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Should Marijuana Be Legalized In Pennsylvania Essay

1141 Words5 Pages

Pot is Hot: An essay on why recreational marijuana should be legalized In Pennsylvania, recreational marijuana is not yet legal. While it can be used for medical purposes, the possession and trade of marijuana is illegal and, in most cases, will result in incarceration and fines. However, these policies not only directly target underprivileged, underfunded communities but also work to increase the mass incarceration rates throughout the United States. Should marijuana be legalized in Pennsylvania, it can be regulated and the resulting tax dollars can be used in several beneficial ways. When one is caught possessing thirty or more grams of marijuana, there can be serious consequences. According to the Pennsylvania State Cannabis website, the …show more content…

Not only is there a disproportionate number of Black Americans in prison compared to their overall population, but the number of individuals in prison for drug crimes is startling. Of the convicted and non-convicted people in local jails, federal prisons, and jails and state prisons, 361,000 of them are related to drugs. While some of these individuals are likely charged with crimes relating to other, more dangerous drugs, it is not hard to imagine that a number are associated with marijuana. Should cannabis be legalized, the incarceration rates in the United States would drop drastically and would greatly decrease the number of people who are abused by the prison system. Along with this legalization, it will be much easier to regulate marijuana and ensure that its use is safe and that users are not exposed to other, more addictive substances. On the American Addiction Centers website, they note that marijuana can be laced with any number of other drugs or substances. These include but are not limited to heavy metals, glass, phencyclidine (PCP), heroin, embalming fluid, laundry detergent, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), methamphetamines, ketamine, and …show more content…

This will drastically decrease the likelihood of addiction or heightened usage of other drugs like heroin and cocaine, and will prevent overdoses from happening quite as frequently as they do. Finally, there has been great debate on what, exactly, the tax dollars coming from marijuana could be used for should it be legalized. In this dispute, there are many significant answers that could remedy the issue. One of them would be to use these tax dollars to further fund rehab centers so that those experiencing addiction and other drug problems can be rehabilitated and reintroduced into society without their dependence on drugs. This would further help to lower drug-related arrests and overdoses throughout communities in Pennsylvania. If this solution is not fitting, however, there are several more that could be considered. For instance, the tax dollars coming from legal marijuana could be focused on social security, which has been predicted to ‘run short’ of money within the next several years by many sources. By introducing new money into the program, its longevity can be extended and Americans can continue to benefit from it for years to

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