Sunday, July 10, 2011

Stimulate Your Mind, MAN!

My Microeconomics class had a interesting discussion this week.  It was about whether or not to legalize Marijuana for economic stimulation.  

If you watch the town hall meeting Obama did recently answering question posed through social media, you'd know that he was asked about legalizing marijuana.  Apparently this is on MANY American's minds.






This is my discussion post:

As teens, my brother and I use to joke about how the government should just go ahead and legalize marijuana. 

A couple of months after I moved here to Arizona, the news was flooded with reports that medical marijuana was now legal, with a prescription, of course.  Marijuana is sold in clinics and shops across Arizona.  Billboards went up everywhere.  Jobs opened up for those who could show users how to use the drug “responsibly”.
  Pro 1 – Job growth

Living on the border where much of these drugs enter the country, I find myself again asking, "Why not legalize it and take the thrill out of it?
  Make some money for the country in the process?"  And apparently I’m not the only one with these thoughts.
President Obama addresses the question of legalizing the drug in the United States.  It was a question raised by many online users wondering if legalizing Marijuana would stimulate the economic status of the United States. 
The President’s response?   “The answer is,no, I don’t think that it is a good stragey to grow our economy.”     Of course, he’s suppose to say that.  He is the President of the United States and constantly under extreme scrutiny.
But let’s look at this.  Many states have played with the possibility of legalizing the drug.  Amsterdam considers it a soft drug and although it is not necessarily “legal” to sell weed, export or import it, there are several “coffeeshops” that sell it.  California has proposed many benefits for the state:

·        Save $200 million in law enforcement on arrests, prosecution, trial and imprisonment of offenders. 
·        An excise tax of $50 per ounce would raise about $770 – 900 million per year.
·        Retail sales would range from $3 - $4.5 BILLION. Generatin another $240 - $360 MILL in sales tax.
One benefit would be that less African Americans and minorities would be flooding the jails for procession and selling marijuana.  They would be free from prison to purchase marijuana legally, therefore stimulating the economy. 
On the con side, legalizing and taking marijuana could easily cause people to move to illegal, less expensive and tax-free drugs instead.  Also, marijuana makes you lazy.  It’s a strong possibility that the more people free to use weed, the more people would become lazy and lose jobs!
If you stuck with me this long, feel free with leave your personal opinion!  Thanks!

Resources
Time Magazine. Kline, 2009. Why Legalizing Marijuanna makes sense. Retrived from April 2, 2009.  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1889166,00.html
Kay

Okay, so SHOOT!  What ya got?  What's your opinion?

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