Legalizing marijuna - Essay Example

Different stakeholders foster different reasoning on the issues, but it is more realistic that the government should legalize the drug since the economy is losing billions of dollars on the drug through illegal trade; the money that can possibly develop other aspects of the economy. Besides, marijuana has numerous medicinal uses – a fact which has contributed to the increasing number of users of the drug in the American society. The illegal market is an informal term used in reference to the unofficial market.

Activities in such markets lack government accreditation and are, therefore, illegal. In fact, the government prefers to assume that the market is nonexistence in the American economy. On the contrary, the market is rife in the country and is the leading cause for the infiltration of illegal firearms and other drugs. Marijuana is a commonly used drug among the numerous social groupings in American social circles, a fact that implies that the government loses a lot of money by failing to recognize such trades (Barton 12).

By legalizing the drug, the government makes it an official product in the market and, therefore, gains better regulation to its usage as it currently does with tobacco products and alcohol. Additionally, the government stands to gain tax benefits and provide employment to thousands of people currently peddling the drugs most of whom will seek legitimate certification to handle and dispense the drug. The failure to legitimize the drug contributes to the rise in crime thereby inflating the government budget on security.

Police and federal law enforcement officers use resources worth millions of dollars investigating and apprehending drug peddlers. Unfortunately, the more they arrest, the more new operators arise to continue the lucrative marijuana market. This, therefore, requires the government to use a lot of money alongside other resources in keeping the street drugs free (Jamerson 40). The fact that they have not succeeded thus far makes it a loss to the taxpayers whose money is literally wasted. With effective legislations, the drug can possibly gain access to the American market thereby making it easier to manage its sale and its subsequent usage.

This would earn the economy the excess money and other resources that the police and other state officers use in containing the ever-increasing black market. By considering the drug illegal, the government discourages other secondary researches on the drug. However, scientific proof has established that the drug has numerous medicinal uses implying that with more research; a lot about the chemical composition of the plant may result in better drugs to some of the most notorious diseases. Marijuana smoking reduces gramps and the menstrual discomforts; the drug also treats such serious ailments as cancer while it slows down tumor growth and seizure.

Generally, the drug is beneficial and with government permission, scientists would foster more researches on the drug and find better treatments to some of the most dangerous diseases. Cancer, for example, is an incurable disease that claims thousands of lives in the country annually; researches have established that marijuana has an effect similar to that of the antiretroviral drug on Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome victims. The drug can, therefore, make the thousands more productive for longer periods thereby foster the country’