Before his inauguration, President Obama asked the public to comment on the top problems facing the United States. Not surprisingly, the most popular issue among the masses was how America intends to act on recent arguments and movements for the legalization of marijuana. This is a difficult topic for our government to address without causing uproar because a wide variety of belief systems and lifestyles have evolved, creating personal opinions that are increasingly different and contradictory. When specific beliefs and lifestyles gain popularity (smoking marijuana for example), it is the duty of the government to continue adapting its laws to best suit these beliefs for the entire country. Some believe marijuana to be a senseless, repulsive drug habit, but with the population of pot smokers growing, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the outdated marijuana policies.

Every day, millions of Americans become criminals when they toke up. Although it is impossible to know the exact number of marijuana users, most studies estimate that nearly 100 million Americans have smoked weed at least once, about 20 million are regular smokers, and between 2 and 3 million smoke for the first time every year. That’s a pretty big chunk of the population! At what point will our government recognize that this simple, yet widespread act of civil disobedience is now too deeply ingrained in American culture for prohibition to work? Perhaps the consequences of outlawing marijuana are greater than those that come from simply allowing people the freedom to choose if they want to smoke or not. Regardless of the government’s opinion, the destructive effects of banning pot that have resulted from our politicians’ stubborn choice to continue upholding this law are now too great to ignore.

By ignoring the pleas of his citizens and making an attempt to eliminate marijuana with a strict judicial system, Uncle Sam has helped create a thriving underground drug culture. There have been countless studies done concluding that marijuana is one of the safest drugs, but because it’s illegal, those who choose to smoke face the danger of getting caught and sent to jail or fined.

Some states, like Idaho and Texas, have such strict laws that even having a small amount of marijuana can be punishable with jail time. Getting a fine for smoking is outrageous enough as it is, but going to jail is too extreme of a consequence. It creates a large opportunity for new inmates to become involved in a criminal lifestyle when they would not have had that chance before. This is a system that creates more criminals than it rehabilitates. The prison system is becoming overcrowded with higher and higher arrest rates of “drug abusers” caught with marijuana. Over a third of those incarcerated in the United States are serving time for non-violent drug crimes; half of which are solely marijuana charges. Considering the huge amount of people in prison for sales or consumption of marijuana, I would expect legalization to significantly lower the total number of inmates, which in turn would not only free more space in the correctional system, but also cut the multibillion dollar cost of government spending on inmates by 15%.

Incidentally, marijuana legalization can benefit the government financially in other ways as well. According to economist Mike Moffatt, by taking careful steps to tax and regulate this drug effectively, the United States could potentially turn a profit of $6.2 billion per year. By creating high quality, inexpensive, commercially produced marijuana products, the black market dealers will be quickly eliminated. About.com estimates marijuana’s average street price to be $8.60 for a half gram, a small nickel sized amount that cost only $1.70 to produce. This profit margin is unrealistic anywhere other than the black market. Because drug dealers absorb a large amount of risk by selling illegal substances, they can charge practically anything they want as long as people are willing to pay it. But alas, the time of the traditional scummy, dirty, drug dealer will draw to an end with the legalization of marijuana. A spur of excitement will fill the air among contemporary entrepreneurs looking to sell their own products. For a few crazy months, so many different businesses would be competing to establish themselves as the “image of pot” that anyone without a crisp marketing strategy, a well designed business plan, and a large sum of money would immediately be run out of business.

With competition between the top companies, the price of marijuana would be guaranteed to plummet to record lows. In fact, most smokers would probably have quite a bit of excess money. With the money that they save by purchasing commercially grown marijuana, smokers would be able to further help stimulate the economy by spending more within the legal market. Additionally, the U.S. could expect to save an extra $7.7 billion by removing its prohibition enforcement programs. These programs must be done away with as quickly as possible because they are a useless waste of money. Repeatedly spending billions of dollars to make sure that the peaceful stoners don’t have a good night, doesn’t make sense to me when there are so many other dangerous crimes taking place.

Although an adamant supporter of marijuana legalization, Moffatt emphasizes, “The fact that marijuana prohibition has these budgetary impacts does not by itself mean prohibition is bad policy.” This is an inspirational quote because it encourages society to take a step back from the material possession of money, and personal pleasures to develop their ideas on an individual basis. The possible risks associated with marijuana use have become cemented in the minds of the United States government and make it very hard for legalization to occur. Some of these factors, such as the potential for marijuana to be a gateway drug, slight driving impairment, and physical harm done to the human body are some of the most persuasive arguments for marijuana prohibition.

Many prohibitionists believe that the use of marijuana can often progress to using harder drugs (i.e. cocaine and heroin), but because it has become so socially acceptable, marijuana is often thought of as a harmless drug. This scares lawmakers, as legalization of marijuana could cause people to believe that other illegal substances are less harmful than most people make them out to be, resulting in an even higher number of illicit drug users. If marijuana was legalized, this unlikely consequence should definitely be carefully monitored. On the other hand, I believe that most marijuana users are happy with their drug of choice and know that other drugs have much higher risks. Governmental statistics showing that most users of hard drugs have also used marijuana are flawed because they are based purely on numbers. These statistics imply that people start smoking marijuana and then move to hard drugs. It is just as likely to assume that if people have made the choice to use hard drugs, they would also choose to smoke marijuana because of its relatively safe perception. Studies have also shown that marijuana causes driving impairments similar to alcohol and that because the use of marijuana is harder for law enforcement to detect than alcohol, legalization could lead to roads full of unsafe drivers. Unfortunately, these statistics are only valid if the driver has consumed a massive amount of THC, the chemical in marijuana responsible for creating the high. Most driving accidents involving marijuana almost always include alcohol as well. In fact, low to moderate doses of weed have been shown to make drivers more cautious and safer.

Those against legalization argue that smoking pot can lead to brain damage, cancer, lung damage, depression, amotivational syndrome, or even death. All of these side effects are true in some sense (except for death), but they are not as dangerous as people believe. Most serious health cases involving marijuana use often include the use of other drugs. These facts, alongside countless others, have created a burden against our government’s approval of the legalization of marijuana.

Although arguments to keep marijuana illegal based on moral grounds have prevailed in the past, as more people find smoking to be a normal activity, these arguments lose validity as the morals of our country are slowly changing. Even if the drug is harmful to the user personally, is it not an encroachment of personal freedom to forbid someone to smoke? Because marijuana has been such a positive force for so many people, American potheads feel like their society is being utterly repressed under the laws of our government, not unlike the apartheid laws of South Africa. Most smokers have weighed the pros and cons of using the drug and decided that minor health risks are a small price to pay for a life of bliss.