According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), marijuana in the United States “is the most commonly use illicit drug” with 17.4 million past-month users in 2010. And in 2012 it was reported by the NIDA that 78.6 percent of illicit users use marijuana, with 60.1 percent of users stating marijuana was the only drug that they used.1
Although marijuana has a strong presence in many cultures in America, particularly adolescence, and young adults, efforts to prevent users has been strongly enforced since the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, as well as President Nixon’s declaration of the “War on Drugs” in 1971, which is federal policies, and military efforts to prevent the use of illicit drugs within the United States.
As of 2013, only two states in the nation have legalized cannabis, Washington state, and Colorado, while many states which include California, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island all have enacted both medical and decimalization laws with in the last 15 years.
In addition, numerous states that have either decriminalized marijuana possession laws, or have enacted medical cannabis laws, almost half of the states in the United States have no such laws or regulations, making users susceptible to severe fines, and possible jail time.
In 2009, Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy clarified that the federal government will uphold their position of marijuana as being “dangerous and has no medical benefit.” 2 Additionally in 2012, the Obama administration stated that it “steadfastly opposed legalization of marijuana and other drugs because legalization would increase the availability and use of the illicit drug, and pose significant health and safety risks.”3
According to the FBI, there have been nearly eight million cannabis arrests in the United States since 1993, and the majority of these arrests are possession – which does not include manufacturing or distributing marijuana.4 In 2008 alone, there were 847,864 persons arrested for marijuana possession, and of that number only 752,224 were charged with possession only. Marijuana accounts for nearly half of all drug arrests in the United States.4
In recent years, many prominent politicians have come out in favor of the legalization of marijuana or the reduction of penalties faced with possession of cannabis. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (R) is for some sort of federal legalization of the drug. In an April 2012 interview for rawstory.com, he stated, “When we legalize marijuana, we’re going to take steps toward drug reform, which will start off with looking at drugs as a public health issue, rather than a legal issue.”5
In addition to legalizing marijuana usage based on recreational purposes, many political figures state that legalizing cannabis would lead to a reduction of cartel violence in Mexico and Central America. US officials state that 60 percent of Mexican cartel revenues come from marijuana that is sold in the United States, so with current legalization and future initiatives for the legalization, it is possible that the current drug cartel violence within Mexico can decrease, as there will be a greater legal availability of American grown marijuana.