Legalization of Marijuana: Pros and Cons?

According to a new Pew research Center survey, the results stated that every six out of ten Americans, or 62% say the use of marijuana should be legalized (Geiger). Legalizing marijuana would result in the increase in tax revenue, a growth in income and jobs, a rise in investment opportunities, and an overall decrease in federal debt. The debate whether legalizing marijuana will destroy the economy or if it will essentially help the economy will always be a heated controversy. My stance is on the side that the legalization of weed will boost the economy financially and create stabilization, not the opposite.

The first big change any state or country would see after the legalization of marijuana would be the increase in tax revenues. In 2015, Colorado alone collected more than $135 million in tax revenues (Krishna). This additional revenue was not only beneficial to the state alone but the countries economy, too. The total in tax revenues within Colorado turned out to be $996 million, raising the sales in North America by 30% (Krishna). This as a result raised the sales all over the country, in return creating more revenue. Just the state alone is projected to raise $20.1 billion by the year 2020 according to Arcview Market Research. Overall, legal cannabis has contributed to more than $58 million to the local economy through taxes and other fees. At this rate, legal cannabis can produce more than $131.8 billion in aggregate federal tax revenues by 2025.

The second great change following the legalization of weed would be the growth in income and jobs. This would fuel the tax revenues and generate more money. In order to sell marijuana legally, the openings of new nurseries and dispensaries would be a necessity. This would then in return generate more jobs and an increase in income. A RCG Economics and Marijuana policy group study on Nevada said that legalizing recreational marijuana would create roughly 41,000 new jobs and generate $1.7 billion dollars in labor income. That being said if all states in the United States legalize weed, we would create thousands of new jobs. Another study suggested that an additional 81,000 jobs in California could be produced as a result (Krishna). New Frontiers report predicts that nationwide legalization of weed could overall generate 1.1 billion jobs by the year of 2025. Jobs would include farming, processing, distributing and selling marijuana-based products. If jobs aren't available then secondary industries would be offered and more jobs will be created.

The third major change that would be beneficial to businesses would include investment opportunities. Although marijuana is illegal on the federal level, the legalization of marijuana would let investors capitalize on the rapid growth of the industry. Therefore resulting in the increase of jobs and tax revenue. Businesses within states or countries that have legalized marijuana tend to have very successful businesses. If marijuana did become legal on a national level, the companies would be able to list their stocks on all U.S. exchanges. This would result in an enhancement of liquidity and open up access to plenty of investors. Canada is a great example of a country who has legalized recreational marijuana and lowered their federal debt tremendously as a result.

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The last, most significant change would be the overall decrease in federal debt. We spend more money on advertisement trying to legalize marijuana instead of actually doing things that need to be done to get to that point.The more states that legalize marijuana would help lower the costs for trying to enforce cannabis federally (Krishna). Many also believe saving money will help decrease our federal debt, which is possible. If marijuana was ever removed from the list of controlled substances then is would lower the costs for trials and incarcerations, which would lead to money being saved.

The other side to legalizing marijuana is that it will destroy the economy instead of making it better or more stable. The number one factor being put into play is the cost of legalizing marijuana. Federal marijuana costs several billions of dollars a year, which roughly comes out to $3.6 billion (Krishna). Information based out of Pueblo County, Colorado said the added costs of $23 million were the attempts of legalization of marijuana (Zhang). As a result of the increased costs, house values in Pueblo County raised by 6%. Andrew Freeman, who consults the governments legalization of weed, has warned multiple times against the legalization for the purpose of generating tax revenues.

Another con associated with the legalization of marijuana is money. Marijuana was made illegal because it is harmful. If any country were to legalize marijuana, it makes it seem that money is more important than the health of others. Instead, some think money should be spent on law enforcement and education on marijuana instead of legalization and taxes (CNBC). Alaska legalized marijuana in 1970 and saw a negative impact from it immediately. Alaskan teenagers alone doubled the use of marijuana that led for it to be deemed illegal in 1990. Hence why many people are hesitant to make marijuana legal because of the increase in use it may have on teenagers.

My stance is still for the legalization of marijuana and that it will have a positive effect on our economy. Seeing both sides to debate is crucial for choosing which one will be beneficial and do more good then bad. Countries would see growths in tax revenue, a rise in income and job availability, an inflation in investment opportunities and a huge decrease in our federal debt.