Yesterday in Colorado, Amendment 64 which allowed the legalization of recreational marijuana, was passed. It will take months, even a year for the legalization to be implemented, however, state and local governments will be able to regulate, tax, and sell marijuana to adults over 21. Being the first state in the country to end ban on marijuana, Colorado will be watched closely as they begin to sell marijuana.
One major group in favor of legalization is the "Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol." These supporters believe that between marijuana and alcohol, marijuana is the lesser of the two evils. They advocate that if the government will allow adults over 21 to consume alcohol, why not marijuana? Another strong argument in favor of legalization is the economic benefit. With high buyer demand and the ability to tax marijuana, the state government could generate somewhere between $5 million and $22 million. Money received by the marijuana tax could easily fund programs that benefit the population, such as education. Those in favor also predict that new jobs will also be created as a result of the legalization.
Legalization of marijuana could also have an interesting effect on crime in the state of Colorado. If the sale of marijuana remains legal, crime relating to marijuana would essentially cease to exist. Drug dealers who sell marijuana as a living would lose their sense of income, since their customers can purchase marijuana at their leisure. Hypothetically, now that drug dealers don't have work, would they escalate to higher crimes or maybe consider getting an actual job?
Those against the legalization are worried Colorado will lose their title as the "healthiest state in the nation."
Specifically, Governor John Hickenlooper does not want Colorado to be a main attraction because they legalized marijuana. He believes there are many other attractive qualities about Colorado and marijuana "shouldn't be one of them." Other than Colorado's reputation, are there any real cons to legalizing marijuana?
While most of these arguments are hypothetical and estimates, it is hard to ignore the clear fact that the state government would generate a good portion of money from the legalization. So if the government, the programs in financial need, and the crime rates all reap positive effects from the legalization of marijuana, is there any reason not to legalize it? Should it become a national legalization?
6 comments:
First off, I think there's a significant difference between legalizing marijuana and decriminalizing it. I would personally opt for the second option even though it seems like the more libertarian stance. Legalizing marijuana makes it seem like the government considers it acceptable, where as simple decriminalizing it connotes that the government has stopped minding. If you were to look at it from a crime standpoint, crime would probably drop just because dealers and users would no longer be considered criminals.
It's true that legalizing marijuana would create more jobs. But how many? And in what? It's likely that it would be a negligible amount of jobs in an office building somewhere. The revenue gained from taxing it is also minimal; it's hardly worth the effort of writing the legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana. Saying that taxation provides a significant source of income to the government is like saying that scrounging for change in the fountain outside the library is a good way to supplement your salary.
There's a finicky debate here. Marijuana undoubtedly has a negative social stigma, so it's hard to get a lot of people behind legalizing it. And it certainly looks bad on the government for legalizing recreational drugs just in order to tax them. It seems disingenuous.
For the most part, I don't think we should legalize marijuana at the state or national levels. Decriminalizing it, on the other hand, is more attractive. The money saved from not persecuting dealers and users would probably far outweigh any amount raised from taxes.
If marinjuana is decriminalized, wouldn't the former dealers try to expand into a more profitable sales format? It seems to me that if they no longer had to hide, they would start selling in a more open way and it seems like it would make sense to just tax them.
It will also be interesting to see how the whole legalization will be implemented and how the culture of the state might change as a result. This is a good example of how federalism (I just mean dividing power between state govs and the federal gov) can make legislation smarter. A single state that passes a law can prove as a test that can make future legislation in other states better informed and evolve the national governments perspective if national legislation ever becomes a serious possibility.
While it's definitely nice that Colorado will be getting revenue from the new marijuana legislation, I worry, (at risk of using a cliche argument,) about The Children. Obviously marijuana will not be sold to them legally, but now, a drug that was probably fairly easy for them to get before, will be even easier to access. There are a lot of different opinions on marijuana's effect on the brain, but we know it certainly isn't beneficial to it, and it's dangerous that Colorado minors will now find it even easier access what is, legalization or not, still a drug.
My question about the whole legalization controversy is who exactly is going to sell the marijuana once it becomes legalized? The farmers? Or will it be sold in grocery stores with pharmaceutical drugs? I think where the drug will be sold will determine where the money from it goes and how cost effective the legalization will be. As for the concern of safety for children, again where marijuana will be sold and how easily accessible it would be could affect children's viewpoint of the drug. In my opinion, having a legal recreational drug use age is a smart regulation because children won't be able to get access to it as easily. People have to understand that there are risks to using drugs, no matter how minimal they might seem to be in this particular one.
This is especially interesting since I just read an article for Spanish (in Spanish) about Amendment 64 in Colorado (if you're interested, the article is here: http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2012/11/09/cualquiera-podra-vender-marihuana-en-colorado-y-washington-2/). It was talking about how the national ban on marijuana coupled with several states such as Colorado wishing to legalize it creates a confusing environment for people wishing to open shops (or perhaps reopen shops whose marijuana stores were previously confiscated by the federal government) to sell marijuana. It certainly is a problem since federalism allows the federal and state governments to create their own laws and federal law is supreme over state laws; what power does a state have then if it legalizes marijuana but marijuana is still illegal under federal law? I hope that this issue will be resolved in the future.
I personally wonder how the legalization of marijuana will culturally affect our society in the long run. While some may be rejoicing, at long last a chance to light up without worrying about the law, others shaking their heads, how will people regard marijuana in say 30 years? Will the excitement die down? Will smoking become blasé for those who once experienced some kind of thrill in breaking the law? Will the legalization of marijuana encourage more people to smoke, or simply provide easier access to those already use it? Like Maribelle mentioned, how commercially available will marijuana be? Will different companies arise advertising a wide range of products? Will buying marijuana be like buying toothpaste at Walgreens? Or will marijuana be locked up in shelves, concealed, or otherwise protected as some pharmaceutical drugs are nowadays. Keep in mind that recreational marijuana was legalized, not simply medical marijuana. Above all, how socially acceptable will it be to buy marijuana? Will cashiers continually pass judgment towards those who repeatedly purchase it? How will parents react when their children come home with drugs, now legal? I think accepting marijuana as a part of our daily lives will take a considerable amount of time. Potentially, it may be impossible so long as our generation, one accustomed to its illegality, remains alive. It sounds like it will take anywhere from a few months to a year to implement the legalization – that’s a solid amount of time to start answering some questions.
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