The majority of the population in Canada, the United States, and various other regions internationally support marijuana legalization. In Canada, the industry is booming with many marijuana dispensaries opening across Toronto and the rest of the country.
Unfortunately, many regions have lagged behind and refused to create a framework for legalization. These countries may not have yet realized the advantages of legalizing marijuana, which include medical benefits and economic pros as well.
Let’s examine the many pros of legalizing marijuana and why this is a step any modern government should consider:
Pro #1: Freedom
In North America, we like to think we have freedom. When it comes to cannabis, the mass incarceration of hundreds of thousands of people tell us different. The legalizing of marijuana allows everyday people to use it safely either recreationally or medicinally and without fear of being arrested and given a criminal record.
Considering the dozens upon dozens of weed benefits, legalizing it does a whole lot of good for freedom in our communities.
Pro #2: Ease of Access
Another pro of legalizing marijuana is the ease of access. If there’s a way to purchase cannabis legally, most people will tell you that’s exactly what they prefer to do. Through legalization and normalization of safe marijuana, this opens the door for people to discover how to use it recreationally as well as medicinally to aid in treating mental health and physical conditions.
When cannabis becomes as easy to obtain as a carton of cigarettes or an alcohol beverage, this means more people could use it and discover its advantages.
Pro #3: Medicinal Benefits
Perhaps the most obvious pro to legalizing marijuana is for people who use it medicinally to manage their own access. Cannabis has been shown to successfully treat Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, MS, migraines, PTSD, cancer, chemotherapy-related nausea, chronic pain, anxiety, inflammation, insomnia, loss of appetite, seizures, high blood sugar, psoriasis, and more.
Pro #4: Criminal Justice Reform
In jurisdictions which continue to lack marijuana legalization, people are continuing to be sentenced to fines and prison terms for cannabis-related offenses. In a lot of cases, these jurisdictions sit immediately next to areas where there is marijuana legalization.
This creates unevenness in the criminal justice system regarding to the sale and possession of cannabis – an offence many consider to be minor.
Pro #5: Frees Up Police Resources
There’s a lot of debate happening in this country right now on the purpose of our law enforcement. When we eliminate the chasing of otherwise-innocent citizens for possessing, growing, or selling marijuana, we can re-dedicate those police resources to areas of more dangerous crime.
There’s never been a more important time to do this, ensuring our law enforcement officers are reinforcing positive community behaviour rather than looking at inarguably dated offences around cannabis.
Pro #6: You Open Cannabis for Study
A large part of why there hasn’t been many medical studies surrounding cannabis use and delving into the chemicals of the plant is because it’s been restricted in various regions. Despite marijuana having been around for centuries, we are now only discovering the medicinal phenomenon of CBD and other compounds in cannabis. This is thanks to legalization. In further legalization, more study can happen on this plant including various evaluations for medicinal applications.
Pro #7: A Major Source of Tax Revenue
In areas where cannabis isn’t legal, transactions are still occurring for the product. For governments facing deficits and in need for more revenues, marijuana legalizing can provide exactly that. Particularly in the current climate of the COVID-19 response, many local and international governments will face large challenges in the next few years relating to balanced budgets. Legalizing cannabis is a way to increase income with introducing further tax increases.
Pro #8: More Economic Activity
Above the immediate tax benefits that come with cannabis legalization, such a policy fosters economic growth in the form of entrepreneurs, new businesses, new domestic manufacturing, more jobs, investment from banks and various other firms, and more.
The consumer demand is there. Private industry has a sizeable opportunity in front of it, with the possibility of doing a lot of good for stakeholders in and around our communities.
Pro #9: You Crush the Illegitimate Market
When we create an infrastructure in which people can legally buy, grow, and possess weed, immediately you cut down a significant chunk from the illegitimate market selling it. This means arresting fewer young people, being able to monitor and oversee the sale of marijuana in our communities, and transparency in the use of cannabis. By removing the criminal aspect of cannabis, this has many amazing benefits and with no negatives.
Pro #10: Consumer Safety
When someone purchases cannabis from a dealer, they’re receiving product from the underground marketplace. There is no way to verify the cannabis hasn’t been tainted with pesticides, fungus, mold, or other harmful substances.
Once legalized, the product a consumer purchases can be regulated. Quality control checks can be performed. There are laboratory standards to follow. All in all, the safety of the product is confirmed with extensive accountability.
Pro #11: Public Programs
Areas where marijuana has been legalized, the tax revenues taken from cannabis legalization went to programs such as police funding, drug treatment, mental health centers, and public housing. The revenues being generated by cannabis are being put towards positive and underfunded areas.
Even though this varies region-by-region and is subject to what the ruling government wishes to do, this is another pro of legalizing marijuana that can’t be discounted.