October 21, 2016

Dear Future President:

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the legality of marijuana in the United States. Over 25 states have legalized medical marijuana and 4 states have legalized recreational use. Marijuana should be legalized because it can help people in pain, and legalizing it can cut down on crimes related to possession or selling it.

Marijuana would help people in pain.medical marijuana has been used to treat pain and depression. Many legalized states have also made a business from selling medical marijuana and the state gets tax revenue. "In legalized states the market for marijuana has been booming” (Collins), so by legalizing medical marijuana, the state would get revenue from the sale that could be used to improve the state. The legalization of marijuana would make a big dent in the market for the legalized states, and other states could have a similar effect.

The legalization of marijuana would also cut down on crime. People caught with marijuana often have to pay fines, complete community service or sometimes have to serve jail time. Legalizing marijuana would eliminate these crimes. In Colorado, where its legalized, the state reports that “arrests for marijuana possession have continually dropped since 2010 and are now down roughly 84 percent” (Macaulay). This shows that the number if arrests has diminished consecutively and will continue to do so.

While some people may argue that marijuana is bad and should stay a banned substance, I say that it's better than people trying to get a high from something made in an alley or a lab. There are many other drugs that can actually kill people, yet some people are still focused on banning marijuana.

As President, you could legalize recreational use of marijuana. If that's not posible, you could at least legalize marijuana for medical use. In order to make this change, you need to pass the various bills that states have proposed.

For all these reasons, legalization of marijuana needs to occur in order to prevent unnecessary violent crimes and to help people in pain. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you consider the legalization of marijuana in the future.

Sincerely,

Andrea Steinmetz