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Daniel Groza
Mrs. Robertson
English 111-126
November 27 2016
One does not forget the first time that they smoked marijuana. My friends and I were at
pizza hut on the clock when I had my first hit with the so called gateway drug. After I was done
taking hits, the only thing that I got addicted to was the couch in the dining room and some
leftover pizza that was remaining in the hot box. One remembers their first take, but also one
remembers the paranoia that comes with it. During intake, somehow I could always get the
feeling that the police would out come to arrest me, as if they were the boogey man to my
depressants paradise. One would always be on the lookout and remember to cower and hide
away in a remote and solitary location. Also, one remembers the cost of paying for the amount of
marijuana they needed for that special party or get together with their friends, and also buying
the bowl or pipe for their special ingredient. Marijuana is an illegal drug in almost half of the
United States because of the controversy that older generations make it to be; due to its implied
status as Drug, and the ability it has to get someone high. According to Lauter, David in his
newspaper article, Poll: Majority of Americans Support Legalizing Pot 52-45% of Americans
support the legalization of marijuana. 24 states have now either decriminalized the usage of
medical marijuana, legalized the drug, or permit medical uses for it. According to Lauters
survey from 2006, he suggests that more than half of Americans do not even consider marijuana
to be a moral issue anymore. 72% of Americans believe that the cost of the Federal government
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keeping the drug illegal costs more than legalizing it. Another statistic suggests that 77% of
Americans are onboard with the idea of medical usage of marijuana. Americans are waiting for
the federal government to legalize marijuana on a federal level for recreational usage because of
the amount of money and time saved for police who are investigating illegal marijuana dealers or
containing the incarcerated people who were caught with possession of the drug, the amount of
money that can be invested in stopping other serious drugs from being exported into the country
by the cartels, and also because it improves the economy/quality of life for most by legalizing
Many Americans are disgusted by the fact that the government wastes money and time on
arresting people for possession of marijuana when there are more crucial cases or drugs to deal
with for the law enforcers. According to Donlan, Thomas G., in his journal Should Pot be
Legal? he states that the legalization of marijuana would put an ease on law enforcers. In 2011
alone, the amount of people arrested for possession of marijuana was around 663,000. Around
128,000 people are incarcerated for the possession of marijuana in federal or in state prisons.
This totals to 8% of all U.S. prisoners. Statistics from the Vera Institute of Justice in Christian
Henrichsons research article, states that the average inmate costs around $31,286 annually.
Therefore, if 8% of the U.S.s prisoners are marijuana users, that means the total cost for
incarcerating that 8% alone is worth $400,460,800, not including the costs for putting the people
on trial, summoning a jury, and etc. $400,460,800 goes to maintaining prisoners who have been
arrested for using a drug that is healthier/safer than cigarettes and alcohol. The money could be
used to prevent more life damaging drugs such as crack, cocaine or heroin from entering the
country or being produce here in the US. Based off the tremendous amount of spending that the
US government does to arrest marijuana users, it should legalize the drug for medical and
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recreational use; so that way the country will not spend millions of dollars to incarcerate people
for using a drug similar to cigarettes or alcohol while also helping law enforcers to complete
Finances are crucial in maintaining law and order, and by making marijuana illegal the
US spends millions of dollars on preventing illegal marijuana usage and spread. A drug that does
not even kill or cause addiction. According to Gould, Emily from the Charleston Gazette her
research suggests that less than 25% of marijuana users go on to using heavier drugs such as
heroin or cocaine. Thus, giving support to the claim that marijuana is not a gateway drug. In
world record, the article states that only two people have died of overdosing on marijuana; which
is considered safer than illegal drugs which kill over 200,000 people a year, not mentioning the
5,000,000 people who die from tobacco use annually in the US. Instead of focusing resources on
real hardcore drugs, the US imprisons those who use a medical prescription drug for recreational
uses, on contrary to actually spending money for law enforcers to stop the distribution of more
serious drugs. In an article, Cocaine Incorporated, by Patrick Keefe from the New York Times,
the US Justice Department states that the Mexican and Columbian cartels single handily make
around $18-39 billion dollars from exporting only cocaine here in the US; also Keefe states that
in Mexico, 50,000 people have died due to Mexican cartel wars and power struggles. Not only in
the US do people suffer from the actions of the cartels, but rather hundreds of thousands of
people in Central and South America have died as well from the drug cartel wars alone, not
including the people who get addicted to those drugs in those countries. Marijuana is not the
primary drug that the Mexican and Columbian cartels make profit off of, yet the US government
is accumulating all their resources and energy to arrest and prosecute the many people who do
use marijuana recreationally. As a result, the US cannot tackle serious issues such as the cocaine
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exportation epidemic that is coming into the US. If America would legalize marijuana on a
medical and recreational level then its law enforcers would have more money and resources to
track down the real criminals that are exporting addictive poison into the country. The money
would provide a more safe and prosperous nation in which not only crime rates would drop, but
also the increase of the economy and quality of life here in the US.
When discussing marijuana, the main advocate for pro-legalization of marijuana comes
mainly at the fact that it stimulates money just as well as cigarettes and alcohol, and perhaps
even more so. In an interview by Weekend All Things Considered, titled Where Does
Colorados Marijuana Money Go? Ricardo Baca, a cannabis researcher from the Denver Post
states that the government made around 135 million dollars alone from pox taxes in Colorado,
back in 2015. The sales for 2016 will rise to 1.2-.3 billion dollars in revenue, and 150-170
million dollars in taxes from taxes on pot sales. Also, the first 40 million dollars from the taxes
were sent to capital school reconstruction as well as helping the homeless and providing
scholarships from the pot taxes. Profits are skyrocketing from medium to small states such as
Colorado, Washington, and Oregon. Americas economy as the potential to skyrocket and come
out of the recession quicker if the government were to legalize recreational marijuana. The
quality of life would drastically improve with the extra funds going towards schools, education,
poverty, the homeless, hospitals, and etc. It was not until this election period in November that
Nevada and California, two large states have legalized the drug. If more populated states such as
these two were to do the same, billions of dollars would be flowing into the economy and
drastically improves and benefits all Americans. Thus, providing a strong foundation to stop
wasteful spending on arrests for possession of marijuana, money and resources to help law
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enforcers prevent more life damaging/addictive drugs from being exported into the country, and
by providing more wealth and success to the economy and the American people.
misconceptions. Marijuana has had a bad reputation in the past; due to the fact that it was
classified as a drug, yet it is not lethal or progressively damaging ones body either, but rather
relaxing it and making ones brain think more creatively. Also, if smoking were the issue then
one can consume it rather than smoke the drug, causing the same effects of the drug with
delicious food to go along with it. The amount of money being wasted by the US to prosecute
and incarcerate people for possession of marijuana is absurd and wasteful at the least, and
because so the government wastes its money and intelligence. The government could use its
resources to prevent the cartels from making even more profit with the shipments of marijuana
that it already sends, and along with the even more deadly drugs that they are exporting into the
US such as cocaine or heroin. Thus, legalization would save reckless spending and help establish
less crime rates and drugs being imported into the country. And while establishing secure law
enforcement by focusing on more incentive issues, the US government could take all those
profits that the cartels make, and renovate schools, hospitals, stores, jobs, and etc. The economy
would quickly exist the recession period that it is in, and thus create more jobs, create foreign
trade, and increase the quality of life for the people of the United States. Money, Security, and
Wastefulness aside, the drug has affected millions of lives for better or for worse. Worse in a
sense that the cartels have killed thousands of people during their power struggle wars. The
money made through the cartels could be stopped, and used to help prevent our country and
other countries from suffering mass drug exportation and crime due to illegal distribution of
marijuana. Not only would recreational use prevent deaths, but it would also ease the pain and
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suffering that people experience mentally or physically on a daily basis. It is a drug that helps
ease pain without the extreme side effects that normal medicines provide, and maintains a longer
high as well. The legalization of recreational marijuana on a Federal level does not only affect
and improve the law enforcement and economy, but also the lives of ordinary people from all
around the world. Thus, recreational usage of the drug on a Federal level, will affect people in a
positive way, and cause an improvement in the quality of life that Americans and people around
the world have been desperately needing, and are waiting for.
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Work Cited
Donlan, Thomas G. "Should Pot be Legal?" Barron's 93.22 (2013): 25-7. ProQuest. Web. 1 Nov.
2016.
Henrichson, Christian and Delaney Ruth, The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs
Taxpayers. New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2012. Web 1 Nov. 2016
Lauter, David. "Poll: Majority of Americans Support Legalizing Pot." The Ledger Apr 04
PATRICK, RADDEN KEEFE. "Cocaine Incorporated." Jun 15 2012. Web. ProQuest. 27 Nov.
2016.
Where does Colorado's Marijuana Money Go?. Washington, D.C.: NPR, 2016. ProQuest. Web.
27 Nov. 2016.