Research Project

Jacob Cole

Federal Legalization of Marijuana

Abstract

This paper explores several issues with the Marijuana plant being illegal for
growth and consumption in the United States. Having marijuana illegal is a
violation of peoples freedom, it is very expensive to keep illegal, there any
many medical benefits, and prohibition simply doesnt work. This paper
identifies several problems, elaborates on then and the offers possible
solutions to these problems.

Problems with Marijuana Being Illegal

Introduction
Marijuana should be removed from the criminal justice system and regulated
in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco. There are five jurisdictions in the
Unites State that have rejected the failed prohibition of marijuana and
changed their laws to legalize small amount of marijuana: Colorado,
Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. Four states will license
and regulate production and sale of marijuana. Marijuana legalization won on
the ballot in Colorado and Washington in the 2012 election, and in Alaska,
Oregon and Washington, D.C., in the 2014 election.
Legalizing and regulating marijuana will bring the nation's largest cash crop
under the rule of law, creating jobs and economic opportunities in the formal
economy instead of the illicit market. Scarce law enforcement resources that
could be better used to protect public safety would be preserved while
reducing corrections and court costs. State and local governments would
acquire significant new sources of tax revenue from regulating marijuana
sales.
The criminalization of marijuana use disproportionately harms young people
and people of color, sponsors massive levels of violence and corruption, and
fails to curb youth access.

Methodology
I utilized data and information from 3 sources of two different types;
Reports: I gathered some very useful information from the Watson
medical report, which clearly stated that thc has therapeutic effects for pain
relief, appetite stimulation, and control of nausea. I also gathered quite a bit
of information by a report commissioned by President Nixon. This report
goes into great detail about how prohibition simply doesnt work.

Articles: I also gathered some information for this report from a

scholarly article published by Nathan Edelmann. This article provides strong
support to many aspects as to why marijuana should be legalized.

Marijana Legalization Problems

Liberty
The first and most basic reason that marijuana should be legal is that there is
no good reason for it not to be legal. Some people ask 'why should marijuana
be legalized?" but we should ask "Why should marijuana be illegal?" From a
philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for
themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if the
individual's actions endanger someone else. This does not apply to
marijuana, since the individual who chooses to use marijuana does so
according to his or her own free will. The government also may have a right
to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the
individual. But this argument does not logically apply to marijuana because
marijuana is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as
alcohol and tobacco.

Cost
The second important reason that marijuana should be legal is that it would
save our government lots of money. In the United States, all levels of
government (federal, state, and local authorities) participate in the "War on
Drugs." We currently spend billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful
people who happen to like to get high. These people get locked up in prison
and the taxpayers have to foot the bill. We have to pay for food, housing,
health care, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses to lock these
people up. This is extremely expensive! We could save billions of dollars
every year as a nation if we stop wasting money locking people up for having
marijuana. In addition, if marijuana were legal, the government would be
able to collect taxes on it, and would have a lot more money to pay for
effective drug education programs and other important causes.

Prohibition doesnt help

The third major reason that marijuana should be legal is because prohibition
does not help the country in any way, and causes a lot of problems. There is
no good evidence that prohibition decreases drug use, and there are several
theories that suggest prohibition might actually increase drug use (i.e. the
"forbidden fruit" effect, and easier accessibility for youth). One unintended

effect of marijuana prohibition is that marijuana is very popular in American

high schools. Why? Because it is available. You don't have to be 21 to buy
marijuana -- marijuana dealers usually don't care how old you are as long as
you have money. It is actually easier for many high school students to obtain
marijuana than it is for them to obtain alcohol, because alcohol is legal and
therefore regulated to keep it away from kids. If our goal is to reduce drug
consumption, then we should focus on open and honest programs to educate
youth, regulation to keep drugs away from kids, and treatment programs for
people with drug problems. But the current prohibition scheme does not
allow such reasonable approaches to marijuana; instead we are stuck with
'DARE' police officers spreading lies about drugs in schools, and policies that
result in jail time rather than treatment for people with drug problems. We
tried prohibition with alcohol, and that failed miserably. We should be able to
learn our lesson and stop repeating the same mistake.

Medicinal Use
In states such as California where Marijuana is legal for medicinal use,
patients are prescribed it for a number of reason. It has been proven that
thc, the active ingredient in Marijuana, is responsible for its pain relieving
effects. Many people who suffer from PTSD also use marijuana medically.
The high from tch is also associated with temporary impairments of memory
which helps PTSD victims cope. Another reason is nausea and vomiting. THC
has been available in pill form for treating nausea and vomiting in cancer patients
since the 1980s. Marinol, a pill containing synthetic THC, was the first THC-

based medication to be approved by the FDA for this purpose. Since then,
other THC pills have been developed and prescribed to patients undergoing
chemotherapy, including a pill called Cesamet. The list goes on for the
medicinal use argument.
Marijuana has proven to stimulate appetite,
increased breathing in asthmatics, relieve eye pressure for people with
glaucoma, and it is also used as a sleep aid.

Solution
To give you some background info on this drug, were going to start from the
beginning. During the 1900s, the popularity of marijuana grew outrageously in the
U.S., causing a lot people to try this new drug, and people loved it. Seeing how
popular the drug was becoming, the government took action to try to minimize use
of this drug, thinking it will cause harm to the citizens, or as another theory goes,
they saw the vast uses of marijuana as medicine, and in order to keep the
pharmaceutical companies running, they illegalized it so they could instead sell us
man made drugs and make profit. The government put out propaganda films such
as Reefer Madness, which presented marijuana incorrectly, showing fake
disturbing pictures of people that are using marijuana. The films hugely over
exaggerated the side effects of the drug, brainwashing the peoples minds to think
that
marijuana
is
as
terrible
as
a
drug
can
get.
Now having said that, you know why legalization of marijuana appears to be such
an outrageous act to the public. But in a lot of unbiased peoples opinions, it really
isnt, and thats a hard thing to say since we have no experience with such an
action in the modern day world. But the facts show that it would not come with such
tremendous consequences. Instead, it would help our economy greatly, in many,
many
ways.
First of all, the U.S. spends about 10 billion dollars annually just dealing with people
imprisoned for marijuana, but the overall amount of money spent on fighting

marijuana in the U.S. is almost in the hundred billion dollar range. But if we looked
at the 40 billion tax dollars it just costs to keep the anti-marijuana laws, we could do
great things with this money; perhaps give our teachers a 15% raise, which would
only use up 15 million dollars, leaving 25 billion left over. Or maybe we could hire
880 thousand new teachers at the average salary of 47,000 dollars a year, think of
how that would help teachers concentrate on teaching rather than managing 40
kids in a classroom. As you can see, just dropping the charges that it costs to keep it
illegal
will
greatly
benefit
our
economy
already.
The tax money that the government could gather from taxing marijuana would be
large also, helping the economy greatly once again. The industry would create
many jobs, especially great for disabled people who could just grow marijuana in
their home, later selling it to dispensaries in bulk amounts to be distributed. It would
be a far more controlled and regulated process unlike drug dealers who often use
violence to solve any problems that get in the way of their profitable business.
Many people might argue that if Marijuana was legalized, there would be no
significance other than the fact that dealers wont have to worry about getting
caught again. People also claim that since Marijuana will be so taxed, dealers will
still make profit, since buying at the store would be more expensive. However this is
far from the reality of the situation, because Marijuana is literally a plant that
anyone could grow in theyre backyard. A great example of this is when alcohol
prices skyrocketed during prohibition, but stayed lower when alcohol was legal.
Even if the demand increases greatly with legalization, which usually causes higher
prices on any item, the supply will never run out since anyone can grow it, and
prices will never skyrocket, meaning that dealers wont ever able to profit from it
again.
The only skeptical thing about legalizing Marijuana in my eyes is that it might make
it more accessible to children. And while Im not sure what would happen here, after
questioning kids who often go to teenager parties, they told me that it is very rare
to see people going around trying to sell you alcohol. But on the other hand when it
comes to Marijuana, they said it is very common for kids to go around trying to sell
you some Marijuana. So why isnt it the same with alcohol? Well because alcohol is
at almost every store you go to. And while some kids are able to access 21 year olds
who
buy
them
alcohol,
most
are
not.
So as history has shown before, illegalizing a substance does not work well in
America, like it didnt with alcohol. So why is this substance, which can help us out
of our economical crisis, and is safer than alcohol or tobacco still illegal? There is
one solution to this problem and it is to simple legalize and regulate marijuana.

Conclusion
Importance
The whole country, even people who dont use marijuana, would benefit from
it being legalized.
Summary of Key Methods
Legalize Marijuana, Regulate it like tobacco and alcohol, tax it like tobacco
and alcohol