Essay Sample on Marijuana Legalization: A Path to Positive Outcomes

Introduction

Federal law policies of marijuana legalization have been changing in the past decades, and many states in the United States have moved away from strict prohibitions to a state where they are embracing marijuana and pushing for it to be legal. Legalization of marijuana means that all monetary and criminal penalties for the possession, supply, and use of this drug are withdrawn. Marijuana use in all states should be legalized as it will have many positive outcomes from adding billions of money to the economy to creating jobs and reducing the resources used by law enforcers to arrest and charge marijuana suppliers and users.

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The legalization of marijuana will have positive effects on the social, economic, and health aspects of the different states. The economic impact that legalization of Marijuana will have include bringing extra income to the states (Kovacevich, 2018). Taxing the drug and offering the required certificates to all vendors so that they can quickly sell it helps different states earn additional revenue, which is used to improve the standards of the infrastructure and government services as well as health services. The legalization of marijuana will also help to create employment opportunities that enhance the living standards of people in all states (Kovacevich, 2018). Industries that process and distribute marijuana to users will be created, and they will require employees who will be paid for their services.

Marijuana legalization will help to eradicate the costs that governments use in enforcing federal marijuana laws that help to maintain the illegality of the drug. State governments will abolish the rules created in the fight against marijuana, and the funds that were used to fight marijuana are used in more developments that improve the economy (Kovacevich, 2018). Citizen's taxes will also be saved when the government stops setting aside funds to create and enforce laws against the use of marijuana.

Legalization of marijuana will help to create partnerships between different organizations as national banks will start working with industries that deal with marijuana either for recreational or medical purposes. The companies will be able to grow as they will not struggle in their bid to secure loans and transact using the banks (Kovacevich, 2018). States such as Canada that have already legalized marijuana have experienced more cooperation between banks and marijuana processing companies. A good example is where Montreal Bank offered a credit line worth 200 million dollars to Aurora Cannabis, one of the largest companies dealing with marijuana in that state (Kovacevich, 2018). The cooperation of banks and the marijuana companies will help to increase production and profits that help to improve the economy and create more jobs.

Social Effects

On the social aspects, marijuana legalization will help to unite communities and families. The illegalization of marijuana leads to many people getting arrested for using and selling the drug in different states that are yet to legalize it. Such arrests cause families to be ripped apart due to their family members getting several criminal records that make them get imprisoned (Hajizadeh, 2016). Families and communities have been suffering, especially when the individual placed in jail is the primary source of income and the breadwinner. Legalization will reduce the rates of arrests, which will play a significant role in ensuring that families are united.

Legalization of marijuana will also help to maintain peace in all the states because it leads to the banishing of the drug's black market. The black market has, for a long time, been a cause of violence and conflicts in the states as the money from illegal sales of marijuana reaches the drug cartels who use it to fuel violence such as murders and kidnappings (Hajizadeh, 2016). Legalization will help to move cannabis from the illegal black markets to free markets leading to an extinction of the black markets and the wealthy drug cartels making the states more peaceful and secure.

The legalization of marijuana will also help to reduce the exploitation of drug users as it will allow individuals to grow cannabis in their homes. The legalization of marijuana means that users will have the freedom to grow at most four cannabis plants in their homes as long as they are not more than one-meter-long and are safe from the public view (Hajizadeh, 2016). This ensures that marijuana is cheap, making the cartels powerless on their exploitation of clients who use the drug.

Health Effects

The legalization of marijuana will help to reduce deaths in different states as it has no evident complications such as lung diseases, schizophrenia, and cancer compared to other drugs such as cigarettes. The government will be saved a lot of money from reduced costs of treating patients of cancer who are affected by other drugs like alcohol and tobacco (Hajizadeh, 2016). Users of marijuana have been reported to cause car accidents, unlike users of alcohol rarely. The legalization of marijuana will help to reduce the number of car accidents experienced in different states. Many people will prefer marijuana to alcohol for recreation, and this helps them have control of their vehicles after use; hence road accidents and the number of deaths will reduce tremendously.

Marijuana helps in curing some diseases, and its legalization will help to treat inflated bowels, side effects of chemotherapy, neuropathy pain, and treatment of resistant epilepsy in children. The drug must, however, be used under a prescribed doctor, and it will help to reduce the costs of using expensive medicines in the treatment of such diseases (Hajizadeh, 2016).

Conclusion

Marijuana use in all states should be legalized because it will have many positive effects on those states, from adding billions of money to the economy to creating jobs, among many others, such as reducing the resources used by law enforcers to arrest and charge marijuana suppliers and users. Legalization of marijuana is necessary because they have positive effects on the social, economic, and health aspects of the different states.

References

Hajizadeh, M. (2016). Legalizing and Regulating Marijuana in Canada: A Review of Potential Economic, Social, and Health Impacts. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 5(8), 453. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4968247/pdf/ijhpm-5-453.pdf

Kovacevich, N. (2018). What America Can Learn from Canada's Cannabis Legalization. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickkovacevich/2018/06/28/what-america-can-learn-from-canadas-cannabis-legalization/#41dd2bf62134