The War on Marijuana in the US

A Story by Morgan

Analyzing a literacy event... For the legalization of marijuana.

The War on Marijuana in the U.S.

Morgan

English 1110:102

9/3/2016

The war on marijuana in the U.S. has been an ongoing topic for decades now, is it good or is it bad? It has been a hot topic as to how it benefits our economy, the medical community and the criminal justice system. When my mother was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in 2013 I didn’t know it yet but it would drive me to become so passionate about something I once thought so negatively about -- the legalization of marijuana.

Marijuana in the medical community is split 50/50 right now, 25 of the states use marijuana for medical purposes and 25 do not. There is proof that marijuana is useful in treating cancer, AIDS, HIV, epilepsy, glaucoma, menstrual cramps and so much more. "There is now promising research into the use of marijuana that could impact tens of thousands of children and adults, including treatment for cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer's, to name a few. With regard to pain alone, marijuana could greatly reduce the demand for narcotics and simultaneously decrease the number of accidental painkiller overdoses, which are the greatest cause of preventable death in this country... Marijuana is a medicine, that should be studied and treated like any other medicine." -- Sanjay Gupta, MD. While it would reduce the demand for addictive narcotics (percocets, oxycontin, etc) it would simultaneously be reducing the amount of deaths due to accidental overdoses. Accidental overdoses due to narcotics is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. There is also very little evidence to suggest that marijuana is a health risk to you long term versus narcotics which can cause liver failure, kidney failure, depression, suicidal thoughts, and even death. Would you want to take something that can cause your death? "A day doesn't go by where I don't see a cancer patient who has nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, pain, depression and insomnia. [Marijuana] is the only anti-nausea medicine that increases appetite. I could write six different prescriptions, all of which may interact with each other or the chemotherapy that the patient has been prescribed. Or I could just recommend trying one medicine."-- Donald Abrams, MD. Watching my mother take so many medications every day and seeing how sick they make her I would much rather see her smoke a joint than be throwing up all night long. There are so many more beneficial aspects to marijuana than just medicine too.

The economic effects due to marijuana is also something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. During the first year that Washington state and Colorado were legal they were projected to bring in 550 million combined dollars and surpassed it with 560 million dollars. For every weGrow* store that is opened 75 new jobs are created. Colorado created 10,000 new jobs in 2014 because with every dispensary that is opened employees will be needed, somebody also needs to supply those dispensaries. It is a big chain effect that just keeps creating more and more jobs. Dispensary ads also boost newspaper revenue. They also saved 60 million dollars in tax revenue. The legalization of marijuana would drive the prices of marijuana lower creating more cash in people’s pockets which leads them to spend it on something else. If the whole U.S. legalized it then 41.8 billion dollars would be saved a year because that’s exactly how much we spend on the prohibition of marijuana. The inmates who are also arrested on charges dealing with marijuana cost U.S. prisons 1 billion a year. In the state of California their new most valuable cash crop is the marijuana plant, which brings in 4 billion dollars a year. These are only some of the benefits to the economy due to marijuana.

The criminal justice system and the marijuana industry have had a rocky relationship for many decades, but with the recent trend of states legalizing and decriminalizing marijuana the relationship is getting better. We spend 7.5 - 10 billion a year in taxes to arrest and prosecute people for marijuana violations when 90% of the charges are only for possession. In a few states you can have a certain amount of marijuana before it is illegal, which leads to a lesser prison population therefore the U.S. is spending less money to house inmates who are not even violent. The decriminalization also keeps more people out of our prisons, which are already overcrowded, we can use the 1 billion we are saving on things that are more important. It also frees up police resources so our officers can deal with more serious crimes and offenses. I would feel safer knowing a police officer got a rapist off the streets rather than somebody who occasionally smokes marijuana.

As I stated before these are only some of the benefits of legalizing marijuana in the United States. It would ultimately benefit everybody and boost the U.S. economy!

*weGrow is the “first honest hydro store” & is often referred to as the Wal-Mart of marijuana