Legalizing marijuana could help fix our economic woes
Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Updated: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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A large joint is lit at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco Tuesday, April 20. Marijuana legalization advocates lit up across the country during the annual observance of 4/20, the celebration of civil disobedience derived from “420” – shorthand for cannabis consumption. Advocates for legalization in California attained enough signatures to place decriminalization of marijuana on November ballots.
California has the chance to become the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana this November, allowing Californians to possess up to an ounce or harvest their own garden of marijuana measuring up to 25 square feet.
According to a recent poll issued by SurveyUSA, 56 percent of Californians support the legalization of marijuana. Supporters collected nearly 700,000 signatures, far surpassing the 433,971 needed to petition for the bill.
The recent legislation is being spearheaded by Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, America’s first college dedicated to cannabis trade, which opened its doors in 2007.
Oaksterdam provides students with training in cannabis industry.
Its faculty is mostly comprised of recognizable attorneys within the legalization movement.
Proponents claim legalizing pot could save the state of California $200 million per year by reducing public safety costs and would generate a substantial amount of tax revenue from the sale of the drug.
Even though the majority of Americans do not approve of marijuana use, nationwide support for legalization has increased from 27 percent in 1979 to 44 percent in 2010, courtesy of a 2009 CBS News poll.
If the numbers continue to grow at this rate, the minority will be the majority in a matter of years.
This is not the first time California has created national attention due to marijuana laws.
In 1996, it became the first state to allow the use of cannabis for medical use, and now 13 other states have followed.
Many Americans worry that increased crime will come with the influx of legal users and that the war on drugs should continue.
But previous research shows that the current war on drugs has done nothing but put more money in the pockets of illegal drug dealers.
According to the book "Public Policy and the Quality of Life" by Randall G. Holcombe, professor of economics at Florida State University, efforts to hinder distribution of drugs into the United States give dealers the opportunity to reduce quality, drive prices up and increase profits.
As an example, Holcombe wrote:
"Assume that cocaine goes for $1 a gram and that the total market at this price is 100 grams of cocaine, meaning that the total revenue from the sale of cocaine is $100 ... Now assume that the government is successful in eliminating 10 percent of the market, reducing the total supply to 90 grams. Because the buyers are relatively insensitive to price changes, the price might now increase to $1.50 per gram. Selling 90 grams at $1.50 brings in $135, compared to $100 for selling 100 grams at $1. Although fewer grams are being sold at higher prices, the total revenue from the sale rises, because the price increase more than compensates for the reduced volume of sales."
Dr. Jon Gettman, marijuana reform activist and public administration professor at Shepherd University, in his 2007 article "Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws," placed the illicit marijuana market in the U.S. at just under $113 billion.
With 28.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product going to taxes, state and federal government lost out on $31 billion in tax revenue.
People need to realize how much legalizing the mildly harmful drug (as compared to other illicit drugs) would help our economic situation.
Taylor Winstead, a freshman engineering major, said "our nation could make a lot of money off the sales of (marijuana), and our government would also not spend as much money trying to crack down on it."
To a lot of people, it is about morality and what is best for youth.
Yet, the over-consumption of alcohol is vastly celebrated in the United States. Companies that produce alcoholic beverages, such as Budweiser, Miller and Coors, are leading sponsors for TV programming and in magazines.
These firms all promote immoral behavior equal to marijuana.
And when it comes to the youth, more "factual" education needs to be presented at an early age – "factual" because the propaganda that floods our schools and TVs about the dangers of drug use is far from reality.
Kids need to know the truth.
When they realize that smoking a joint won’t get you pregnant or make you jump off buildings, a sense of trust is lost.
Issues of morality or health concerns do not compare to the money our government spends arresting and incarcerating nearly 60,000 marijuana offenders a year, according to a study published in the Federation of American Scientists "Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin."
More than a quarter of offenders are incarcerated for personal possession with no drugs other than marijuana involved.
Efforts will continue to legalize marijuana, even if legislation doesn’t pass in November.
And with the number of supporters growing every year, it won’t be long until Lee at Oaksterdam gets to say "Mission Accomplished."