According to David from mytwodollars.com, America is spending over nine billion dollars a year to related issues with illegal marijuana. Every year thousands of criminals are arrested and trialed for the illegal use of the drug. Every person that is arrested uses tax dollars paid by the American people. The cost of trial, jail, food, clothes and everything else that is needed when someone is put into jail is estimated at nine billion dollars for all the marijuana related arrests. Doesn’t this seem like a waste of money too you? There are definitely better thinks I could think of to spend nine billion dollars on. According to skeptically.org, every year the amount of people arrested for marijuana increases. Starting in 1992, the number of arrests was close to 350,000 people a year. As of the last year in their data, 2001, the number has risen to almost 800,000 people a year. In 2010, the number could easily be said to be over a million. With the economy doing as bad as it is today, any amount of money that the government can save could help with improving the countries debt. Nine billion dollars may not seem like a bunch of money to the government but it is a starting point. Legalizing marijuana would also bring in more money than the 9 billion saved on arrests. The tax on the drug could bring in billions and the trade of the drug to other countries could also bring in billions of dollars. Legalizing marijuana alone might not be able to save the debt problem in America, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
This is an eye-opening and interesting point made concerning a benefit from legalizing marijuana. When it comes to money, people are generally attentive and listen to what it’s all about. To me, I most definitely agree that nine billion dollars is a large amount of money that could be used to alleviate some, even if it is not much, of America’s steep deficit. As a taxpayer, I do not want my hard-earned money to be completely used on someone who was caught with illegal marijuana and had to have a trial and go to jail. Moreover, with the amount of people being arrested and caught with marijuana on the rise, even more money will be used up in dealing with this illegal act! Taxpayer dollars should be used more for projects and developments that the payers can take benefit in as well. You also make a good point that taxes placed on marijuana if it is legalized would generate government money instead of spending money on these trials and jail times. Altogether, I agree that if marijuana were legalized it would be beneficial in that the money consumed by those illegally handling, selling, consuming, or whatever else could be used to lessen the amount of our debt or be instead spent on improvements and advances in America.
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ReplyDelete…I mean when you look at numbers like that it is hard to wonder why marijuana is not legalized yet, especially with the current state of our economy. The cost to house inmates and supply them with the basic necessities they need for life is high. You would imagine that the government would try to pull money from any and every resource that it could in order to help pay for the costs. This point drives home whenever you mention that the working people of this country are paying for the prison system. When you think of hard earned money feeding, clothing, and sheltering muggers, thieves, and murderers, the thought is slightly sickening. However I have always wondered how people who are in jail for marijuana would cope if it was legalized. I mean if people are willing to go to jail for smuggling blunt what are they willing to do to obtain it legally. Would they be willing to spend their savings? Would they neglect work? Would they lose interest in daily life and only fixate on their next easily obtainable high. I feel that this is a risk to legalizing marijuana, people would lose sight of reality and become dependent on the substance.
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