12-page Economics Paper

Final Paper

1. Requirements

The final paper requires that you do your own research. You are required to find empirical papers on

your subject and use them to write your policy paper. You need at least 5 sources for this paper. At least

three of them need to be empirical papers on the subject. The other sources can be from places like the New

York Times, etc., or wherever you got your idea in the first place. A good source for these papers would be

to look at the Journal of Economic Perspectives as it tends to cover many different subjects.

You are required to write a minimum 12-page research/position paper in which you must take and

defend an economic policy position (excluding the reference page). You may make an economic argument

in favor or opposed to one or another policy. You may also opt to illuminate an area of study relevant to

the field of economics. In either case, you must take and defend a position with clear evidence and sound

argument.

2. Prompt

Should marijuana be legalized? Consider the benefits of both medical and recreational uses.

3. Please include the following content:

1. The medical use of marijuana is legal in 29 states, which includes the District of Columbia, and the

territories of Guam and Puerto Rico.

The recreational use of marijuana is legal in 9 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine,

Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) plus the District of Columbia and another 13

states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands.

2. Many people would say marijuana is not drug because its harmfulness and addiction are even weaker

than cigarettes, which is not true.

3. This is a diagram of drug harmfulness. It seems like marijuana is the healthiest thing comparing with

other drugs, even alcohol. However, I have to mention that this diagram comes from an article called

“development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse” in 2007. When this diagram

cannot be changed in these ten years, the marijuana is no more the same.

4. This is a chart of level of THC in marijuana from National Institute on Drug Abuse from 1975 to

2009. We can see that in 1975, the marijuana for recreational use only contains 0.74% THC, while this

number increased by 11 times in 2007. Therefore, the perspective of harmless marijuana is out of date and

need to be reconsidered.

5. Now we know marijuana could hurt people’s health more than we think. Then why should we

legalize it？

6. In 2015, nearly 60 percent of Americans are taking prescription drugs, and at least 24 million, which

is 9.4% of Americans, have used illicit drugs. It was reported that the U.S. has the highest level of illegal

drug use in the world according to a survey in 2008. Just for marijuana, the U.S. had the highest rate of use

at 42.4%. From this data, it’s clear that U.S. has a large marijuana market. Since marijuana is called the

“Gateway Drug”, it is less social harmful comparing to other hard drugs such as Heroin. Hence it is hard to

completely prevent people from using marijuana. Besides, different states have different policies towards

marijuana. The government cannot completely control the illegal marijuana trade domestically and

internationally. In this situation, legalizing marijuana becomes a better choice to regulate it.

7. Benefits

1) Lower price, more revenue

Legalizing marijuana will lower its price. In the past, you have to purchase marijuana from illegal

drug dealer from the black market. Since it is costly form drug dealer to grow and transport limited

marijuana, the price of marijuana is high. Now you can purchase marijuana from the legal stores authorized

by the government. When the supply of marijuana increases, the price of marijuana goes down. In that way,

marijuana becomes less costly for people. The government can also receive tax revenue from the legal

marijuana market.

2) More regulations, less crimes

The government eliminate the illegal drug dealers through the legalization policy. According to new

research in January, the introduction of medical marijuana laws has led to a sharp reduction in violent crime

in US states that border Mexico. Most of the marijuana consumed in the US originates in Mexico, where

seven major cartels control the illicit drug trade. When a state on the Mexican border legalized medical use

of the drug, violent crime fell by 13% on average. The law allows local U.S. farmers to grow marijuana

that can then be sold legally. These growers are in direct competition with Mexican drug cartels that are

smuggling the marijuana into the US. As a result, the cartels get much less business. Among all the Border

States, the effect of the change in law was largest in California, where there was a reduction of 15% in

violent crime. The crimes most strongly affected were robbery, which fell by 19%, and murder, which

dropped by 10%. Homicides specifically related to the drug trade fell by an astonishing 41%.

3) By the way, since all the purchasing in the marijuana stores can be supervised by FDA, the

government can track every trade more easily and make sure that citizens can use marijuana in proper ways

and do no harm to the society.

8. In conclusion, legalizing marijuana is an eclectic method to control it in the United States.