Legalization of Cannabis Cause & Effect

The legalization of Cannabis in the United States is a diverse and polarizing topic in modern politics, but what are the objective causes and effects to the prohibition of cannabis? But the thing is, the drug wasn’t always illegal. To understand how we ended up here, it important to go back. Cannabis became illegal in the early 1900’s just after the Mexican Revolution. Also, the DEA(Drug Enforcement Administration) said that Cannabis is classified as a Schedule 1 drug and has a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence and that is why it was made illegal.

Years after Cannabis was made illegal, we see the effects of it becoming illegal in many ways. Such as, Marijuana arrests account for over half of all drugs arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for having marijuana. So due to the illegalization of Marijuana about 100 years ago, there are millions of Americans in jail over possession of a drug that was not researched accurately in the past. Therefore, because of this 8.2 million of people may or may not get a job because there were in jail for possession of cannabis. Criminalizing cannabis puts money in the hands of the drug cartels, rather than supporting the budgets of state governments. The resulting drug cartel financial power destabilizes the Mexican government and increases crime on both sides of the border. Also, Cannabis has well established medical benefits, especially in the management of chronic pain and cancer. Ever since cannabis was made illegal, there has been a disparity between the race and ethnicity of those who are arrested over it as well, every 0.01 hours someone in the United States is arrested for having marijuana; a black person is about 3 times more likely to be arrested than a white person.
By: Paulo Nunez
https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-incarceration/smart-justice/war-marijuana-black-and-white