Go Green
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Go Green
What comes to mind when you hear the word Marijuana? Munchies ? A small green
plant with a very strong smell? Maybe you believe that it is a gateway drug. In the United States,
the legalization of Marijuana (also known as pot or cannabis) is a very controversial topic. Some
might think that it may lead to addiction and car accidents. However, Marijuana is a
psychoactive drug from a Cannabis plant that can be used for many different recreational
purposes. This plant has many benefits. For example, legalizing this drug can reduce
incarceration, crime, and violence rates, along with boosting the economy by creating more jobs
and being medicinal for those that are ill. Therefore, Marijuana should be legalized in all 50
states throughout the United States of America.
Marijuana is a recreational drug that has been perceived to be harmful and dangerous,
when that is ultimately not the case. This perception has led to the prohibition of marijuana and
its criminalization, which has led to a huge amount of arrests over the years on individuals with
just a nonviolent possession of it. “Marijuana prohibition has been a costly failure. In 2013, there
were 693,482 marijuana arrests in the U.S.—more than 45 percent of all drug arrests. Nearly 88
percent were for simple possession, not sale or manufacture” (Gale, 2020). These arrests for
plain possession of a drug that causes no harm, have led to an unnecessary waste of funds on
incarceration of individuals. A lot of these inmates have received harsher sentences in
comparison to other criminal offenses just for possession of marijuana. These individuals who
have been convicted for non violent possessions of the plant should be expunged. “ Prohibition
empowers criminal organizations and contributes to violence, crime and corruption on a massive
scale—from U.S. street corners to places like Mexico, where more than 100,000 people have
been killed since 2006 in the country’s drug war.” (Gale, 2020). The prohibition takes away the
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attention from police officers on focusing on more significant and violent crimes, which causes
an increase in these certain crimes like murder for example. It also allows for underground
criminal organizations which control the marijuana market to improve their quality of life with
the riches that come from it.The prohibition does not allow legal businesses to intervene in that
market, and whenever there are any issues, these criminal organizations respond with violence.
The cause of this violence is not individuals who carry possession of it, it is prohibition itself.
“In August of 2013, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will allow states to
legally regulate the production, distribution, and sale of marijuana” (Gale, 2020). Being that
marijuana is slowly but surely getting legalized nationwide by several states, those inmates who
have been unfairly incarcerated for a misdemeanor at this point, should be pardoned for their
offenses.
America's drug laws are not helping our current predicament at the moment. The war on
drugs has done nothing but tear the communities apart, use resources which could be more
beneficial in other areas, and increase our incarceration rate. The obvious choice is to legalize
marijuanna federally. Colorado was one of the first states to legalize marijuana. Doing so it has
earned up to more than a billion dollars in just over five years. Colorado's state budget is just
about 30 million dollars, so when marijuana starts to bring in more than 21 million dollars a
month it becomes hard to ignore what it could do if made legal on a federal level (Bernstien
2019). In addition to this it has created more than 41,000 plus jobs and even contributed to over
125 + million dollars to schooling and education (Bernstien 2019). The legalization of marijuana
will only boost the economy. “A mature marijuana industry will generate more than 28 billion
dollars in tax revenue for federal state and local governments. Which also includes seven billion
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in federal revenues. Also more than 5 billion in from businesses taxes and 1.5 billion from
income and payrolls (Ekins 2016). Overall legalizing marijuanna will bring a major boost to the
economy which we need today. It will keep the people happy while also keeping the government
happy.
Research has shown that marijuana can be a form of medicine for certain diseases. In
Carter J. G, Chinn K. A. and Steinborn J. J. article “The latest buzz on medicinal marijuana: A
legal and medical perspective” addresses the effects of the supreme court case of the United
States v. The Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative. In this case the supreme court ruled that
marijuana is not “medical necessity”, that the federal law classifying marijuana as illegal and that
it will have no exception for ill patients. This ruling has affected millions of ill Americans who
have diseases such as epilepsy, glaucoma, cancer, Alzheimer's disease and even posttraumatic
stress disorder or PTSD that heavily rely on medical marijuana. Many very ill people have had to
fight for a long time in the courts to defend why and how medical marijuana helps them. The
authors go on to state that an administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young concluded with his
studies that, “the evidence clearly shows that marijuana is capable of relieving the distress of
great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision”
(Carter,Chinn & steinbron, 2001). In the 1830s a Irish doctor by the name of Sir William Brooke
O’Shaughnessy was studying in India and discovered that “cannabis extracts could help lessen
stomach pain and vomiting in people suffering from cholera”(History.com Editors, 2017).
Therefore showing that medical marijuana is a compound that helps ill people and should be
legalized in American and should not be frowned upon. 3
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However, many people might say we shouldn’t legalize weed because it will just cause
more problems and deaths. People will become more addicted and there will be an increase in
car accidents. Addiction isn’t something you can overcome so easily, it takes time, but if
someone is already addicted to a drug then they will want to consume other drugs. Robert L.
DuPont, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said “People who are addicted to
marijuana are three times more likely to be addicted to heroin” (DuPont 2016). This doesn’t
mean that everyone who uses marijuana will become addicted to heroin, but they most likely will
in the future. Charles Stimson, manager of the National Security Law Program, said “One study
found that more than 30 percent of adults who used marijuana in the course of a year became
dependent on it, exhibiting compulsive behavior and signs of withdrawal” (Stimson 2012).
People who are addicted to marijuana struggle with leaving it and their behavior starts to change.
As the years go by the percent of adults and teens who use marijuana keeps increasing.
According to the CNN “States that legalized recreational weed see increase in car accidents,
studies,” A 20 year old man was under the influence of marijuana and a sedative when his truck
crashed into a church bus, killing 12 people. There has been an increase in the number of
drug-impaired drivers across the country. Being on drugs while driving is dangerous. You lose
control of what you’re doing and the consequence of that in some cases is death.
As evident, marijuana legalization would not only lower incarceration rates all over
America, it would also bring more money to the economy as well. We have already seen the
medicinal benefits that marijuana has had on people who were/ are ill. The rewards seem to
outweigh the risks. In fact, look at the current circumstances New Yorkers have found
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themselves in – home bound, quarantined indoors under recommendations of the state, no
businesses open for any recreational activities. The best (and safest) option is to stay home,
where you are not at risk of coming in contact with the virus that has shook the city’s
core(COVID-19). This is a hard time for so many people, coping with this unexpected change of
daily routine, anxiety/ feelings of distress about being “stuck” at home, and in general, a sense of
panic and fear in the unknown. This would be the perfect time for marijuana to ease your
worries. Whether you smoke a joint, or eat a yummy edible treat – the Cannabis, proven to
mellow out moods and alter perceptions, would be the perfect ease – sure to calm bad nerves. It
can be done indoors and it’s recreational, the ideal hobby for times of crisis like the one we are
currently experiencing. There is no better time than now to legalize marijuana. In fact, we may
even need it now more than ever. Think about it: the way the criminal numbers will go down, the
economy will go up, and the wonders it will heal in health, physical and mental. Now is the time
to go green!
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Title: Go Green
Introduction: The whole group
Body
Paragraph #1 (ethos): Aaron Tejada
Body Paragraph #2 (logos): Abubakar Ishtiaq
Body Paragraph #3 (pathos): Mariol Figueroa
Body Paragraph #4 (counterclaim): Danitza Lopez
Conclusion (kairos): Krysteen Martinez
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References
Bernstein, Leandra (June 13, 2019). “Colorado Made $1B in Marijuana Tax Revenue: What
Could This Mean for Federal Legalization?” WJLA, WJLA.
Carter J. G., Chinn K. A. & Steinborn J. J. (September/October 2001). The latest buzz on
medicinal marijuana: A legal and medical perspective. American Journal of Hospice
Palliative Care. Volume 18, Number 5, 295- 298.
Christensen Jen (October 18, 2018). States that legalized recreational weed see increase in car
accidents, studies say.
Drug Policy Alliance. (2020). Marijuana Should Be Fully Legalized, Not Just Decriminalized. In
Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. (Reprinted
from Why Is Marijuana Decriminalization Not Enough?, Drug Policy.org, 1, 2015,
January)
DuPont L. Robert (April 26, 2016). Marijuana Has Proven to Be a Gateway Drug.
Ekins, Gavin, and Joseph Bishop-Henchman (August 8,2019). “Marijuana Tax Legalization and
Federal Revenue.” Tax Foundation.
History.com Editors ( May 31, 2017). Marijuana. A&E Television Networks.
Marijuana. (2019). In Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Farmington Hills, MI:
Gale.
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Mcginty, E., Niederdeppe, J., Heley, K., & Barry, C. (2017). Public perceptions of
arguments supporting and opposing recreational marijuana legalization. Preventive
Medicine, 99, 80-86.
Nathan, D. L., Clark, H. W., & Elders, J. (2017). The Physicians' Case for Marijuana
Legalization. American journal of public health, 107(11), 1746–1747.
Stimson Charles (July 19, 2012). Why We Shouldn't Legalize Marijuana.
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