Dear Next President:

Hello, Mr or Mrs. President, my name is Alexander Munoz.  I'm from West Albany High School. I would like to make you aware of the largely untapped market In the legalization and distribution of cannabis. Cannabis has always been a largely debated issue that has yet to be resolved. A lot of things have been said about the legalization, how It would be bad and would hurt the economy,  increase the crime rate, and be a negative influence on kids. This letter contains proof that will dispute that claim.  This letter will prove that legalization of cannabis would improve the economy, decrease crime rates, and give a semblance of freedom back to a starved nation.

The legalization of cannabis would be a great economic boost.  According to The Huffington Post, the legalization of the cannabis could save up to $15 billion. In Oregon we are already seeing the economic benefit; according to Oregonlive, from the first month 3.48 million dollars of taxes has been collected. The money is only going be stacking up higher because the increase in recreational and medical use is going to be skyrocketing. As other states start to allow the legalization of cannabis, they are also going to be making this revenue. Also, the population of Oregon is going up because of the legalization of cannabis; this is also going to make tourism go up. As tourism goes up because of the legalization of cannabis, there would be a large amount revenue.

Many people who are opposed to cannabis bring up the argument that it will raise crime rates, but this statement is completely false. According to a study made by sciencenordic, the legalization of cannabis would decrease crime rate because you would be taking away business from illegal sellers. Also, it would stop the unnecessary arrests of people who are in possession of cannabis. 14 Billion dollars every year is put into prohibition enforcement. This law enforcement was established to prevent the consumption and distribution of cannabis. Another 1 billion is also put into the imprisonment of cannabis users and dealers.  We as a nation are wasting 15 billion dollars on stopping a threat that does not exist. More people have died from drinking and driving in this year than have ever died from cannabis. We must realize that cannabis is nothing compared to cigarettes, and alcohol. These two have killed enormous amounts of people. We should be focusing our money on stopping these and other drugs like crack, heroin, and cocaine, things that actually cause death and violence.

Time to play the devil's advocate.  Many people who are against the legalization of cannabis will say mainly three things. One that it is a gateway drug. The fact is that cannabis is not a gateway drug. many sites like Vice, Newsweek,and Drugabuse prove that drug users who smoke cannabis stay with cannabis and don't try a higher level of drugs. Another thing they say is that it would be a bad influence. Well, actually the studies have shown that curiosity is the primary reason for children to try cannabis.  If we make it common and not unknown, children will not be curious about it. People's last reason is that it would cause more crime and skyrocket the crime rate, but as I said earlier, the crime rate would actually plummet because 80% of cannabis arrest are because the people were carrying cannabis, not that they were doing something dangerous.

Thank you, Mr/Mrs. president for reading my paper. I hope you are able to see that legalization of cannabis would first give a great amount of money into the economy, decrease crime rates, and give a semblance of freedom back to the American people. I hope you will do the right thing and help our economy boom and bring back a little freedom into this country.

Sincerely, Alexander Munoz