Weed Control

The Effect of Legalizing Marijuana
For thousands of years the plant cannabis, commonly referred to as marijuana, has been used for many things. The earliest documentation of its use is from china in 2700 b.c., where it was used as an herbal remedy. The plant cannabis is not only useful for its medicinal purposes, but it is also useful in many products such as rope and clothing. Currently in the United States marijuana is a banned substance, however, this may not always be the case. Recently, eleven states have de-criminalized the use of marijuana. Because our country may be on the road to legalizing this banned substance, knowing what the effects of this would be, could be useful. Obviously this has not actually happened so all the “facts” in this paper are simply intelligent theories as to what could happen. Legalizing it could have many effects on the state of our current economy, it would definitely have a large effect on our criminal justice program, and it may have many social effects, both positive and negative.
One huge proponent of legalizing marijuana are economists around the country. In a recent letter sent to the president, congress, governors and state legislatures, five hundred economists joined Nobel Laureate George Akerlof in signing a proposal to legalize it. Here’s why economists support it. If the United States were to repeal prohibition, and therefore make marijuana legal, the amount of money the government would save is massive. For example the U.S. spends approximately fourteen billion dollars of our tax money each year futilely attempting to keep marijuana out of the country. Not only would the government save massive amounts of money, but also if they treated it like alcohol or tobacco, the Federal Reserve could gain upwards of 200 billion dollars annually. Because of our country’s terrible financial situation this money could help drastically with social security and even contribute to buying our country back from China.
Another...