Blog Stage 8


On May 3, 2019, my classmate Estevan Hernandez posted an editorial on the legalization of marijuana in the state of Texas. Estevan did a great job outlining the benefits of decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana by proposing that a move to a civil over criminal penalty would cut out all unnecessary arrests by the police department. Additionally, he discussed the benefits in other states such as Colorado who have decriminalized and legalized marijuana, making “over $266 million dollars”. These facts allow the reader to understand the benefits of legalization of marijuana rather than just for recreational use. 
I agree with Estevan that Texas should not be in a rush to approach legalization. Instead, take small steps so conservative Texans could get use to the idea of marijuana before legalizing.  Small steps such as decriminalizing the punishable crime by converting the criminal penalty to a civil penalty are a great solution as a start. Even though Texas is a conservative state, as they seeing the drop in crime rate associated with marijuana, I feel that people would understand more of the positive side of marijuana (such as medicinal) and not as a drug that causes crime and violence. Overall, he did a great job outlining benefits while addressing the reality of situation- Texas will be a difficult state to be on board with the legalization of Marijuana, so let’s take it slow.

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