Cannabis is safer than other abused substances. It’s no secret that cannabis is far safer and healthier than alcohol or tobacco. So, it leaves me wondering why authorities bargain on legalizing cannabis?
Surprisingly, these other substances are lawful and may be acquired at any neighborhood store. Even minors can buy them.
Cannabis has therapeutic effects and is prescribed to individuals suffering from various mental diseases. It strikes me as strange to criminalize medicine.
Cannabis is also significantly less harmful than alcohol, has a lower risk of addiction, and is not known to cause serious medical problems.
It is estimated that more than 50,000 people die each year because of alcohol-related illnesses. Acute overdose is responsible for an additional 2,200 deaths.
Although cannabis does not make users immortal, no one has died because of an overdose. As a result, keeping it illegal while boosting alcohol advertisements is illogical.
Table of Contents
1. Criminalizing marijuana is a waste of resources while legalizing cannabis will bring in needed revenue.
According to estimates, legalizing cannabis replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation and taxation will generate up to $6.8 billion in solely excise taxes for every state that implements it.
Marijuana sales in Washington, the United States, raked in 600 million dollars after legalizing cannabis in 2020.
Legalizing cannabis is a way to diversify revenue streams. Contrary to prohibition campaigns that waste public funds, the taxing industry can accomplish this.
2. Legalizing cannabis will help law enforcers focus on actual crime.
In jurisdictions where marijuana is outlawed, law enforcement officers recorded 663,367 arrests related to cannabis use, purchase, and trafficking in 2019.
This figure was higher than the total number of violent offenses. Meanwhile, the same enforcers cleared only 33% of rape cases and 31% of robberies, among other crimes.
However, studies have shown that after legalizing cannabis in Washington and Colorado, a higher percentage of the identical crimes were successfully solved.
3 Criminalizing and prohibiting cannabis put hundreds through the criminal justice system, ruining countless opportunities.
Colombian cops apprehended Pablo Escobar driving while intoxicated and possessing a large amount of marijuana.
He was arrested, resulting in a mugshot that effectively ended his prospects of running for president.
Although Pablo was not the ‘candidate of the year,’ this demonstrates how many people squandered their chances at a pound of pot because of not legalizing cannabis.
Furthermore, making cannabis illegal exposes users to the risk of being charged with a crime. This conviction makes it difficult to obtain student loans, jobs, housing, food stamps, professional licenses, or a gun permit, and it also eliminates the convict’s political ambitions.
4. Legalizing cannabis and regulating it will control teenagers’ access to cannabis which prohibition has failed to do.
According to a poll conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse in 2012, 40% of high school students know a student who sells cannabis on campus.
According to the same survey, barely 1% of youngsters know someone who sells alcohol. As a result, legalizing cannabis and regulating it will assist in keeping kids in check, particularly in schools and neighborhoods.
Once in control, cannabis businesses will use ID checks to guarantee that it is not supplied to minors or that they are not employed in the industry.
5. Lower Unemployment and Better Employment
How many jobs, particularly in the computer field, go unfilled or unapplied because of marijuana use and the fear of passing a drug test for marijuana?
According to reports, the CIA has trouble hiring hacking and computer security positions. Let’s face it, a lot of computer nerds are also stoners. You can be sure it’s a private-sector problem if the CIA acknowledges it.
The best talent is on the sidelines because they would instead work in a lower-paying or alternative position that does not require drug testing or enables cannabis use.
6. Cannabis laws are unreasonably and unfairly enforced.
Cannabis laws foster partiality in enforcement because black users are/will be more targeted than white users, even if they consume the same amount of cannabis.
Black users are 3.5 times more likely than white users to be arrested and convicted for cannabis possession and use.
7. Cannabis exclusion and prohibition encourage violence.
Cannabis is a lucrative business that employs many people. Prohibition will result in scarcity and job losses.
In the battle for the scarce goods, this will assist foster violence, with former dealers engaging in dangerous, violent acts to make ends meet.
Violence will ensue from driving, pushing, and keeping this profitable enterprise underground in the pits of illegality. Buyers and sellers are both at risk.
8. Legalizing cannabis and regulating it means control.
Legalizing cannabis protects people from harmful strains. When approved, production will occur in suitable facilities and be subjected to regular potency tests.
This, on the other hand, will discourage cultivation in dangerous and unregulated unsightly places susceptible to pesticides, mold, and product spiking, posing a health risk.
As a result, legalizing cannabis would be a wise step toward protecting its users from such dangers.
9. Legalizing cannabis means giving people a more effective and natural medicine.
Cannabis is widely used to treat a variety of ailments. Cannabis treats various diseases and disorders, including anxiety, depression, tumors, insomnia, etc.
Cannabis isn’t the cure to all global health problems, but it’s no secret that it’s a more effective treatment for health problems that have been for millennia.
Finally, sick people will have access to a legal, all-natural plant to improve their health, ease pain, reduce stress, improve sleep, and treat anxiety, high blood pressure, PTSD, ADHD, and other mental health disorders.
There must be a better method than chemically manipulated medicines to deal with this, and cannabis is the answer.
10. Legalizing cannabis means abuse of pharmaceutical drugs will drop by 25% after three years.
Cannabis with a high CBD content is a more natural alternative to medications like Ambien, which treat insomnia.
Because cannabis tablets serve the same purpose as Adderall, a PTSD medication, sales will be halted by legalizing cannabis.
Drugs used to treat ADHD will also drop in sales because doctors and health officials can treat the same ailment with cannabis.
Doctors can also use cannabis to replace pain relievers like ibuprofen, Tylenol, and aspirin. Cannabis is an excellent treatment for nausea, migraines, and bodily discomfort. Whereas many of these medicines have various adverse effects, cannabis has few.
Cannabis is a medical plant that has been used to treat nausea, headaches, physical pain, and diseases such as ADHD and others, showing to be a better alternative to prescription medications.
Furthermore, new advances are being made in cannabis research to treat autism, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.
11. Legalizing cannabis means sales of the sometimes-lethal alcohol will fall by 50%
Liquor and general alcohol sales fell by half due to the legalization of cannabis in certain states.
As previously stated, alcohol abuse, addiction, and overdose claim the lives of up to 7,000 people each year.
One of the reasons big alcohol firms oppose legalizing cannabis is because alcohol sales have plummeted in states where cannabis is solely permitted for therapeutic purposes.
This is because cannabis is a more effective treatment for depression, anxiety, and trauma than alcohol. Because cannabis is so much better than alcohol, people drink significantly less of it when they use it.
You’ll agree that a joint is better than a pint of beer for soothing the mind and socializing with friends.
12. Better relationships and marriages generally.
We’ve all seen the meme that says, “If everyone smoked a joint simultaneously, world peace would last at least three hours.” With the use of cannabis, healthier marriages and relationships begin to form. Cannabis, in general, is a pleasurable, soothing chemical that increases tolerance while decreasing hostility, resulting in the sense of serenity and unity among users.
As a result, instead of alcohol, which causes anger and hence ratchets behavior, cannabis use might be beneficial for stressful relationships or work individuals.
Ask any adult whether they’d prefer to deal with a pair of stoners or a couple of drunk kids. Cannabis is thought to boost a person’s patience and tranquility. Cannabis is known and connected with conversation and peace, but alcohol is related to domestic violence and aggressiveness.
13. Legalizing cannabis means more tolerance for different people and open-minded mindsets.
You must be wondering. How? Cannabis, on the other hand, is known to completely calm and mellow out a person.
When we hit a joint together, the things that drive us apart and our differences appear less severe. The causes and factors that cause us to fight each other seem less rational and sound.
It’s no secret that cannabis use is to relax and unwind. Stoners’ desire to be left alone feeds their willingness to tolerate just about anyone.
From as early as 2,700 BC, cannabis has been utilized in peace rites. The plant encourages rest and calm, and it doesn’t like to be judged. A prominent symbol connected with cannabis use is the peace symbol.
14. Lower Car Insurance Costs
This is an odd motive for legalizing cannabis, but it should not be overlooked. According to studies, up to 1,200 individuals die each year in car accidents caused by intoxicated drivers. Tragic!
Driving while stoned or stoned driving, on the other hand, has been shown in tests to force drivers to slow down and focus, resulting in safer driving.
Cannabis makes people more cautious and cautious while driving. Furthermore, the fact that alcohol consumption would decline by half indicates that there will be more minor accidents.
15. Prohibiting cannabis is terrible for the environment.
As previously stated, cannabis prohibition encourages illegal farmers to use dangerous chemicals, inappropriately dispose of waste, and reroute streams into state and national parks.
As a result, a hazardous product is created, and the environment is jeopardized. If the cannabis industry is licensed, controlled, and monitored, environmental regulations will be followed.
16. Legalizing cannabis means less crowded prisons, incarceration for minor weed offenders, and fewer prison costs.
Hear me out. Imagine populating prisons with actual criminals, such as rapists, robbers, and burglars, rather than those caught with a pound of marijuana.
Instead, the government spends millions of dollars on housing petty cannabis offenders. For their cannabis offenses, many of these individuals have received outrageous and unjust punishments. Remember that many of these belong to specific races or regions of the world.
17. A better use for the millions and billions used to fund the war on drugs by legalizing cannabis.
Governments and law enforcement agencies should put the money spent combatting cannabis consumption in the ‘war on drugs to better use.
These can combat substances like heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, and opiates, all deadly and harmful.
Billions of dollars have been squandered trying to eradicate marijuana worldwide. All of this has been in vain. Weed isn’t going anywhere.
Taxpayer funds and other drug agencies can be used to focus on the actual drugs that kill people rather than the herb.