A Greener Outlook 1
A Greener Outlook 1
A Greener Outlook 1
A Greener Outlook: An Examination of the Pro’s and Con’s of Marijuana and its Possible
Legal Future
By
James Crawford
Of the Requirements of
April, 2012
A Greener Outlook 2
Abstract
This paper will present the historical use of marijuana in the United States, the pro’s and
con’s of marijuana legalization, the beneficial and side effects produced by the drug, the
economic impact of marijuana prohibition versus regulation and taxation, and what
direction the country should take over the next twenty years.
A Greener Outlook 3
Table of Contents
Conclusion 13
References 14
A Greener Outlook 4
served as a prevalent industrial product. Brought into the country by British settlers,
marijuana hemp was prized for its versatility. It was also used to make a variety of
products that include, paper, rope, cloth (Schwartz, 2008). The root word for canvas
originates for the word cannabis, thus it is the cloth produced from cannabis (Merriam-
Webster, 2012). In fact, it has been established that both George Washington was not
only the father of the United States and a cannabis plantation owners, but also a user of
The recreational use of marijuana began in the 1920’s when it was first imported
from Mexico as a cheap substitute for and companion drug to alcohol (Graves,
Fernandez, Shelton, Frabutt, & Williford, 2005; Lyman, 2011). The speakeasy clubs
established the days of alcohol prohibition catered to consumers of illegal alcohol also
sold marijuana as an alternate source of income and intoxication (Savran, 2006). Savran
(2006) even establishes that marijuana uses was one of the primary influences behind the
development of jazz.
Despite being labeled a taxable narcotic in 1937 by the Marijuana Tax Act that
resulted in making it illegal to possess or distribute untaxed marijuana, the 1950’s and
1960’s saw increases of marijuana use in high schools and college campuses (Yacobian,
2007; Lyman, 2011). In fact, it was the increased use of marijuana during this time that
caused President Richard Nixon to declare a war on drugs in the 1970’s by signing the
Comprehensive Drug Abuse and Prevention and Control Act into law (Yacobian, 2007).
Since then, marijuana has been the cornerstone drug for many counterculture groups as a
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Many in law enforcement and the legislature see that repeated discriminatory
targeting of low income African American and Latino households has created undue
tension in communities thus counteracting any perceived benefit to society (Hall, 1998).
Street level enforcement of drug laws is like casting a wide tightly woven net that, while
catching some of its intended prey of traffickers and pushers, also captures and damages
the casual, non-addicted, non-recreation, socially and functional user (Lyman, 2011;
Nedalmann, 1998). Lee, Lee, and Lee (2010) have gone so far as to state that the
inequities of the drug laws has resulted in exacerbated racial and socioeconomic
disparities. Additionally, Dawkins (1997) reports marijuana users are involved in far
fewer violent and nonviolent crimes than people who consume alcohol thus supporting
The problem with legalization and regulation of any drug is the fact that if a
restricted party, such as youths, want it the drug, they are going to find a way to get it
(Lyman, 2011). Thus, the black market trade will still be there, it just will not be a
prevalent as it one was due to massive regulations. It is very likely that the legalized
marijuana market will reduce the amount of marijuana being sold on the street. However,
there is the specter of greedy unlicensed and unregulated cultivators may attempt to
diversify by trying to sell to legitimate markets while also supplying street pushers
dealing for discreet and indiscreet sales as a means of undercutting the legitimate markets
well as distribution and sales locations in order to avoid diversion of the marijuana
product.
Delisi (2003) mentions the incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders has done little
more than boosting conviction rates without adequately addressing the issue of drug
usage as the demand for illicit drugs in the U.S. In fact it has been suggested by Delisi
(2003) that movement away from incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders and to treating
the users demand for their drug(s) of choice as the best option in properly facing drug
abuse. Nedalmann (2004) points out, the war on drugs, especially marijuana, is a
political tool that no longer fully reflects the concerted will of the people. In fact,
Michigan, with its history of strict marijuana law enforcement, passed in 2008 a measure
Marijuana has been found to treat many medical problems. One such treatment
involves inhaling marijuana in order to relax the esophagus and diaphragm of those
suffering from intractable hiccups thus providing relief for the debilitating condition
(Gilson & Busalacchi, 1998). Individuals suffering from chronic pain, cancer,
fibromyalgia, arthritis, and HIV/AIDS are able to use marijuana as an appetite stimulant
to combat chemical and radiation treatments that result in appetite lose (McQuay, 2010;
Nadelmann, 2004; Lyman , 2011). Marijuana use has been shown to reduce fluid
pressure of the eyes in patients suffering from glaucoma and painful migraines while also
being used to reduce spastic or impaired muscle control brought on by multiple sclerosis,
seizures (Kuhn, Swartzwelder, & Wilson, 2008). Further beneficial effects of marijuana
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are unknown due to difficulties of obtaining the drug legally for testing purposes (Lyman,
2011).
Marijuana use enables cannabinoids to enter the blood stream where it is able to
permeate the fatty membrane surrounding the brain (Kuhn, et al., 2008). These
cannabinoids increase the risk of producing long term schizophrenia or psychosis in those
who are already predisposed to such conditions (Degenhardt & Hall, 2006). Buckner,
Heimberg, Matthews, and Silgado (2012) have established that persons with established
social anxieties that use marijuana to reduce the tension of social anxiety may be prone to
produced in the brain result in a host of behavioral issues including impulsiveness and
excitability. Kuhn, Swartzwelder, and Wilson (2008) cite that marijuana uses will
typically experience drowsiness and sedation while also experience moments shifting
well as the loss of short term memory (Kuhn, et al., 2008). It is suspected that marijuana
use lowers the inhibitions that suppress violent reactions which can result in homicides
and other interpersonal violence; however, again, more research is needed to validate this
claim (Graves, et al., 2005). However, Zvolensky, Cougle, Johnson, Bonn-Miller, and
Bernstein (2010) have shown that there have not been enough concrete scientific studies
A Greener Outlook 8
psychopathology.
Marijuana users under the influence tend to drive at slower speeds due to
heightened sense of paranoia and anxiety while at the same time experience reduced
complex coordination thus producing hazardous reaction times (Lyman, 2011; Kuhn, et
al., 2008). Graves, Fernandez, Shelton, Frabutt, and Williford (2005) have reported that
30 percent of fatally injured drivers and 50 percent or reckless drivers have cannabinoids
in their system even though further research is needed to fully explore these findings.
Lyman (2011) makes note that marijuana smoking can produce the same harmful
effects as tobacco smoking which can result in bronchitis, emphysema, and bronchial
asthma. It has been concluded that smoking the equivalent of 3-5 marijuana cigarettes
per day was enough to produce Chronic Obtrusive Lung Disease (COPD) and the risk of
contracting the disease increased if combined with tobacco smoking (Tan, Lo, Jong,
Xing, FitzGerald, et al., 2009). Increased stress is placed on the marijuana users heart
which can produce high blood pressure, arrhythmia, although there has been no clear link
The U.S. war on drugs is an all encompassing money pit draining national
resources for the cause of eradicating drugs at their source country, through interdiction
during transportation, and street level enforcement (Lyman, 2011). Per Miron and
Waldock (2010), the U.S. commits $8.7 billion annually through federal, state, and local
funding to combat marijuana. Interdiction, per Lyman (2011), involves the cost of
manning and dispatching naval cruisers which are only able to halt a suspected marginal
A Greener Outlook 9
amount of drugs that drug traffickers expected loses thus no meaningful impact actually
occurs. Interdiction may attempt to reduce foreign importation of illegal marijuana, but it
fails to address the issue that the majority of drugs consumed as a whole in the United
Internal eradication efforts by local law enforcement and the DEA across the U.S.
has resulted the destroying crops in given locations; however, elimination of one crop in
the country results in the ramping up crop production in another areas in other countries
filling the gap (Nadelmann, 1998). Thus, man-hours of eradication efforts only result in
At the street level, police officers are seeing drug arrests clogging up the courts
and corrections facilities (Nadelmann, 2004). The cost of prosecuting marijuana felons is
estimated at $40 billion per year (Ostertag & Armaline, 2011). It is interesting to note
that the U.S. government frequently disregards its own drug prohibition policies when
messages with its hypocritical inconsistency of policy enforcement (Lee, Lee, & Lee,
2010). This point further drives home the point of wasted funds when the very force
behind drug prohibition is violating its own stance which serves also as a slap in the face
to federal, state, and local law enforcement officers who are forced to follow the
According to Naim (2009), Members of the senate have agreed on the bold move
to legalize, or at least decriminalize, marijuana. Naim (2009) further states this move is
even being supported by the Pentagon which admits the war on drugs is a bankrupted
venture especially in the face of the global economic crisis. As a result, drug prohibition
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at any cost has become too costly with little to show for its efforts. Per Lyman (2011),
since the war on drugs began purity, potency, and availability of drugs have increased
Marijuana is a drug that should be legalized and regulated just the same as alcohol
and tobacco. One of the primary reasons for legalization boils down to a matter of
economics. Marijuana is a crop that can be grown in every state of the United States
(Nadelmann, 1998). The federal and state government can offer licenses to marijuana
growers that can be monitored and inspected and any time to ensure that they are
following established guidelines that apply to alcohol producers and tobacco growers
(Lyman, 2011).
The newly licensed marijuana growers will have to maintain plot maps of
growing sites, log the type and amount of marijuana grown and harvested, and samples of
each back should be sent to state and federal labs for testing in order to maintain
consistency of the product produced. The growers would be allowed to sell their product
to registered and regulated distributors who would in turn send the product out to
registered retail locations. The retail locations would have to sell the product under the
same scrutiny as alcohol and tobacco. During each step of production, distribution, and
point of sell, the product would be taxed. Miron (2005) estimated that $6.2 billion per
year could be generated is marijuana were taxed and sold the same as tobacco and
alcohol.
By legalizing marijuana, the federal, state, and local governments would be able
to divert a majority of eradication and interdiction funds back into social programs while
A Greener Outlook 11
tax income from the sale of marijuana funds necessary marijuana education and treatment
programs (Levinson, 2003; Lyman, 2011). In turn, what was once a financial burden to
fight will become a major source of revenue the not only produce needed funds to fuel
the American economy, but it would also be able to produce an entire new sector of
commerce thus creating new jobs. There will be a call for growers, distributors, and
points of sale/storefronts to operate the new business sector. This is what America has
been needing, actual job creation and a new taxable revenue source (Kennally, 2001).
An example of the job creating and revenue producing power of legal marijuana
sales can be observed by examining the California marijuana market. In California there
are well over 300 marijuana dispensaries that employ and train workers while at the same
time generating much needed state taxes that fuel the local and state economy
(Nadelmann, 2004). Colorado approved the use of medical marijuana in 2000 and since
then has received 809 applications for marijuana center licenses and 309 applications for
In addition to the economic growth that will be spurred on by the new industry,
the U.S. will be able to save approximately $7.7 billion per year that would have been set
aside for combating marijuana (Miron, 2005). Again, this is money that can be invested
and prison cells for violent offenders. The reduction of incarcerated nonviolent drug
offenders will allow more space for violent offenders. In addition, it would remove an
unnecessary, nonviolent population from the prisons that can be addressed through drug
A Greener Outlook 12
treatment centers and programs. This would allow drug offenders easier access to
support structures that can aid them in becoming clean from drugs or at least gain control
over their addiction. The treated offender would be able to continue to serve as a
abuse researchers that will be used in offsetting the negative side effects of marijuana
usage and improved methods of addressing the effects of abuse as it relates to society and
in the need for further scholarly and medical research and expand the ranks of minority
researchers.
Should marijuana be legalized, the U.S. economy in the next 20 years will prosper
thanks to a new source of income fueled through the creation of an entire new sector of
commerce that creates new jobs. In turn, the new revenue will ease the financial burden
of combating drugs and educating the public about the harms of drugs while also
providing additional funding to treatment facilities and their staff (Guydish, 2009). The
legalization of marijuana would result in a huge relief of time, money, and effort from
law enforcement, the courts, and corrections alike. Additionally, the federal, state, and
local governments will be able to save billions of dollars that will be able to fund other
vital programs.
up education and available treatment will be able to address any medical issues that arise.
Once the glamour and mystique of marijuana has been eliminated through legalization
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and increased education, it will experience an in decrease sales the same as that
Conclusion
Medical science has shown that marijuana is a drug that does produce harmful
side effects. However, these side effects are far less severe than those encountered by the
consumption of alcohol, a known legal drug that can be purchased anywhere it is sold by
legal adults. Marijuana legalization would help ease tensions between law enforcement
and minority communities and provide one less illicit drug that can be pandered by gangs
and pushers.
Not only would marijuana legalization fuel federal, state, and local economies and
drug education and treatment center funding through taxation, there would be growth in
the job market with the creation of new jobs. Legalization would also allow for
treatment options. In addition, it has been shown that the economic gain of marijuana
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