It's Time to Legalize and Regulate Cannabis

It's Time to Legalize and Regulate Cannabis

Dear Policy Maker,

It's time to eliminate the federal prohibition against growing, possessing, buying, selling and using cannabis -- which includes medicinal use, recreational use and industrial hemp. Especially considering our country's economic woes, now is the time to push Congress to abandon this expensive, unjustifiable ban.

Presently, state laws make medical cannabis legally available to more than one-third of American citizens, including those living in the nation's capital. It's good that the Obama administration has expressed the desire to stop pursuing cases against legal medical marijuana patients, but the administration needs to take much bolder steps to respect voters and state governments who have had enough of the unintended consequences of cannabis prohibition.

What are some of the gravest consequences of such prohibition? Drastic racial disparities in enforcement and the deaths of police officers and civilians caught in the crossfire, to name just a few.

What's more, about half of America's prison population is currently incarcerated on non-violent drug offenses. The United States leads the world’s prison population with more than 25% of the globe's prison population housed within the continental U.S. More than one out of every 100 American adults are currently incarcerated, a rate nearly double of any other country, including China and Russia. Fully 7.3 million people are currently in prison, jail, or on parole for non-violent drug offenses -- a fact that sets our taxpayers back billions of dollars per year. It's time to reexamine the costs of prohibition amid our persistent fiscal crisis.

In fact, regulating cannabis could have great economic benefits. Hemp, a strain of cannabis without medicinal or psychoactive properties, could prove to be a huge renewable energy source, as an excellent base for biodiesel fuel. As our country faces the effects of yet another oil spill on our fisheries, the financial markets, and our environment, such benefits should be carefully considered. Industrial hemp could help ease our reliance on foreign oil and allow us to keep millions of American dollars in the hands of Americans -- not members of OPEC who don't have America's best interests in mind.

Ending the prohibition on all uses of cannabis would end needless government expenses, and could help support the American economy at a time of deep fiscal uncertainty. Please join us in pushing Congress to limit our reliance on foreign oil and return America's treasury to a surplus by legalizing and taxing marijuana.

[Your name]