Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan wants to legalize marijuana in all 50 states

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

Though America’s problems with drug use and addiction have been the subject of voluminous policy debate in recent years, few effective solutions to the indisputable societal consequences have been put into place.

A number of Democrat lawmakers have taken a clear stance on one critical aspect of the drug epidemic in the United States, and it is indeed a controversial one. Just this week, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) penned an op-ed advocating for the legalization of marijuana in all 50 states, declaring that the War on Drugs has been a failure for the American people.

Ryan assails “social and economic injustice” of marijuana arrests

Citing his experience as co-chair of the Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus in the House of Representatives in his opinion piece for CNN, Ryan argued that existing policy harms youth and families who have been arrested for marijuana-related crimes. He went on to assert that the resulting economic, racial and social injustice to already vulnerable communities is simply unjustifiable:

The year Donald Trump was elected president, more Americans were arrested for marijuana possession than all violent crimes combined. The ACLU found that even though African Americans use marijuana at similar rates to white Americans, they are almost four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

Ryan urged Congress to take action on the Marijuana Justice Act of 2018, legislation that would eliminate marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols from schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Doing so would prevent criminal sanctions from being imposed on those accused of distributing marijuana.

Advocates tout potential economic boon from legalization

According to Rep. Ryan, roughly 25 percent of the nation’s prisoners are incarcerated due to their involvement in relatively low-level drug crimes. Upon release, he argues, these offenders find it difficult, perhaps impossible to secure solid employment and resume life as productive and contributing members of society.

Supporters of legalization point to research claiming that large-scale legalization of marijuana could lead to savings of $7.7 billion in law enforcement expenditures and also generate $6 billion in new revenue. Many have also touted the job creation potential of legalization as a means to sway voter opinions on the issue.

Legalization advocates believe that the influx of cannabis-related revenue could facilitate massive improvements in infrastructure and provide resources with which to battle what they see as a far more vexing problem, namely the opioid addiction epidemic.

[show_poll poll_id=636]

Proposed legislation reflects statewide ballot initiatives

A number of states have already taken steps to ease their own cannabis laws. Nine states, along with the District of Columbia, currently allow recreational use of marijuana. Medical marijuana use is permitted in an additional 29 states.

Earlier this summer, Oklahoma voters agreed to legalize medicinal marijuana, with recreational use set to appear on the November ballot. Michiganders will also be voting on a marijuana initiative in the fall.

Proposal ignores clear dangers of marijuana use

While vigorously advocating in support of marijuana legalization, Ryan’s op-ed unsurprisingly neglects to address or provide counterpoints to any of the well-known hazards of marijuana use. There is no significant discussion of the detrimental effect of cannabis on cognitive development in teens, the dangers of marijuana-impaired driving, and productivity losses among heavy users.

It remains to be seen whether any significant action will be taken on the proposed legislation championed by Ryan.

Legalization advocates and opponents alike will surely be keeping a close eye on state-level ballot initiative outcomes in November.

1,320 Responses

  1. Hey there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a fair price? Many thanks, I appreciate it!|

  2. Pingback: Garmin Venu
  3. Pingback: vps server hosting
  4. With havin so much content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any solutions to help stop content from being stolen? I’d really appreciate it.|

  5. Pingback: online sales
  6. That is very interesting, You are an overly skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look ahead to in search of more of your magnificent post. Additionally, I have shared your website in my social networks|

  7. Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!

  8. I’d should test with you here. Which isn’t something I normally do! I get pleasure from reading a post that may make individuals think. Also, thanks for permitting me to comment!

  9. I have been browsing online more than 2 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.|

  10. Pingback: Ocala
  11. Pingback: Dee Angel
  12. Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve visited your blog before but after browsing through many of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Regardless, I’m definitely pleased I discovered it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently!|

  13. Pingback: recette
  14. Pingback: Click This Link
  15. Pingback: bestuurbare auto
  16. I don’t even understand how I stopped up here, but I believed this publish used to be good. I don’t recognise who you are but definitely you are going to a well-known blogger for those who aren’t already. Cheers!|

  17. Pingback: W88vnbet.com
  18. Hi, I do think this is a great web site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I’m going to come back yet again since I book-marked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide other people.|

  19. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something informative to read?|

  20. Pingback: W88
  21. Pingback: W88
  22. Unquestionably believe that which you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the internet the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think about worries that they plainly don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks

  23. Pingback: W88.ltd
  24. Good post. I study something more challenging on totally different blogs everyday. It can all the time be stimulating to read content from different writers and practice just a little one thing from their store. I’d choose to use some with the content material on my weblog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I’ll provide you with a link in your internet blog. Thanks for sharing.

Leave a Reply to 1944 arcade game Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular