Matt Willey
Legalizing Marijuana
The war on drugs has been an ongoing and what seems to be an endless battle for
decades. Marijuana has been an ongoing issue for years as well. When we think of illegal street
drugs, we think of crack, heroine, meth, and of course Marijuana. Most of these drugs are illegal
because they are highly addictive and can ruin and end lives. Without these drugs flooding our
streets, it is thought that our world would be a much safer and more peaceful place to live.
However, eliminating these drugs all together has been a failing process for years due to the high
demand for these drugs and the volume that they are being produced and sold at. Marijuana is
one of these drugs that have been illegal since the early 1900’s, and yet it can be easily found no
matter where you go. Billions have been spent trying to enforce it over the years, and many are
beginning to feel that Marijuana being illegal is doing more harm than good.
So why does Marijuana stand out from other illegal drugs? We have all heard the Phish
listening, dreadlock having, Subaru Outback driving hippie, make claims on how weed isn’t
physically addictive and how weed has never resulted in an overdoes or death directly related to
Marijuana itself. Chances are you’ll assume that they are just a burnout and disregard everything
they have just said. However there is a lot of truth to these common “stoner” responses. The fact
is, there really have been no overdoses or deaths related directly to Marijuana (Overdose).
However, about 24,000 people died in the U.S. from accidental drug overdoses in 2006 (Doheny,
2008). Cocaine accounted for nearly 25% of the deaths while heroin and other illicit drugs were
the cause of 14% of the deaths ((Doheny, 2008). Those deaths combined roughly equaled the
amount of deaths cause by prescription opioids, which resulted in 38% of the deadly overdoses
recorded in 2006 ((Doheny, 2008). Tobacco and alcohol which are perfectly legal if you are age?
Tobacco alone is responsible for 443,000 deaths annually (Centers for Disease, 2010), while
alcohol induced deaths are responsible for nearly 75,000 (msnbc, 2005). Just because something
is legal, doesn’t mean it’s harmless. So since Marijuana doesn’t have any directly related deaths
or overdoses, does that mean it’s harmless? Of course it does not. But when comparing these
statistics against one another, it defiantly raises the question of why substances far more harmful
and deadly are the ones that are legal, opposed to the less harmful and deadly substance. And
why should billions of dollars a year be spent on trying to keep a substance illegal and off the
streets when potentially, billions of dollars of revenue could be earned if it became a legal,
controlled, taxed substance (Reuteman, 2010)?
If we look at our past history, Prohibition during the first decade of the 20th century
might ring a bell (Prohibition). Alcohol became illegal in efforts to reduce crime related with
incidences linked to alcohol. All this did was swing the door right open for producing bootlegged
alcohol in the black market. The demand for alcohol was still extremely high. When the supply is
low and the demand is high, people are willing to take the high risk in order to produce the
alcohol, simply because they know they will be able to earn a huge profit. The benefit of being
able to sell for a high price outweighed the risk of being caught. Not only did this lead to mass
production in the black market, gang related violence increased significantly (Prohibition). Al
Capone is notorious for his multi-million dollar Chicago operation in bootlegging, prostitution
and gambling throughout the years of Prohibition (Al Capone). Eventually, it became clear that
by prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors, black markets
were formed, bootlegged sales of alcohol emerged, gang violence increased, and no longer was
alcohol a taxed substance that could generate revenue. It was clear that things were better off
when alcohol was legal and controlled by the government, and that’s why in 1933 (Prohibition),
the prohibition on alcohol was brought to an end.
Many feel that the illegalization of Marijuana is very similar to the prohibition of alcohol.
The demand for cannabis has always been there, and will continue to be there. Therefore there
will always be individuals willing to take the risk of running a grow-op, smuggling cannabis
across the border, and selling it on the streets. The cost of growing Marijuana varies depending
on how it’s grown and how high-tech the operation is. However, it is relatively inexpensive to
grow, and with street prices ranging anywhere from $150-$350 an ounce depending on location
and quality of the product, the returns in profit are high (The Price). This makes it well worth it
for someone to take the risk and form a black market operation that could potentially rake in
millions.
Today with technology, growers are able to grow bud that is far more potent than in years
past which means they are able to sell for even higher amounts (Harrison, 2010). This is because
they are able to use technology to monitor and control everything from the amount water and
light each plant receives, to how much humidity and CO2 is in the room (Brady, 2004). As growops become more clever and high tech, it will be harder for law enforcement to track and shut
down these operations making it more tempting for a future grower to begin his or her own
grow-op. Growers will always stay one step ahead of law enforcement, and no matter how much
money is spent on attempting to shut down operations, it will most likely never be enough to put
every grower out of business.
It is estimated that legalizing marijuana would save $13.7 billion per year in government
expenditure on enforcement of prohibition (Reuteman, 2010). Over 700,000 people are arrested
on Marijuana related charges, most of them being non-violent crimes such as possession
(Stevens, 2012). There are more arrests made on marijuana charges than violent crimes such as
rape, robbery, and murder combined (Stevens, 2012). Prisoners incarcerated for Marijuana
related crimes totaled nearly 60,000 in a 1999 study, costing taxpayers nearly 1.2 billion dollars
to keep them behind bars (Stevens, 2012). Sure the thought of one less drug dealer on the streets
may sound appealing, but most dealers are in gangs, and when one is caught or killed, someone
else moves in to replace them. Even catching members that have a high ranking in a gang simply
means that someone else in that gang will just move up in a ranking. Bottom line is that sending
a dealer to jail will have little to no impact on reducing the sale of drugs on the streets, and
taxpayers will end up paying roughly $47,000 for every year that dealer is incarcerated
(California, 2012). Prisons are also becoming over capacitated, a lot having to do with prisoners
being held for nonviolent crimes. As a result, taxpayers are the ones having to pay for new
prisons to be built instead of something more beneficial to a taxpayer such as a new school or a
new hospital. In 2008, the 50 states spent $52 billion on corrections, almost all of it on prisons
(Boeri, 2011). Even with all of that money being dumped into the correctional system, 42% of
criminals return to jail within three years or being released (Kolifrath, 2011). Prisoners are
released from jail, need to make some quick cash, meet up with their former gang, and start
selling again. Then they are caught for the same crime, given a longer sentence, and put back in
jail for taxpayers to pay for their housing for the remainder of their new sentence. It’s an ongoing
process that drains the money out of the taxpayers’ pockets when potentially, Marijuana could be
generating revenue.
If Marijuana was taxed at a comparable rate to cigarettes and alcohol, an estimated 6.6
billion dollars could be generated annually (Wastler, 2005). That amount could easily increase or
decrease depending on if a fixed price was set per gram or ounce. Also, no one knows for sure
what the number of Marijuana users would be if it became legal. In 2007, 14.4 million
Americans admitted to smoking weed within the last month in a 2007 survey (Burnett, 2009).
That number could increase significantly if Marijuana became legal, or it could remain nearly the
same. Even if there was no increase in users if Marijuana became legal, there is certainly still a
high demand with roughly 14.4 million users.
Overall, this war on drugs has no end in sight and is costing the taxpaying citizen far too
much. Many will agree that Marijuana remaining illegal is doing more harm than good both
crime wise, as well as financially. It’s no longer 1936 where people got their facts about
Marijuana from ‘Reefer Madness”. We have evolved and we now get our facts from creditable
studies, many of which have contradicted many myths concerning Marijuana. These studies
include long term use of Marijuana not causing permanent brain damage, (Kirchheimer, 2003)
and Marijuana being unlikely to cause lung cancer (Peck, 2008). There are even studies proving
potential medical benefits of Marijuana such as Marijuana being used to fight tumors. (Laino,
2007). The list goes on and it is becoming clear to many that there would be both economic
benefits, as well as potential medical benefits if the prohibition on Marijuana was brought to an
end.
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