Legalization Of Weed :: essays research papers

In this country, we are locked in a war we simply cannot win. We strive to protectover 10,000 miles of border, against enemies who are driven by the lure of a huge profit. We fought a version of this war before with prohibition, and we lost that one. All that hasreally resulted from this war is the overcrowding of prisons, the expansion of lawenforcements ability to infringe on the personal lives of ordinary citizens, paranoia anddistrust. If its not obvious already, I am referring to the war on drugs, marijuana inspecific. Why spend millions of dollars fighting a war that can not be won? Legalizingmarijuana would not only make the government money, but also improve society as awhole.To most the financial reasons for ending the war are the most convincing. Forexample, it costs over $30,000 per year to house a prisoner - this does not include touch and legal fees. There are over 1.5 million non-violent drug law offenders inprison right now, and this number is increasing daily. That means we are outlay aminimum of $45 meg per year keeping former tax-paying citizens locked up withmurderers and rapists. When these people get out of jail, they pass on have criminal recordswhich provide make it nearly impossible to get a decent job. Most of whom had jobs andwere contributing to the economy in some way.The United States spend $37 one thousand million per year funding police efforts to fight thewar on drugs.. Recent evidence suggests the CIA has been involved in drug-trafficking tofund its own private wars. Currently in that location is over $150 billion worth of drug traffic thatremains untaxed. If you figure a tax rate of 15%, that is a total of $22.5 billion of taxesthat America doesnt see. The U.S. Treasury estimates America wastes a minimum of$104.5 billion per year fighting a war that can not be won. Meanwhile annoyance ratescontinue to rise (because of the huge net made possible by the risks involved in thedrug trade as drugs remain illegal), and the flavour of education, medical care andenvironmental protection falls due to lack of money in the budget.The problem with drugs is not their effect, it is the corruption that is tied to thehuge profits that doing illegal business commands. Increasing penalties for drug crimeswill just increase the prices and thereby the profits for people willing to take the risk.Along with these profits will come increasing war in our neighborhoods as gangs and