Marijuana should be legalized for both recreational and medicinal use because the US economy can reap significant benefits from legalization as well as create an influx of jobs and also to reduce street and gang disputes relating to marijuana. Also, marijuana should be legalized because it has been dealt an unfair hand by society and is justifiably safer than most know it to be. First, marijuana should be legalized in the US for both recreational and medicinal purposes because there is a very substantial profit that can be made from it. By placing a tax on Marijuana, similar to what the Government has done with various alcohol and tobacco products, The US Government can use America’s largest cash crop to its advantage. Perhaps even plans using such a tax can be set up to start paying the 16 trillion dollar debt the United States has accumulated. Further, such a tax could be on a state to state basis, allowing for competition and to keep the economy going. As well as more jobs in each state being created as a result of legalization. The result is a potential chain reaction: legalization in all states results in a tax the government can make a profit off of, also more business competition and an influx in new jobs; National debt and unemployment go down, the economy goes up. In an exclusive interview with CNN and John Hudak, editor of the Fixgov blog said that 2014 is a year to “ wait and see” when he was asked if he thought other states besides Colorado and Washington would legalize marijuana for recreational use. Hudak also commented on “marijuana tourism”, which was the influx of people traveling to Colorado to buy Marijuana "It has to have a real impact on those local economies ... If marijuana tourism can become something that's not only socially acceptable but economically sensible, I think you are going to see a lot of states say ... we can limit taxation, we can reduce the burden on our localities, and we can take the burden off of taxpayers from an income tax perspective if we move ahead with this.". Hudak also touch on legalization for medicinal verses recreational use; he said that states that will never legalize for recreational use “may take more of a step forward in legalizing for medicinal purposes” (Hudak).
Second, marijuana plays a very significant role in the criminal justice system. The fact that marijuana is illegal causes problems for many people today. A significant amount of the nation’s prisoners have been charged with drug related crimes. Many people arrested for smoking or possession for usually very small amounts of marijuana can be locked away for years at a time. In this way, the justice system is flawed; the so called “war on drugs” has done nothing but spend tax dollars on filling prisons with people that committed minor crimes such as marijuana possession. They are trapped in this revolving door and can be potentially turned into lifelong criminals. Further, legalization of marijuana could potentially do good on...
