...July 4, 2014 The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado The three main topics that I plan to cover are the economic benefits, decrease in crime, and medical benefits of legalizing marijuana in Colorado. The legalization of the drug marijuana has been a very hot topic within the past decade. Marijuana was first made illegal in 1937. The United States government gave marijuana a bad name many years ago by putting it in the same category as heroin and cocaine. For many years the government has provided inaccurate information about the effects of marijuana and as a result, the drug was labeled as a schedule one drug. Over the last few decades especially in the 70’s, marijuana became more common and socially accepted by society. This past year Colorado voted on legalizing marijuana for recreational use. “Focusing on Colorado, Amendment 64 passed on November 6th, 2012 which would legalize the possession of up to an ounce of the plant. Amendment 64 was passed in Colorado with the winning vote of about 55% of the Colorado population. They chose to make marijuana legal for those 21 and over in Colorado such as alcohol is legal everywhere else.” (Ferner 2014) Of course this whole legalization in Colorado comes with a whole list of stipulations such as users can only grow up to six plants at a time and only three of them can have flowers. The most a user can have in their possession one ounce. The marijuana laws are very similar to the alcohol laws in Colorado such as distributors...
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...forming around the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. Medical marijuana has been effective in Colorado since 2000. Now marijuana is legal for recreational use for people 21 and up. Many rules and regulations follow the legalization of marijuana. Many people of Colorado fear this legalization, where others are totally for it and think it will help boost Colorado’s economy. I have found many positives and negatives regarding the legalization of marijuana. According to Sherry Robinson, a syndicated columnist with the Daily times, Colorado approved medical marijuana in 2000, and it's now a $200 million industry that pays more than $5 million a year in state sales taxes. The state and cities are now salivating over potential revenues from recreational marijuana sales but must find the equilibrium between a "good tax" and one that drives cannabis sales underground. Now that Colorado has legalized marijuana for recreational use, it will boost the economy even more. A huge percentage of what is made will be going to the school system in Colorado. This will make a huge difference in the education system. This is a huge benefit that many parents and teachers are looking forward to. The legalization of marijuana will help create many jobs for Colorado residents also. People will be needed to grow and distribute marijuana. The Colorado Department of Revenue released a report detailing the rules of how recreational marijuana should be licensed, regulated, and sold in Colorado. The recreational...
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...Hunter Scott JD Simpson ENG 1201-928 04 May 2018 Should Marijuana Be Legalized in All States for All Uses? When people hear the words “weed” or “marijuana,” they often think and say that it is bad or no good because of the events that occur when people use it. They also are aware that the drug is illegal across most of the United States of America. What most people do not understand is the positives that making marijuana legal across the nation entails. An abundance of controversial topics exist throughout today’s society, and the debate of whether or not marijuana should be legalized for all uses in all states is just one of many of them. Today, nine states and Washington D.C. have the drug legalized for all uses. However, other states only...
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...Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a form of the cannabis plant. In 1923, marijuana was added to the Confidential Restricted List as a prohibited drug in Canada. However, many Canadians believe that marijuana should be legalized because it can play a significant role in the medical industry. However, others hold the opposite attitude toward Marijuana legalization. This serious controversy has lasted for many decades. Canada’s neighbor, the U.S. government, has forbidden this drug since the early 1900s. However, this implementation didn’t produce a satisfactory result. (National Prevention Strategy, 2011) Marijuana should be legalized in Canada because its advantages outweigh the disadvantages. These advantages are likely to promote the Canadian economy, eliminate social issues and benefit the health of its residents. In terms of the economy, legalizing marijuana could conduct not only negative effects, but also positive effects. In the past decade, underground trade of marijuana has caused harm to Canada’s income. Werner Antweiler, the UBC professor, believes that the marijuana market is sizable. (2013) In B.C., the estimates show that Canadians consume at least 3 billion dollars in marijuana products annually. (Barmak, 2013) Other data from The International Journal of Drug Policy indicate that the retail value of marijuana consumption in B.C is between $443 million and $564 million. In addition, further estimates point out that marijuana legalization is likely to help the...
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... M. Kilty The legalization of Marijuana has been a timeless topic within our society, we often ask ourselves whether or not making it legal to manufacture, distribute or consume this product would be an advantage or disadvantage. The following will illustrate the pros and cons of legalization and its role in American Society in association with economy, crime, productivity, the justice system and courts, traffic issues and so on. Pros Since its recreational legalization on the state level in Colorado back in 2012, there have been many good things that have come with it. According to the State of Colorado, “In the first four months, marijuana sales amounted to more than $202 million, about a third of them recreational while taxes from recreational sales were almost $11 million” (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/six-months-after-marijuana-legalization-colorado-tax-revenue-skyrockets-as-crime-falls/). One of the goals with the revenue gained from marijuana sales is to redistribute the wealth back into the state itself. The Colorado government tax distribution in the month of September for 2014 had ranges of $211,222 in Denver to $3,631 in Idaho Springs which was the least of all the cities mentioned. (https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/0914%20Local%20Government%20Distribution%20Report.pdf). July 1st marked six months since it became the first U.S. state to legalize the cultivation, possession, and sale of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and...
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...Introduction The legalization of marijuana, whether for recreational or medical uses, is a controversial topic making headlines all over the media. It is an issue both the state and federal governments are facing and being forced to make decisions on. What’s important to understand is legalizing marijuana will affect each and every one of whether we choose to use consume it or not. Legalizing marijuana could not only harm the intended user, but consequences of such an action could also negatively affect society as a whole. Usage of Marijuana upon Legalization Understanding how legalization affects the usage of marijuana has been recently able to be studied after Colorado’s legislature changes in 2010 and again in 2012. In 2010 Colorado passed legislation that “included the licensing of medical marijuana centers, cultivation operations and manufacturing of marijuana edibles for medical purposes” ("The Legalizaion of Marijuana in Colorado," 2013). In 2012, Colorado voters proceeded to take legislation a step farther and legalize recreational marijuana. As expected, adult usage increased as restrictions were removed. One of the most shocking figures is from a report created by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA). This report shows the increase in percentage of youth that use marijuana in an area that has legalized marijuana. In Colorado, during the time frame between 2007 and 2009 an average of 5.6 students tested positive for marijuana. During...
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...Legalization of Marijuana Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in the United States. Despite the harsh laws against marijuana use, approximately twenty five million Americans have used the drug in the past year and more than fourteen million continue to use marijuana on a regular basis (norml.org). In turn, not only is the criminal justice system over-flooded with marijuana cases, but law enforcement is focusing valuable time on finding marijuana “criminals”. With the legalization of marijuana, the United States judicial system would be able to handle more important cases in a timely manner and law enforcement officers would be able to spend more time on more important crimes. However, the judicial system is not the only one standing to benefit from the legalization of marijuana. The United States stands to greatly benefit economically on the legalization of marijuana as well. The legalization of Marijuana would benefit our society in many ways. Being aware of all of this, I was curious to know why so many people oppose legalization of the drug. However, it was important for me to gather knowledge from credible sources. I did not want to learn the benefits of marijuana from a “stoner” blogging from his parent’s basement, nor did I want to learn about the negatives of the drug from an extremely right wing conservative who will stand against it- just to be against it. First, I went straight to George Mason University’s online library in the hopes...
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...Dean January 15, 2015 Article Rebuttal The legalization of marijuana has been a controversial topic for many years now. Do the pros of the legalization of marijuana outweigh the cons of the legalization of marijuana? I believe so. The fact is Marijuana legalization would have an abundance of positive effects for not only the U.S. but for the world as well. Cannabis is not a deadly plant. However some choose to argue that the crime rate would rise as of a result of the legalization of marijuana. However legalization of cannabis would lessen the prison population, allow marijuana to be table and create billions of dollars that would be used in the United States and other countries. Marijuana legalization would allow cannabis to become it’s own industry. Marijuana legalization would reduce the impact of gangs in the streets. Cannabis would be become more effective and better for ones health because the Government would be in control of regulation. The Alaskan Association of Chiefs of Police Inc. posted an article against the legalization of marijuana stating numerous preconceived cons against the cannabis plant. The statement in the article I didn’t agree with was “After medicinal marijuana became easy to get in Colorado, seizures of smuggled marijuana quadrupled in roughly 4 years as legal marijuana was diverted to other markets. No comparable studies have been found addressing this problem in Alaska, but if legalization in this state results in a similar increase in diversion...
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...solving May 24th, 2015 John Steele The Legalization of Marijuana The legalization of Marijuana has been a controversial subject within society for quite some time. What is Marijuana? Marijuana is defined as a tall plant with a stiff upright stem, divided serrated leaves, and glandular hairs. It is used to produce hemp fiber and as a psychotropic drug. Psychotropic is relating to or denoting drugs that affect a person's mental state. All drugs affect a person’s mental state in various ways. This is inclusive of cigarettes, alcohol and many over the counter drugs. Deaths caused by drugs in general are substantial, however the deaths caused by marijuana are substantially less or almost nonexistent. “Why should a drug be legalized?” and “Should marijuana be legalized?” these are questions that society has fought with for quite some time. There would be a great amount of benefits derived from the legalization of marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized for the medical benefits, the social benefits, and the economic benefits it would create. Marijuana has many medical benefits that would continue to aid the people already using it for existing conditions that may improve their standard of living. Studies on marijuana shows that marijuana supports the brains learning and memory functions. This is beneficial as improving one’s ability to learn and one’s memory functions would allow them to improve their knowledge span. Marijuana has also been proven to support goal oriented...
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...Composition II 6 March 2015 The legalization of marijuana in multiple states around the United States was probably very unexpected for some people. The reality is our society is changing in many ways and a lot of people are supporting it. But when Colorado fully legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use many people believed Colorado’s economy would not benefit from this. People worried that marijuana, which has been considered very “dangerous” for a while, would cause crime rates to increase or the number of traffic accidents going up. Colorado was the first brave state to embrace the legalization of marijuana, so their results will be very influential to how people feel about legalization of marijuana. It has now been over a year since Colorado has legalized marijuana and the results are excellent for Colorado. Colorado has embraced how our society is changing and the benefits of legalizing marijuana. For example, “marijuana possession charges in Colorado for 2014 are on track to fall below 2,500, down from nearly 30,000 in 2010. Data from the National Incident Based Reporting System reveals that arrests for marijuana possession were responsible for 80 percent of all marijuana arrests in Colorado over the last five years.”(Art Way), and also “over the last two years, NIBRS data reveals a 41 percent decrease in all drug arrests in the state”(Art Way). This decrease in drug arrest is great for Colorado because there are less people with small...
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...Should Marijuana Be Legalized? With the recent election season that has just gone by, this question has become more prevalent in society. In 2010 California became the first state to legalize marijuana only for medicinal use. In this election season, both Colorado and Washington state legalized marijuana for recreational use. Marijuana usage has been going on since ancient times and the fight to legalize it has grown steadily throughout United States History. There are two sides to every story – one side supports legalization and one side opposes it. Everyone has the right to their own opinion on this matter so I will let you decide after reading this. Marijuana has been used, according to ancient medical references, since about 2737 BC in China. In 1545 the Spanish brought marijuana to the New World. It was introduced to Jamestown around 1611 where it became a major commercial crop along with tobacco. Marijuana was listed in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1850 until 1942. It was prescribed for conditions ranging from labor pains to rheumatism. In the 1930s A campaign by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics portrayed marijuana as a powerful addicting substance and it would lead users into using harder drugs. In the 1950s it was an accessory of the beat generation; in the 1960s it was used by college students and hippies and it eventually became a symbol of rebellion against authority. When the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 was passed, marijuana was classified...
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...have now legalized medical marijuana, and 3 States have legalized not only medical marijuana but also recreational marijuana. According to USA Today as of September 2013 7.3% of Americans 12 years or older have tried marijuana. In 2012, a survey done by the New York Times reported that 18.9 million people were regular users of marijuana regardless if it was legal in their state or not. The battle across America has begun on marijuana legalization. Should it be legal for more than medical use or should it not? Everyone has a different opinion on the matter. Based on information and statistics from the 3 U.S. states that have legalized marijuana for recreational and medical use the answer is yes it should, based on the benefits each state can receive by legalizing the drug. According to the government information sites of these three states, the medical benefits are reaching unknown highs; crime rates are down, and the tax revenue alone can help rebuild the economy. One of the number one concerns of a human being is the health of their family and themselves. With over 20 states now legalizing medical marijuana, researchers have begun researching in earnest the medical possibilities contained within marijuana. It has been widely known for many years now that cancer patients can receive an enormous decline in the side effects of chemo and radiation from smoking marijuana. Now, as researchers have begun to find out there are many new things that marijuana may be able to help possibly...
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...The legalization of marijuana is a big topic everywhere in the United States, many people believe it should be legalized in all fifty states. Marijuana has many health benefits such as using it to treat medical conditions, using it for tax revenue, and reduce the amount of crime. Everyone in the United States has a different opinion on whether it should be legalized or not. Some people may agree to the legalization for medical reasons or to help the economy. Others may oppose the legalization because of the risk of addiction or the thought of secondhand smoke. Many people may agree that marijuana could change the medical world for the better. Marijuana can be used to treat many different health concerns such as slowing down cancer, and epileptic...
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...recent legalization of marijuana in some states will there be a widespread across the united states? While Federal and State Laws may prohibit Marijuana use, many states are Considering legalization and some have already done so with both medicinal and recreational, its Likely of a widespread across the United States. Federal government has set regulations that are developed, these regulations are followed by what is called the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), which does not recognize the difference in the use between recreational and medicinal use. (Americans For Safe Access, 2014) According to Americans for safe access(2014) The Controlled Substance Act has classified Marijuana as a schedule one drug, its a controlled substance that is treated as any other drugs such as heroin, or cocaine. Along with the CSA, there is the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), According to Dea.gov (n.d.) The Drug Enforcement Administration has a mission to “is to enforce the controlled substances laws and regulations of the United States and bring to the criminal and civil justice system of the United States " Marijuana is illegal, and use is prohibited through federal laws, but many state laws have legalized the use for recreational and medicinal. State laws vary state to state. There are so many different laws on marijuana use, whether it be for recreational or medicinal. Many people feel that the laws on marijuana have to do with whether the state considering legalization is a...
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...November 2000, voters in Colorado passed Amendment 20, which enabled patients and their caregivers to obtain a restricted amount of marijuana from medical dispensaries. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment created and informal rule prohibiting caregivers from providing medical marijuana to more than 5 patients at a time and were subsequently sued for the policy by Sensible Colorado, Colorado’s medical marijuana distribution system. In 2007, Sensible won the lengthy hearing, and its victory made way for store-front dispensaries throughout Colorado. Fast forward November 2012, 55% of Colorado’s voters were pro-Amendment 64. Amendment 64 made recreational marijuana use legal to anyone age 21 or older. This law was made...
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