Let’s Get The Grass: Marijuana should be legalized and decriminalized because it will help the US with revenue and can be used for medical issues

Kansas legislators are currently in the process of discussing the legalization of marijuana, and the discussion should lean in favor of it.

Kansas is an agricultural state, as pointed out by Legislator Brandon Woodard. If marijuana is the new cash crop, we should legalize and allow our farmers to benefit from its production. 

The legalization of marijuana would generate revenue for Kansas farmers. The money can fund public schools, higher education and other state services, which would help the earnings shortfall from COVID-19. 

The legalization of marjuana would not only substantially increase state revenue, but the country’s as a whole. Marijuana dispensaries are already scattered around the states where it’s legal, and they bring in funds for the state. If they were made legal in Kansas, along with every state, the tax rate — which would be similar to the tax on cigarettes now — on them would bring in large sums for federal funds.

The average tax rate among states for cigarettes is $1.70 per pack. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal and state taxes on cigarettes contribute to 44.3% of the retail price. Adding a heavy tax rate to marijuana will put money back into the government that can be used to fix any economic problems or overall issues. 

A bill should most definitely be created to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes, but there need to be restrictions that come with it. The first restriction would come with age. Recreational marijuana should be open to anyone over 21, and medical marijuana should be available to everyone. If you’re 18 or younger, you should be required to have a parent or guardian’s approval.

Another important restriction for the recreational aspect is setting limits on the amount a person can buy. When recreational marijuana is sold, a single-purchase limit needs to be set — in other words, you can’t buy too much at one time. Obviously someone could go back and buy more a day later, but if it’s sold to people 21 years or older, they can make their own decisions for what they want to buy and put into their bodies.

In the future, I hope all states will make marijuana legal — but it should be at their own pace. Ideally by the next few decades all states would’ve legalized marajuana.

There are already 19 states that have passed bills and they have shown no major issues with it. In fact, rates of prescription painkiller overdose death were approximately 25 percent lower in states that had a medical marijuana law. 

Not only have they had no issues, but there’s also been many benefits. It’s extremely important that marijuana is made legal for medicinal purposes. A 2019 study found that 62% of people who use medical marijuana do so to treat chronic pain. Chronic pain is a common issue and in 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report estimating that 50 million Americans (just over 20%)  have a form of chronic pain.  Along with this, a recent study published by Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine found that states where marijuana is legal for managing chronic pain have significantly fewer deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses yearly. 

Even states in which marijuana is illegal, people still find ways to purchase it. When purchased illegally, no one can be sure of what could be laced into it, and could end up in the hospital. American Addiction Centers stated marijuana can be laced with a variety of  psychoactive drugs.  So by making it legal, people will know what they are getting, preventing people from ingesting an unsafe drug or having a bad medical reaction.

A big part of the hesitation to legalize marijuana is the criminal aspect, but marijuana should not only be legalized, but decriminalized as well. Anyone who’s been incarcerated for marijuana usage violations should be pardoned, besides any case where it was sold illegally or used while driving. If it’s decriminalized, it would still be illegal to drive under the influence of it, like any other drug or substance. 

While legalizing marijuana is a risk, I think it’s a risk that Kansas needs to take and eventually the United States as a whole. The various benefits that making marijuana legal have statistically shown proof that we absolutely should legalize it.