Last week we spoke about drugs, in particular marijuana, and it's place in society. Emilie (19) contacted us and wrote this great piece arguing that marijuana does infact have a place in today's modern society.
-if marijuana was legalised crime rates would drop dramatically. Much of the crime here is centred around the illegal trafficking of marijuana and countless underground syndicates have arised, distributing and profiting off their practise. The money gained from the selling of marijuana is often used to buy illegal weapons and firearms which further adds to the crime and violence on our streets. If we legalised it the whole underground market for cannabis would be ruined as people would be able to obtain it in a much more safer and legitimate way. Look at Swizerland for example, they have legalized use and distrubution of cannabis and their crime rate plummeted, in fact it is commonly referred to as having the lowest crime rate in the world.
-Another benefit is the fact that the government can put a tax on it and create billions of dollars of revenue, in a study by Dr. Dale Gieringer it was predicted that the net revenue of legalized cannabis for the government could range from 8 - 16 billion dollars. I don't know much about economics but that sounds like a crazy amount.
-In terms of health affects many studies have been conducted and no supportive evidence has been obtained that the smoking of marijuana has any negative impacts on the human body. When we compare this to the toxicity of legal nicotine cigarettes which are proven to be extremely harmful for the human body, does it not make you question why marijuana is illegal and not cigarettes? In fact their is some supportive evidence that marijuana may be an anti-oxidant, helping with the repair of damaged cells and increasing brain function.
-This is not but a small list of reason as to why it should be legalized yet it already speaks volumes of the benefits it could entail.
Emilie brings up some good points however we think that even if the use of marijuana is legalised than the underground market will probably still exist. The black market will reduce prices and still attract a market in that way, or people will feel more secure and less judged if they purchase it in secret from a dealer.
In regards to the tax revenue we agree that it could have monumental potential to increase the finance for the government, which therefore would probably lower the taxes that we have to pay. Seems like a win- win situation. We have heard about the proposed "health benefits" however not enough information is yet available to make a legitimate comment on whether it can actually be good for you or not.