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Pros and Cons of Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana has been one of the most abused drugs in the United States and around the globe. As such, a debate on whether to legalize marijuana is rife in the majority of countries in the recent past (Anderson & Rees, 2014). Whereas the supporters of marijuana use argue that legalizing it will lead to economic development due to tax revenues, individuals and organizations opposed argue that the short-term and long-term effects of using the product; such as short-term memory problems, schizophrenia, and depression, are detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the users (Johnson, 2019). While the legalization of marijuana can result in cons such to increased revenues, dismantling of the black market, and improved quality and safety control, it can also lead to mental health problems and increased violence/crime in society. This research paper explores the pros and cons of marijuana legalization.

Pros of Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana legalization can lead to increased revenues through taxes and other fees as the government will be able to monitor and control its manufacture and sale. Notably, since the legalization of recreational marijuana in the states of Colorado and Washington in 2012, the legal sales of cannabis in the two states amounted to $996 million in 2015 (Johnson, 2019). The tax revenues that the government collected from the sale of the substance was a staggering $135 million. According to ArcView Market Research, in North America, the sales of marijuana stood at $6.7 billion in 2016 and is even expected to increase to $20.1 billion by 2021(Dragone et al., 2019). Additionally, based on a report from the Pueblo’s Institute of Cannabis Research in Colorado State University, the legal cannabis industry has contributed to over $58 million to the local economy in the form of taxes and other fees (Choo et al., 2014). Moreover, the New Frontier, a cannabis analytic company, projects that the legal pot could generate an aggregate of $131.8 billion in the form of federal tax revenues by 2025 (Johnson, 2019). The revenues generated from cannabis can be deployed in a variety of ways. One of those is that they can be utilized to increase awareness campaigns about the adverse effects of the product. Additionally, the government can use the taxes for its development agendas.

Legalizing marijuana will give the authorities a greater mandate to ensure that the product is of the set standards and safe for use. Notably, for those states and countries who have not legalized the use of cannabis, the black market has been the only place where marijuana can be found (Johnson, 2019). Some of the dealers of the drugs in the black market are drug dealers involved in organized crime. Legalizing marijuana will put the drug dealers out of business or force them go legit. With the black market, there is no chance that the end-users will question the quality of the product. However, the legalization of the commodity will create a set of standards for both quality and safety control (Choo et al., 2014). As evidenced in the alcohol and tobacco industries, legalizing cannabis will make sure that the users will know what they are purchasing in terms of the quality and any adverse health effects (Anderson & Rees, 2014). Legalization will; undoubtedly, lead to improved quality and safety control which will ultimately reduce the burden on the medical system. There will lesser serious problems occurring from overdoses because the users will know the maximum amount that they should take.

Cons of Marijuana Legalization

The legalization of marijuana will lead to various adverse short- and long-term mental health issues. The use of cannabis was found to lead to short-term memory problems arising from the effects that it has on the functioning of the brain (Hasin et al., 2015). Additionally, users experience severe anxiety as well as the fear that they are being watched or followed. Strange behaviors have been found by those who use marijuana in terms of their hearing, seeing, and smelling. Not differentiating imagination from reality and hallucinations as well as lowered reaction time are other short-term effects. Users of cannabis have in the short term encountered problems with coordination and thus cannot drive safely or play sports. In the long term, marijuana leads to a decline in the intellectual quotient (IQ). For instance, according to Monte, Zane, and Heard (2015), prolonged use of the drugs leads to up to 8 points decline in IQ. Teenagers who have used marijuana have experienced poor school performance and even higher chances of dropping out of school. Impaired thinking experienced decreases the ability of users to learn and also perform complex tasks (Blanco et al., 2016). Moreover, marijuana legalization will see an increase in relationship problems and intimate partner disagreements and even violence.

Marijuana is a gateway drug which gives way to the consumption of other harder and dangerous drugs and hence makes the users violent and criminals. Notably, a gateway drug is that habit-forming drug which leads to the use of other more addictive drugs (Monte, Zane, & Heard, 2015). According to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), a national anti-drug program, marijuana is one of the three getaway drugs (others are alcohol and tobacco). As such, legalizing marijuana will not only see an increased in those consuming the product but also open doors for the consumption of harder drugs such as heroin. Increase consumption of such drugs will lead to increased crime in the society. Notably, Anderson, and Rees (2014) asserts that the consumption of marijuana has a relationship with the rates of crime. Although researchers have predicted that legalizing marijuana will decrease the infighting between different drug dealers and thus reduce crime, the opposite is true. In the pro-marijuana jurisdictions, crimes such as homicide have been on the increase. For instance, in Denver, the homicide rate increased from 36 in 2012 to 67 cases in 2018 (Dragone et al., 2019). Additionally, the District of Columbia experienced an increased in the resurgence of violence and reached 150 homicide cases in 2018.

In conclusion, although supporters of the legalization of marijuana hold that it will lead to increased revenues from taxes and make the product meet quality standards, opposers argue that marijuana is addictive and can cause mental health problems while also increasing crime rate. Research has demonstrated that countries and states which have legalized marijuana have experienced high revenues from taxes and other fees. Additionally, authorities will increase the monitoring of production and sale of cannabis so that it meets quality standards. However, marijuana has short- and long-term mental health effects such as memory loss, depression, and even poor performance in schools and dropouts. Additionally, although supporters have argued that legalizing marijuana results in a reduction in crime, statistics from Colorado reveal that legalization actually results in increased cases of homicide crimes. Moreover, marijuana is a gateway to other harder drugs such as heroin. Weighing the pros against the cons leads to the conclusion that marijuana should not be legalized.