Imagine a place where we can all meet in a positive environment and just relax and enjoy each other’s company. Somewhere that doesn’t have the hyper active energy of the bar scene. A location where friends can all meet in a mellow environment sit back and laugh at each other’s jokes while they smoke high grade marijuana legally.
Sure beats sitting at the dirty old table in your mom’s basement cracking dick and fart jokes, spraying Lysol to cover the scent of each bong hit being taken. While your friends laugh at you for still having to hide the fact you smoke pot from your parents at age 35. Soon these days will be nothing more than a memory.
The fact of the matter is weed is becoming less and less illegal every day. Cannabis clubs are popping up relatively regularly on the west coast, and now in many other states. Many states have also begun de-criminalizing the possession of marijuana. We keep moving closer to actually legalizing pot. With the state of our economy this would not be such a bad idea.
If weed were to be legalized the government would be able to tax it as they do with tobacco and alcohol. There is no doubt marijuana would have a high sin tax. Other than that, if it were to be legalized nationwide a whole new industry would open up. This would create jobs and allow individuals to open their own businesses. Jobs are already growing in the field; Northern California’s Humboldt County has created a whole new market. Many farmers in that area have become legally licensed through government grants to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. But let us truly examine how marijuana legalization is inevitable and will be a great help to the economic problems we have been having for the past year or so.
First we must ask the question how many individuals currently use marijuana in the United States for any purpose, whether medicinal or recreational. A lot of people have tried marijuana before, but there is a vast sub-culture who uses it in a safe manner all throughout this great nation. A few months back our president Barrack Obama held a public forum. Nearly 100,000 questions were submitted by the public. The main questions asked involving green jobs and energy involved pot. Our president simply said “no” when asked if it would be legalized. This does show a strong public interest in at least the question of marijuana legalization.
“The people want it,” Said “Radical” Russ, host of NORML Show Live a radio show broadcast from Oregon’s NORML Cannabis Café. This particular Cannabis Club claims to world famous at this point. This is most likely because NORML -National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws- runs the establishment. “You see that people are interested now more than ever with those questions sent to Obama. If this country could just pull its head out its ass and finally legalize herb we could all get on with our lives and have fun.” Spoken like a true stoner, but Russ does have a point.
Statistics show from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health that 51.3% of our population between the ages of 18 and 25 admit to having tried pot. Between the ages of 26 and 34, 49.8% have smoked up at least once. From ages 35 to 49, 53.1% all have admitted to trying pot. Over half of the population for the past three generations has admitted to trying pot at least once. That is a large statistic that cannot be ignored.
Another interesting occurrence happening throughout our country is the openings of Cannabis Clubs and dispensaries in many different states. These clubs are a place where individuals, who use marijuana medicinally, carrying a prescription card issued to them by a doctor, can go and purchase pot legally. The Cannabis Clubs first started sprouting up in Northern California. Now they are slowly spreading through the states that have medicinal marijuana laws. Currently in our country there are over 45 of these locations, in 12 states and the number is growing as the success of these businesses continues to grow.
“A lot of people get by smoking,” said Ken Starke, an employee of Valley Village Caregivers. One of the more prominent Cannabis Clubs in the Studio City area of Los Angeles California, they have been successfully providing marijuana to patrons who use marijuana for medicinal purposes for years now. “This place is just for people who are prescribed weed. Think of what would happen if these places could be open to the general public. We already have a pretty large clientele; if marijuana was legal for anyone we would be doing probably four times the business.” An interesting thought, which again raises the question could marijuana legalization save or at least help the faltering economy of the United States.
Looking at simple things in our economy that have been considered recession proof would be a good way to gauge if legalizing marijuana would actually help the economy. The entertainment industry has suffered the least during this recession. Films, bars, and nightclubs have actually seen a pickup in business since the economies decline began last year. People need a fun cheap form of entertainment to escape the day to day problems we all have. Allowing these cannabis clubs to be open to the general public would provide just this. People are unable to afford expensive vacations, or go to fancy Broadway shows. Instead they are all flocking to the movies or hitting the bar for a quick drink. The Cannabis Clubs could be another alternative for cheap fun. The taboo of smoking pot is diminishing more and more every day. If pot was legal it would be looked at more like alcohol, and deemed not such a dangerous drug.
If we look back to prohibition of the 30’s, all that did was cause problems for our nation. It also allowed the Mafia and other organized crime to rise to power. All though we will never be able to stop the illegal drug trade in this country legalizing pot would be a good way to fight it. With the statistics shown above more than half of the population of our country has at least tried pot. This shows people aren’t as concerned as they once were with the negative effects of Marijuana, which statistically is much safer than alcohol.
Every year many individuals die of alcohol related deaths. An Alarming 250,000 people have died in the past 10 years due to alcohol related events. Every year 25,000 people die from alcohol related deaths, these numbers are frightening. Not to mention 435,000 a year die from Tobacco related deaths, a number this high is very distressing. To date no one has died solely because of marijuana use. It is a sad and almost comical statement on our society. Being that tobacco and alcohol are legal and marijuana is still illegal and probably has a long way to go before it is even looked at in the same vain as these other two substances.
So next time you see two younger kids pulled over on the shoulder of the road and there handcuffed while the car is being searched, just think how much easier life could be. Besides making life easier for the youth that use marijuana it would help our economy, which is something that can help everyone in America. The government themselves would be making money hand over fist in the taxes put on pot. We will just have to see how the next couple years go as far as the recession and the rapidly growing legal marijuana industry.
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