Blog 10

The article I found related to the legalization of marijuana is located on the CQ researcher. The title of the article is called Legalizing Marijuana- should pot be treated like alcohol and taxed? The article covers a lot of topics related to the legalization of marijuana, but mainly talks about how legalization would affect tax revenues and the legal system. These are two of the main arguments overall that support the legalization of the drug. The article talks about how much tax revenue the country could be taking advantage of and also about how California is one of the main states for Marijuana production- “California tax chief Yee's $1.4 billion tax revenue estimate was itself derived from an estimate of a California crop worth $14 billion, a figure that traces back to a nationwide cannabis crop estimate of 10 million metric tons — worth $35.8 billion — by the White House drug-policy office in 2003”. This is a ridiculous amount of revenue that we are desperately in need of. This money could help spur the economy and help the overall well being of United States citizens. But some experts say that the figures are over blown. The other main argument of this article is related to the decriminalization of marijuana. The article states that “marijuana arrests figure prominently in the nation's overall crime statistics. Roughly 14 million people a year are arrested nationwide on all charges”. This is an absurd number of arrests for harmless possession or distribution of marijuana. The police need to be focusing on other, more serious criminals. We are wasting out money on the enforcement of the drug and low-level marijuana busts. The article states that “700,000 Americans are being arrested every year for nothing more than marijuana possession,” says Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance. If this is the case, why not just decriminalize the drug? Many states have taken steps to decriminalize marijuana, most recently Massachusetts. Massachusetts recently implemented a $100 fine for a first offense of marijuana possession and didn’t talk about smoking in public. But the fine for drinking in public in Massachusetts is $300. This is basically saying to everyone that you should smoke pot in public instead of drink, because you’re only going to be fined $100 opposed to $300. Overall, I thought this argument was pretty convincing. The quotes and figures really proved the point that there is an overwhelming amount of tax revenues that the United States could be taking advantage of. They also showed that there is a ridiculous amount of marijuana related arrests every year that cost the country money to enforce. I will most likely use all of these quotes I found for my paper. They will support my arguments that legalizing marijuana would help increase revenues for the country and decrease the amount of money the country is spending on housing and arresting people for marijuana related offenses.
citation: Katel, P. (2009, June 12). Legalizing marijuana. CQ Researcher, 19, 525-548. Retrieved November 3, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/cqresearcher/cqresrre2009061200.