With
today’s current laws, an individual can serve up to 7 years just for possession
of marijuana, and for trafficking the consequences can be even more severe. One
reason the street value has become so high for Marijuana is because of the
strict laws. This also causes people to steal and kill to support their
expensive habit. Since marijuana itself is very harmless, it would make sense
for our legal system to legalize it.
First
of all, a lot of the cells in our jailed are occupied with individuals who were
arrested just for possession. The amount of time and money that is being spent
to trial and convict such individuals is ridiculous. In 2013 the city of
Toronto had set a court services budget for about $55,000, and a significant
amount of it being used in the process of convicting these individuals with possession
charges. With legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana we can reduce that budget
and use our taxpayer’s money elsewhere, so it is more beneficial to the
taxpayers.
Lastly,
Decriminalization of marijuana would also reduce the street value of cannabis,
leading to fewer cannabis related crimes. Legalizing it would make accessibility
to marijuana very easy, destroying the demand in the black markets. It can very
well eliminate the black market that exists right now. In my opinion it is also
not justified to put someone behind bars who had no intention of harming the
society, but rather just have on themselves a mere harmless plant, and what
makes it worse is knowing the fact that it is my money that is being used to
support such actions taken by our government.
Sources:
- http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~haans/misc/mjdcrim.html
- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/substance-abuse-centre-calls-for-pot-policy-review/article20504929/
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