One important reason on why marijuana should be legal is that it can save the government millions of dollars. The united states is a big contributor to the “War on Drugs.” The united states spends billions of dollars on chasing down citizens who like to get stoned. Innocent people are getting locked up in prison and locking up people cost taxpayers money.
Taxpayers have to pay for food, health care, shelter, and much more to lock up people who wanted to get stoned. The united states could save billions of dollars every year as a nation if they stop wasting money locking up people for marijuana possession. In addition, if marijuana was legalized, governments would be able to get taxes from marijuana purchases, and the government can spend the tax money on society There are many costs to keeping marijuana illegal such as the active law enforcement which includes the police. Next there is the cost of prosecution of people with possession of marijuana.
Then there is the cost of housing the convicted offenders. Then the cost of foster care for children of offenders. Finally the training and maintenance of search dogs.
Police officers have pride in fulfilling their role in society. Police are involved in the community and crime prevention. The many acts of heroism seen from police debunk the myth that most cops spend their day eating donuts, writing speed tickets, driving in a car all day, and writing parking tickets. The cost of police officers is really high. The median salary of an officer is around 50,000 depending the state that the officer lives. The equipment that the officers have can add up to a lot of money. Officers carry a variety of tools such as magazines,flashlights, tasers, night sticks,handcuffs,firearm, pepper spray, body cameras, police duty belt, bullet proof vest, taser gun, and radio.
There are many costs that go into prosecuting an accused offender. One of the cost are hiring a lawyer. Lawyers usually charge clients by the hour, it can range anywhere from “100-300 or more.” Then an advanced fee known as a retainer, the retainer is an upfront cost that an individual must pay for the lawyer.
The retainer can cost anywhere from “2,000-5,000 for misdemeanors and 5,000-15,000 for felonies.”Then the accused defender has to factor in: quantity of drugs,how drugs were stored,drug possession, large cache of money and drugs,prior convictions, and the types of drugs possed. For marijuana possession ” Texas laws treat marijuana as a separate controlled substance class. If the offender possesses two ounces of marijuana or less, he or she faces a maximum jail term of 180 days.
“Next there are the texas law penalties for marijuana,for marijuana possession can carry a fine of 250,000, a 180 day jail time and a maximum prison sentence of 99 years. The next penalty is marijuana distribution, in Texas a person can have a jail sentence of 180 days, a fine of 100,000 and a prison time of 99 years. Another cost of keeping marijuana illegal is the incarceration of the offenders
