Legalization of marijuna - Essay Example

A professor of economics at California State University suggests that the legalization of marijuana would have considerable positive economic consequences. The taxation and regulation processes involved with decriminalization would provide the federal government with $6.2 billion worth of tax revenues (Grammy 2). When adjusting for inflation, this total increases to over $8 billion (Grammy 2). For just one state, California, legalization is estimated to be an opportunity to produce an additional $151.

8 million (Grammy 2). Another economist significantly inflates the aforementioned projections, suggesting that in California alone, legalization would provide the state with between $1.5 billion and $4 billion of new tax revenues (Wolff 2). These are significant improvements in the strength of state level economies which, under current prohibitive economic environments, are not achievable through any reputable taxation program. Additionally, marijuana prohibition under the current national drug enforcement policy is considerably expensive.

In Alaska, these costs total $24 million (Bates v). None of these costs have been able to be compensated for with grants or imposed fines associated with marijuana consumption. A professor of economics at Boston University estimates that in Massachusetts, the costs of enforcement equal $120.6 million (Miron 1). The state-level expenditures for enforcing marijuana prohibition are paid by taxpayers, which represents a burden for hard-working Americans that must service enforcement programs whether or not they agree with the policies.

These are significant state-level costs that could easily be avoided by legalizing the substance. Furthermore, the criminal justice system is fraught with problems associated with prison over-crowding, which also imposes costs on society and state/local budgets. Many local jails and prisons are at maximum capacity, continuing to be a problem as non-violent offenders arrested for marijuana production and consumption contributes to this problem. The estimated costs of police protection under the prohibitive policies are $2.

55 billion annually (Grammy 2). Judicial and legal costs under this policy are estimated at $7.76 billion annually (Grammy 2). Furthermore, the total cost of national corrections is projected to be $776.2 million (Grammy 2). These are rather outrageous costs that are imposed that could be better allocated to more socially-centric programs such as violent offender rehabilitation or other preventative programs that would provide better protections to society against violence. Taxpayers should not be financially supporting these inflated and rather ridiculous costs that are incurred for a policy that is largely ineffective.

The White House, however, is a stoic opponent of legalizing marijuana, despite the aforementioned financial gains that could be incurred through legalization. The Office of the President believes that legalization would do little to prevent further drug violence. The White House is firm that members of drug cartels would simply attempt to create an undercutting pricing structure to ensure they maintained their long-standing market share on marijuana sales (ONDCP 3). Drug cartels are usually involved in violent behavior and, under the White House’