If you’re like me, then you are absolutely sick of waiting for the government to pick up their pants and legalize medical marijuana on a federal level. I’m not even asking for recreational legalization on a federal level, just medical marijuana! The amount of people who need cannabis as an alternative treatment option is staggering. Fortunately, the House Majority Leader has stated that the feds will legalize marijuana and this has given us a lot of hope.
However, the road that it took to get to this point has been long and hard. At this point, I think it is safe to say that we will definitely see cannabis legalized in the United States in our lifetimes; maybe even within the next decade or so! Legalizing cannabis on a federal level would have a great impact on our country, especially when it came to social justice and equity. Many people who have been sentenced to prison due to marijuana related charges will be able to apply for expungement and potentially be released from prison.
This would also help with the stigma around marijuana and cannabis related crimes. Also, it’s no secret that the cannabis industry would explode from a financial standpoint and lead to increased tax revenue in every state and on a federal level. In this article, I will be talking a bit about the various other impacts that legalizing cannabis in the United States could have in our lifetimes.
Like I already stated, the legalization of marijuana would mean the decriminalization of the drug and prevent the future incarcerations of people using marijauna. Additionally, individuals who were busted for possession of cannabis charges can apply for expungement. However, this does not apply to people who were charged with large quantities of marijuana or were guilty of growing and distributing it.
Furthermore, if the cannabis charge was also paired with a violent crime or weapons charge, it is not possible to apply for expungement. The saddest part about the current state of the marijuana industry is that arrests in non-legalized states are still really high. According to an article that I found online, over 600,000 Americans are arrested per year on cannabis related charges. Hopefully, these people can be expunged in the near future when cannabis is legalized on a federal level. This will also help reduce generational poverty and crime rates that seem to have plagued certain areas in the United States that have been subject to mass incarceration and over policing.
Another great thing that can come from legalizing marijuana in the United States is that people may be able to grow cannabis at home if they choose to do so. However, it’s worth noting that this currently varies from state to state. Some states are very restrictive when it comes to licensing people to grow their own marijuana and establishing dispensaries around the state. When weed is legalized throughout the United States, though, this will no longer be a problem and anyone will be able to grow plants at home. Similar to growing your own fruits and vegetables at home, growing cannabis can be tedious and time consuming, so some people will still prefer to buy more high-quality cannabis from experienced growers at dispensaries located around their area.
In addition to growing marijuana at home, the cost of buying cannabis in-store could also be reduced if it is made federally legal in the United States. Since there will be a huge surplus of dispensaries and growers all at once, the competition between marijuana retailers and dealers will drive down the price. This means that you will be able to buy a lot more weed for a lot less money!
