Alleviating the Prison System

          While the legalization and decriminalization of drugs will always be a debatable topic, the term “drug” is a broad topic in of itself, with both legal and currently illegal drug types falling into multiple categories and classifications. What should be legal and illegal, the problems associated with both, personal use and in society as a whole are always going to be at the forefront of debates as well. Heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines are illegal because they are dangerous, addictive and destructive drugs. Marijuana, while some can argue that it is addictive, it is not dangerous and destructive like the previously mentioned drugs. Marijuana has some medical use, but if legalized as a recreational drug, could aid in the suffering American economy, specifically in California, and a decline in violence associated with drug trade.

          For decades there has been an ongoing war on drugs, both at home in the United States and Mexico where drug violence and mayhem is at an all time high. This war has associated problems that we once saw when the United States declared Alcohol illegal under the Volstead Act, otherwise known as Prohibition. The problems such as violence, organized crime, corruption, and disrespect for law enforcement, are at an all time high both on American streets and through Mexico. Drugs such as heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine should remain illegal, however marijuana should be legalized, not only decriminalized. Decriminalization, which has made laws in certain states more lenient towards possession of small amounts of marijuana, is certainly a start towards legalization, which would take the marijuana trade and money away from Mexican cartels and put it back into the American economy and end the violence associated with it.

          If we fully decriminalized marijuana and rule it legal, we could treat it’s sale and transportation much the same as we currently do with alcohol by means of detailed regulation such as taxes and age restrictions. The legalization would likely result in a fall of current drug prices, which is due to the limited access of marijuana and compensation dealers want because of the risks associated with cultivation, sale and transportation. The lowering of the prices could be offset by taxation, which could be pumped back into the economy. By pumping the marijuana tax dollars back into the economy, it would aid cities and states in correcting the deficits they face. For example, the city of Oakland, California in 2009 faced a $31 million dollar deficit and saw 17 percent unemployment rate. Oakland approved four large-scale marijuana plantations that could produce as much as 70,000 pounds of marijuana each year, which would go directly into licensed dispensaries. These dispensaries, moving that amount of marijuana, which is likely, based on the number of supporters of the legalization, could bring in an estimated $38 million dollars a year in fees and taxes.

          Legalization could also aid in alleviating our current prison system overcrowding problem that we face because of senseless laws that locked up pot offenders. While it is job security for some, too much time and focus is being put into our drug wars on marijuana by law enforcement, instead of focusing on harder, more destructive drugs as well as other problems that society faces such as rape, robbery, and murder.Marijuana legalization is gaining widening support in most societies today, as we recently saw in the elections last week with Proposition 19 making it onto the California ballot. It is a slow process, that I believe we will see become a legal recreational drug in our lifetime. Alcohol is one of the largest industries in the world and kills more people as a direct or indirect result than marijuana ever has, yet marijuana is still illegal regardless of the positive effects it could have on the economy as a whole such as alleviating money deficits, lowering associated violence and allowing law enforcement to focus on worse problems we face.

References

Bretteville-Jensen, Anne Line. 2006. To Legalize or Not To Legalize? Economic Approaches to the Decriminalization of Drugs. Substance Use & Misuse, Vol. 41 Issue 4, p. 555-565

Husak, Douglas; Sher, George; de Marneffe, Peter. 2003. Drug Legalization. Criminal Justice Ethics, Vol. 22, No. 1, p. 21-49

Sullum, Jacob. America on Drugs. Prohibition Didn’t Work Then; It Isn’t Working Now. Drugs, Society, and Behavior. Article 43, p. 168