Tim Brian Professor Davis 4/18/2013 Legalization of Marijuana

Americans are lead to believe that marijuana doesnt have any positive qualities and that marijuana is just as harmful as tobacco and alcohol products. But in fact marijuana has numerous medicinal purposes, most commonly used by cancer patients. The marijuana industry is an untapped source of revenue that could be utilized by government; its estimated at 14 billion dollars says Jon Gettman, Ph. D. a public policy analyst and assistant professor in criminal justice at Shenandoah University of Winchester. Aside from producing revenue, its costing tax payers more than 1 billion dollars annually to imprison pot offenders according to U.S. DOJ prison data, money that could be adequately spent elsewhere like in infrastructure. Marijuana has become well recognized in the medical community, more specifically with cancer patients, due to its medicinal traits and less harmful effects than tradition medication. The most common use of medical marijuana is to ease symptoms of nausea. Research conducted by the National Cancer Institute resulted in the creation of two cannabis-based drugs, dronabinol and nabilone, these drugs assisted cancer patients in reducing nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. They were quoted saying When taken orally, the drugs worked as well or better than some of the weaker FDA-approved drugs to relieve nausea and vomiting In research that Jon Gettman produced in 2006 he found that over 21 million pot plants were grown illegally statewide. Its clear there is a huge demand for marijuana here in the U.S. With an estimated street value of 14 billion dollars and with continuous talk about budget cuts, and trillion dollar wars going on, we should at least explore our options in the marijuana industry. Its time to stop ignoring that American adults use marijuana for either recreation or

medicinal use; this could be a substantial economy booster if we regulate and tax. Even assemblyman Tom Ammiano, (D- San Francisco) was quoted It is time to take our heads out of the sand and start to regulate this $14 billion industry. By doing so, we can enact smart public policy that will bring much needed revenue into the state and improve public safety by utilizing our limited law enforcement resources more wisely. The move toward regulation is simply common sense. In 2005 nearly 800,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges, according to U.S. Department of Justice. Also they found in prison expenditure data that imprisonment of pot offenders was costing tax payers more than $1 billion, annually! The F.B.I.s report found that approximately 52 percent of all drug charges were marijuana arrest. They also cited that among these arrests the general ages were youth ranging from 15-24 and accounted for half of the marijuana charges! Its time to stop wasting billions of tax payer money and targeting American youths; lets adequately utilize tax payer funds in areas like education or infrastructure instead of paying to incarcerate Americas future. Legalization of marijuana isnt as crazy as it seems. With marijuana having medical benefits, revenue possibilities, and the ability to lighten the economic burden its pretty easy to see the simple common sense conclusion of this 76 year old debate. Answer the demand of the American people, legalize marijuana!