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Barry, Rachel Ann, and Stanton Glantz. "A Public Health Framework for Legalized Retail Marijuana Based on the US Experience: Avoiding a New
Tobacco Industry." PLOS Medicine, 2016, http://web.b.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=f5d31f37-cb01-44ed-9c97-50a9b1086c7a%40sessionmgr120&hid=124. Accessed 23 Oct. 2016.
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Caulkins, Jonathan P., et al. Marijuana Legalizaiton What Everyone Wants to Know. Oxford University Press, 2016, https://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=6dsmDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=marijuana+legalization&ots=Eb9BQy-R18&sig=fRp7UJdlDZDJopj_ijfP1HH6qVU#v=onepage&q=marijuana%20legalization&f=false. Accessed 23 Oct. 2016.
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Dokoupil, Tony. "Vice Wars: Tobacco, Alcohol, and the Rise of Big Marijuana." NBC News, 29 Nov. 2014, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/legal-
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Dominguez, Trace. "What Are the Real Effects of Legalizing Weed?" Youtube, uploaded by Seeker Daily, 15 Sept. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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Rough, Lisa. "One Year Later: The Positives and Negatives of Colorado's Legal Recreational Cannabis Market." Leafly,
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Marijuana, also referred to as cannabis, weed, etc., is a term to describe the “dried flowers and leaves of the plant Cannabis sativa” (Caulkins et al.) that alters the person’s state of mind upon consumption. This drug is illegal in most of the United States, but is used most commonly out of the illegal drugs (Caulkins et al.). Marijuana is legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and most recently Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and California. The idea around making marijuana legal for recreational use includes adjusting the legislation and regulation of production, distribution, and possession of marijuana (Caulkins et al.). Academic and social conversations regarding marijuana use have included both the positives and negatives of legalization; however, the conversations are lacking in the discussion of the full basis of regulations that would be put into place to reinforce public health. Do the positive effects of legalization outweigh the negative effects? Should marijuana use be legalized? Or should it simply be decriminalized?
Marijuana Legalization Inquiry
Business Perspective
From a business perspective, the legalization of marijuana can either do great harm or great good for an economy or business setting. The marijuana industry can increase the amount of jobs, expanding the workforce. However, in Colorado, the industry for marijuana only accounts for 0.04% of the workforce, with a majority of the workers coming from the medical marijuana industry (Dominguez), but it is projected to continue to rise. Marijuana retail has also amounted tax revenue to “at least $40.9 million by October 2014” (Rough). This revenue will ensure that a majority of this money will return to the hands of the tax payers (Rough). The continuously increasing success of the marijuana industry arises some concerns from the alcohol industry. They are concerned about whether the marijuana industry is going to hinder alcohol sales or increase alcohol sales (Dokoupil). This concern arises from the idea that people will either stop drinking for marijuana, or people will drink and smoke jointly (Dokoupil).
Children and Family
A major concern for many when contemplating their stance on the subject of marijuana legalization is the effect it will have on children and families. Between January 1st and July 1st of 2014, nine children aged 18 and younger were admitted to the hospital in Aurora, Colorado from marijuana consumption (Dominguez). This is compared to the eight children admitted for the same reason in the entirety of 2013 (Dominguez). Within half the time, more children were admitted once marijuana became legal. This shows that children are more in danger of getting into this drug that can harm them if it is legal. The picture shows an add that shows parents that children pick up a lot of what their parents do, so if their parents are smoking around them, they are more likely to smoke as well. Parents smoking has also been shown to have an effect on their ability to take adequate care of their children; however, child welfare agencies have not confirmed the correlation (Stott et al.). Previously, agencies have been able to intervene from a positive toxicology report due to marijuana, but legalization would force these agencies to change their policies and consider more factors before their intervention (Stott et al.).
Public Health
A big point of view to consider for this topic is public health and question to consider is: how will the legalization of marijuana effect the health of society and how the society functions? With such small amount of knowledge of the long term effects of marijuana use on a society, so far there has been no direct correlation in marijuana use and car accidents. The number of car accidents, hard drug users, and violent crimes have decreased in Colorado since legalization (Dominguez). An issue that raises some concern is the fact that marijuana products in most of the states where it is legal have yet to be tested (Rough). Washington mandated a contaminant testing for their marijuana products and more than 13% failed (Rough). This information leads to the gap of the lack of protocol on regulating the THC levels in marijuana products. THC is the chemical that creates the sensation of being high.
Decriminalization
Many of the sources provided the alternative of decriminalizing marijuana rather than legalizing it. The main idea from these sources was to allow the use of marijuana, but forbid the sale and production (Caulkins et al.). Also with this idea, possession of a small amount of marijuana could be treated as a “civil violation” instead of being considered a crime (Caulkins et al.). This is projected to have almost the same effect as legalization on the justice system. It frees up the police from giving misdemeanors and allows them to focus on other types of crime. Decriminalization, however, would not have the positive economic effects that comes along with the business of marijuana production and distribution.
Gap in Research
The gap found in the research was a lack of information about how marijuana would be regulated if made legal. Regulation is necessary for this product to ensure that the products received by the consumer are not going to harm them outside of the normal effects of the products. Advertisement regulation is also necessary to inform the consumer of the numerous health risks in consuming marijuana. There have been a few cases where people have died from mistakes made while under the influence of edible marijuana because of overconsumption (Dominguez). Is the FDA going to regulate the amounts and potency of the chemicals, etc. in marijuana products? How much is regulation of marijuana going to cost compared to what the sales are bringing in?
Conclusion
Depending on which perspective is taken into consideration, the opinion on whether or not marijuana should be legalized differs. Several states have already legalized the use of marijuana, but are still trying to work out the kinks and regulations. The gap in the research of regulatory information will take time to fix. If marijuana becomes legal throughout the country, it is projected to turn out just like the tobacco industry with the ups and downs with regulation, advertisement and economic help.