Legalizing marijuana for medical use has not been the only major topic surrounding the drug, legalizing it for recreational use has also become a major topic. As of right now 23 states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical use and of those 23, four states and the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. While many states have legalized marijuana in some way the most notable would be Colorado. Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana in November of 2012 and have started to answer two huge questions that people keep asking. Does legalizing marijuana lower the crime rate? How much money has marijuana raised for the state?
First a brief description of Colorado’s laws. The brief description below is for the laws and regulations of Denver, Colorado. Each individual city or county can have variations of these same laws. As of January 1, 2014 marijuana became available for purchase for adults that are 21 years or older. The use of marijuana is not permitted in public places. Adults who are citizens that are also 21 years are older are allowed to carry a maximum of 1 oz of retail marijuana at a time and those adults that are not a citizen can only purchase 1/4 of an oz at a time.
Does legalizing marijuana lower crime rates?
According to a report released by Drug Policy Alliance Colorado has seen a large decrease in marijuana related crimes. According to information of the Colorado Court System marijuana possession arrests have dropped 84% since 2010. In 2010 they saw 9,011 people arrested for possession and they were expecting a total of 1,464 people in 2014. At about $300 dollars a case that means that the state is saving approximately 2.26 million dollars in adjudicator costs for possession. As for Crime rate Denver saw a 2.2% decrease in crime i the first 11 months of 2014. In this time burglaries dropped by 9.5% and property crime has also decreased by 8.9%.
How has Colorado benefited financially?
Beside saving about 2.26 million dollars in adjudicator costs the state has also seen other financial benefits since the legalization of marijuana. Between January 2014 and October 2014 the state has a total tax revenue of $40.9 million and that is not including the revenues from medical marijuana or the revenue from licenses and other fees. Of that money 2.5 million when to increase the number of health professions in the public schools. A lot of the new officials that are being hired going to be health workers, nurses and social workers that will focus on mental health support and on programs to help educate students about drug abuse. Other financial benefits in ruled approximately $30 million in total economic output can be achieved by just two dispensaries which happens to be 10 times the tax revenue that a typical restaurant or retail store could generate.
As one can see there has been positive benefits from the legalization of marijuana in Colorado whether it is finically or criminal. But the question that has yet to be answered is what are the long term affects of the legalization. This is answer we will have to wait to see but as of right now the legalization of marijuana seems to be positive and seems to be something other states should consider. These are not the only benefits that should be considered on a national level the legalization could allow for more extensive research into the drug that will allow the medical industry to discover the true therapeutic potential of marijuana.
Sources:
https://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Colorado_Marijuana_Legalization_One_Year_Status_Report.pdf
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/marijuanainfodenver/residents-visitors
Potential Benefits of Legal Marijuana
