The Criminalization of Marijuana Since the signing of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937; the use, sale, and production of marijuana has been made and, for the most part, kept illegal. With all these new studies being done about the plant, many people are beginning to ask why the plant is still illegal. Even more so, people are also beginning to question why it 's still considered a class 1 substance. In order for a drug 's legality to be determined, scientists compare the health benefits with the hazards. If the hazards outweigh the benefits, it becomes illegal. Addictiveness, withdrawal symptoms, and long term affects are all taken into consideration. Marijuana 's health benefits tower the health hazards and the health benefits are just
…show more content…
The US spends billions of dollars to keep this penicillin like plant off the streets. And for the most part it doesn 't really work. As a whole the US spends 41.8 billion dollars a year by keeping it illegal. That is 131 dollars a year per person to keep it illegal. But for those who do get caught selling or in the possession of marijuana, we have to spend even more money to keep them in prison. We spend one billion dollars a year on incarcerated prisoners who are there on marijuana related charges. Legalization would also crash down on cartel related gangs. One of the biggest money making industries for the Mexican cartels is the selling of marijuana. The legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington has already put a huge blow in the cartels. Better grown, higher quality, legal weed is taking over north America by storm. Legalization would also allow border patrol agents to focus on harder deadlier drugs like heroin, cocaine, and meth. Legalization would also keep a lot more people from being incarcerated. This is a plus because prisons are already having problems with overpopulation. Problems that come with overpopulation are higher tendencies of violence, swiftness of disease spread, and fire
The US spends billions of dollars to keep this penicillin like plant off the streets. And for the most part it doesn 't really work. As a whole the US spends 41.8 billion dollars a year by keeping it illegal. That is 131 dollars a year per person to keep it illegal. But for those who do get caught selling or in the possession of marijuana, we have to spend even more money to keep them in prison. We spend one billion dollars a year on incarcerated prisoners who are there on marijuana related charges. Legalization would also crash down on cartel related gangs. One of the biggest money making industries for the Mexican cartels is the selling of marijuana. The legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington has already put a huge blow in the cartels. Better grown, higher quality, legal weed is taking over north America by storm. Legalization would also allow border patrol agents to focus on harder deadlier drugs like heroin, cocaine, and meth. Legalization would also keep a lot more people from being incarcerated. This is a plus because prisons are already having problems with overpopulation. Problems that come with overpopulation are higher tendencies of violence, swiftness of disease spread, and fire