Twenty-eight billion dollars in revenue. That is the amount of extra taxes that could be
collected for federal, state, and local governments if marijuana is legalized. This revenue would
then be spent on national defense, community parks, police forces, and other things that keep
people happier and safer. It could also help the United States with the national debt issue that is
currently spiraling out of control as it approaches twenty trillion dollars. The “War on Drugs”
has proven to be ineffective, and it must be changed in order to best serve the country and its
citizens. Although the efforts to end drug use in the United States had honorable intentions,
legalizing marijuana would be favorable for the American economy.
Currently, four states and Washington D.C. have made the sale of marijuana legal. Gavin
Ekins and Jonathon Henchman write that the government’s tax revenue collections have
exceeded their initial estimates. In Colorado, the expected revenue from marijuana tax
collections was seventy million dollars per year, and the actual number will presumably exceed
