By Elorm Sallah
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
marijuana in the United States “is the most commonly use illicit drug” with
17.4 million past-month users in 2010. And in 2012 it was reported by the NIDA
that 78.6 percent of illicit users use marijuana, with 60.1 percent of users
stating marijuana was the only drug that they used.1
Although marijuana has a strong presence in many cultures in
America, particularly adolescence, and young adults, efforts to prevent users
has been strongly enforced since the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and
Control Act of 1970, as well as President Nixon’s declaration of the “War on
Drugs” in 1971, which is federal policies, and military efforts to prevent the
use of illicit drugs within the United States.
As of 2013, only two states in the nation have legalized
cannabis, Washington state, and Colorado, while many states which include
California, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
Rhode Island all have enacted both medical and decimalization laws with in the
last 15 years.
In addition, numerous states that have either decriminalized
marijuana possession laws, or have enacted medical cannabis laws, almost half of
the states in the United States have no such laws or regulations, making users
susceptible to severe fines, and possible jail time.
In 2009, Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy clarified that the federal government will uphold
their position of marijuana as being “dangerous and has no medical benefit.” 2
Additionally in 2012, the Obama administration stated that it “steadfastly
opposed legalization of marijuana and other drugs because legalization would
increase the availability and use of the illicit drug, and pose significant health
and safety risks.”3
According to the FBI, there have been nearly eight million
cannabis arrests in the United States since 1993, and the majority of these
arrests are possession – which does not include manufacturing or distributing
marijuana.4 In 2008 alone, there were 847,864 persons arrested for
marijuana possession, and of that number only 752,224 were charged with
possession only. Marijuana accounts for nearly half of all drug arrests in the
United States.4
In recent years, many prominent politicians have come out in
favor of the legalization of marijuana or the reduction of penalties faced with
possession of cannabis. Former New
Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (R) is for some sort of federal legalization of
the drug. In an April 2012 interview for
rawstory.com, he stated, “When we legalize marijuana, we’re going to take steps
toward drug reform, which will start off with looking at drugs as a public
health issue, rather than a legal issue.”5
In addition to legalizing marijuana usage based on
recreational purposes, many political figures state that legalizing cannabis
would lead to a reduction of cartel violence in Mexico and Central America. US
officials state that 60 percent of Mexican cartel revenues come from marijuana
that is sold in the United States, so with current legalization and future initiatives
for the legalization, it is possible that the current drug cartel violence
within Mexico can decrease, as there will be a greater legal availability of
American grown marijuana.
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