Policy analysis - capstone project - Assignment Example

Support for its legalization has been growing and more popular in the last two years. With that in mind, many question just why marijuana continues to be illegal in so many states and according to the federal government. In the paper there are more states who are trying to legalize the use of marijuana for recreational and medical purposes. A similar measure or proposal is in Ohio right now. We will use and assume some numbers from the success story of the use in Colorado and Washington State so far and will analyze and project what the impact will be when a similar measure is in place in Ohio.

The study will focus on the economic impact the use will bring the state of Ohio. If marijuana is legalized in Ohio there will be a significant change in the economy in terms of revenue collection. The government collects revenue from the inhabitants of Ohio through fines and criminal charges imposed on criminal offenders who are people caught using or selling marijuana. In fact the users of marijuana in Ohio equal 0.088. To arrive at this answer see the formula below. Presently, the quantity of marijuana consumed in Ohio annually is equals to 721 grams.

In Ohio the fine for marijuana consumption is done in ounces, which are 1-3 ounces calls for $ 100, while 4-above ounces equal %250 fines. Therefore the amount of fine the criminal justice receive due to marijuana usage is equals to users=1,016,000 1-3 ounces=$100 and 4-above $250 therefore 25 ounces will result into a fine of 25X250=6250 per month. Therefore annually will equals 6250X12= $75,000. Therefore, the government collects seventy five thousand dollars annually from marijuana users (Caulkins, 2012).

After marijuana has been made legal in Ohio an increase in percentage of users is observed. We need to find out the number of users after policy= number of current users +number of current users