Patricia Spottedcrow, and Oklahoma mother of four, sold $31 of pot and landed 12 years prison because of it. In her first two years of incarceration, she completed her GED and other self-improvement programs, but only got to see her children twice. This woman is a perfect example of how a small-time bust can completely redirect a harmless citizen’s life. This example and many others lead me to believe that the recreational use of marijuana in the US should be legal for citizens 18 and older because the tax revenue would be beneficial to the economy and to government spending, and it would open up jails and prisons to more serious offenders.

It is projected that legalizing the possession of marijuana would save the US government about $2.4 billion per year and state and local governments a total of $5.3 billion per year. This conclusion was reached through analyzing the costs of police, the judiciary, and correctional facilities. In addition, Jeffrey Miron, a professor of economics at Harvard University, found that under the standard sales tax rate, marijuana taxes would generate $2.4 billion, and would generate $6.2 billion under current alcohol and tobacco tax rates. There is so much good that could come from 6.2 billion dollars if it was not used in marijuana regulation, but illegal marijuana is detracting from what could be.

As shown by the revenue loss of illegal marijuana, the “war on drugs” has been a complete waste in tax dollars and in resources. The US has spent more than 1 trillion dollars combatting drug use in the past four decades. If regulating drug use is such a big issue, then the tax revenue gained from marijuana could be put back into the criminal justice system to help combat other Schedule I drugs with more pressing medical issues, like heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.

Legalization would also open up the justice system to more serious offenders. According to the FBI, more than 786,000 people were arrested in the US for violating anti-marijuana laws. Of this number, 696,000 were charged with possession and 90,000 were charged with intent to sell or marijuana manufacture. If recreational use of marijuana was legal, there would be a massive impact on prison funds saved. The average yearly cost for a minimum security inmate is $21,000. If all anti-marijuana law offenders were released, the US prison systems would save 16.5 billion dollars a year—a heavy price for a petty crime, don’t you think? I can not speak for everyone, but I suspect tax payers would rather the money go towards more serious issues than the incarceration of marijuana offenders.

If 53 percent of Americans are in favor of legalization and if 14 million reported using the drug despite restrictive laws, then why not tax it and keep the 786,000 prisoners out of the system?