In 2017, the Texas government has a very limited amount of money because of things such as tax cuts from the past. According to "a cannabis market research firm," the states that have legalized marijuana in some form have made a 8 billion dollar profit from the plant, and that number is currently growing. Legalization of marijuana could be beneficial to Texas' budget problem by taxing the product and getting it out of the black market.
Another problem that legalization of marijuana could help fix is the issue of criminal reform in Texas. Right now if a Texan gets caught with a small possession of marijuana they have to go to court, pay a fine, and possibly do time in jail. This can cause ones record to be negatively affected and even prevent them from getting certain jobs in the future. Leagalization or decriminalization of this plant can prevent Texans from dealing with the burden of a bad record and even waste of time.
Lastly, marijuana has proven to be beneficial for many medical purposes. For example, many studies have found that marijuana can prevent the spreading of cancer cells, so if this plant can help prevent diseases then Texas should follow the example of other states that approve of medical marijuana. If Texas Republicans keep on failing to acknowledge the benifits of medical marijuana they fail to provide Texans with a complete list of options that they can choose from to improve their health.
(Other ways to access article: Austin American Statesman, "Texas lawmakers wighing flurry of marijuana-related bills,"
I agree with Alfredo Del La Cruz’s commentary titled Texas and Marijuana. He did a great job in pointing out that although there has not been much success in getting the Republican party to legalize any use of marijuana in Texas, there is now a bit of hope since a member of the Republican party has introduced a bill that decriminalizes low-volume possession of marijuana. I agree that although this is just one bill by the Republican party it is still a step in the direction of getting the Republican party in on a discussion of the potential benefits of legalizing marijuana.
ReplyDeleteTexas government has received many budget cuts due to the need to decrease spending and with the profit information provided in Alfredo's commentary, it is obvious that Texas has the opportunity to increase funding for programs within our state if our state legalized marijuana in some form. As for his comments on the legalization of marijuana helping to fix Texas's criminal reform the only point really made were that this would benefit the individual facing charges. I would add that legalization of marijuana would also benefit the state by decreasing the amount of money Texas has to spend on the proceedings of these types of cases. Alfredo also pointed out that marijuana has proven to be beneficial for many medical purposes such as the spread of cancer cells. This is an extremely important point to make because many American's have witnessed family, friends or maybe even themselves go through the suffering of these diseases so, in my opinion, this point alone justifies the need for our state to highly consider medical marijuana.
Alfredo's commentary justified the need for Texas to consider legalizing marijuana in some form. These justifications were made by explaining the financial benefit to our state by increasing profit, the Texas residence's benefit by decreasing the burden for the procession of small amounts of marijuana, as well as the health benefit to Texas residence.