As several states in the U.S consider legalization of marijuana, the progress in the Washington and Colorado states have been monitored after they had legalized the use of marijuana. In November 2012, an Amendment which allowed for the sale, purchase, and possession of marijuana was approved in Colorado. A similar initiative was also adopted by Washington around the same time. The legalization of the drug has been under scrutiny over whether it brings out positive or negative results. According to some research articles, the move has been seen to provide some positive outcomes the states in their entirety. It is important to note that the move has not necessarily been beneficial in all areas which may include the public health sector. However, it has gone reduce certain challenges that had been faced earlier thus overall maintaining positive results (Swift, 2016).
One positive impact is the minimal change in the number of youths who use marijuana. This was probably one of the major concerns when the passing of the amendment was done. Many people had the idea that if marijuana is legalized, it would trigger an increase in the number of users especially the youth, who are viewed to be more susceptible to these kinds of pressures and trends. This is however not the case. For a state like Colorado, it is seen that the number of teens who use marijuana remain to be in the numbers that average the country’s teenage marijuana youth (Schuermeyer, 2014). This is a positive trend as it provides the understanding of how some of these misconceptions work and how people are quick to conclude on the bad effects of marijuana without really getting the facts right. The outcome also proves that it is more or less a person’s choice to take drugs and that making it legal is not necessarily an open door to have caused an influx in the number of users. It would only encourage users to be at ease and minimal conversion of non-smokers to smokers.
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One other positive impact that looks to benefit the states is the reduced arrests related to marijuana use ( Pacula, Powell, Heaton & Sevigny, 2015). For adults, the overall low-level offenses related to marijuana use has been significantly lower than for younger individuals. However, the significant drop of about fifty percent has been and this proves to be encouraging. According to reports done by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), more arrests were done for marijuana-related offenses in a year than violent crimes. Thus, with the move to reduce the low-level arrests, the state has been seen to save hundreds of millions which can be put to good use in other sectors that need the help. However, racial disparities still remain an issue in the arrests of individuals. Arrests for black teens and Latinos generally decreased after the legalization, but the move has not seen an equivalent arrest rate for white teenagers. The Drug Police Alliance (DPA) notes that even with the legalization, the disparities continue to reign in the arrests for the offenses. The claim is that even with the efforts to reduce the problem, it remains a tough task since legalization does not remove the overall contributing forces in the first place.
Another important area in the marijuana legalization proceedings is the effect it has on the economy of both the states. In 2017, the state of Colorado recorded a $247 million collection from the marijuana industry. This included the state sales taxes on recreational and medical, special sales taxes on recreational, excise taxes on recreational and application and licenses fees. These revenues as stated by the DPA are aimed at funding for school construction, substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, health care services in the community, and the academic studies on the effects of marijuana legalization in the state. This has been fruitful for it has encouraged development in the states and also allowed the availability of funds of different state needs. Also, some funds come up from the reduced budgets aimed at enforcing marijuana laws in the past. Relative to the states’ budget, the collected revenues may not necessarily be huge, but for areas that they are used, they aim at making a significant difference in terms of drug use awareness and education.
For the few years that have passed while marijuana has been legal, positive effects have been noticed all over. With the shift from the unnecessary arrests, it has paved way for the proper focus on the potential harm of marijuana use. Giving a clear representation of a modern marijuana user in these times provides for a proper understanding of the areas to work on while containing the substance abuse. In an aim to reduce expenditure, the legalization is seen to save a lot of money, especially with the arrests being more than violent crimes in the years before legalization. The resources used to enforce the marijuana laws could, therefore, be used in other areas. It should be applauded that the funds are also used to construct schools and fund the treatment programs of individuals who appear to be hooked. It should be noted that legalization does not necessarily solve all problems as cases of racial disparities in arrests still remain to be an issue. The forces contributing to the disparity prove to go much deeper than can be solved by just legalization. Overall, the marijuana legalization effect has some debatable issues, but the positive effects need not be overlooked.
References
Pacula, R. L., Powell, D., Heaton, P., & Sevigny, E. L. (2015). Assessing the effects of medical marijuana laws on marijuana use: the devil is in the details. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 34(1), 7-31.
Schuermeyer, J., Salomonsen-Sautel, S., Price, R. K., Balan, S., Thurstone, C., Min, S. J., & Sakai, J. T. (2014). Temporal trends in marijuana attitudes, availability and use in Colorado compared to non-medical marijuana states: 2003–11. Drug and alcohol dependence, 140, 145-155.
Swift, A. (2016). Support for legal marijuana use up to 60% in the US. Gallup Social Issues.
