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What Are The Pros And Cons Of Legalizing Marijuana

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Legalizing marijuana: Subsequent crime rates Introduction As the wave of marijuana legalization rolls across the United States from state to state, determining the potential impacts of this change is incredibly important, because it will allow the governments of the states in question to prepare for the potential consequences of legalization. Balancing the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana is an incredibly difficult task, because there are legal, societal, and cultural consequences that can be anticipated, but also many that cannot. Existing research pertaining to the impacts of marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington can shed light on what the potential consequences might be for other states in the future. According to information provided by Weisheit, R. (1991), those who have sold drugs illegally often displayed an industrious, hard-working attitude that could have applied differently, but that often their existing circumstances encouraged a life of …show more content…

If this change were made, it is possible that those who are industrious and willing to work hard would have a higher likelihood of doing so legally. Many of those who sell drugs are doing so for an income which is very close to minimum wage, effectively making the sale of drugs to be a kind of social safety net. In those neighborhoods where very few legitimate jobs are available, it seems that there is a high degree of encouragement to sell drugs. Although, according to studies cited by Kepple, N., and Freisthler, B. (2012), even the legal sale of drugs can attract a criminal element to the general vicinity of those locations where marijuana is sold. The illegal activities are not always related to the sale of other (illegal) drugs, as noted by studies cited by Kepple, N., and Freisthler, B. (2012), that these locations have attracted people who commit violent

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