While many people dismiss marijuana as a simple drug that is abused by many people for seemingly no reason, and therefore presume that its legalization will bring nothing but harm to the citizens of the United States of America, it may actually bring many more benefits than negatives if it were to be legalized on a federal level for recreational use. Although several will admit to its uses medicinally, it is also extremely beneficial as a legal recreational substance when subject to similar regulations as alcohol. There are several real benefits that come along with its legalization that may not be apparent at first glance. Marijuana’s recreational legalization in the United States of America will bring several benefits, including economic growth, a more focused and funded police force, and a drastically reduced crime rate. These benefits are reasons why marijuana should see legalization within the United States of America on a federal level. …show more content…
While speculation has existed that the legalization of marijuana would have an effect on the overall crime rate (disregarding that marijuana related crimes would no longer be counted), the recent legalization in Colorado serve as an experiment, of sorts, for observation and evaluation. The Drug Policy Alliance recently released a status report in response to Colorado’s one year anniversary of legalized recreational marijuana. Evaluating economic and social changes as a result of legal marijuana, the report states that “violent crime in Denver went down by 2.2% in the first 11 months of 2014” (Marijuana Legalization). As January was the month in which marijuana was legalized for both medical and recreational use in Colorado, this decrease was almost instant. Additionally, the report goes on to state that “burglaries in Denver decreased by 9.5% and overall property crime decreased by 8.9%” (Marijuana