Legalization Of Marijuana Argumentative Analysis

Washington and Colorado are the first states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. There are 23 states that have legalized medical marijuana use, three states are still pending. Several states have also altered their laws to reduce the penalties from marijuana relates crimes. According to a Gallup poll, in 1969 only 12% of the population favored the legalization. In 2013 the same poll was taken, now 58% of the population is in favor of marijuana legalization. ONDCP states that in 2011 over 18 million people in the US, or 7% of the US population, had used the drug within the past month. Now that doesn’t seem like a huge demand for it but these results may not be as accurate since it is illegal. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) the US spends $193 billion on health care, crime, lost productivity, as well as other expenditures. Prohibition of marijuana prevents the taxation of marijuana products as well as the cost from enforcement, if it was legalized tax revenues could increase and government expenditure would decrease. …show more content…
Roughly 5.29% of all arrests are related to marijuana. Now for felony convictions, the total percentage from marijuana is 10.9%. The total percentage for all correctional costs from marijuana is 1.0%. Below I have made a graph that depicts the total police, judicial, and correctional costs from marijuana. It may not look like a lot but when it is all said and done from the year 2000, a little over $5 billion was spent from enforcing marijuana. When you think of inflation over the years and adding it all up, that could save the government a good amount of