Legalizing marijuana has been an ongoing debate for years. With Colorado making marijuana legal, it’s always talked about whether the whole country should make it legal. As of now, West Virginia has not taken any steps toward modernizing their marijuana laws. However it’s discussed consistently if W.Va. should legalize marijuana.
According to a research paper done by Tara Holmes who works for the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, if marijuana was taxed and legalized, West Virginia could collect $45 million per year. In addition, if 10 percent of marijuana users who live in a 200 mile radius of the state came to W.Va. to purchase weed, this could bring in $194 million in tax dollars. According to the W.Va. center in the fiscal year 2015, Colorado earned $135 million in weed related revenues, Washington State earned $78 million in revenues. These numbers indicate how much money can be potentially earned with marijuana legalization.
According to the W.Va. center, marijuana could potentially reduce addicts reliance on opioid based painkillers and heroin, people in pain could instead be prescribed marijuana which is much less addictive. According to the W.Va. center, West Virginia has the third highest cancer related death rate in the nation, this could benefit residents suffering from illness. According to the W.Va. center, there is evidence that medical marijuana helps with nausea and vomiting because of chemotherapy, as well as decreasing pain. According to the W.Va. center, the conditions that qualify for medical marijuana include cancer, cachexia, chronic pain, glaucoma, HIV/Aids, severe nausea, ALS, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease, severe fibromyalgia and Tourette's syndrome. According to the W.Va. center, there's been an ongoing study on the use of marijuana to treat veterans who are struggling with PTSD. According to the W.Va. center, medical marijuana also helps reduce migraine headaches in patients from 10 to 4 per month. According to the W.Va. center, another study shows that medical marijuana legalization resulted in an eight to 11 percent reduction in traffic fatalities. According to the W.Va. center, while marijuana can provide some great medical benefits, the drug is not without it’s drawbacks. Weed has some bad side effects. A study from The Journal of the American Medical Association has shown secondhand smoking from marijuana can damage the vascular functions. An additional study by JAMA, shows between 2009 and 2015 there was an increase in hospital visits for young children in Colorado, because of second hand marijuana exposure. According to JAMA the majority of young children ingested THC infused edibles, which are marijuana infused food products. According to the Holmes report Colorado has several regulations in order to keep children safe. Some include warning labels, child resistant packaging, does limitations, public health education, also marketing and advertising limitations. In additions to those starting on October 1, 2017 there will be no more edibles in the form of humans, animals, and fruits, so kids won’t be tempted to consume them.
“My personal beliefs I thinks it opens up to many doors to bad behavior, I’m not for marijuana, I don’t like it, I don’t like being around it, I don’t like that people are driving while they're impaired, I don’t like them walking on the street smoking it, that’s just my personal belief,” said sergeant Heather Ruggiero of West Virginia University police. Ruggiero believes that marijuana use leads to too many other bad things, but she’s not going to tell people what to do and it’s there choice whether to use it or not. Ruggiero also stated she will stand by whatever decision West Virginia makes on legalizing marijuana.
According to the W.Va. center paper the biggest argument against the legalization of marijuana, is it’s a gateway drug to other drugs. The other argument is marijuana use should not be considered a severe crime.
“I’m definitely against criminalization of marijuana, we got too many people locked up for that minor crime that’s just my personal opinion, I got family in there with murderers and it just doesn't make sense to me,” said Eric Jordan, who is the program coordinator for WVU’s Black Culture Center.
The legalization of marijuana will continue to be a polarizing topics it’s clear there are many benefits of legalization but not without it’s drawbacks as well. According to WVU’s law school cell division chief , Helen Altmeyer, she said the state of West Virginia is split down the middle on the issue.
