Daphne Hall0:00 Today I want to talk about the legalization of marijuana in the United States.0:07 I think this is a very prevalent issue in society today because for years since the war on drugs, really, the illegality of marijuana has disproportionately affected minority communities.0:30 And criminalizing it, even though it's really not more harmful than alcohol or tobacco.0:36 A lot of people face arrests, fines, um, and even jail time for marijuana offenses.0:43 And really it's more about it's not even just about the personal freedom, it's also about um, you know, the policy around it.0:52 And a lot of the states that have legalized marijuana have actually seen an increase in tax revenue that they can then direct towards education, health care, um, local and state infrastructure.1:06 And to be honest, crime rates really haven't skyrocketed.1:09 Um, and so there's not really a reason to keep it illegal.1:13 Instead, we should just make it legal, why not?1:17 Um and public support continues to grow.1:20 Um, also when you legalize it, it gives the states the ability to regul regulate it better and keep it away from minors to ensure this quality control.1:31 Um, and it gives the police departments and law enforcement the opportunity to focus on more serious crimes like murder rather than just you know um marijuana marijuana usage, especially in the streets.1:45 Um so really it shouldn't be a question on whether it's legal or not.1:50 It should be legal.1:51 Um, but how soon can we create fair and regulated system um that is okay with marijuana usage?2:00 Yeah, so that's my food for thought.
Tristan Linscott0:00 All really great points, Daphne.0:02 And honestly, one point I don't think you touched on enough is that legalizing it honestly makes it a lot safer, especially just because people wouldn't have to be getting it in any way that's sneaky or tricky.0:17 It just kind of creates better access to safe things, probably actually reducing that type of crime rate.0:26 And on a different note, my favorite point you made is there probably is a lot of other things that police could be focusing on, like murder.0:38 Um but yeah, I agree with a lot of your points.0:42 It's just an even like to add to it, I think the safety around it.0:47 And I mean, you did kind of talk about regulations, like it probably would keep minors away from it more often if it was legal at a certain age.0:55 I just think setting those type of restrictions is probably better than restricting it completely, because people find ways around things.
Leeza Kurtz0:00 Yeah, I still think this is a super relevant and important topic, even amongst all the political turmoil these days, and you know, it hasn't been at the top of a lot of people's minds recently.0:11 But you know, I kind I kind of thought you brought up a good point of if we legalize it, then governments can regulate it better and even profit off of it, and that could contribute to state revenues and kind of like helping out the communities more.0:31 Um, for instance, Virginia that has state-run liquor stores, you know, something similar could be done with that regarding marijuana, and that could really help boost the economy of a lot of US states and help with a lot of um structural and infrastructural issues.0:52 But I do think that there is a large community that's really against it, mainly um a lot of Christians, and uh we know very well that the Christian community has a large political power, which is why a lot of politicians are scared to you know kind of go in the direction of legalizing marijuana because it could lose them a lot of support from especially elder, elderly Christians, um, you know, a lot of people in America would be against it.