What Happens When You Decriminalize Marijuana

No presidential candidate has fully supported the idea of legalizing marijuana at a federal level, but a few have played with the idea of decriminalizing marijuana. So what are the benefits of decriminalization?

"Decriminalization does not address the need to eliminate the unregulated and over-capitalized black market," Jon Gettman, an associate professor in criminal justice at Shenandoah University, told ATTN:. Gettman said that there are social and economic consequences to black markets, and decriminalization would only change marijuana crimes to something you might be fined for, instead of something that you'd get arrested for.

 

BUT IT WOULD SAVE MONEY.

Since people likely wouldn't be arrested and thrown in prison for marijuana crimes, it would save the country quite a bit of money. A 2013 report from the ACLU found it cost the United States around $3.6 billion to enforce marijuana laws in 2010 alone, but it might have been...

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http://www.attn.com/stories/2728/marijuana-decriminalization-benefits