Effect of Legalizing Marijuana on the Criminal Justice System - Scholarship Essay Example

The first is that the criminal justice system apportions a substantial part of its budget to the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of bhang dealers and users. In addition, it is also argued that decriminalizing the use and sale of marijuana would reduce the processing and enforcement tasks for criminal justice agencies that are associated with marijuana use. Thirdly, proponents for the decriminalization of marijuana contend that a direct correlation exists between the number of cases or arrests that the criminal justice system processes for marijuana sale and use and the funds used by criminal justice agencies (Brownstein, 2013). Finally, there is an argument that the elimination or reduction of events related to marijuana would portend a proportionate decline in the expenses for criminal justice agencies.

However, opponents of this argument claim that the increased use of marijuana will result from legalization (Pacula & Kilmer, 2013), which may result in additional crime and a subsequent increase in costs for non-criminal justice agencies like mental health facilities. In addition, it is also claimed that legalizing marijuana could result in lower worker productivity due to the depressant effects of marijuana. Finally, statistics show that a high proportion of those in adult correctional facilities have an ongoing marijuana habit and, therefore, legalizing marijuana would result in increased rates of crime (Hoobler & Hoobler, 2012).