An Argumentative Essay: The Benefits of Legalizing Marijuana

This essay presents an argument for the legalization of marijuana, advocating for its regulation similar to tobacco and alcohol. It highlights the potential for job creation, increased economic opportunities, and the preservation of law enforcement resources. The essay also addresses the disproportionate harm caused by marijuana criminalization to young people and people of color. By legalizing and regulating marijuana, the essay argues that states can generate significant tax revenues and reduce costs associated with corrections and courts, ultimately improving public safety and fostering a more equitable society. The essay references relevant works to support its claims regarding the economic, social, and public health implications of marijuana legalization.

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LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
The issue on the legalization of marijuana evokes diverse reactions from different places
across the globe in accordance with how the correlated morals shape or rather dictate one’s
opinion. The legalization of marijuana for the medical purpose has over the years remained the
subject of continual controversy based on its clinical applications in state-sanctioned dispensaries
and the place of marijuana in the public health policy (Ferguson 45). The medical applicability of
this illicit recreational substance has re-surfaced as a timely, albeit polarizing, subject to clinical
practitioners and members of P&T and the public. However, many states have or are currently
embracing the legalization of marijuana for the medical purposes (Monte, Richard and Kennon
242). Conversely, the healthcare practitioners undertake in-depth studies to understand the
effects of marijuana on their clients. Many benefits have been realized from the utilization of
medical marijuana. However, the utilization of marijuana is restrained by regulatory
inconsistencies and ambiguities. This is because there are legal risks involved due to the
difference in its prescription by a different physician from those prescribing traditional approved
medications. Another inconsistency is that P&T committees may find it hard since hospitals are
mandated to dispense marijuana (Hickenlooper 245). Marijuana should be legalized and
eliminated from the criminal justice systems but regulated similarly to Tobacco and alcohol. The
drug should be legalized and regulated to ensure that country’s largest cash crop is included
under the rule of law. Legalization and regulating marijuana will create jobs and increase
economic opportunities within the formal economy rather than the illicit market. This will also

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lead to the preservation of state scarce law enforcement resources. It will be better used to
protect public safety and a reduction in the corrections and courts costs. There will be an
increased acquisition of significant new sources of tax revenues from the regulation of marijuana
sales (Campbell, Jean and Nathan 56). The continuous criminalization of marijuana harms the
young population, people of color disproportionately. Marijuana’s criminalization has sponsored
massive levels of corruption and violence and has failed to bar youth access.

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Works Cited
Campbell, William, Jean Twenge, and Nathan Carter. "Support for Marijuana (Cannabis)
Legalization: Untangling Age, Period, and Cohort Effects." Collabra: Psychology 3.1
(2017).
Ferguson, Bob. "Introduction: Legalization of Marijuana in Washington State." Gonz. L. Rev. 50
(2014): 239.
Hickenlooper, Governor John W. "Experimenting with pot: the state of Colorado's legalization of
marijuana." The Milbank Quarterly 92.2 (2014): 243-249.
Monte, Andrew A., Richard D. Zane, and Kennon J. Heard. "The implications of marijuana
legalization in Colorado." Jama 313.3 (2015): 241-242.