Disclaimer: In no way shape or form do I Michael Herbert condone the use of Marijuana by anyone suffering from, who could be suffering from or has a family history of suffering from chemical dependency issues of any kind.
5. More Opportunity’s For People To Seek Substance Abuse Treatment
People use more drugs around secrecy than openness. Shame breeds addiction. Shame and addiction go hand in hand. When someone feels like they are doing something wrong they are less likely to tell people about it. They are less likely to admit they have a problem, because admitting they have a problem with marijuana would be admitting they use illegal drugs.
People who have become dependent on marijuana most likely feel shame and guilt about using it because it has been deemed “bad” and “Illegal” by the government, media and parents. Someone who is arrested for marijuana possession is also less likely to go to treatment and less likely to speak of their past since the punishment is jail time. So actually the result from legalization would be the lifting of the stigma and culture of shame and a more open and honest discussion about marijuana abuse. Plus, more people would seek treatment for marijuana dependency if it was legal because their honesty would get them help, not a prison sentence.
4. Taxing Marijuana Brings in Revenue
The State of Washington which has made the recreational use of marijuana legal says estimates the tax on marijuana will raise 1.8 billion dollars over the next 5 years. This money can be put to good use in a number of ways, but its best use could be to allocate that money to state run drug and alcohol treatment centers. These state run facilities are historically the last place anyone would chose to go to treatment but with a massive remodel of the staff and facilities these places could do their jobs much more effectively and still cost the tax payers next to nothing to attend.
The tax money could and will be used to increase and improve upon of the public transportation system, the school system and pretty much any other state run system. An effective and intelligent state government could also decrease property taxes and sales taxes, which would intern give people more money to spend in their local economy.
3. Less Marijuana Arrest = Less Taxes
Crime rates in countries where marijuana is legal are significantly lower than that of the US. The less people you have in jail the less money you have to spend on prisoners and the less you have to tax the citizens. The war on pot costs 42 billion dollars annually. Now think how low taxes would be if we gave that money back to tax payers. In 2012 it cost the state of Florida 2.08 BILLION dollars to house all of it’s inmates. That cost is broken down to $20,553 per inmate, per year. In 2010, 57,951 people were arrested for marijuana related crimes, had pot been legal think how much money it could have saved you the taxpayer.
2. Less Harmful than Alcohol and Cigarettes
There has never been a documented case of someone getting lung cancer from smoking pot, cigarettes can’t say that. Marijuana use has not been linked to chronic breathing problems, again cigarettes can’t say that and they are legal. Marijuana doesn’t cause heart disease or liver failure, alcohol does. Marijuana doesn’t cause deadly black outs and it’s withdrawals symptoms will never kill you or even make you feel sick, the above is true of alcohol, which is legal.
1. No one has ever died from it! Ever!
In 2012 approximately 88,000 people died in the US from alcohol related deaths. 480,000 people died from cigarrette related deathes. Gues how many peoiple have died from marijuana use…Zero, EVER.
