Yes

by Shawn Brooks

Created on: February 29, 2012   Last Updated: March 01, 2012

Here are my top five reasons, plain and simple, for why marijuana should be legalized.

5.) Hemp

Despite the fact that hemp is less than 0.3% THC, the United States government still has a hard time distinguishing between it and marijuana; as a result, we cannot use it for industrial purposes in our country. This is unfortunate because, in the past, hemp has had quite a long list of uses that were entirely unrelated to the use of marijuana as a drug. Hemp fiber has been used in a fiberglass mixture to make composite panels in cars; before the switch to wood pulp, it was used to make paper; it can purify water and soil; the oils found in hemp stalks and seeds can be used for biofuel; it has been used in creating cloth, as it produces about 10% more fiber than cotton does; and the list goes on. The legalization of marijuana means the legalization of hemp, which would open up many industrial opportunities and, in turn, increased revenue for our economy.

4.) Medical issue instead of criminal issue

Alcohol is a drug just as marijuana is a drug; however, because it is legal, we consider it to be a medical problem, while the use of marijuana is a criminal problem. Just because one is legal and the other is not, why should we classify them as two separate types of problems? They are both drugs, and so I believe they are both issues of health rather than of crime. We should, at the very least, refer marijuana users to health centers and rehabilitation programs as we do with alcohol users, instead of sending them to jail.

3.) Too many nonviolent marijuana users are incarcerated

There are, on average, between 800,000 and 900,000 marijuana-related arrests (meaning use or possession, primarily) in the United States every year. Despite the gradual rise in diversion and probation programs for arrestees, there are still far too many nonviolent marijuana users in our prison system. In fact, they usually make up a significant percentage of their prison population. The majority of these people have no histories of violence and no criminal records other than relating to marijuana. They are good people that we need to get out of our prisons so they can return to being working members of our society.

2.) There are billions of dollars to be made

It is estimated that the cost of enforcing marijuana laws alone each year is around $7.7 billion; about $5.3 billion at state and local levels, and the rest at the federal level. Combined with the costs of incarcerating marijuana users, legalization would immediately save us that money annually for it to be used in countless other areas of government where it is truly needed.

Turning to the potential profits; the state of California, in medical marijuana only, made $1.3 billion in a single year, which generated about $105 million in sales taxes. Remember, this was only in one state out of fifty, and only in medical marijuana instead of widespread legalization. If marijuana was legal in all fifty states, and not restricted to medical users, there is no telling how much money could be made annually for our country.

With all the money saved from not enforcing marijuana laws combined with the money gained from all the sales, marijuana legalization would certainly have the potential to save our economy.

1.) Marijuana prohibition violates our freedom

In high school, I was taught about "the pursuit of happiness" as a core democratic value. Its basis went something like this: "Americans have the right to pursue their happiness in any way they choose, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others." Immediately, we can see that outlawing drug use, not just marijuana, violates one of our core democratic values. If we are not hurting other people or infringing on their rights, how should the government be allowed any control over what we do in our lives?

Freedom is perhaps the most important principle upon which our government was founded over two-hundred years ago; after all, we were fighting to be free from Britain's control and become our own nation. The founding fathers were concerned only with the basic principles of government; a national defense, three branches involved with our laws, checks and balances, a proper method of taxation, and so on. They believed in limited government intervention in our lives to allow for our individual liberty. Legalizing marijuana is not about increasing our freedom; it is about recovering freedom that we once had.

Learn more about this author, Shawn Brooks.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.