The Case for the Decriminalization of Marijuana

The Case for Decriminalizing Marijuana
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The Case for Decriminalizing Marijuana
Marijuana decriminalization is one of the most controversial topics across the United States. Recently, the lobbyists for this agenda have increased their efforts, and the support has been received across multiple quarters, including the legislative bodies and the healthcare industry. In essence, the core of the debate is the health implications of the use of the drug. However, even health experts believe medicinal benefits can accompany recreational use. Drug use in the United States remains a major problem, which explains why decriminalization could be perceived as a move that makes this situation worse. The focus of this paper is to explore the case for the decriminalization of marijuana, which will entail examining the major rationalizations for decriminalization and the resistance to this move.
Decriminalization entails eliminating criminal penalties associated with the use, possession, and sale of marijuana. Today, many convicts of marijuana have been jailed for these three reasons, which will no longer be the case after decriminalization. In other words, decriminalization will allow people to use the drug without facing any criminal charges freely. For many advocates of decriminalization, the major rationalization is to redress the injustices associated with decades of harsh enforcement practices targeted at people of color (Amaning, 2021). For the past two decades, an estimated annual average of 600000 marijuana arrests have been made. The most intriguing part of this statistic is that blacks average four times more likely to be arrested than whites. As a result, there have been millions of convictions for possession of marijuana, a substance now decriminalized across 33 states. Therefore, recent surveys indicate that 7 out of 10 American voters believe marijuana should be legal.
The prosecution statistics can be considered adequate proof that marijuana is a mainstay substance in the country and should probably be regulated along the same lines as cigarettes. Until health experts prove that marijuana has more detriments than cigarettes, then there should be no rationalization for why users of marijuana are discriminated against. However, the main concern is that the drug has been used as a tool for violating the civil liberties of the minority races in the country. According to Lopez (2018), statistics indicate that black and white Americans consume the drug at similar rates. However, African Americans are arrested 3.7 times more than white Americans. The picture painted by these figures is the failure of the United States’ justice system to show impartiality in enforcement and to make a viable case that justifies the arrests and prosecutions. The individuals who believe marijuana is used as an excuse to violate the liberties of black Americans seem to have a valid case; therefore, decriminalization is a matter of equity and justice.
Health experts would need to show that marijuana is more detrimental to health than cigarettes to warrant a different approach to its regulation. Similarly, other legal drugs have major health problems, including prescription drugs. The case of the opioid pandemic in the country shows that even prescription drugs can become a major health and safety concern, potentially bigger than marijuana. These sentiments regarding the true and perceived health consequences of marijuana have existed for about four decades. For example, a 1972 report by the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug abuse, which used figures chosen by President Nixon, illustrated that marijuana is not a major public safety threat. The statement read that neither the use nor the drug itself constituted a danger to public safety (Harris & Martin, 2019). Additionally, the report recommended decriminalizing the service and casual distribution of marijuana and resorting to other approaches to discourage use. Therefore, it can be argued that the country has known for a long time that marijuana is not a threat to public health and yet has failed to decriminalize it.
Physicians also believe that marijuana is not the most dangerous drug consumed by people, even among the legal substances. According to Nathan et al. (2017), marijuana is safer than alcohol, even though studies show that these two subs...