Imagine this... you are walking about you day, minding your own business, and carrying something you bought at a local store. Then, you walk just outside your state of Colorado, and all of the sudden a police dog runs at you and starts barking, with a policeman by his side. You get searched and thrown in jail for something you bought completely legally, and you could get jailed for up to 2 years.  This is how it is the the drug Marijuana is treated. It is recreationally legal in 3 states and 23 have it medically legalized. Marijuana should be legalized in the United States because it brings states that have been selling it millions of tax dollars, it has proven to help treat and even cure many types of diseases, and it is a much more natural treatment than other prescription drugs.

To start, recreational marijuana brings in millions of tax dollars for the state government because states can tax it however they please. Legal cannabis stores in Colorado sold $996,184,788 worth of recreational and medical cannabis in 2015, according to the Colorado State Department of Revenue (Baca).  The State of Colorado made this from selling $587,834,219 of recreational and $408,350,569 of medical marijuana. Utilizing that tax money, the government can fund the schools and make the state a better place.  Also, the state of Colorado imposes three taxes on the sale of marijuana or also known as cannabis. The standard sales tax of 2.7%, the special cannabis sales tax of 10%, and the excise wholesale transaction tax of 15% (Baca). Since the State of Colorado is able to tax the Cannabis however they want, they can impose a 13% tax on standard Cannabis transactions and still have people only buy from Government approved stores. This means they can still make all that tax money and spend it on commodities such as state projects and fixing roads.  Similarly, Colorado marijuana sales in 2015 were highest in August when $59.2 million of recreational and $41.4 million of medical marijuana was bought (Baca). Colorado was able to make more than $100 million dollars of marijuana tax in one month, so imagine that happening that all year round. The state could use a lot of money for building and improving parks and playgrounds to build a stronger community.  In contrast, some people might say that it would not be beneficial for a state to allow the recreational selling of a drug, and it would make the state a more crime ridden place.  However, the crime rate in Denver went down by 2.2% after recreational marijuana started being sold (Drug Policy Alliance).

Secondly, marijuana has been proven to help treat and cure many types of diseases. In fact, many studies showed that smoked marijuana can be helpful in treating headaches and vomiting from cancer chemotherapy (Cancer.org). When patients go through chemotherapy, it can induce symptoms such as vomiting, fatigue, sores, pain, and hair loss just to name a few. Anything that can help minimize or stop these side effects should be immediately prescribed by doctors. Equally, many scientists reported that “THC and other cannabinoids slow growth and/or cause death in certain types of cancer cells growing in laboratory dishes” (Cancer.org). With cancer being the 2nd leading cause of death in the United States, everything that can be done to slow or stop the terrible disease should be taken. But that step is only being taken 23 out of the 50 states of the United States. In addition, smoking marijuana helps some veterans overcome their post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)  (The Associated Press). PTSD is a serious disorder that many veterans develop. It ruins their lives making them feel constantly unsettled and causes hallucinations and paranoia. Marijuana provides an all natural way to treat the PTSD so the veterans can live a normal life.  Some United States citizens would say that marijuana provides little to no help against any diseases, and is only an illegal street drug with no medical benefits. In reality, studies show that using cannabis while having multiple diseases including cancer, epilepsy, alzheimer's, and many more actually help control the disease and even cure it. To sum it all up, the United States government should legalize marijuana so that people could utilize the medical benefits.

Lastly, Marijuana can be used to treat diseases much better than prescription drugs. Prescription drugs come with many side effects including  liver spots, severe headaches, and bleeding gums, while marijuana produces none of these (Mohrmann). Marijuana can be used as a much better treatment than traditional prescription, and many people don’t suffer the side effects which arguably makes the disease you are dealing with worse.  Also, Citizens in Florida are trying to get the government to legalize a strain, a special type of marijuana that has no hallucinogenic effects but can be used to reduce or eliminate child seizures (Mohrmann). This drug is perfect for children because their is all the medical benefits but none of the hallucinogenic effect.  This strain of Marijuana would be exactly what could help children's lives instead of them having to take the prescription drugs. Additionally, medical marijuana can be a safe and effective compared to prescription drugs to treat the symptoms of AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, pain, epilepsy, and glaucoma (Mohrmann). Since marijuana can be used to treat a multitude of diseases so it can be more widely prescribed and used than the prescription drugs because it can treat patients better. Some people would argue that marijuana is a lot more dangerous than any prescription drugs. But really, the CDC has no reports of any marijuana caused deaths, but every 19 minutes someone dies of a prescription overdose (Mohrmann). Since it is almost impossible to overdose on Marijuana, it immediately makes it much safer than any prescription drug. So, Marijuana is much better than any prescription drugs to treat many types of diseases.
In conclusion, Marijuana should be legalized across the United States. It can bring in millions of tax dollars to the government, as well as treating and even curing many diseases. Since marijuana sales can bring in lots of tax dollars, the local property taxes will be lowered. Furthermore, one of the major diseases that Cannabis treats is Cancer. On average, about 25% of all people will die from some sort of cancer. So for something that can treat it being illegal, is just tragic. Marijuana should be made legal across the United States so everyone has the option to use it.