Legalization of Marijuana
Sarah Bustamante
Mr. Bounds
AP Language
29 January 2015
Legalization of Marijuana The debate about legalizing marijuana across the country has been going on for decades. Nowadays, it is so wide spread illegally, that it should not be difficult to legalize it. In 2012, there were 750,000 arrests involving marijuana, and out of the 750,000 arrests, 650,000 of them were simply for possessing marijuana (Jon Walker, “There Were Over 650,000 Arrests For Marijuana Possession Last Year,” Just Say Now). Legalizing marijuana would cut down tax dollars, help hospital patients, and create less of a hassle for the law. The first benefit of marijuana legalization is the fact that it would cut down a lot of tax payers’ money. On average, 5% of each state’s taxes go to corrections, a.k.a. jails and juvenile correction centers. Money wise, that calculates to about 50 billion dollars per state. Although more taxes are used for educational purposes, 50 billion dollars is a lot of money (“Policy Basics: Where Do Our Tax Dollars Go?” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). Considering the fact that in 2012 750,000 arrests dealt with marijuana, and 650,000 of those 750,000 were arrests for possession only, and there were only 520,000 arrests for violent crimes, legalizing marijuana would help tax payers and the state tremendously (Jon Walker, “There Were Over 650,000 Arrests For Marijuana Possession Last Year,” Just Say Now). Now, if one does the math, 650,000 divided by 520,000 (percentage wise) is 125%. Therefore, the majority of taxes spent towards jails are used for criminals dealing with marijuana. Secondly, marijuana helps hospital patients. From AIDS to HIV to cancer, states that have already legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes have used marijuana to help patients cope. It is seen as a therapeutic use. Research suggests that medicinal marijuana is an extremely valuable use of treatment for patients. The benefits include treating pain relief (especially pain caused by
Mr. Bounds
AP Language
29 January 2015
Legalization of Marijuana The debate about legalizing marijuana across the country has been going on for decades. Nowadays, it is so wide spread illegally, that it should not be difficult to legalize it. In 2012, there were 750,000 arrests involving marijuana, and out of the 750,000 arrests, 650,000 of them were simply for possessing marijuana (Jon Walker, “There Were Over 650,000 Arrests For Marijuana Possession Last Year,” Just Say Now). Legalizing marijuana would cut down tax dollars, help hospital patients, and create less of a hassle for the law. The first benefit of marijuana legalization is the fact that it would cut down a lot of tax payers’ money. On average, 5% of each state’s taxes go to corrections, a.k.a. jails and juvenile correction centers. Money wise, that calculates to about 50 billion dollars per state. Although more taxes are used for educational purposes, 50 billion dollars is a lot of money (“Policy Basics: Where Do Our Tax Dollars Go?” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). Considering the fact that in 2012 750,000 arrests dealt with marijuana, and 650,000 of those 750,000 were arrests for possession only, and there were only 520,000 arrests for violent crimes, legalizing marijuana would help tax payers and the state tremendously (Jon Walker, “There Were Over 650,000 Arrests For Marijuana Possession Last Year,” Just Say Now). Now, if one does the math, 650,000 divided by 520,000 (percentage wise) is 125%. Therefore, the majority of taxes spent towards jails are used for criminals dealing with marijuana. Secondly, marijuana helps hospital patients. From AIDS to HIV to cancer, states that have already legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes have used marijuana to help patients cope. It is seen as a therapeutic use. Research suggests that medicinal marijuana is an extremely valuable use of treatment for patients. The benefits include treating pain relief (especially pain caused by