PLN26

"Public policy analyst calls for legalization to aid U.S. economy"

By Ben Kage

In the article "Public policy analyst calls for legalization to aid U.S. economy" by Ben Kage, it tells about how much the legalization of marijuana would help the economy. There were statistics done in 2005 which said that marijuana was the number one cash crop of the U.S. and it produced a little over 35 billion dollars in the market every year. The case of whether to legalize this drug or not still has not been decided, even though more people are opening up to it as a medical prescription. The doctor will give you a prescription for it if you have cancer or to relieve severe pain, in some cases medical marijuana halp breast cancer be fought off. This matters to people all over the world because if it was legalized then the economy would be able to make all of that money they are losing back, which in time would make the economy rise. People get put into jail for smoking marijuana which costs the city and government lots of money each year that they could be spending on something else. The article also showed that marijuana was better for people than smoking cigarettes because it does not have tar and nicotine in it. A couple of the major reasons they have not legalized it is because the alcohol business might crash and so would the tobacco companies. They should not legalize this because it might hurt people's academic scores if it has a long term effect on the brain and we would not want am irresponsible country if people can not make decisions that are good. Clearly, there is a big argument if marijuana should be legalized or not.