Drug use is a topic in which many Americans condemn as being bad; however, at least twenty million Americans admit to using marijuana. Our government spends billions of tax dollars every year trying to reach an acceptable “victory” to the war on drugs, when they could be making a profit off the selling of the plant they are trying to eradicate (“Effectively No One”). Drugs will always be around and human beings will always have a choice to utilize such substances. Dealers outsource their needs to the cartel and other foreign gangs to gain access to drugs, ultimately inviting crime into our country as well. The American government and people must learn to accept drugs as a part of our society, and allow for the legalization of such products for the economical and user health benefits that are brought along with legalization. For the past 40 years the American government has made millions of arrests and spent billions of dollars trying to irradiate the organic material know as …show more content…
Before decriminalization of marijuana was established, the state of Alaska spent almost $25-$30 million dollars a year enforcing marijuana prohibition laws. After decriminalization, such funds were able to be transferred to necessary programs and civil services. The state of Alaska reported a significantly large marginal increase in revenue along with positive resident feedback due to the decriminalization. On a national level, a recent report by Jon Gettman estimated that national criminal justice expenditures for enforcing marijuana laws is “$7.6 billion per year” with “$3.7 billion” being allocated to police, “$853 million to the courts”, and “$3.1 billion to corrections”, amounting to a total of $15.253 billion dollars in tax payer dollars (“A Brief History of the Drug War”). That is $15.253 billion dollars that could be put towards education, public services or paying back the nation’s momentous pile of