Summary: The Effects Of Legalization Of Marijuana On The Economy

The Effects of the Legalization of Marijuana on the Economy

Marijuana, weed, pot, Mary Jane, anyway you put it; cannabis has been a very controversial topic for many years. Cannabis, the technical term for marijuana, is a preparation of the cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug and as medicine. Marijuana is known to heightened mood or euphoria, help with relaxation, and increase a person’s appetite. The bad side effects of using marijuana are dry mouth, red eyes, a decrease in short-term memory, and impaired motor skills. Due to the bad side effects of marijuana, the issue of making it legalized has been an on going debate for over a decade. With the struggling economy, the legalization of marijuana in many states
has become very realistic and most likely to happen in the near future. However, there are also many people who still believe that legalizing marijuana is not the answer to our problems and, if anything, will worsen our country as a whole. 20 US states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing some degree of medical use of marijuana, and 14 states have taken steps to decriminalize it to some degree. Also, two states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized marijuana completely. From 1996 until 2011, 14 states had passed medical marijuana laws, these states are as listed: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. However, each state has it’s own laws about how much marijuana a person can possess and grow at one time. At this time, a survey was done to see how many people would be okay with marijuana being legalized in the United States. The dependent variable of the study was the 14 states that have legalized marijuana. The independent variable involved the percentage of the population over 65, the percentage that have at least a bachelors degree, the state per capita income in 2008, the percentage of the state’s population that lives in urbanized areas, and the percentage of the population that voted Republican in the 2008 presidential election. There is an inverse relationship between states that have medical marijuana laws and variables such as economic freedom and the percentage of people who attend church services. In 2010, a more intensified study was done on California and Michigan. Mark Binelli traveled to the Emerald Triangle in Northern California to take a look at the growing situation in areas that marijuana was legal. What he found was an area where you phone stops working, strange people would try to sell you crabs, and very far back in the mountains, a man who grows marijuana for a living, Vic Tobias. Tobias had 45 marijuana plants in full bloom, so Binelli was able to experience the entire process of going from a cannabis plant to being marijuana. The plants would be sold off to medical-marijuana dispensaries or to street dealers. There were around 1,000 storefront pot clubs in Los Angeles at the time, making the marijuana business a very profitable one. California’s annual marijuana crop was estimated to be worth around $14 billion. Binelli also mentions that a Harvard economist estimated that legalizing pot could save the government around $13 billion annually in prohibition costs. It would also raise $7 billion in annual revenues if marijuana were to be taxed. It was these statstics that lead Binelli to the Emerald triangle. The only downside he found when visiting Tobias was that many current growers would have a more difficult time because there would be much more competition. He also talks briefly about “the first Michigan-based medical-marijuana trade school.” Since the law passed with a vote of 63% yes for legalizing medical marijuana in 2008, people found the easiest way to make money was by growing and selling marijuana. The economy may have been in a bad place, but “many residents see pot farming as one of the few growth industries in an otherwise ravaged state economy.” Kristin Nevedal is another person from California involved in the growing scene. She helped found the association of cannabis growers in Humboldt and she is also an idealist about pot. She explains that in 1996 marijuana was selling for $4,000 a pound. Imagine all of the revenue the government could collect if they just legalized it and sold it themselves. In Humboldt County there are over 250 different strains of marijuana. They met with the county government to try to brand Humboldt as cannabis county. Due to places like this, throughout the country, the once-clear lines of drug law have been steadily blurring into a messy Crosshatch of locale and jurisdiction. Benjamin Wallace-Wells also discusses the now legal recreational use of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. About 50% or voters are now pro legalization, a nearly 20% increase in less than 15 years. If the country continues at this rate, legalization is right around the corner. People see that marijuana isn’t that bad and really what it’s doing is wasting tax dollars. Fred Bealefeld, a police officer, said that he put 43,000 less people behind bars because they focused on actually crimes rather than petty ones such as carrying an ounce of weed. His words exactly were, “that it 's always okay to go after bad guys with guns rather than guys smoking weed.” Florida is another state that feels that legalizing medical marijuana would be a good thing for the economy. Pro-marijuana industry and development groups say that there the do not doubt that legal marijuana can provide a major impact economically that business leaders in groups like the chamber of commerce should embrace. The National Cannabis Industry Association cites a recent study by Arcview Market Research that concluded the national market for legalized medicinal and adult-use pot generated about $1.44 billion in industry value in 2013. The projected market for 2014 is $2.34 billion. Not only would legalizing marijuana bring it money, workers in Florida would see many benefits as well. In congress, the debate over the legalization of marijuana is a topic of much debate. With that being said, it are the members of congress that need to be convinced to legalize marijuana. There are two staffers for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation that need to be convinced legalization is good. By showing them that taxing marijuana can increase revenue and cause lower taxes, it is more likely that they will approve the law to legalize. A major issue with this, however, is that Republicans and Democrats have different feelings about tax reform although in 2013, it was estimated that $10 billion in tax revenue would be brought in from marijuana sales a year. Legalizing marijuana would create many jobs in the United States lowering the unemployment rate drastically. Many articles discuss the creation of jobs and the only people it would not have a positive impact on, as mentioned before, are those who are already growing and selling drugs. There would be much more competition in the field, but the positive effects of legalizing marijuana overpowers this one negative effect in the job department. In other countries, they have already put this theory to use or are realizing it as well. Canada, for instance, legalized medical marijuana and immediately saw the effect it had leading them to realize it would reduce federal spending and taxes. Also, The Vancouver-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy 's latest report demonstrates the clear failure of U.S. cannabis prohibition. It supports calls for evidence-based models to legalize and regulate the use of cannabis. This report has received support and endorsement of the British Medical Journal as well as support from 60 of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy’s scientific members from more than 30 countries. Other countries have implemented fewer drug laws and their results should prove to the United States that legalizing marijuana would be a good thing. The ex-governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson has always believed that the legalization of marijuana would be good for the economy. Marijuana, like alcohol impairs a persons judgment and ability to do specific tasks, and yet alcohol is legal. Johnson said, “I think that we should legalize marijuana. It 's never going to be legal to smoke pot, become impaired, get behind the wheel of a car. It 's never going to be legal for kids to smoke pot. But let 's tax it, let 's regulate it, let 's control it.” Johnson improved the quality of New Mexico more than most governors do while in office so he must be doing something right. People are afraid of the negative effects of marijuana but alcohol, a legal drug, is regulated quite well, so why couldn’t this be the same? This year, Colorado became the first state to fully legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. The United States has realized that other nations are using it as a major cash crop. For instance, Dutch cannabis cafes bring in $503 million in tax revenue every year. Not only does it increase revenue, but also many jobs are created leaving the unemployment rate much lower. Germany also announced in November of 2013 that they would be opening the first cannabis café in Berlin. All over the world marijuana is becoming more accepted. On December 20, 2013 Uruguay announced the decriminalization and legalization for production, possession, and sale of marijuana, this will take place next month. Europe is not the only place to loosen the ropes a little on marijuana. According to a recent study done by the Jerusalem institute for Market Studies, it was found that legalizing marijuana would be extremely beneficial for their economy. Israel has been suffering from both political and economical crisis for a long time, but by legalizing marijuana it is expected that around $707 million would be made annually. In 2012, 64% of Israeli people voted yes for the legalization of marijuana as oppose to the much smaller, 26% who said the were against it. Canadians are also on edge about legalizing marijuana. In Canada, it is legal to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. People fear that once it is commercialized the price will increase greatly. Canada is the only country to consider the increase in price. If a country wants to bring in tax revenue they are going to have to make is more expensive. For those who are actually using marijuana for medical purposes, this could be an issue because have health problems can be very expensive already. Along with price increase, another concern many people have is quality decrease. It has been said, “if pot was legal, you’d never get any decent pot again.” Since Colorado became the first state to fully legalize marijuana this logic has been proven wrong. People are trying to create a counterculture flavor and sell good weed. Washington is now the second state to fully legalize marijuana, but when it was still in debate mode, they stated that marijuana will be sold from 8 a.m. until 12 a.m. making it almost always available. They also planned to instate a law that said authorized dealers must be at least 1,000 feet from any public school, childcare center, playground or park. Although these laws were discussed hey are always open to change. It used to be that marijuana needed to be grown inside, but once people started complaining and bringing up the amount of energy they were using, that law quickly changed. President Obama’s feelings about marijuana also effect how and when it will become legal. In an interview with Obama, he stated that he does not believe legalizing marijuana will be good for the economy. He has admitted to using marijuana in the past and believes legalizing it will have a more negative impact than anything else. However, in December 2012 he said that his administration didn 't intend to prioritize the pursuit of recreational drug users in states that have legalized possession. That being said, since marijuana is still illegal on a national level, states with legal use of marijuana can still get in trouble. On July 24, 2013 federal agents raided several medical-marijuana dispensaries in Washington state, confiscating product intended for cancer patients and those with other medical issues. Unless the states and the nation as a whole get on the same, marijuana will not be good for the economy because there are thousands of dollars spent on drug busts that are taking place in an area that drugs are technically legal. Public opinion polls taken from 1969 to 2003 show that people have become a lot more accepting of the use and legalization of marijuana. However, people now seem to want harsher punishments for those who have possession of marijuana. In 1969, only 12% of the people surveyed said they believe marijuana should be legal. In 2003, the number is now up to 34% of people. Although that is not an overwhelming amount of support, this is just a survey for some people, not the entire population that would be involved in the decision. Still, the support nearly tripled in just over 30 years. When asked “Do you think the possession of small amounts of marijuana should or should not be treated as a criminal defense, from 1977 until 2003, the percentage of people who said yes it should be increased from 41% to 52%. The question was a leading question, so I believe these results would be different if it were asked a little differently. However, it is still only a small increase and although 52% is a high amount, there are still the other almost half of the people that believe the opposite. Once broken down, people’s answer towards the possession of marijuana changed. In 2002, 40% of people believed a person should only be subject to a fine while only 22% of people believed possession should be an actual criminal defense. Still, 37% of people felt there should be no offense, meaning that 77% of people don’t find the possession of marijuana that horrible. Although so many studies have shown that legalizing marijuana would do nothing but boost the economy and put our tax dollars to better use, there are still people who believe marijuana should not become legalized.
When people hear about drugs, the automatically assume it’s some dirt-bag who hangs out in sketchy places and isn’t going anywhere in life. As stated, “First, there are the suppliers. They have been on the wrong side of the law from the day they flunked out of high school and started to work the front lines of the drug trade.” This is a prime example of how people think, but does anyone ever stop to think about the other, equally as large community of people that work 9-5 jobs and have loving families who sometimes just like to sit back and relax? Marijuana, unlike drugs such as heroine and cocaine has become a more social
thing.

To leave off, legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes is a good thing. It 's an expansion of human freedom. It will end the "medical marijuana" charade. And it will bring pleasure to hundreds of thousands of people. Maybe the Washington experiment will turn out to be a nightmare of psychotic reactions and automobile accidents. But maybe legalizing pot will turn out to be just another small aid to our pursuit of happiness. Pleasure ought to count for something (M. Kinsley).

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