Legalize it to save America
By: Mitchell Holmes
Issue date: 12/3/08 Section: News
Legalizing marijuana could save the country. Or at least help ease the economic crisis.
In today's tumultuous economy, people are searching everywhere for an answer on how to bring America out of its financial funk. Cannabis may be just the answer everyone is looking for. The legalization of marijuana has the potential to create an enormous amount of revenue for a government in desperate need of it. History itself can be a guide when it comes to the legalizing of a banned substance in order to help the economy.
The consumption, sale and transport of alcohol was made illegal by the Volstead Act and the 18th amendment in 1920. During the Progressive Era, many people believed that America would be healthier and its work force would be more productive if alcohol was illegal and therefore not consumed. However, instead of embracing the law, many people chose to ignore and break it. Speakeasies, or bars that illegally served alcohol, popped up in most major cities, and organized crime flourished as alcohol became the hottest commodity on the black market.
Then, as the Great Depression took its stranglehold on the country in the early 1930s, lawmakers realized that a change needed to be made. Enforcing prohibition was extremely expensive and, without the taxes on alcohol, the government was losing up to 500 million dollars a year in revenue. So, in 1933, FDR signed into law the Cullen- Harrison Act which, along with the 21st Amendment, effectively repealed the prohibition. Obviously, the repeal was not a main factor in ending the depression, but it certainly helped the government create more revenue and ease the stress. Marijuana has the same potential for helping the economy and is less harmful than alcohol.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 makes it illegal under federal law to possess, use, buy, sell or cultivate marijuana. The act classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 Drug, which means that it has high tendency for abuse and no classified medical use. This argument itself is inherently wrong. Many medical journals have cited medical cannabis as a treatment for nausea, vomiting and lack of appetite in chemotherapy patients.
In today's tumultuous economy, people are searching everywhere for an answer on how to bring America out of its financial funk. Cannabis may be just the answer everyone is looking for. The legalization of marijuana has the potential to create an enormous amount of revenue for a government in desperate need of it. History itself can be a guide when it comes to the legalizing of a banned substance in order to help the economy.
The consumption, sale and transport of alcohol was made illegal by the Volstead Act and the 18th amendment in 1920. During the Progressive Era, many people believed that America would be healthier and its work force would be more productive if alcohol was illegal and therefore not consumed. However, instead of embracing the law, many people chose to ignore and break it. Speakeasies, or bars that illegally served alcohol, popped up in most major cities, and organized crime flourished as alcohol became the hottest commodity on the black market.
Then, as the Great Depression took its stranglehold on the country in the early 1930s, lawmakers realized that a change needed to be made. Enforcing prohibition was extremely expensive and, without the taxes on alcohol, the government was losing up to 500 million dollars a year in revenue. So, in 1933, FDR signed into law the Cullen- Harrison Act which, along with the 21st Amendment, effectively repealed the prohibition. Obviously, the repeal was not a main factor in ending the depression, but it certainly helped the government create more revenue and ease the stress. Marijuana has the same potential for helping the economy and is less harmful than alcohol.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 makes it illegal under federal law to possess, use, buy, sell or cultivate marijuana. The act classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 Drug, which means that it has high tendency for abuse and no classified medical use. This argument itself is inherently wrong. Many medical journals have cited medical cannabis as a treatment for nausea, vomiting and lack of appetite in chemotherapy patients.