Marijuana. The word itself today can be enough to spark a heated debate. Some view the plant as the biggest menace to society since the Second World War. For others, it is a functional part of everyday life. The big question, of course, is whether or not the plant should be legalized for recreational use in the United States. When one looks at the history of why the plant is illegal in the first place, as well as the potential outcomes of legalization, I feel that this debate is a no brainer: legalize it.
To start, let’s take a brief look at the substance’s history. Why is marijuana illegal in the first place? Most people on the anti-pot side would likely say that it was because of the psychoactive effects or for medical reasons. These individuals typically believe that because marijuana alters the user’s mind, the government outlawed it for protection. These people, however, would be wrong. Those on the pro-legalization side often speak about William Randolph Hearst, a popular name in the paper industry, blaming him for a smear campaign that frightened the people of the nation into pushing for the plant’s banning. While closer to the truth, these people are also not correct. Simply put, the push against marijuana initially had mostly racist background.
Marijuana in the United States had been used for years for medical and recreational purposes under the label “cannabis”. For the most part, people were okay with cannabis use in both areas. This began to change, however, in the late 20s to early 30s when Mexican immigrants began to bring the plant into the country, using the term “marihuana” to describe it. This was the root of the turn against pot in the country. Before long, people began to point to marijuana’s use in the black community as valid reason to ban the plant. One particularly anti-pot activist by the name of Harry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in the 1930s, led the charge in the racism department. He published a number of papers discussing the dangers of whites mingling with blacks and becoming exposed to marijuana. A big theme of Anslinger’s was that white females would be corrupted by black males after smoking a joint with them, resulting in “getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution”, resulting in interracial pregnancies. Essentially, Anslinger promoted outlawing the substance not because of its effects, or for medical reasons, but because of a fear of interracial interaction. Anslinger’s efforts resulted in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, imposing a heavy taxation on the plant and jail time for those who attempted to sell the plant without going through the proper channels.
Eventually, this act was deemed to be unconstitutional and therefore, no longer in effect. However, it was quickly replaced with the Controlled Substances Act. Marijuana, under this act, was listed as a Schedule I substance, meaning a substance with high potential for abuse and absolutely no recognized medical use. Essentially, after thousands of years of use across numerous cultures both recreationally and medically, the United States government decided that it was suddenly unfit for any part of society. This was still mostly based upon the racist ideas that began the criminalization push in the first place, although it was less prominent than the initial push in the 1930s.
The question now becomes why should marijuana be legalized, and what would it do for our society and economy. I am going to focus on the societal aspect first. Those who advocate for marijuana to keep its illegal status often use the cry of “marijuana is a gateway drug”. The central idea behind this point seems to be that people who use marijuana are going to then go to cocaine, methamphetamines, heroin, and other heavier drugs to get an even "higher" high. Here’s the thing: as it stands right now, marijuana does have a high potential as a gateway drug. But this is not really because its users are actively looking for other drugs to use. This comes from what we as a society make user go through. In order to get access to this relatively harmless plant, people have to associate with drug dealers, who quite frankly are not making their big bucks off of marijuana. The big money comes from harder drugs such as cocaine and meth. As a result, these drug dealers do everything in their power to get their marijuana using customers, who ordinarily would use nothing more than pot, into these harder drugs. However, legalizing marijuana would erase this issue. If there were safe places for people to legally purchase this substance that is no more harmful than alcohol, the smoking population would be far less likely to turn towards other substances. As a result, our society would see a large decrease in usage of substances that are actually dangerous, such as meth and heroin, creating a safer environment.
Legalization provides excellent potential for our economy as well. The state of Colorado, largely known for being the first state to legalize marijuana, brought in 76 million dollars in the first year of recreational legalization; 44 million of this number was purely tax revenue. Consider also that this number is from only 14 counties in Colorado that have allowed stores to be established within their limits. Multiply this number by 50 states, and you have yourself a lot of revenue for the nation. I’m no economist, but based on the amount of debt that the nation is currently in, I don’t think it would hurt to take in this extra money. In addition, legalizing marijuana - taking away the criminal aspect - would drastically reduce the nation’s incarceration rate. In 2013, 693,482 people were arrested for a marijuana law violation and 88% of those arrested were arrested for possession only. In a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, or 1 in every 110 adults, reducing the frequency of incarceration couldn’t hurt. The amount of money the american public spends on our prison system through taxes would likely go down if over a half a million people per year were no longer being incarcerated for marijuana.
Let me be clear, I am not advocating for a completely unrestricted free for all on marijuana. It is a substance similar to alcohol: people really should not be driving or making life decisions under its influence, and there certainly should be an age restriction placed upon its use. A few states have already taken steps in the right direction, eliminating criminal penalties for possession in small amounts (commonly known as decriminalization). However, the biggest issue with marijuana is the culture of fear that has been formed through years of racism and unfounded hatred. This fear culture is unnecessary for a substance that has clinically proven medical benefits and does less damage to one’s health than many substances that are legal, including cigarettes, cigars, and alcohol. My hope is that one day, American The Free will allow its citizens the freedom to make their own decision on whether or not they want to use marijuana without the looming stigma and potential of fines and jail time.
