The Impact Of Cannabis Legalization: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Eleven states in America have legalized recreational cannabis. Other states have been observing the impact and determining whether to go the same way. So far, there are definitely some good consequences to come out of cannabis legalization. There are also some bad consequences, however, and others that are a little more controversial. The post explores the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

The ability to tax cannabis has been one of the biggest benefits. Together, the states in which weed is legal have made billions in revenue. This tax has been put to great use – Colorado used $900,000 of its cannabis-based tax to open the Aurora Day Resource Center providing basic services for homeless people. In other states, money has gone into school construction, medical research, and drug abuse programs.

Legalization has also opened up new job opportunities across America. In fact, 321,000 jobs have been created since it was first legalized for recreational use by Washington and Colorado in 2012.

Violent crime has also been reduced across America. This includes states that have legalized weed and states above the U.S. border where crime as a result of marijuana drug trafficking used to be rife. The most positive surprise is that DUI charges have barely been affected. All in all, legalization has created less crime and freed up police manpower to tackle other problems.

The Bad

The legalization of cannabis has come with some less positive effects. Overall usage of marijuana has increased with more students below the legal age trying it. Despite links to impaired pregnancy, more pregnant women have also been using cannabis (one Colorado hospital found a 15% increase in the number of babies born with THC in their blood).

Colorado also witnessed a surge in homelessness after legalizing cannabis. Hospital visits as a result of using cannabis also increased within the state. Colorado has used its weed tax to tackle homelessness and improve drug education, so you could argue that these negative effects are being slowly canceled out.

The Ugly

More controversial questions have been created as a result of the legalization of cannabis. There is firstly the issue of those incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes prior to legalization who are still in prison. Some argue that it was illegal then and therefore still punishable, while the likes of the Last Prisoner Project argue that it suggests severe inequality. Is it right to continue locking up prisoners for an act that is no longer illegal?

Junk food sales have also notably increased within states that have legalized cannabis. This is good news for fast food companies, but could this widespread case of the munchies cause more prevalent health issues in the future?

Has cannabis legalization solved or created more problems?

This is a question that you could argue in great detail. There have definitely been extra problems created by recreational cannabis legalization. However, many of these problems may be able to be fixed by the extra funding that has been provided from taxing cannabis. The reduction in crime is also a big positive – and has proved wrong all the critics that believed legalization would increase crime.