Let’s face it, there’s no reason the United States government shouldn’t legalize marijuana.
Let me make this clear upfront, I don’t smoke marijuana now, nor will I ever. However, no matter what your stance on the topic is, you can’t deny there is money to be gained from the legalization of it.
We are literally losing hundreds of thousands of dollars by not making it legal. Colorado deserves some recognition for realizing this and should be used as a model for other states. Colorado officials are expecting $67 million in tax revenue alone for the first year’s marijuana sales. Congratulations, Colorado, you are doing what we should all be doing.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, if someone wants to smoke marijuana, they are going to find a way to do so. In finding that means, they will, undoubtedly, turn to the black market. Why are politicians not seeing this? Pushing people to the black market is damaging, and this country has let it go on far too long.
Tennessee’s number one cash crop is marijuana, yet it is illegal. Clearly, people still grow it, sell it and profit from it. However, the state isn’t taxing the money raised from it. Of course, it can be assumed that some of that money makes its way back into the economy, but not nearly enough of it does.
Along with the fact that we are losing out on money that could improve schools and benefit the public in other ways, we are wasting billions of dollars. Our prisons are over crowded with people who have not committed violent crimes. The U.S. government spends on average $40 billion on drug enforcement each year. I can think of several other things that $40 billion could go towards.
I would like to also point out that, alcohol is dangerous, yet legal. The CDC reports “there are approximately 88,000 deaths attributed to excessive alcohol each year in the United States.” Eighty-eight thousand people lose their lives each year, yet alcohol is still legal. No one is pushing for alcohol to become illegal. Our country tried that once; it didn’t pan out well for them. However, not one death has ever been reported from an overdose of marijuana. Those who compare alcohol and marijuana need to seriously reevaluate their comparison.
While I note there have been several strides taken recently to decriminalize marijuana and to make medicinal marijuana legal, this simply isn’t enough. From a purely economic standpoint, this country would be stupid not to legalize it.
Whether you lean as far right as you can go, like me, or you lean to the left, there is simply no reason not to support the legalization of marijuana. The fact is, our economy is suffering, and we could greatly benefit from taxing this high value crop.
