The implications of Legalizing a prohibited item Research Paper

The implications of Legalizing a prohibited item - Research Paper Example They also argue that the legalization would earn the government more income through taxation. They also believe that the legalization will reduce the government’s expenditure on enforcing the prohibition. This paper aims at discussing the economic impacts on the legalization of the use of marijuana. Source of Revenue through Taxation The legalization of the use of marijuana will highly affect the mode of pricing. When the use of a substance is illegal, the price is always high. This is because of the risk involving the marijuana dealers. However, high taxation by the government can make the prices high again. Economists argue that high taxation might lead to the emergence of black market trade. Considering this, it would be advisable to keep taxes minimal in order to reduce the possibilities of emergence of black markets. A good example is the effect of high prices of heroin in Norway where the level of consumption decreased with the increase in the prices. One would argue tha t the volume of consumption by addicts is likely not to change with an increase in price (Morgan 2011). Some economists would disagree with this since studies on consumption of substances like alcohol and cigarettes show that heavy users responded highly to prices as compared to the other users. This will mean that the only means to get the maximum income from the legalization of marijuana is minimizing the taxation (see Figure 1). This will increase the volume of marijuana consumption, which will mean a high total tax collection. The figure illustrates the relationship between the price of marijuana and its consumption. Figure 1. Marijuana price-demand curve. (blogspot.com) Reduction of Government Expenditure on Marijuana Use Regulation The legalization of the consumption of marijuana will also reduce the government expenditure on the regulation of its use. This will be possible through saving of money that the government spends on marijuana arrests. Records in the United States of America show that there is a very high rate of both marijuana possession and trafficking arrests (Brux 2011). With the legalization of marijuana, the resources allocated for these kinds of arrests can go to another law enforcement sector. The resources spent on judicial processes involving marijuana possessors and traffickers could be saved for other purposes. Records have it that more than 3% of judicial trials in the United States of America involve the marijuana possessors. The percentage of resources spent on such activities can go to other activities. In the United States of America, the number of drug laws criminals in the correctional facilities is more than offenders of the other laws (Clements & Zhao 2009). For instance, in the year 2011, the total number of sentenced was 197050, with 94600 of those were sentenced in drug related trials. The closest to it were the violent offences, which had 14900 inmates. With the legalization of the consumption of marijuana, the governme nt will save the economic resources used for the correction of drug offenders. This money can take care of other economic needs of the country. The legalization of marijuana will also reduce the number of criminal activities involved with its peddling. Since the drug will be legal, more socially decent organization will venture into the marijuana supplying business. Occurrences like this will reduce the necessity of criminal