In the 1920’s, the United States prohibited the consumption and production of alcohol. During this time, usage increased and crime skyrocketed. I discuss this reaction in order to disprove the point that the decriminalization of marijuana would increase its use. Since an increase in use is the only negative effect of legalization, let us discuss the benefits.
Firstly, the decriminalization of marijuana would be the smartest financial move our government has ever made. Each year, $42,000,000,000 of taxpayer money is spent on prosecuting, policing and housing marijuana users. If we had an extra $42 billion dollars, we could hire 880,000 schoolteachers at the average U.S. teacher salary of $47,602 per year. On top of this spending cut, our government could make billions more on taxing marijuana.
However, taxpayers are not the only ones who would benefit. Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, and Glaucoma patients would as well. Cancer patients suffering from poisonous use of chemotherapy can have the nausea and pain relieved by marijuana’s therapeutic effects. These effects can also help patients with AIDS and MS. Lastly, because marijuana reduces pressure on the eye, it can help to treat glaucoma.
Best of all, marijuana would no longer be a gateway drug if we were to decriminalize it. In middle schools all across the country, students are taught how horrible marijuana is. I myself considered it to be as bad as heroin and cocaine not too long ago. Then, after kids learn how horrible marijuana is, they try it. Next, they begin to think that it is not that bad, so other drugs must not be bad either. Marijuana is a gateway drug because it is illegal.
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