Legalizing Marijuana

Mehrdad Morsali

Professor D.Lacy

WR 1

11-05-2012

Legalizing Marijuana

Proposition 19 supports the legalization of marijuana in California, by making sure it is controlled and taxed.  It allows the citizens of California who are twenty-one years of age and older to buy up to an ounce of marijuana (also known as cannabis) and not be penalized for any crime. This is an effective plan, because it would significantly decrease crime rates among people illegally purchasing marijuana on a daily basis.  Right now, it is completely illegal for anyone without a medical marijuana license to purchase it.  However, if it were legal for everyone at least twenty-one years of age, this would eliminate the thousands of drug busts each year and allow law enforcement to focus on other major crimes than trivial marijuana.  It would also crack down on minors smoking marijuana, as police would single out teenagers and hopefully better prevent substance abuse at a younger age.  Rather than trying to incriminate everyone in possession of marijuana, they can direct more of their attention to younger generations where substance abuse problems typically begin.  

By putting a tax on marijuana, it would create a huge increase in California’s annual budget, generating billions of dollars in revenue.  “According to the State Board of Equalization, legalizing and taxing marijuana will generate an estimated $1.4 billion in new tax revenue for California.” (Lipton) This revenue could majorly boost our economy and eventually get out of debt.  Taxing marijuana could possibly make it cost even more than what it is worth on the streets.  This would generate a large supply of income for the state, and California would not have to keep raising taxes.  This would also be beneficial for the consumer, however, because it would allow for consistent pricing, opposed to being ripped off on the streets from dealers, who often increase their prices to make more profit.

Believe it or not, legalizing marijuana can protect our environment.  “Marijuana formerly produced in Mexico could soon be produced locally, doubtlessly saving hundreds of thousands of miles in transportation and soil usage.” (Doyle) We have a better chance of saving the habitat since we can use fresh soil that is not transported from the Mexican government, and decrease the massive amounts of pollution at the same time.  It is not only cost-effective, but environmentally friendly at the same time.  By being able to legally grow marijuana locally, this would also eliminate the Mexican drug cartels shipping massive amounts of marijuana over the border every single day.  Drug cartels make over sixty percent of their profit in marijuana sales.  Everyone knows that drug cartels are bad news.  They are unsafe, and a lot of crime and corruption comes along with them.  If anyone gets in their way, they will most likely end up dead.  Innocent people fall victim to drug cartels every day that are either accidentally in the wrong place at the wrong time, or are forced into a situation they do not want to be in.  Either way, Mexican drug cartels are deadly and dangerous.  Legalizing marijuana would make the border patrol’s job a lot easier and eliminate the hundreds of drug busts that occur every year.