Back when the elections were happening and mixed reactions were held around the world internationally about Trump’s inauguration, ballot questions were sent to 20 states. Massachusetts posed four ballot questions, the fourth being about legalizing recreational marijuana. This ballot question I will emphasize the importance of, being not only a passage to simple freedom of use along the law for one’s own personal desires, but freedom to live the life that would normally be struck by the police, criminal justice, and criminal justice systems at some point that is now averted. Most crimes are only petty drug-use ones and small theft, and marijuana use fits under this category and is arguably one of the worst drugs to keep illegal for the safety of millions.

The safety of millions. For one, marijuana has many health benefits, including improving appetite for those who suffer from food anemia of some kind, it is relaxing and is a natural anti-depressant for many, meaning those suffering from PTSD, depression, and anxiety have a natural outlet to treat themselves. Marijuana is totally or almost totally proven to treat tumors, having tumor-reductive properties, which is something still being researched but I would say should be put in the spotlight. There are other reasons why it is not.

Moving along, there are other reasons why marijuana, before being fully legalized, puts many at risk, and especially those of color. Looking at class, it is crucial to understand that poor people are more susceptible to being caught by the police for crime. Yes, crime is against the law, but no matter if they are being forced to commit crime do to their material conditions or not, people who are poor, look poor, and in poor neighborhoods need to be especially careful around police, and around the criminal justice system. In the U.S., black people are the most targeted group, alongside others of color, just for being black. If one looks into statistics in crime, they will find that relatively few black people actually commit crimes, though there is a disproportionate amount of black people in jail. This is due to structural racism within the criminal justice system. When weed is legalized fully and completely, it gives cops one less reason to target this group and their brothers of blacks and browns. This will economically benefit them, their families, and their communities.

So, it is time for everyone to stand up to the biased criminal justice system and demand democracy within the system and an end to brutality, corruption, and complete racism. It is time to help those in jail now heal and give them the material necessities to live comfortably coming out of jail, which will arguably keep them from committing more crimes in the future because they will have more material necessities they need. The nation as a whole would benefit economically from greatly reducing the scope of the prison industrial complex system, as it costs the nation and individual states more money than it is worth. With simple mental and economic healing of inmates and a reduction on inmates who need to be fed, clothed, housed, etc, it is a no-brainer why states and the federal government do not operate differently. The answer to this question is profit. There are hordes of profit accumulated right now from large private prisons that have legitimately no reason for their existence. These prisons are especially the problem, as they are producing nothing productive for society, and not only harming the lives of inmates, but the lives of workers working for them, paying them less than or at a minimum wage, with bad working conditions, but this is not dissimilar from other private practices. Let’s join to resist further privatization, dismantle the current prison industrial complex system, and replace it with a smaller and fairer new one, and advocate for the legalization of marijuana nation-wide.