Marijuana has been criminalized for enough generations to make it a fear or pride issue in the minds of the lawmakers and the voting public. The Federal government may have just kept it a schedule one drug because it has been one for so long, but, to legalize it at the federal level instead of various states legalizing it could create new wealth and give our country back its financial independence. However this will only really be effective if it is done on a federal level or our country will keep fighting within its own government.
The saving grace is that it would still be controlled so that it would be hard for minors to access it. The legalization of marijuana could bring more revenue to the state and federal budgets by collecting taxes, while saving money on prisons and the war on drugs which includes education and enabling more scientific study into the medicinal benefits that have already proven to give relief to cancer and chronic pain patients. In the 1970’s affluent people campaigned for legislation to criminalize hemp.
Part of the reason is believed to be that it is such a useful renewable resource for paper, cloth, oils, rope and other products, that it would have a huge effect on forested land owner’s fortunes. We also suffer the same manipulation from oil companies, in this day and age, with the debate over whether we should spend more on research into alternative energy sources or whether the more fortunate should pay their fair share in taxes. The opinions assessing the amount of tax revenue that the sale of recreational marijuana would bring, varies widely.
In Washington State the analysts estimate the possible income in taxes to be $2 billion over 5 years and in Colorado, state analysts estimate sales could range from $5 million to $22 million annually. Federally, if we assume marijuana would be taxed comparably to alcohol and tobacco, approximately $8. 7 billion in revenue would result from its legalization. The reason it is so difficult to estimate revenue that could be collected is that no one knows how much marijuana use there is or how the demand would change if it were legalized.
(Richardson, 2008) In the first seven days, beginning Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidency, the new president rescued the banking system. He knew people needed hope, and making beer legal would create a great many jobs. Two days after he got it approved, Milwaukee brewers hired six hundred people and paid their first $10 million in taxes. Soon companies in the auto industry were preparing the beginning of $12 million worth of delivery trucks, and brewers were putting multiple millions into new production.
(Richardson, 2008) It is also believed that decriminalizing marijuana frees up our police and court resources for more important priorities than arresting, trying, and jailing adult marijuana users. To legalize the production, possession, delivery and distribution of marijuana really should come down to the rights of the individuals who, like alcohol, and cigarettes, choose to use or abuse it. Marijuana growing farms and food processors would be licensed and controlled by the same board that controls tobacco, liquor, and fire arms. Alcohol abuse kills 75,000 people a year.
Legal prescription drugs kill 100,000 people a year. Marijuana kills zero. The statistics for violent crime and accidental death follow the same pattern and could add millions of dollars to real businesses and restore respect for law enforcement. Because people are dying, the drug war is a war. In Mexico, in the last five years, police and drug cartels have killed more than 55,000 people and the money is now going into the pockets of criminal organizations every year. Oregon’s legalization measure says criminal justice savings could range between $1. 4 million and $2.
4 million per year however did not estimate potential revenue, and “prison inmate costs range from $18,000 in Mississippi to approximately $50,000 in California”. (Gardapee, 2010), this money could go toward a nationwide school-based prevention program would that would cost a fraction of what the United States now spends on the control on marijuana and could also address the toxicity of using cigarettes and alcohol not to mention rehabilitation for people who have become addicted to chemical drugs such as opiates that Doctors prescribe for pain now. For the treatment and management of glaucoma, medical marijuana can be effective.
It has been proven in a clinical trials and found that medical marijuana reduces intraocular pressure, as well as blood pressure overall . As an Oncologist, Donald Abrams started looking for ways that were safe and effective for chronic pain, nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. “This preliminary study seems to imply that people may be able to ease pain taking smaller amounts of prescription painkillers for longer periods of time, if taken in conjunction with cannabis,” Abrams said. “Pain is a big problem in America and chronic pain is one reason many people utilize the health care system.
” Cannabidiol is a major, non-psychoactive derivative of marijuana that helps shrink inflammation and reduce pain without causing some of the strong mind effects of THC. It has been used to relieve pain from arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, psychotic disorders and epilepsy. Larger amounts of CBD can relax the clinical study patient, in mind and body, without causing euphoric effects associated with marijuana. This proof from one of many universities and a cancer and pain specialist, could make it legal to give the people in so much pain and misery, comfort and ease their of their suffering.
They would not have to smoke it secretly or meet contacts in back allies. It could be manufactured and produced as a natural answer to the chemicals and opiates that they are forced to take that cause even more dangerous side effects than the illness they are treating, including, but not limited to, addiction and the risk of suppressed breathing, among others. The drugs they are using now are very strong powerful pain medications (opiates) that can be highly addictive.
They also can be deadly since opiates sometimes suppress the respiratory system and the potential for marijuana to relieve pain and reduce the risk of opiates would be another reason for the appropriate measure for the legalization of cannabis. The most important benefit of the federal legalization of marijuana is the freedom to study its effects on patients in cancer studies and chronic pain clinics that have already shown marked results.. This proof from one of many universities and cancer and pain specialists should make it legal to give the people in so much pain and misery a little bit of comfort and ease their suffering.
Not only could we give comfort to the suffering and vulnerable people in our society , it would give financial relief to the criminal system, police and prisons, which are overwhelmed with the continuing war on drugs, and the influx of money that will go into our federal and state income from the sales of recreational use, and the faster growing renewable resources that could save our old growth and rainforests, could help to put the United States out of debt and on the road to financial recovery. References Abram, D. ( 2011).
Medical marijuana could help cannabinoid–opioid interaction in chronic pain. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, doi: 10. 1038/clpt. 2011. 188 (abram, Gardapee, P. G. (2010, May 9). The average cost to house inmates in prison read more: The average cost to house inmates in prison | ehow. com http://www. ehow. com/about_5409377_avera . Retrieved from http://www. ehow. com/about_5409377_average-cost-house-inmatesprison. html Richardson, J. H. (2008). Reasons to legalize marijuana . esquire. Retrieved from http://www. esquire. com/the-side/best-month-ever/.