By: Steven Adamo
The House of Representatives passed a bill decriminalizing cannabis as a schedule 1 drug Friday, separating it from drugs like heroin. Although it’s an important step, it is only the first of many steps.
In a report released by the Tax Foundation in June, it found that within the previous 30 days, 10.5 percent of adult Americans used Cannabis products, with 70% using nearly daily. If you’re not smoking it, there’s a good chance you know somebody who is.
Even our Abuelitas know that it’s okay to use as their arthritis cream.
Which is why those who have completed their prison sentence for cannabis-related charges should have those charges expunged from their records, one of the items addressed in the House bill.
Even though 68% of the United States thinks it should be legalized, the Senate is expected to stall the bill in typical style.
Marijuana Business Daily estimates that the legal cannabis industry is worth between $11 billion and $13.7 billion, with California alone expected to make $350 million per month on the taxes alone.
People are buying it, using it and profiting off of it while many people can’t get jobs because they were caught with a joint or maybe sold some to a friend.
Decriminalizing cannabis and removing its schedule 1 status will stop a lot of problems from continuing and help prevent further complications old problems working exactly as they were designed to.
It would allow scientists to conduct broader research, allow businesses to use banks rather than cash— leaving them less susceptible to robbery.
“Federal drug classification” sounds like a boring subject, but like other mundane phrases found in our laws, it has a serious impact on the daily lives of so many people, including some students at ELAC.
Groups at ELAC like the Students Against Substance Abuse have many resources on campus to those who have cannabis-related charges against them.
Programs that extend education on ELAC to the prison populations.
With more tax revenue coming to the state, it’s important that those whose lives were impacted the most by Marijuana prohibition should be the first to receive the benefits.
With the billions of new tax revenue coming to the state, it is important that we use that money to fund all the things that we’re always told is too expensive.
Like the booming brewery industry, the cannabis industry can teach a lot of new skills to those who are seeking to better their lives and situations.