The legal sale of marijuana has now begun in Oregon, and those sales are breaking records. The previous record for first week sales was about $5 million in Colorado. But the first week sales in Oregon more than doubled Colorado's sales -- coming in at about $11 million dollars.
Oregon officials had originally thought they would gather about $9 million in taxes from marijuana sales, but after the huge first week sales, that number could go as high as $36 million. That's money that won't have to be raised on other forms of taxation.
Oregon, Colorado, Washington, and soon Alaska, are the first to legalize the possession and use of marijuana for adults, but I believe several other states will join them in the next few years. This is just something that makes sense. Marijuana is safer than any other drug -- including ALL legal drugs. It is not addictive, cannot be overdosed on, and doesn't affect driver safety. And the tax benefit is huge (and so could the job creation if many more states join these four).
But while some states understand the benefits of marijuana legalization, many other (and the federal DEA) do not. They continue to ruin the lives of many people, and continue to throw money away by making marijuana arrests. Consider the following:
An estimated 700,993 arrests were made nationwide for marijuana-related offenses in 2014 — up from 693,058 in 2013 — of which 88.42% were for possession. On average, one person was arrested for a marijuana-related offense in the U.S. approximately every 45 seconds (every 51 seconds for possession).
While law enforcement was busy making nearly three quarters of a million marijuana arrests, more than 35% of murders went unsolved, the clearance rate for rape was less than 40%, and for robbery and property crimes, it was below 30%.
This is insanity. It is a waste of both jail and prison space, and a waste of law enforcement resources. If police weren't wasting time chasing after marijuana users, they could spend more time chasing other types of criminal offenders -- criminals that actually do harm to victims and the country. And we would have the prison space to put those criminals away when they were caught.
