That’s right. I think weed should not only be decriminalized, it should be legalized as well as taxed and regulated by the government. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t smoke. I think smoking weed (smoking anything actually) is stupid, dangerous and disgusting. I don’t want to legalize weed because I personally want to get high and avoid punishment. I believe it makes sense, socially and economically, to legalize cannabis and that legalization would be beneficial to the nation.
Let’s start with arguments against legalizing weed. The most widely-used argument against legalization is the claim that marijuana is a “stepping-stone” or “gateway” drug, that marijuana often leads to more harmful drugs such as cocaine. I think this is absolutely true. However, I believe this is partially because it is criminalized. Another valid point is that legalization would increase high driving incidents. This is also valid, but I believe regulation on par with drunk driving regulation would greatly reduce this risk. Another argument is that marijuana is simply dangerous. This point in indubitable, but I would like to point out that alcohol, tobacco, guns, fireworks, cars, and even pizza are all dangerous if used irresponsibly or in excess, yet all of these are perfectly legal. I believe that if a person wishes to slowly commit suicide, he should be able to choose weed as a viable option along with the aforementioned, very legal methods.
How about the arguments for legalizing weed? There are quite a few from a social standpoint, including the fact that legalizing marijuana will lead to a decline in crime, a decline in the number of prison inmates and a decline in overall arrests. For example, in 2008, 847,863 people in the U.S. were arrested on marijuana charges, most of them for simple possession. Thus, legalization would eliminate the need to waste time and money on these meaningless arrests. Furthermore, just as mob violence was all but wiped out after the end of prohibition, legalization of marijuana would greatly reduce gang and cartel-related violence in the U.S. There are also substantial economic arguments for the legalization of weed. For instance, alcohol and tobacco, two undeniably dangerous, legal drugs, account for a combined $20 billion dollars in tax revenue each year. Thus, if marijuana were legalized, regulated and taxed like these two drugs, America could find a significant new revenue stream. In addition, the U.S. spends about $7.6 billion a year attempting to combat and control marijuana use in this country. Therefore, I believe that although marijuana does indeed have certain dangers and drawbacks, it makes social and fiscal sense to simply legalize, regulate, and tax the hell out of it.
