REVISED again. Legalize Marijuana

Since marijuana usage and distribution is currently illegal under the United States federal law, the only way in which marijuana can be distributed to the public is through the facilitation of drug cartels. Marijuana is also statistically the most popularly used illegal drug, which makes marijuana the principle product of the black market, which is operated by drug cartels. Because marijuana is the principle product of the black market, it can be said that the principle reason for the activity and presence of the black market and therefore the drug cartels, is marijuana and its prohibition. Drug cartels are linked to many brutal crimes and social unrest. Therefore since marijuana is illegal, the presence of drug cartels is greater, resulting in a greater level of dangerous crimes and social tension. Conversely, if marijuana were legalized, the presence of drug cartels would decrease from its current level. Thus marijuana legalization would actually reduce crimes associated with drug cartels and improve social tensions.

If crimes were reduced and social tensions alleviated,  people would start realizing the benefit of legalization and explore other possible effects. Under the law, marijuana is a “scheduled” drug, like alcohol and cigarettes. Alcohol and cigarettes are the only legal “scheduled” drugs, and they are regulated under tax. Thus if marijuana were to be legalized, it would have to follow similar tax regulations as alcohol and cigarettes. These tax regulations would result in an increase in federal revenue. According to recent figures, there are 25 to 60 million potential customers of marijuana, and an estimated of 45 to 110 billion dollars of tax money a year. Government officials of California also estimate a 14 billion tax revenue increase if marijuana was legalized and regulated under tax. Jeffrey Miron of Harvard also published a report on the budgetary implications of marijuana legalization- “…save 7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least 2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like most consumer goods”.

Increases in federal revenue at this magnitude would produce enormous gains for America. Currently, America is in a huge deficit and owes money to other countries. In owing money to other countries, America is faced with pressure to repay money to other countries. But by increasing federal revenue, through legalization, America’s debts would decrease. An alleviation of debts would reduce pressure on America from other countries, and allow America to focus its budget onto important problems such as domestic issues. 

Current domestic policies such as those in education have the chance for improvement. For example if the federal government can appropriate more money towards community colleges, more people will be equipped with degrees. Thus jobs would increase and unemployment rate decrease, resulting in a higher GDP per capita, an indicator of standard of living. The need to save America from falling behind on the world stage is now more important than ever. As other global powers grow, they are putting America in a weaker and weaker position on the world stage. America unemployment is rising due to an increasing rate of outsourcing, American exports are decreasing, and America has to increasingly rely on other countries for energy. Also, America's credit rating has been dropped, which undermines America economic dominance. Whence the current situation of America relies on the ability of America to minimize and repay debts, and increase jobs. The legalization of marijuana would the much needed boost for America.

Thus the legalization of marijuana, in the scope of current statistics of drug cartels and revenue increase would reduce crime and increase the overall welfare of America. Legalization would further act as a reversal of the current detrimental effects prohibition has on society, like "billions of wasted dollars and social unrest". Thus legalization not only would improve the economy and social tensions, it would offset the preexisting problems caused by prohibition. Therefore the "benefit" of legalization, as demonstrated by the alleviation of social tensions and economic gain, would clearly offset the current adverse effects of prohibition.