Essay - Should the US Government Legalize Marijuana? the Legalization of Marijuana:...

Should the US government legalize marijuana?

The Legalization of Marijuana: Cost-Effective?

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***** use has been rampant in ***** United States for quite a while, and was just recently brought back *****to the spotlight with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps caught using it. Marijuana was banned in a peculiar way ***** 1937. Marijuana usage ***** illegal if you did not purchase a tax stamp, but you could not obtain a stamp unless you had already produced *****—which ***** grew before purchasing a stamp—making ***** illegal. Many critics argue that marijuana should be legalized because a gre*****t amount of revenue could be made from taxation of the plant. Others argue that marijuana ***** stay illegal because it is a gateway drug leading its users on a path ***** more hardcore drugs.

***** of the date of th***** writing, fourteen states have made possession of ***** in small ********** legal. However, the ***** States ***** still recognizes marijuana as a schedule 1 drug. Schedule 1 is the highest rat*****g a drug can get, meaning it has a high potenti*****l for abuse or no accepted medical use. My goal is to analyze ***** potential economic impacts of legalizing marijuana, as well as examine the impact of legalization in ***** aforementioned fourteen states in order to determine the 'value' ***** legalization of marijuana ***** an economic st*****point as opposed to a mor*****l or ethical one.

Right now, most states *****d the federal government look upon marijuana as being unhealthy and dangerous, but ********** say l*****tle about the economic ***** of *****. It ***** an area which warrants fur*****r exploration largely because it has not ***** addressed clearly in the past, and also ***** of the current state of the economy ***** ***** argument that legalization of marijuana and other *****s would generate enough ***** to correct any economic problems that this country is facing.

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The Uniform State Narcotic Act

***** was ***** illegal by the Uniform State ***** Act in 1932, and th***** Act made it ***** many drugs illegal to possess or distribute (Anslinger & Tompkins, n.d.). If there were legitimate uses for a drug - such as in the ***** field - ***** were special provisions ***** those ki*****s of th*****gs. *****, any other use of these drugs was completely prohibited and there were strict penalties for any person who was caught with these substances (Anslinger ***** Tompkins, n.d.). Each ***** was given the right to deal with search and seizure and addiction issues in ways that *****y saw fit, ***** that was not regulated by the federal *****. Despite that, the Act was not something that ***** ***** government took lightly or that they did not intend to strictly enforce (Anslinger & *****, n.d.). The Act was very clear on what constituted ***** for purposes of being illegal, as well, stating *****:

Cannabis" includes all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds there*****; the resin extracted from any part of ***** *****; and every compound,