Should marijuana be legal in Texas?
It has been a blazing topic lighting up controversy and sparking up a debate, so to speak.
Many people believe that it should be. Twenty-three states have legalized marijuana in at least medicinal form, but Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska are the only states to have legalized pot for both medicinal and recreational use.
So why hasn’t Texas done more than the Texas Compassionate Use Act? Texas is one of the few states that has a booming economy. One of the main reasons people come to Texas because of economic growth, and if marijuana was legalized, the possibilities of economic growth would essentially be endless.
Colorado legalized marijuana back in 2014 and in 2015 the state made close to $1 billion in sales, according to information published on cannabist.com. The state collected more than $135 million in taxes and fees, and dedicated more than $35 million of that to school construction projects.
Let’s forget about Texas for a minute. Let’s look at the federal government. If weed was legalized in all 50 states at least for medicinal purposes, imagine the boost to our economy. For a country that is trillions of dollars in debt, that would help tremendously.
Marijuana is proven to be medically beneficial. Cannabis, which is also known as marijuana, has been scientifically proven to help those suffering from seizures and to help with glaucoma. It can also be used to treat different types of muscle pain and spasms.
So why ban something that could potentially be useful to us? If a state as small as Colorado can bring in close to a billion dollars in sales, what could a state like Texas bring in if it was legalized for more than just for treatment of epilepsy? Texas is practically double the size of Colorado.
According to an article published in the International Business Times, there were more than 700,000 marijuana-related arrests in the United States in 2014, which amounts to one every 45 seconds. The government in recent years has tried to crack down on the war on drugs by pumping money into trying to stop it, but clearly that hasn’t worked.
If we were to fully legalize marijuana, the crime rate automatically goes down and we can focus our efforts on other issues.
Federal and state governments that constantly complain about having no money and no ways to generate money should stop whining, open their eyes and look at Colorado as a shining example for what a booming economy can look like thanks to the legalization of marijuana.
Texas should be among those states.
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VapeGuide • Mar 27, 2017 at 8:30 am
I agree with a lot of the commenters.
What’s crazy to me is the fact that alcohol is legal AND so widely accepted by society, but marijuana is not.
Alcohol is SO widely promoted for social use, yet it is WAY more dangerous than marijuana. AND marijuana actually has medical benefits for many people.
If you don’t see the silver lining there, there’s a problem.
cannabis • Mar 25, 2017 at 5:06 am
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Debbie • Jul 19, 2016 at 11:59 am
Isn’t it obvious why the process has been so slow? Marijuana really does have properties that attack abnormal cancer cells, and can be used for many other medical advantages…and it’s CHEAP and easy to get. This means LOSING MONEY for the big companies…ridiculous but true.
r worth • Apr 7, 2016 at 2:10 am
I think everyone should go to utube . WatchRun from the cure by Rick Simpson. This plant has properties that attack abnormal cancer cell. Before I go the the hospital and get cut on and chemo watch my bank account get drained I would go to a state where its legal and try this. I much rather have my son try marijuana than synthenic marijuana which my wife did and lost her mine. I think sucide rate, cancer rate ,and the hard drug rate would go down. Don’t let politics take your life you only have one.
VapingInsider • Mar 26, 2016 at 2:49 am
Just like alcohol prohibition in the 30s, the war on drugs has completely failed. It’s true, history really does repeat itself! There is so much literature citing the numerous health benefits associated with marijuana that it seems ridiculous to ignore.
As another commentor mentioned, there were close to 700,000 marijuana related arrests in 2014, just think of the billions of dollars that would be both saved from policing/incarcerating people for these offenses. Then you have to consider the billions of dollars in revenue that legalizing marijuana would create. Not only would we see a healthier population from medicinal marijuana use, but we would see more tax dollars that could be spent on things like infrastructure and education and a much smaller black market.
It’s a not brainer in my mind!
Stel1776 • Feb 29, 2016 at 7:13 am
While the potential harms of using cannabis are widely publicized (and often exaggerated), little is mentioned of the harms of its prohibition. When making cannabis policy decisions, it would be irresponsible to ignore these harms…and costs.
For this prohibition to be justified it needs to be established that:
1) Cannabis is particularly harmful (at least more than alcohol)
2) The prohibition will significantly reduce problematic usage
And:
3) The direct and indirect costs of prohibition to an American society need to be less than any gains from 1 and 2 (don’t underestimate the value we place on freedom and liberty)
None of these 3 requirements have ever been established. After decades of research, the relative safety and medical efficacy of cannabis have been established well enough to conclude that it is significantly less harmful and more useful than alcohol. The vast majority of preventable harms related to cannabis are caused by the very laws that are supposed to “protect us” from it. Some of these harms are:
•Increased deaths of countless people involved on all sides of the “war”, including those of law enforcement and bystanders
•The spending of 100’s of billions of our dollars seeking out, arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating otherwise law-abiding citizens
•The loss of billions in tax revenue from cultivation, distribution, and sales, which can be used for all substance abuse treatment
•The redirection of valuable police time and resources from solving and preventing true crime
•The filling of our jails with non-violent offenders, exposing them to true criminals and forcing the early release of dangerous criminals
•All sales, over 10 million pounds per year, are unregulated and placed in the hands of people who never check ID, many of them hardened criminals
•The empowerment and expansion of underground markets as a very popular substance is placed within them
•Increased violent crime as dealers and buyers have no legal recourse to resolve disputes
•Increased exposure to hard drugs as many cannabis consumers buy from suppliers who have access to them, even push them
•Increased likelihood of contamination with anything from harmful pesticides and molds to other drugs
•The prevention of some adults from choosing a recreational substance less harmful than alcohol
•The notion that all illegal drugs are particularly dangerous is weakened
•Increased corruption within the legal system
•The invasion of our civil liberties, which in America we hold in especially high regard
•The prevention of people from receiving effective medicine
•The prevention of people from receiving decent employment, scholarship money, and student aid due to their “criminal” record, which affects not just them but their family as well
•Families are torn apart as members are imprisoned or children taken away in the name of “protecting them”
•Increased support of tremendous multinational criminal networks
•Increased public mistrust, disrespect, and disdain for our legal system, police, and government, which is devastating to our country
Considering these great costs, it is unreasonable to continue this policy against a substance objectively less harmful than alcohol. Why are we forcing police to deal with something that is, if anything, a minor public health issue? Why are we criminalizing people for something that has been safely enjoyed by millions of Americans for decades, something that a majority of Americans believe should be legalized recreationally?
Cannabis prohibition is a travesty of justice based on irrational fears and paranoia from an archaic era that needs to end now. Cannabis must be legalized and regulated similar to alcohol. Prohibition policies do not work for popular things that are safely enjoyed by many…especially not in a country that values liberty, justice, and freedom.
A vote to end cannabis prohibition is a vote to condemn a costly prohibition that causes more harm than it prevents.
Please urge your legislators to implement a cannabis policy similar to that of alcohol. Consider what the following cannabis legalization organizations have to say. Help end this harmful, unjust, unfounded, unpopular, un-American prohibition by joining their mailing lists, signing their petitions and writing your legislators when they call for it.
MPP – The Marijuana Policy Project – http://www.mpp.org/
DPA – Drug Policy Alliance – http://www.drugpolicy.org/
NORML – National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws – http://norml.org/
LEAP – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition – http://www.leap.cc/
Brian Kelly • Feb 28, 2016 at 1:44 pm
“Smoking marijuana is 114 times safer than drinking alcohol”
http://rt.com/usa/234903-marijuana-safer-alcohol-deadly/
“Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say”
“Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say New study: We should stop fighting marijuana legalization and focus on alcohol and tobacco instead By Christopher Ingraham February 23
Compared with other recreational drugs — including alcohol — marijuana may be even safer than previously thought. And researchers may be systematically underestimating risks associated with alcohol use.
Those are the top-line findings of recent research published in the journal Scientific Reports, a subsidiary of Nature. Researchers sought to quantify the risk of death associated with the use of a variety of commonly used substances. They found that at the level of individual use, alcohol was the deadliest substance, followed by heroin and cocaine.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/23/marijuana-may-be-even-safer-than-previously-thought-researchers-say/
“The report discovered that marijuana is 114 times less deadly than alcohol. Researchers were able to determine this by comparing the lethal doses with the amount of typical use. Through this approach, marijuana had the lowest mortality risk to users out of all the drugs they studied. In fact—because the numbers were crossed with typical daily use—marijuana is the only drug that tested as “low risk.”
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/02/scientific-reports-weed-114-safer-alcohol
Brian Kelly • Feb 28, 2016 at 1:44 pm
In the prohibitionist’s world, anybody who consumes the slightest amount of marijuana responsibly in the privacy of their own homes are “stoners” and “dopers” that need to be incarcerated in order to to protect society.
In their world, any marijuana use equates to marijuana abuse, and it is their God given duty to worry about “saving us all” from the “evils” of marijuana use.
Who are they to tell us we can’t choose marijuana, the safer choice instead of alcohol for relaxation, after a long, hard day, in the privacy of our own homes?
People who consume marijuana are smart, honest, hard working, educated, and successful people too, who “follow the law” also.(except for their marijuana consumption under it’s current prohibition of course) .
Not the stereotypical live at home losers prohibitionists make them out to be. They are doctors, lawyers, professors, movie stars, and politicians too.
Several Presidents of The United States themselves, along with Justin Trudeau, Bill Gates, and Carl Sagan have all confessed to their marijuana use. As have a long and extensive list of successful people throughout history at one point or other in their lives.
Although that doesn’t mean a dam thing to people who will make comments like “dopers” and “stoners” about anybody who uses the slightest amount of Marijuana although it is way safer than alcohol.
To these people any use equals abuse, and that is really ignorant and full of hypocrisy. While our society promotes, advertises, and even glorifies alcohol consumption like it’s an All American pastime.
There is nothing worse about relaxing with a little marijuana after a long hard day than having a drink or two of alcohol.
So come off those high horses of yours. Who are you to dictate to the rest of society that we can’t enjoy Marijuana, the safer choice over alcohol, in the privacy of our own homes?
We’ve worked real hard our whole lives to provide for our loved ones. We don’t appreciate prohibitionists trying to impose their will and morals upon us all.
Has a marijuana consumer ever forced you to use it? Probably not. So nobody has the right to force anybody not to either.
Don’t try to impose your morality and “clean living” upon everybody else with Draconian Marijuana Laws, and we won’t think you’re such prohibitionist hypocrites.
Legalize Nationwide! Support Each and Every Marijuana Legalization Initiative!
Brian Kelly • Feb 28, 2016 at 1:41 pm
The “War on Marijuana” has been a complete and utter failure. It is the largest component of the broader yet equally unsuccessful “War on Drugs” that has cost our country over a trillion dollars.
Instead of The United States wasting Billions upon Billions more of our tax dollars fighting a never ending “War on Marijuana”, lets generate Billions of dollars, and improve the deficit instead. It’s a no brainer.
The Prohibition of Marijuana has also ruined the lives of many of our loved ones. In numbers greater than any other nation, our loved ones are being sent to jail and are being given permanent criminal records which ruin their chances of employment for the rest of their lives, and for what reason?
Marijuana is much safer to consume than alcohol. Yet do we lock people up for choosing to drink?
Even The President of the United States has consumed marijuana. Has it hurt his chances at succeeding in life? If he had gotten caught by the police during his college years, he may have very well still been in prison today! Beyond that, he would then be fortunate to even be able to find a minimum wage job that would consider hiring him with a permanent criminal record. Let’s end this hypocrisy now!
The government should never attempt to legislate morality by creating victim-less marijuana “crimes” because it simply does not work and costs the taxpayers a fortune.
Marijuana Legalization Nationwide is an inevitable reality that’s approaching much sooner than prohibitionists think and there is nothing they can do to stop it!
Legalize Nationwide! Support Each and Every Marijuana Legalization Initiative!