Legalization Of Marijuana Essay

Register to read the introduction… The majority of this money is being spent on incarcerating individuals who have been accused of either using or possessing marijuana. By incarcerating people for this it only takes up jail and prison space which results to overcrowding and the need for expansion or building of new prisons. All of these aspects cause the federal and state government to spend on average about $30 billion a year. Of all the individuals arrested in 2005 for marijuana offenses, 90% of these individuals were arrested for the possession of marijuana; therefore, only 10% of these arrests involved the actual use of marijuana (risk). These dollars being spent on fighting the usage of marijuana are clearly not being used to benefit the economy for multiple reasons. By spending the money to arrest individuals and punish them there has not been any evidence found to prove any deterrence is taking place. If anything there has been a complete opposite movement in society. Thirteen have de-criminized the possession of a small amount of marijuana and fourteen states as well as Washington DC have passed laws to allow Marijuana to be used for medical purposes (CNBC). As more and more states start legalizing marijuana in these ways it begins to send a message across the nation that marijuana is not as bad as prohibition had proposed it to …show more content…
Dr. Mitch Earleywine, a University of Southern California psychologist, has stated that marijuana has no lethal dose, the serious brain function changes along with liver problems are far worse due to alcohol then from marijuana, and other long term affects of drinking like malnutrition, B-vitamin deficiency, and Korsakoff’s Disorder all appear much more severely than with marijuana if appear at all from it. If marijuana has been proved to be no more dangerous to a user then cigarettes and alcohol, which are legal for US citizens to consume, there is no reason that marijuana should not be legal as