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Aubrey Ridenour

Professor Saul

English 1010-094

1 May 2013

The Real Price of Pot

The status of marijuana as an illegal substance in America is a hot topic for debate in today’s society. Proponents are celebrating its legalization for recreational use in Colorado and Washington, recently passed in November of 2012. However, there still are many issues surrounding marijuana, including violence, corruption, greed, morality, criminal justice, and federal versus state law. The approach to solving the issue of marijuana’s position in society is more complex than just simple legalization. Not all of the problems associated with marijuana can be solved easily, but federal legalization with strict regulation and enforcement is a decent foundation with which to start.

The most pointed argument for legalization of marijuana is the violence associated with its trafficking from Mexican drug cartels. Many Americans are aware of the murders, kidnappings, border battles, and government corruption in Mexico. However, they might not be apprised as to the magnitude of such atrocities. In his article “Blunt Trauma”, Greg Campbell states that “…the drug war is not metaphorical, as it is in the United States. There, it means 49 headless bodies dumped on a highway, chainsaw beheadings posted on YouTube, and full-scale battles among cartels and the military with civilians mowed down in the crossfire” (4). These headlines are usually reported on our news; because of the sheer carnage- it receives viewership.

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According to Robert Joe Stout, by 2008 drug-associated violence was so frequent that Mexican newspapers began grouping daily assassination and execution reports together under a single headline (41). The increase in violence is only in recent years.

Drug trafficking started in Mexico during the 1870’s when Chinese settlers started growing and distributing opium gum. These business owners were regarded as upstanding citizens who invested their profits into the local community by hiring locals, spending money, managing construction projects, purchasing franchises, and contributing to political parties. These entrepreneurs were educated, well-dressed, and usually very influential in the community, whose trade was seen as just another agricultural product (Stout 34). Prohibition in the United States was seen with governmental infiltration and corruption, as well as intimidation for territory, but Mexico’s drug trade was relatively violence-free until 2007 when current president Felipe Calderón implemented a major crackdown on organized crime, to which cartels responded with assassinations and executions (Stout 39).

There are a few proposed solutions to end the bloodshed. Greg Campbell urges recreational users to abstain from purchasing pot unless they can verify where it came from, which is next to impossible, considering its illegal federal status (5). Guillermo Garduño-Valero states that only when “the structure of power that those controlling the politics of the nation have maintained as accomplices and members of this series of criminal organizations has collapsed”, can Mexico fix their drug-trafficking troubles (qtd in Stout). Kilmer, Caulkins, and Bond believe legalization in California will lead to diminished cartel trafficking, due to lower revenue gained for their products (19). With the drug trade so ingrained into Mexican economics, another

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proposed solution is to combine all cartels into one large entity, which the specifics are complicated and not likely to happen (Stout 43).

The central problem associated with marijuana use in America is the sheer number of people who continue to use at a regular rate. This fuels the drug trade in Mexico, and puts thousands of people in prison each year from marijuana-related convictions. In her article “Turning the Tide on Drug Reform”, Kristen Gwynne raises the complications of our criminal justice system. She states that:

“According to the FBI, in 2011 more than 750,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana-related offenses, accounting for roughly half of all drug crimes in the United States. Eighty-seven percent of marijuana-related arrests were for possession alone—a minor crime that can still cause major problems in one’s life”.

Gwynne asserts that if marijuana were legalized and taxed as alcohol, the revenue could be invested in a better criminal justice system and rehabilitation programs. If this substance were legal, most of those convicts wouldn’t be in prison at all, saving the government money that could be invested elsewhere (23).

With two states legalizing marijuana completely, the complication of states’ rights comes into play. Marijuana is still technically a class one controlled substance, according to the Controlled Substances Act. Jenny A. Durkan, the U.S. Attorney in Seattle, states "Regardless of any changes in state law… growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law" (qtd in Von Drehle). This is where the rest of the nation is holding their

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breath to see what the federal reaction will be. President Obama has yet to weigh in on the controversy, but he could come down on Colorado and Washington and override their intentions. If his response is favorable, David Von Drehle predicts in his article “Grass Roots” that many more states will follow, and eventually legalization will be a federal law (33). Greg Campbell agrees that federal legalization and regulation is the only way to go, as state laws will always fall short of safely implementing them (5).

Opponents to legalization of marijuana might incite the notion that it is a “gateway drug”, leading to harder drugs after initial use. However, marijuana is the most widely-used substance in the United States and in thousands of years of its recorded use, there has not been a single death related to overdose (Campbell 4). Religious organizations may also argue that marijuana usage is immoral, but they may also condemn alcohol and tobacco use, which are both legal and taxable under U.S. law, and can be seen as socially-involved substances. Anyone who has smoked pot would agree that it has a large social factor in its use. The benefits of legalization for economic reasons far outweigh the logic and fear for the reverse. Simply stated, marijuana is not a “perfect” drug, nor is it as harmful as it has been made up to be.

The many problems with marijuana’s status in American society today could be lessened if federal legalization, taxation, and regulation were achieved. Violence associated with Mexican drug cartels over trafficking lanes would be reduced, many “criminals” would not be a burden to the prison system, each state would have the same laws, and corruption would be lessened as a result. While this is not a quick fix for the issue, it is a start in the right direction. The passage of legalization in Washington and Colorado attest to a changing societal attitude toward this substance.

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Works Cited

Campbell, Greg. "Blunt Trauma".The New Republic243.12 (2012): 4-5.EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

Gwynne, Kristen. “Turning the Tide on Drug Reform”. Nation. 296.7 (2013) 22-24. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

Kilmer, Beau; Caulkins, Jonathan P.; Bond, Brittany M. Reducing Drug Trafficking Revenues and Violence in Mexico. Santa Monica, CA, USA: RAND Corporation, 2010. ebrary. Web. 13 April 2013.

Stout, Robert Joe. "Do The United States And Mexico Really Want The Drug War To Succeed?."Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine63.8 (2012): 34- 44.Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

Von Drehle, David. “Grass Roots”. Time. 180.26 (2012) 32-35. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.