Marijuana And Decriminalization

The term “potheads” has been given to every generation since the 1970s. The Vietnam war was reaching new heights, the hype of Woodstock was still lingering, and the scandals of the White House where all too overwhelming. It was no surprise American teens were finding ways to detach themselves from the reality of 70s. Since then, there have been common myths about how marijuana usage infuses the “munchies,” a side effect that leads a marijuana user to get hungry and eat junk food. Other myths claim that marijuana provokes aggression and violent behavior, hence the reason for its ban in the United States. In the 1930s, marijuana was brought to America by Mexican immigrants, who used the marijuana plant as medicine, but the FDA later determined …show more content…
Decriminalization is an activity that still remains illegal, but enforcement and penalties are not as severe. Legalization means that an activity is monitored by the government and can be taxed. Racial profiling has become an increasing issue in the last year, with many police shootings and unfair court rulings. Men of color have become victims of racial profiling, especially when it comes to possession of marijuana. Many are imprisoned and put to trial unfairly. As stated before, the ban on marijuana seemed to be racially based and still continues to be. In the Depaul Journal for Social Justice by, nvwoobrwon, states, “the war on drugs has been characterized by and criticized for its disproportionate impact on communities of color. African Americans and Latino/as are more likely to be incarcerated, and in some jurisdictions, receive longer sentences than Whites”(). This has not been the first time race has played a factor in an unfair sentence for a pity crime. In the 1960s, when racial justice was taking America by storm, many people of color were being sentenced to unfair crimes and jails were filled with colored people. Not much has changed since then as this problem still seems to be occurring. Thus the reason for legalizing recreational marijuana. Stopping the war on drugs has been a priority for many police departments, but “the War on Marijuana has failed to reduce …show more content…
The whole point for the legalization of marijuana is to keep the drug out of the hands of criminals. Having it regulated by the government and taxed could reduce the amount of crimes that are committed. With legalizing marijuana, police departments could focus more on violent crimes instead of chasing after small crimes, like possession of small amounts of marijuana. The high taxes that will be implemented will also discourage users from purchasing the drug, but the issue will then be users purchasing from the black market. There will be no reason for legalizing a substance if users will find an illegal way to take a hold of the drug, so the problem will be trying to find a middle ground between how high taxes should be. As stated before, police departments can search for more violent crimes and prisons should see a decrease in their population. Legalization of the drug could also promote a decrease in cartels and other organized drug groups. Though it seems like legalizing weed will create a decline in crime rate, anti-marijuana groups show the contrary. They fear that a marijuana reform will attract new users, thus creating an increase in crime rate instead of lowering it. New users will start to view marijuana as a “safe” drug because of government regulation, but many supporters tend to forget that every drug tends to lead to addiction.