pot
...ed to marijuana. “In 1987, 10 billion dollars were spent alone just on enforcing drug laws…” (Long,114). That is simply too much money being virtually wasted on a cause that seems to have no end. Our country could save countless amounts of funds even if marijuana is legalized for medical uses only. “The drug enforcement authorities might reduce their budget requests, or, more likely, focus more intensely on hard drugs and violent crimes…” (Baker 23). All drug enforcement agencies could reduce their budget, and all marijuana sold can be taxed, adding tremendous amounts of what is basically profit to our: governments funding for schools and monuments/buildings, government spending and salary, and our economy’s overall state. The savings alone is reason enough to legalize marijuana. Changing the legality of marijuana cannot only benefit the country’s economy, but also the quality of life for many people. In essence, its legalization would be killing 2 birds with one stone. While not only adding to one of the effective ways of saving money for the country, it will also improve the country’s jail systems and in-turn, improve the way many people live their lives. “In 1989, a Republican county executive of Mercer County N.J. estimated that it would cost him as much as 1 billion dollars to build the jail space needed to house all the hardcore drug users in Trenton alone” (Long 128). Those figures are for one city alone. Even if every city consumed the same amount of money (and this is a generous ratio), that would cost the state of New Jersey over 10 billion dollars, and that’s just per ‘major’ city (those cities containing a population over 100,000). Besides money, this can also save space and lives. “Drugs accounted for about 40 percent of all felony indictments in the New York City courts in 1989. This figure is quadruple what it was in 1985. Forty percent of the people in federal prison are drug law violators.” (Long 114). Legalizing marijuana would cut down on the overpopulation of our prison system. Further more, forty percent of a jailhouse is just too many people being put in prisons for drug use alone. Obviously legalizing marijuana would not only stop our prisons from being crowded, but also stop our pockets from being emptied. The most important gain from marijuana’s legalization would be in the vast improvement of life for many of those who are suffering from illnesses or recovering from certain cancer treatments. Victims of glaucoma and those needing anti-nausea treatment, for example, would find marijuana easily available and would have the freedoms to smoke the drug without feeling that they are ‘breaking the law’. Clearly all those who are in favor of marijuana being legalized are not the stereotypical, dumb ‘pot heads’ we all assume them to be. “78 percent of doctors surveyed in Manhattans major hospitals agreed that marijuana legalization would benefit their patience well-being…” (Baker, 121). Licensed physicians are agreeing that marijuana is beneficial to many people. Dr. Stater of New York’s Mercy Hospital agreed “… it would improve the over all state of our sick and make it easy for a prescription to be filled.” (Johnson 132). It is apparent that this ‘weeds’ legalization is vital to the benefit of America’s society. There are many groups already staging pro-marijuana rallies outside of government buildings in hopes of changing the way things are. Also support marches for legalization have been seen all over the country. It would be hard to imagine that this many people are in the wrong. While these reasons clearly demonstrate the need ...