Why Weed Should Be Legal

Marijuana could be an economical marvel and social marvel that should be praised rather than shunned by society. Police waste an unimaginable amount of money and time waging a futile war on such harmless and docile drugs that could be regulated to be safer than most prescription drugs and those that we allow to commonly be used for recreational purposes. The money proven to be gathered by this amazing drug could propel forward our economy with astounding social benefits for us all. With legalization, we could apply age limits and heavily control the concentration of the chemicals found within marijuana to allow a much safer and calmer high. Why wait? Why weed should be legal?

Legalizing cannabis opens up the amazing possibility of taxation of public use for recreational purposes. Money that could be made from taxing marijuana would lead to many major positive outcomes. Some countries have done 20 years of infrastructure work in just one year's time. An extraordinary example of this is in the state of Colorado 2016-2017 where we see that they gathered a whopping amount of at least $145 million dollars through taxation. This gives a massive insight on how much revenue could be gathered through the legalization of marijuana. We also see how much this money can make changes as $40 million of the marijuana tax revenue gathered in Colorado went to public school construction, the remaining $105 million went to mental health programs in jails, housing programs and health programs in middle school. Several more positive aspects of legalization are shown as when marijuana was first legalized in Canada they generated $186 million in tax revenue to be redistributed in to other areas such as health and education. Oregon is another great example of what taxing recreational marijuana could lead to. For Oregon their tax revenue has been getting higher and higher as the years go by. In 2018 Oregon collected around about $82.2 million whereas in 2019 they collected $102 million which was a huge 24.2 percent increase. It doesn't take an expert to realize that the taxation of marijuana could lead us into a golden age of social growth.

The futile war against such harmless drugs have been draining police resources for far to long now. Legalizing marijuana could end this war meaning police resources can actually be used for far more important issues. For instance in the United States reports estimate that they spend unfathomable $1.19 billion and $6.03 billion arresting people on accounts of marijuana possession each year. Furthermore, an additional cost of 600 million dollars is chucked on for the penalization of marijuana offenders. It was calculated by a Harvard economist called Jeffrey Miron that the legalization of marijuana could massively save between $7.7 billion and $13.7 billion each year. It's clear that instead of police resources being wasted on marijuana related crimes the resources could be put to far more serious crimes including assault, rape and homicide. There's even an expert opinion from a former police detective who lives in Michigan who was part of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) who also agrees with the fact that marijuana prohibition distracts the police from what really matters as he stated “Marijuana prohibition is a horrible waste of good police time. Every hour spent looking for pot reduces public safety.” This massively boosts the point that the legalisation of marijuana could actually help rather than be a hinder. Another extraordinary example of how the legalization of marijuana could help would be in Washington where the legalization of marijuana had an outstanding effect on police resources freeing them up and dropping marijuana possession arrests from 5,531 to 120 the year after. By toiling away on a harmless drug police are neglecting horrendous crimes that are happening every day as there massively distracted. We need legalization now. We have stop wasting time and money on this red herring.

Legalizing marijuana would allow a lot more regulations to be in put in place meaning the drug would be far safer for users as the risks would be massively reduced. THC which stands for (Tetrahydrocannabinol) is the compound found in marijuana that gives the users a “high” but also is what causes the physiological side effects of marijuana. This means the lower amount the less likely it is for people to experience such side effects. The legalization of Cannabis could open up the roads to regulation of the concentration THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) that's found in each instance of cannabis. This would be far safer as the risk of long term effects would be massively reduced and people could actually be aware of the intensity of what they're purchasing, unlike if they were purchasing it off the streets from less than savoury characters. Furthermore, legalization allows the government to set age restrictions on buyers and could licence and regulate the complete supply chain of marijuana which includes retailers, disruptors, growers and testing laboratories. This would make the whole process easier and safer for everyone as with it being legal, countries can make sure that what their consumer is receiving is one hundred percent safe. There are many places out there that follow these type of rules. In California one of their regulations is limitations on the serving sizes for edible marijuana manufactured goods they also have seed-to-sale testing and tracking. These are just a few of the regulations that can be and are in place to make sure recreational marijuana would be safe for the public use. Its apparent that the legalization of marijuana would be a massive game changer towards public safety. It would be much more risk free for those who are buying it and those who are around people who use it as there would be far fewer worries. It would become just like any other on the shelf drug, like alcohol and tobacco but far safer.

Surprisingly the two most widely accepted drugs which are tobacco and alcohol are actually far more dangerous than marijuana. Each drug has their negative effects buts it's insane to realize that tobacco and alcohol are on the self and legal and marijuana isn't despite the fact when you look at the negative effects tobacco and alcohol are much higher. When it comes to weed vs alcohol there is a definite winner for who is more dangerous and that winner is alcohol. Alcohol without surprise is linked to several types of cancer whereas marijuana is not. These cancers include mouth and throat, larynx, colon, esophagus and liver, rectum, and breast. It was also recorded in 2014 that 30,700 Americans died from alcohol induced causes whereas there was zero documented deaths from marijuana use alone. There has never been a recorded marijuana overdose. Its estimated that you would have to smoke incompressible 19 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes to overdose which is almost physically impossible to do. However, In the UK 2018 there were 7,551 alcohol related deaths whereas with marijuana there was none. Simply marijuana itself can not kill. Its not just alcohol that has a plethora of risks, tobacco has been known to cause cancer of the lung, mouth, larynx, throat, esophagus, kidney, bladder, liver, stomach, pancreas, colon and rectum, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukaemia. When it comes to marijuana its actually beyond belief that marijuana is illegal when alcohol and tobacco despite have such harmful and disastrous effect are simply sitting on the shelf for anyone that's above the age limit can purchase. Simply marijuana itself can not kill.

To conclude when it comes to legalizing marijuana its surprisingly clear that the drug provides more good than harm. We've seen throughout the evidence that it can lead to many positive outcomes like boosting the economy, providing medical help, reducing stress, and many more things. Marijuana has had a stereotype stuck with it for many years and that is that its dangerous. Despite it being far less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco which are both made legal almost worldwide. Once you see the benefits of marijuana you begin to realize how mind-blowing it really is that it isn't legal in more countries. Marijuana could become a massive success to all countries and has even been proven to be a success on the way it could help people and economies. We have to make it legal. So once more were left pondering why wait? It's clear that's there's many wondrous opportunities getting missed.