Benefits of Cannabis Legalization in the US

States have made legal medical and recreational cannabis year after year. Since then, many new products, brands, and companies have entered the market. Most established cannabis companies will go public in stock exchanges and tax revenues hit new records.

The country that first began the war on drugs has become one of the largest markets for legal cannabis worldwide.

When the President of the United States Richard Nixon started the war on drugs in the 1970s by declaring war on drug abuse, he increased federal funding for drug-control agencies and drug-treatment efforts. Successively, the Ronald Reagan administration, which began in 1981, expanded the drug war by focusing its efforts on criminal punishment over treatment. However, the war on drugs led to a massive increase in incarcerations for non-violent drug offences. Concerns over its effectiveness and increased awareness of the racial disparity of the punishments led people to support the most draconian aspects of the war on drugs less and less during the early 2000s.

Today, 18 states, the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational purposes, 36 states only allow medical cannabis, and 13 states have decriminalized cannabis possession for any reason.

The path to legalization at the state level has not been easy to follow. The cannabis plant carried along an old stigma instilled by governmental propaganda during the war on drugs, which was hard to wash away. However, the scientific research that highlighted the medicinal benefits of the plant, and progressive advocacy for legalization, brought the use of cannabis to become generally accepted by the people after many years.Benefits from legalization at the state level haven't pertained to only consumers. Cannabis expands its branches to many aspects of our society. Its history showed us how the relationship between the plant and humans is long-standing and entwined.

Economic benefits from cannabis legalization have been a relevant drive for states. The total U.S. economic impact from cannabis sales is expected to reach $92 billion in 2021, according to an analysis1 by MJBizDaily. California, the largest market in the U.S., is expected to contribute $20 billion to the American economy alone. Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington will provide more than $10 billion each for their local economies in the coming years.

Since 2014, legal cannabis states have generated $7.9 billion in tax revenue, as of May 2021, according to a report2 by Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), which defined cannabis legalization for adults as a wise investment.

Dispensaries and medical cannabis nurseries created hectic economic activities in the cannabis industry in legal cannabis states. A New Frontier Data report has predicted that the impact of cannabis legalization at the federal level could generate3 1 million jobs by 2025.

Farmers would need an increased workforce, and so will all the cannabis supply chain, from processing to distribution to selling products. People will also find occupations in secondary industries related to cannabis, such as software and construction companies. The 2021 Leafly Jobs Report4 found that cannabis legalization at the state level generated 321,000 full-time equivalent jobs as of January 2021. Cannabis job growth doubled in 2020 comparing with the previous year. In 2019, the cannabis industry added 33,700 new jobs for a total of 243,700.

Despite the COVID-19 global pandemic, the legal cannabis industry added 77,300 full-time jobs in the United States in 2020.

But cannabis legalisation has not only economic benefits.  The structure of the newest cannabis laws in states has recognised the failure of the war on drugs, as it harmed the black community and other minorities for years. By focusing on equity and social justice, some cannabis reforms at the state level have enacted plans to automatic expunge cannabis-related convictions.

New York’s cannabis reform expunges convictions for possessing and using cannabis, as well as for other offences. Illinois and Vermont included automatic expungement too. However, other states have enacted only authorized expungements. Only in 2019, law enforcement detained more than 1.5million people for drugs, and almost 546,000 for cannabis-related crimes, according to Drug Policy Alliance.

At the same time, part of cannabis taxation is to be used to create programmes and investments for communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. Such programmes include adult education, mental health, substance abuse treatment, job placement, skills services, financial literacy, and community banking.

The goal of these initiatives is to reintegrate back prisoners with cannabis-related expunged records.The wave of cannabis legalization at the state level is knocking at US Congress’s door as Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (Democrat) has recently released a draft bill that would legalize cannabis at the federal level.

Much like the Marijuana Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act6 that passed by the House of Representatives in December 2021, the so-called Cannabis Administration and Opportunity (CAOA) Act would federally reschedule cannabis, expunge federal cannabis crimes, back further medical research and allow cannabis companies access to essential financial services. Cannabis is still illegal under federal law, as it is classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

Cannabis producers and retailers face significant logistical challenges with banking, transporting goods and paying taxes, even in states where the drug is legal due to federal restrictions. But if this bill will pass, it should ease their life.

However, it is essential to take into consideration that this bill won't make cannabis is legal in every state. In fact, the proposal preserves the right of the states to maintain prohibition if they want, though they couldn't deny access to businesses from transporting cannabis products across their borders to other states where cannabis is legal.

At this stage, it is not sure that President Biden will sign this legislation. During the 2020 Presidential campaign, he expressed his opposition to full cannabis legalization at the federal level. Instead, he would likely be more favorable to decriminalization and let the states decide how to reform their drug policy.

To become a law, the CAOA must pass both Senate, House of Representatives and be signed by President Joe Biden. However, the benefits of making medical and recreational cannabis legal are so evident that states will be likely to reform their drug policies, even without full legalization as more than 1,500 cannabis bills and amendments have been tracked8 countrywide in 2020.