The recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington as reported from research has caused increased stir (Fazio, 2017). Texas has strongly been discouraging the legalization of marijuana for years. The past decade of drug liberalization has brought a mixed bag of examples for Texas legislators to examine. Stopping the incarceration of a vast number of people particularly the youths, marijuana should be legalized. The House Bill 2165, introduced by state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, goes much farther than other marijuana bills currently in the Texas legislature (Borchardt, 2017). The bill would legalize both the distribution and possession of the herb. The audacious bill is founded on the premise that legalizing marijuana will reduce minor consumption and allow state resources to be better allocated.
Just like alcohol prohibition in the 1930s, the war on drugs has utterly failed. It is true, history does repeat itself! There is so much literature that cites the numerous health benefits associated with marijuana that it seems ridiculous to ignore. As research had shown, there were close to 700,000 marijuana related arrests in 2014 costing the state a huge amount of money that could have been saved from policing and incarcerating people for these offences (Schuermeyer et al., 2014). Statistics have established that marijuana is about four times less addictive when compared to tobacco, and about half as addicting as alcohol. A recent study determined that after the first use of marijuana, only 9% of users become addicted, opposed to the 32% of first time tobacco users and 15% of users who drink alcohol for the first time (Borchardt, 2017). A study carried out in Oakland, California came to the conclusion that if they legalized marijuana and allowed only a specific number of farmers to grow and distribute it, the city would receive close to 75 million dollars in taxes a year. When the country adopts right laws and regulations, marijuana can rival and possibly supersede tobacco and alcohol in revenue for the country each year. It would significantly stimulate the economy, as well as cut back on a lot of unnecessary spending in law enforcement agencies to work on catching marijuana users so they can focus on removing more harmful drugs from our streets.
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According to a study carried out by Discovery Health, marijuana is used to treat many illnesses such as muscle pain, spasms and nausea. According to research by the National Cancer Institute performed it was established that HIV and AIDS patients who took dronabinol, a drug formed from marijuana, had increased their appetite and stopped losing weight (Fazio, 2017). Marijuana has been confirmed as the least harmful drug that we have plus it is a miracle drug for so many illnesses. According to Borchardt (2017), marijuana is useful in the treatment of Mental Illnesses, Cancer, Crohn's Disease, Alzheimer's, Arthritis, Asthma, Chronic Pain, and Glaucoma to name a few. There are more side effects from Viagra compared to Marijuana. If Marijuana is illegal than Alcohol should be illegal, it causes so many problems! Tobacco should not be legal, Cigarettes should be illegal, and Synthetic Heroin (Opioid Painkillers) should be illegal. Plus the Marijuana industry could get the country out of debt. Marijuana has been scientifically proven to have the potential to help individuals suffering from seizures. It can also be used to treat different types of muscle pain and spasms. In addition to this, according to the 2014 National Survey focusing on Drug Use and Health has noted a rise in drug use in Colorado to the point where the state is now ranked second highest in the nation. Out of an estimated 130 metric tonnes a year of marijuana sold in Colorado, about 60 percent were legal and regulated. The growing trend among youth is a great source of concern and runs counter to the claim that legalisation protects minors (Schuermeyer et al., 2014).
Additionally, many government agencies are putting millions of dollars into the war on drugs when food stamps and other government aid programs are continually being cut. Prohibition is only stifling the country’s financial growth. In the year 2012, more than 1.5 million drug-related arrests were made, and 70 percent of those were marijuana-related (Fazio, 2017). Colorado’s experiment in outright legalization has been wildly successful where they raked in an estimated $76 million in total taxes and fees of about $700 million from sales. Consequently, along with tax revenues, the law had promised to end the black market and cut teen consumption (Borchardt, 2017). On that front, Colorado has had some major setbacks. However, legalization in Colorado has led to the increasing cultivation of active and contaminated marijuana forms without medicinal value. The risks associated with marijuana are particularly severe for teens and young adults. The accessibility of marijuana to minors is a primary concern for all sides when setting marijuana policy. The increased use of marijuana among Colorado teens suggests that legalization has not diminished the black market supply of marijuana available to minors. There are higher possibilities that Texas could also face similar challenges facing Colorado if they legalize marijuana. As a border state, Texas marijuana legalization could bring an influx of marijuana smuggling from various countries such as Mexican cartels (Schuermeyer et al., 2014).
References
Borchardt, D. (2017). Forbes Welcome . Forbes.com . Retrieved 6 March 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/debraborchardt/2017/02/28/texas-could-lose-millions-of- tax- dollars-if-it-stalls-medical-marijuana/#a1400663ee76
Fazio, H. (2017). News and Updates - Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy . Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy . Retrieved 6 March 2017, from https://www.texasmarijuanapolicy.org/news/
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.
