Prohibition Failure II Marijuana - 1460 Words

Prohibition Failure II: Marijuana The fight to legalize marijuana has been waged for decades and it’s about time that we find a resolution. I’m not a supporter of marijuana, I detest the culture associated with the drug and have no interest in consumption of the drug. But the effects of enforcing laws outlawing marijuana have done more harm than good in the US. The United States imprisons too many minorities due to minor drug infractions, the costs of enforcing these laws are too high, and the government is missing out on tax opportunities due to the current drug laws. The drug laws in the United States are unreasonable and negatively impact minorities. Christopher Ingraham’s Washington Post article Every Minute, Someone Gets Arrested†¦show more content†¦It can be argued that many of these African American prisoners are there because of the widespread violence in African American communities and for various other crimes. The 2010 census states that 231, 040,398 people or 74.8% of the US population is White while 42,020,743 people or 13.6% of the US population is Black. It is disconcerting that there are 5 times more White Americans compared to Black Americans, yet only roughly double the amount of Whites are imprisoned for marijuana possession compared to Blacks. The War on Drugs has continued to be a very large expense ever since President Nixon declared drugs as â€Å"public enemy number one† back in 1971. The expenses continue to climb as years go by. Ian Urbina’s New York Times article Blacks Are Singled Out for Marijuana Arrests, Federal Data Suggests states that, â€Å"In 2010, states spent an estimated $3.6 billion enforcing marijuana possession laws, a 30 percent increase from 10 years earlier. The increase came as many states, faced with budget shortfalls, were saving money by using alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders. During the same period, arrests for most other types of crime steadily dropped,† (Urbina). So not only is upholding the ban on cannabis incredibly costly on a year to year basis, but it also leaves