Healthcare Principle and Policy: Legalization of Marijuana Effects

This report examines the potential impacts of marijuana legalization on healthcare principles and policies in the United States. It begins by noting that despite federal prohibition, marijuana is widely used, and some states have legalized its medical use. The report explores the economic and social effects of broader legalization, including potential revenue generation for government programs, increased market demand, and the possibility of price control through increased production from local and private farms. It contrasts marijuana with other drugs like cocaine and heroin, arguing that legalization of these substances could lead to uncontrolled increases in use and negative societal consequences. The report concludes that the legalization of drugs like marijuana with medicinal use should be considered by the federal government to generate revenue and address healthcare needs using the drug's medicinal properties. It references several studies and reports to support its claims.

Running head: HEALTH CARE PRINCIPLE AND POLICY
HEALTH CARE PRINCIPLE AND POLICY
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1HEALTH CARE PRINCIPLE AND POLICY
Marijuana or cannabis is an illicit drug as per the federal law of United States of
America (Weinberg, 2019). Despite this legal inhibition, more than 18 million people have
been registered as a regular user of marijuana (Hall & Lynskey, 2016). More 23 US states has
legalized the use of medical dosage of marijuana, however if hypothetically, the government
decides the legalization of marijuana for the public to use it without any inhibition, then it
would affect the market as well as the society drastically (Maier, Mannes & Koppenhofer,
2017).
As mentioned in the report of Weinberg (2019), sell of marijuana is responsible for
the revenue generation and finding of several social programs associated with substance
abuse prevention and education such sufferers. With legalization of medicinal usage, the US
government has generated the revenue of $10.4 billion which would reach up to $12.9 billion
approximately (Weinberg, 2019). Hence, this data indicated to the fact that with legalization
of the drug, the demand would increase (Maier, Mannes & Koppenhofer, 2017). Further, with
legalization, more number of local and private farms would invest in production of marijuana
and hence, consequently, the price would be controlled to an affordable level so that the
demand could increase. Therefore, marijuana is the drug which would be affected the most
after legalization. However, legalization of drugs such as cocaine, Methamphetamine,
Heroin, Hallucinogens or Ecstasy would increase but uncontrolled manner as these drugs
could affect the society adversely. Hence, despite the increase in the number of drug users, no
economic impact would be observed for the above-mentioned drugs (Hall & Lynskey, 2016).
However, these legalization of drugs could affect the society negatively as increased use
would increase the criminal incidents within the society. Hence, legalization of drugs with
medicinal use, such as marijuana should be done by the federal government so that they could
gain revenues and the healthcare needs could be fulfilled using the medicinal property of the
drug (Maier, Mannes & Koppenhofer, 2017).

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References
Hall, W., & Lynskey, M. (2016). Why it is probably too soon to assess the public health
effects of legalisation of recreational cannabis use in the USA. The Lancet
Psychiatry, 3(9), 900-906.
Maier, S. L., Mannes, S., & Koppenhofer, E. L. (2017). The implications of marijuana
decriminalization and legalization on crime in the United States. Contemporary Drug
Problems, 44(2), 125-146.
Weinberg, B. (2019). What Would Happen if Weed Became Federally Legalized in America.
Retrieved 10 August 2019, from https://www.papermag.com/the-united-states-of-
cannabis-2631648590.html