Ethical Arguments For Legalizing Marijuana

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The legalization of marijuana would be beneficial since it would create a larger tax base, lower government spending, create jobs, and lead to the trickledown effect. What distinguishes other ethical arguments is that it is about maximizing the overall good, one’s good as well as the good of others. The topics that I will focus on to explain my argument are the economic and medical benefits. The evidence to support these claims will vary from economist predictions, current marijuana sales in Colorado and Washington, tobacco and alcohol sales in the United States, and recent medical studies. Through both the economics and medical research, I will show that legalizing marijuana would be a great asset to the United States. Although there are many negative consequences that arise from using…show more content…
Also, it would allow the sale of marijuana to be taxed like alcohol and tobacco as well as taxing those selling it with income taxes. In the state of Washington, the Huffington Post stated that Washington has predicted the state’s revenue due to the legalization in the next 5 years will be about $1.9 billion. The Cato Institute projected that the revenue from taxes on legal marijuana would equal $8.7 billion for the United States, which is the same amount that expenditures would decrease. Taxable income would increase since it will have a larger base of taxable workers, those who sell the drug. Eventually, the country’s deficit would begin to decrease, allowing the taxes of all items to decrease. Another area that legal marijuana would affect would be the illegal drug trafficking, both in the United States and between different countries and the United States. The overall economic impact would create the most good for the most amount of people with little impact on public health of those who choose to use
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