America’s Smoking Gun
“The legalization of marijuana is not a dangerous experiment – the prohibition is the experiment, and it has failed dramatically, with millions of victims all around the world.”
(Marincolo). The legalization of marijuana has long been the subject of debate in America, dating back as far as the early 1900’s (Gieringer). Prior to the 1900’s, marijuana was commonly used in the United States for various medicinal purposes, and considered quite healthy (Stack and Suddath). It is not marijuana that is dangerous, what is dangerous is the prohibition of marijuana. The prohibition of marijuana in the United States much like the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in the 1920’s, has created an environment where crime has increased and the American economy has suffered as a result. Marijuana should be legalized for recreational use in the United States, due to the advantages of legalization, including production regulation, increased safety of consumption, reduction in crime, and the generation of state and federal revenue.
As aforementioned, one of the reasons that marijuana should be legalized is that the production of marijuana could be regulated, resulting in a safer product for marijuana consumers. Under the current prohibition, the product that is currently available to consumers is
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On January 1, 2014 Colorado legalized recreational use of marijuana (Lee). In April of that same year, current reports demonstrated a reduction in crime rates. “Property crime is down 14.6% compared to the same period in 2013. Violent crimes are down 2.4%”. Since legalization, violent crime and property crime have decreased (McKay). Albeit, three months is a brief period of time, the results do provide a snapshot of the potential long-term effects of legalization on crime and violence in the United