Legalization of cannabis is necessary, overdue – Inklings News

In Connecticut, selling cannabis can result in 20 years’ imprisonment, an absurd amount of time to lose in life. The legalization of cannabis has long been a topic of interest in the United States because of its increasing use and public support for its legalization has been overwhelming.

On June 8, the state Senate narrowly voted in favor of legalizing recreational cannabis use. This represented another development in the long-running debate over the legalization of cannabis, and it is only one step closer to that reality. However, with the House’s GOP threatening to thwart the law, cannabis legalization remains in jeopardy. It is therefore crucial that the importance and benefits of legalized cannabis are recognized, including the ineffectiveness and costs of the current ban policy, the economic benefits of legalization, and the racial inequality perpetuated by the ban.

One of the most obvious, yet most often overlooked, questions is that of the effectiveness of cannabis bans. Assuming the goal is to prevent cannabis use, in the past the ban didn’t do much to help. With law enforcement giving more priority to cannabis arrests, its use has only increased. Ironically, it hit an all-time low in 1990, when property arrests were lowest and other drug police priorities were paramount. For example, in Alabama, a state with some of the strictest cannabis possession laws, cannabis use rose over 20% from 1992 to 2010, according to the Executive Office. Despite special laws and their enforcement, this is obviously evidence of the ineffectiveness of the cannabis ban.

In 2010, states spent a combined $ 3.6 billion to enforce laws like the one in Alabama, according to the ACLU. This is clearly a significant number, and represents a large chunk of taxpayers’ capital that has to be used to enforce ill-conceived policies that don’t work. In contrast, in states where recreational cannabis use is legal, the economic benefits for the state and for the individual have been significant. According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, Colorado has raised nearly 400 million tax dollars from cannabis, and total sales for the state in 2020 were more than $ 2 billion. In addition, a legalized cannabis industry offers both employment and investment opportunities. The dissimilarity is striking: the ban on cannabis is both ineffective and incredibly expensive, while legalizing it is profitable and creates more resources that can be devoted to other issues.

More than its economic benefits, cannabis legalization holds great promise in the ongoing battle for racial justice in the United States. Although the status of cannabis as a contraband is generally taken for granted in the United States, cannabis was legal until the 1930s and its prohibition has always been tied to racial prejudice and scare tactics rather than specific medical evidence. The common use of the Spanish name marijuana was used to associate it with Mexican immigrants – the early 20th century. During the War on Drugs, another racially discriminatory era and a series of directives, it’s no surprise that cannabis, too was used to disproportionately punish colored communities. Unfortunately, this has persisted to this day, which is evident even in Fairfield County. According to the ACLU, blacks in Fairfield County are more than four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than whites. This inequality can be found to varying degrees in every American state, without exception. Enforcement of the cannabis ban is low-profile when it comes to racial prejudice, and that basis alone should lead to a thorough review of its ethical merits.

Although Connecticut has decriminalized possession of small amounts of cannabis, arrests have remained constant. According to the ACLU, states where cannabis is legal have an eight times lower arrest rate than states where cannabis possession is merely decriminalized. In addition, states that have legalized cannabis use have smaller racial gaps between cannabis-related arrests than states that have decriminalized cannabis possession.

The legalization of cannabis is, more than anything, a human problem that requires that we consider all the nuances. The ban on cannabis use is an ineffective, expensive, and racially discriminatory policy that now has a chance in Connecticut to be reversed. With a little luck it will be. In addition, this is an opportunity to personally advocate for recreational cannabis legalization by reaching out to your representatives in the state House of Representatives, raising awareness among their peers, and taking it upon themselves to learn more about the effects of cannabis legalization . Now is a time of unique opportunity and potential and we would all fail to fail to take advantage of them.