The Benefits of Legalising Marijuana

The War on Drugs has been aggressively pursued by many governments since the 1960s.

And who won? Drugs of course. The reality is that banning things doesn’t always work out the way you want, and many people do not appreciate either the government or puritans telling them what to do. So, they do what they want regardless. Where there is a will, there is a way.

The criminalisation of marijuana use has been particularly contentious given marijuana is a softer and more popular drug. As a result, many countries are starting to reverse their policies on marijuana and other less hard drugs such as magic mushrooms.

I recently visited Amsterdam in the Netherlands where marijuana and other soft drugs are decriminalised. It still appears to be a functioning society. In this article, I will explain the various benefits that legalising marijuana and ending the war on drugs will have for your community.

Benefit 1: Expands Individual Freedom
The war on drugs has long been used as a Trojan Horse to erode civil liberties, particularly the right to individual privacy and to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

In many jurisdictions where marijuana is still illegal, a police officer can claim they ‘smell weed’ to give them probable cause to search people and their cars. Legalising marijuana will help eliminate this excuse for eroding individual rights.

The legalisation of marijuana also allows people the freedom to engage in an enjoyable and victimless act. It is one less government intervention in your life.

Benefit 2: Less People With Criminal Records
Marijuana criminalisation is the type of policy that creates one-crime criminals. Many people who use marijuana are otherwise law-abiding citizens and do not break any other law.

The criminalisation of marijuana results in these people having criminal records. Criminal records reduce individual opportunities and, as a result, makes them less productive. A criminal record is not an acceptable government response to someone engaging in an act only affecting the individual.

Also, anyone who claims that arresting someone for drugs helps the individual is a malicious liar or at the best an idiot. Giving someone a criminal record is not an act of help or kindness, but an act of malice born of disapproval.

Benefit 3: Less Government Spending
The war on drugs has been a very expensive affair. Investigating, arresting and putting someone on trial and in jail costs taxpayers a lot of money. Countries that try to harshly enforce the war on drugs often experience increased costs of enforcement and expanding prison populations, with the US being a notable example. It is estimated that the US has spent 1 trillion dollars trying and failing to stop their citizens from doing drugs.

The criminalisation of marijuana is a large part of this, and the legalisation of marijuana will put a large dent in this government spending. This also frees up law enforcement time, money and resources to enforce laws relating to crimes with a victim. Every dollar and minute spent enforcing drug laws is one less dollar and minute that could have been used to investigate a murder or a rape.

Benefit 4: Boost To The Economy
The legalisation of marijuana helps create a new industry which in turn creates job opportunities. For example, The Netherlands marijuana industry is set to be worth US$277.16 bn this year while the US marijuana industry is set to be worth US$45.35bn. This is despite recreational use only currently being legal in 24 of 50 US states. The point is that marijuana legalisation is good for the economy.

Benefit 5: Stops Organised Crime
The criminalisation of marijuana and other drugs has created a black market for them. This has helped put money in the hands of criminal organisations and even terrorist organisations, with more violence within communities. Marijuana legalisation allows people to source marijuana from legitimate sources and not fund criminal enterprise.

Benefit 6: Can Regulate Industry
The criminalisation of marijuana has long caused problems with quality control. If you buy marijuana from a drug dealer, you can only hope they are telling the truth about the content of the product. If it turns out what you thought was medium potency marijuana plants was actually synthetic marijuana with some meth mixed in, you have no recourse and are basically screwed.

With the legalisation of marijuana, you will be able to look on the back of the packet and see the amount, potency and strain of the product you are getting. If it turns out they misrepresented it, you will have recourse.

Legalising marijuana will also make it easier to prevent minors from accessing it. Recreational marijuana can be treated in a similar manner to alcohol and made an 18+ product (with medical for all ages). Legalisation will make it easier to figure out which people are selling it to those under the age of 18 and to stop them.

With all these benefits to legalising marijuana, I certainly hope the states and territories within Australia legalise it in the near future. The ACT has already made a start, where you can grow and use it but not buy or sell it. Otherwise, I hope everyone had a great 420 over the weekend. It was pretty cool it coincided with Easter this year.