I believe now is the best time to legalize marijuana. With job losses mounting week in and week out, the best for of stimulus to the economy comes in the form of government regulated marijuana. Here are some things to think about:- With the legalization, the government can highly regulate and highly tax marijuana. With regulation, comes a safer form of marijuana. Gone will be the days of marijuana laced with other drugs, which is what really makes the drug dangerous. Even with taxing the sale of marijuana, it will still be cheaper to produce and sell legally than illegally. The government will be tapping a source of income that is there, but of which it does not see a single cent. And there is a lot of money to be made, all of which can be put into the government's pocket for roads, programs, and other public aid.
- Imagine the amount of jobs created by adding a new industry to US economy. There are varying levels, from field workers planting and harvesting the crops to chemists analyzing the plants to produce the best product to sales, marketing and executive jobs for the companies that will sell the marijuana. All types of skill positions and professional positions will open up from the creation of a new industry. Even the addition of coffee shops and employees will be created.
- Is marijuana worse of a substance than cigarettes or alcohol? I don't believe it is. I believe the statement that marijuana being a gateway drug is false because people who use marijuana and move on to other drugs are into them because of the illegal aspect of drugs, not because marijuana makes you want to do other drugs. Most other drugs make you body react in a much different manner than marijuana, which only mellows you out. Marijuana does not make you angry, as alcohol does to some people. Of course, operating a vehicle while under the influence will still have to watched, as marijuana slows your reaction time.
- Legalizing marijuana can increase tourism to the US and help retain US citizens for their getaways. Most people know someone who has traveled to Amsterdam to experience the Coffee Shops. Why not in the US? Having the substance available in the US may keep citizens here for vacations, spending their money on our taxed marijuana and stimulating the local economies. People from other countries may see the US as a more desirable vacation destination.
- Illegal drugs send money to other countries and terrorist entities. Why not keep the money within our borders rather than have it sent to Afghanistan and funding terror cells? Even if it does not fund terror cells, the money most likely goes to a country that does not have a high opinion of America, other than loving the money being sent to it.
Thoughts? Do you agree or disagree?
Interesting premise, there is one fatal flaw. You assume that Americans will actually decide to go to work, planting, harvesting, and distributing pot once it is legalized. In a country that honors excess do you really think the “lazy American” will get off his super-sized ass and become productive? More realistically, America would just import it from Mexico – or better yet China since they own most of America’s Debt.
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