Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

The government should legalize marijuana

Marijuana is a depressant that puts the user in a state of euphoria and serenity. Marijuana has proven to cure many sicknesses and help with the symptoms of other sicknesses. It can also have a tremendous effect on the economy and even forming and entire new market! It has enough power to end crime and gang warfare. Marijuana should be legalized because of those reasons.

Marijuana is a very effective prescribed medicine and can be used to help patients with a variety of symptoms and side effects of diseases. Marijuana is not very harmful to the body either and it is safe to consume marijuana, even though it is branded as illegal.

Marijuana can help patients cope with the terrible symptoms and side effects of many diseases. For example, cannabis can help with; nausea and vomiting from various diseases, appetite loss, spasticity, pain, headaches and migraines, and a lot more. All of those cures marijuana provides have been researched and published in medical reports by doctors all around the world. Marijuana can save many lives and abolish suffering of patients with many diseases.
Marijuana is not harmful to the body either.
A report by the International Business Times stated that deaths caused by marijuana are zero. However, legally prescribed drugs have taken a toll on the people each year and kills about 100,000 people (Dave Smith, Medicinal Marijuana, ibtimes.com). This proves that marijuana is much safer to consume than other legal drugs. A study done by the university of California, shows that people who smoke marijuana not only do not suffer lung and other pulmonary problems such as cigarette users might experience but rather have improved their lungs and other parts of their pulmonary system (Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH, associate professor in the Division of Clinical Epidemiology at University of California, San
Francisco).

Marijuana can have many economic effects that can be large enough to change the economy and create a new market as well. Marijuana can also create a vast amount of job opportunities for those without jobs. With the current economic state, something like this would greatly help.

Marijuana can benefit the economy greatly. The market for marijuana, even though it is illegal, is huge. A report by drugabuse.gov stated that at least 42% of 12th graders have tried marijuana once (drugabuse.gov, statistics). That is a huge number but represents a small part of the potential marijuana market. If the government however, tried to benefit from marijuana, they would gain enormous amounts of tax revenue from production and sale of it. A CNBC report stated that the potential marijuana can yield from $10-$120 billion in the economy (Ariel Nelson, how big is the marijuana market, cnbc.com). If the government were to slap a large tax upon marijuana, it would help the government in a multitude of ways and in a way, and benefit the people. Marijuana legalization can also help cut some costs from the government spent on policing and enforcing the un-needed law on marijuana. A CNN report stated that the US government spends annually $7.7 billion on eradicating marijuana (Allen Westler, high court’s pot mistake, money.cnn.com).

Marijuana legalization not only benefits the economy in government tax revenues but also creates numerous jobs for the people of the country who need it. The huge potential of a marijuana market also creates a large amount of jobs related to it. A USDA (US department of agriculture) report on marijuana’s dangerous and addicting counterpart tobacco, currently has 4.9 million jobs directly related to tobacco production (Tobacco and the Economy: Farms, Jobs, and Communities, By H. Frederick Gale, Jr., Linda Foreman, and Thomas Capehart, Economic Research Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Economic Report No. 789.). Not only would people directly benefit from marijuana jobs but also other people will also indirectly affected for the better. Packaging companies, manufacturing companies, agricultural companies, etc. would benefit greatly from the start of the marijuana market creating the necessary items and services to benefit marijuana production and retail. Marijuana legalization might be able to slow down or even put a stop to the recession.

Marijuana takes a key role in today’s society, mainly drug trafficking and other activities due to marijuana being illegal. All of this violence and illicit activity can end however with marijuana being legalized. A report by the US bureau of justice stated that 25% of criminals in the federal level prisons are related to drug trafficking, retail, and abuse (bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov, statistics). This can all be avoided and unnecessary crime and illicit activities can be avoided. Gang warfare and other forms of violence over marijuana possession can also be avoided with marijuana being legalized. This is because it will not be illegal anymore and people do not have to fight over obtaining it because it is readily available. Marijuana has become a curse in today’s society because it is illegal but it can easily become a blessing if it was legalized.

Marijuana has many effects on many levels from patients sitting in hospitals, to the federal level where the government is making enormous sums of money, to the avoided crime on the streets of a once popular drug trafficking town. Overall, marijuana’s positive effects outweigh and negatives and should be legalized.