 2019). Jobs created are from distribution, croppers, harvesters and dispensary clerks. When it is accepted as medicine and supplied all over the dispensaries, then more clerks will be employed in those dispensaries to give out the medicine to the respective patients. Then more people will cultivate marijuana and they have to employ harvesters to assist them during the harvesting season (Robinson, 2019). More so, after the harvest distribution is needed to transport the marijuana from farms to the market where they are sold which keeps rise to distribution companies who specialize in transportation. With more jobs created in the country, incomes are distributed to more individuals who add up to total national income increasing the gross domestic product of the country resulting in economic growth.

Not only is economic growth realized with job creation, but economic development is accomplished too as incomes are distributed to more people in various regions not just a few people in one place are employed. Through the increase in jobs, the unemployment rate in the country is reduced and more money is also made from the increase in government revenue as a result of the broad tax base due to more people who are employed (Guttmannova et al., 2015). More taxes mean the government expenditure will increase and is an autonomous component of aggregate demand, which then results in to grow in demand resulting in higher equilibrium output and at last, the national income increases.

Through the provision of more opportunities through financial benefits, millions of U.S citizens could benefit from marijuana legalization and other benefits to the economy are obtained via a potential increase that will accrue as a result of substantial cash flow to the economy. The causational impacts of marijuana on employment provide tremendous support to a lot of industries if the industry relating to marijuana attains the required growth levels. Consumer spending will also increase as the salary of citizens has increased which leads to growth in the housing market, restaurant industries, and retail industries. When these industries experience growth, it results in more hiring or fewer layoffs.

Taxes Increase

Legalization of marijuana generates more tax which is similar to other substances that are addictive...