opinion

Legalize marijuana in Tennessee

Since former President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1971, the most powerful nation in the world has not been able to defeat the lowly cannabis plant. Our country has spent an estimated $1 trillion of our tax dollars to fight this war. Slowly, states like Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington as well as 70 percent of voters in Washington D.C. have realized this futility and have legalized recreational marijuana use. The 109th Tennessee General Assembly should do the same.

Even with our state government wasting millions of taxpayer dollars each year on the Governor's marijuana eradication program, marijuana continues to be one of Tennessee's most lucrative cash crops. As long as there is an active black market, people are going to outsmart law enforcement by finding ways to grow and import marijuana for profit. If we want to curb the black market, the only way to accomplish this is through legalization and regulation, as our country learned during its failed experiment with Prohibition in the 1920s.

Despite high taxes and tight regulations that have kept the black market alive, Colorado collected approximately $40 million last year in marijuana taxes while saving another $40 million from not prosecuting and incarcerating marijuana users. Colorado has successfully established a marijuana market that gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to start a business, which in turn has created jobs and put people to work. Tennessee could do the same, putting millions in additional revenue to good use while creating a new market for economic growth.

Instead, in Tennessee we spend millions in taxpayer dollars by prosecuting, convicting and imprisoning those who have been convicted of marijuana and other low-level drug offenses. Residents of the aforementioned states minus Washington, D.C. can buy, sell, and use marijuana products without fear of being prosecuted. In Tennessee, the same use could lead to a conviction that would follow someone for the rest of his or her life.

Over the last few years, Tennessee has been consistently in the top five most violent states, in part because we simply do not have the resources to keep violent offenders locked up and out of our communities. What is more important: keeping violent criminals out of our communities or nonviolent marijuana offenders? Additionally, we continue to empower, Mexican drug cartels and local gangs, by giving them a strong black market within our State to fund their operations.

Forget the dollars for a minute. If we claim to care for the lives of our children, why not follow more than 25 states and legalize medical marijuana? Instead, our laws force Tennessee parents to take refuge in states like Colorado in order to obtain marijuana medications for children suffering from ailments like epileptic seizures.

And for those who might claim legalization would lead to a bunch of dropouts and do-nothings, consider this: Colorado is currently the state our beloved Peyton Manning calls home. Colorado's higher education system continues to be one of the best in the nation, and their population has the second-highest percentage of bachelor's degrees in the country. If Colorado's legalization is okay for Peyton Manning shouldn't it be okay for Tennessee?

There is an economic, social and moral case for the legalization of marijuana in our state. Only time will tell if common sense will prevail this legislative session, but the trends are already obvious: marijuana will almost certainly be legal across this country in the future. The state of Tennessee should wave the white flag on the war against marijuana now and put the tax dollars spent on trying to defeat the cannabis plant to better use.

Frederick H. Agee of Nashville is an attorney and veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.