Legalizing Marijuana

Legalizing Marijuana

  • Submitted By: Carvella
  • Date Submitted: 11/14/2013 5:58 PM
  • Category: Business
  • Words: 1753
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Legalizing Marijuana

BCOM/275
July 21, 2013
Dr. Monica Galante

Do you know that the United States government spends about 8.26 million dollars annually in the attempt to keep marijuana off of the streets (Moffatt, 2012)? For many years, the United States government has prohibited marijuana from being sold in our nation. Even though marijuana is prohibited in the United States teens and adults still find a way to purchase it whenever they want. Even with the prohibition, marijuana use has only decreased minimally. Due to marijuana being illegal only the negative aspects of marijuana use has been made known to the world. However, people are unaware of the many positive aspects of marijuana legalization. The legalization of marijuana will help increase the nation’s resources and economy.
The war on drugs has become over the years a very expensive battle. A great deal of resources go into capturing those who sell and buy illegal drugs on the street. Going through the process of prosecuting the drug dealers and drug users in court and housing them in jail is costing the government millions of dollars annually. These costs seem particularly extreme when it comes to the drug marijuana (Moffatt, 2012). This war on drugs causes huge revenue lost by the government because they cannot collect taxes on illegal drugs such as marijuana (Moffatt, 2012). In the study conducted by Economist Stephen T. Easton, “The study estimates that if the average price of 0.5 grams (a unit) of marijuana sold for $8.60 on the street, while its cost of production was only $1.70. In a free market a $6.90 profit for a unit of marijuana would not last long” (Moffatt, 2012). In another study by Stephen T. Easton, he breaks down the profits that they government would receive if they were to legalize and tax marijuana. He states, “If we substitute a tax on marijuana cigarettes equal to the different between the local production cost and the street price people currently pay—that is,...

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