Visualizing The Price of Pot

Inforporn: The Price of Pot by Cameron Bird at Wired (September 2011).

Click here for the full graphic and article.


Read Think b4 u Write is always attracted to articles and essays with pretty pictures, and while this graphic is nice looking it accompanies an article about the disparities of marijuana laws in the United States.

The graphic displays fluctuations in pricing: the darker the green the cheaper the marijuana ($92 per ounce), while yellow tips the scale at $526 per ounce. The red and purple bars record fines and jail time, and the red cross indicates a medical marijuana state.

In part the article reads, "The US is still of two minds on marijuana: While 16 states now consider it a medicine, others continue to hand down heavy sentences—including jail time—for simple possession."

Do you think this is an effective graphic? Why or why not? Where do you stand on this issue? Should marijuana be legalized? Or should it be illegal? Or is there some compromise? What are your ideas?

Comments

  1. I think weed should be legalized because if you allow people to smoke it, buy it, and sale it, it will make the would eazier but if you keep it as illegal, it will get start more problems and crime.

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  2. The issue of legalization of Pot has become more and more prevalent in today's society and will only continue to be a more virulent in they years to come. After being researched for decades it has been shown to have many medicinal uses, and is in fact a lot less harmful then things like alcohol and tobacco. Another issue that many people fail to see is how prohibition of marijuana has only created a large black market for cartels and gangs to profit and run their operations with weed money. The "war on drugs" is an unwinnable war that tax payers dollars continue to fund.

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  3. I don't think marijuana is an effective graphic, because it's that bad of a drug compared other drugs such as cocain,Heroin,and Extacy so in my oppinon Its not that bad,I Also believe that marijuana can be helpful for those that has eating disorders or cancer.I 100 percently stand by it because it helps people that's sick.Yes,I think it should be legal and I Think the Gov should legalized it because it's a helpful drug for the world.

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  4. I think pot should be legalized so that there isn't anymore controversy about it. A lot of kids complain that pot should be legalized, but not for medical reasons. I think kids like to smoke because it's fun. If the government legalized it, i think there wouldn't be as much crime as there is today. If the government doesn't legalize it soon, i think crime rates will go up. That's just my opinion though.

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  5. I see no reason really for pot to be illegal. It has medicinal purposes both physically and mentally, causing no harm to the body. If it was legal, it can be used for many different things which would be helpful to the economy. America has been too controlling for too long.

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  6. i think we should make the marijuana be legalized. if you don't let people have it, they will find the way to get it anyway and they might start doing problem and crime. In a lot of states they use it as a medical purpose.

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  7. The graphic could be better by showing this for all states but besides that it is good. I feel that weed should be legal. Its crazy that you can go to jail or pay large fines for something that is better for you than ciggarettes. It actually helps your body. The only reason why its illegal is because the feds arent getting money from it. If it was taxed i bet they wouldnt even think twice to legalize it.

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  8. I think that this model is effective. It's extremely interesting to see how different states view this "medicine". I hate calling marijuana a drug because in my opinion, there are so many more benefits than there are consequences. An example would be studies have shown that weed has been able to stop the spreading of cancer cells (more specifically, breast cancer). Why wouldn't the government legalize something that could save millions of peoples' lives? Not to mention we would be able to start paying back the ridiculous amount of debt we owe (2009 marijuana sales in California: 14 billion).

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  9. i like how this graphic helps the readers visualize the marijuana issue in the united states. both sides of the argument could go back and forth for years as to whether we should legalize pot or not. i do not really have that strong a view on legalization, mainly because i have only seen bad things come from heavy consumption. i personally have never touched the stuff nor will i ever, but i have seen many high school friends waste their potential. one particular person was on the vasrity basketball team at my high school and in his last two years there became a huge pot smoker. he went from having dozens of scouts on his trail trying to get him to attend their school to playing basketball for a local community college. all this being said, i just think that we should discourage the younger generation from smoking pot more by increasing the severity of the punishments if the person is under the age of 18.

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  10. I think that this model is very effective in showing the legal aspects of marijuana. In my opinion marijuana should be legalized in order to stop crime, help the ill, and restore our damaged economy. I believe the marijuana industry is the future for the restoration of our economy. Why wouldn't the government legalize "medicine"? and not to mention that they will be making a HUGE profit off taxing marijuana, it is estimated that if marijuana is charged like cigarettes ($5 a pack) then total spending on marijuana may add up to $45 billion a year at the least. (http://www.businessweek.com). I believe there is profit to be made off this soon to be legal plant.

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  11. This is an effective graphic image of marijuana distributions with respect to some laws.
    I personally stand with the use and advertisement of marijuana, simply because people will use marijuana no matter what the cost, even if the law is on them. The truth is, marijuana is bad business for many companies and medical companies. Why, because the companies want the money to be spent on their products not marijuana, which is illegally sold and legally sold too of course. It's all about business when it comes to spending on things. There is one thing that most marijuana users don't know, simply put, you have heard people say I can quit smoking weed whenever I want I'm just not in the mood to quit right now. These people say they are not addicted, but the truth is, they are. Why, because the marijuana that is sold on the streets have been combined with additives that actually do make it addictive, it is hard to find pure natural marijuana, which is not addictive. Of course it should be legalized and taxed, so it can generate revenue for the U.S. economy. There is a city in the southern states, where the mayor is okay with the use of marijuana, but if you go to new york, many blacks get stop by cops, whether they have marijuana or not and get arrested. It's all about business, so make it legal and just start selling.

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  12. Lets be honest, there is no downside of Marijuana. Once it is legal, hemp products will be produced nationwide. Hemp can make anything from clothes to paper. Marijuana is also indefinitely a medicine, scope the video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPm0Jq9bj98 . Not a single person in history has ever died from smoking a little Ganja, although more than 13 people die a year from falling vending machines, so we should probably outlaw public dispensaries of food aswell. Although Marijuana isn't technically legal in California, it is abundant everywhere. The amount of money that it could produced if taxed could bring in anywhere from 45 billion to 110 billion dollars annualy to the United States Government. So remind me why it's illegal?

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  13. I think this graph is effective. It displays everything pretty clearly. The graph gave me some information that I did not know before. It is interesting that those that live in California are probably the one's that make the most commotion about legalizing marijuana, since this state gets off pretty easy compared to others. Delaware caught my attention since I have a friend that attends the university there, and I will be applying there. The ticket for getting caught with marijuana is more than ten times the price of the ticket in California. If one li8ves in Cali8fornia this does not make our laws regarding the drug very bad. Marijuana is definitely a drug. It is well known that the drug has increased in its strength over the years. The problem is that many people do not use marijuana like alcohol in a bad way. Many people smoke marijuana during their lunch breaks or before they go to school. At least with alcohol it is very rare to find a person drinking before school or during lunch. This marijuana problem took place at my high school.

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  14. I see no reason for marijuana to be illegal, because it gets many people through their problems. Marijuana is a good anti-depressant and hunger stimulator, and that alone should be a good enough reason for it to be legalized. Let's be honest, everyone loves to smoke weed. At least the majority does. But at the same time, it would mean that there would be a bigger percentage of poverty. Drug dealers wouldn't have as big of an opportunity to gain money when the highest illegal drug in demand is legalized.

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  15. The graph shows us that Marijuana can bring in more money for the government if it were to be taxed. In my opinion, Marijuana should be legalized. As mentioned before, it pretty much only does good for the people. It helps the sick, it relaxes people, and it can boost up the economy. No deaths have been recorded by the cause of Marijuana. So why keep causing problems by not allowing it? Legalize Marijuana.

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  16. I think this picture does justice in showing how much marijuana has grown, is around, and will continue to be around even though it is illegal.Most people want marijuana to be legal just to smoke it, not giving the marijuana plant credit for everything it is great for. If marijuana was legalized it would not only be a way for the government to make quite a bit of money but it would be a way we can make paper and other products. What i dont understand is how alcohol is legal and why marijuana is not. The government has some reason behind why they dont want marijuana to be legalized. Marijuana helps cancer patients, mental disorders, eating disorders, etc. Marijuana has never killed anyone versus alchohol kills people on a daily basis. Either way marijuana will be around whether it is legalized or not, its just wrong that the government has set it up to where marijjuana is legal on the state level, but not the federal. If marijuana dispensaries or growers dont go along with the governments demands the government will come and take all their marijuana from them, raid there marijuana dispensaries, even put you out of business. Its just a plant that has never killed a single person, if someone were to overdose on marijuana they would just be extremely happy, maybe a little slow, eat a lot of food and fall asleep. Now does that really sound so bad, what is everyone fussing about so much??

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  17. Marijuana is a drug, after all. To me, it is as bad as other more harmful drugs. I stand for it to be illegal everywhere. If someone really needed it as medical use, they could just grab a prescription from the doctor. Everyone agrees there's no "down side" for marijuana, but we can't just look at this alone. Think about the younger generations. Once they start smoking pot, they'll want to try other smoking material, and eventually lead to other drug abuse. If it were for economic purposes, I'm sure there are other sources of income. Let's not go to the last resort, aka marijuana, when we still have other ways out.

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  18. I believe that this graphic is beneficial. It shows how different states charge and the punishments for marijuana. I think that marijuana should be legal. Marijuana has many benefits and can help with many medical problems. Marijuana being legal is a great opportunity for the states to make money off of it. We all know that the states would tax the hell out of it. There of course should be some compromise here. It would have to be regulated and many rules that everybody would have to follow.

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  19. There’s a steady progression towards viewing marijuana as medicinal in the US with 16 states now being in favor and 3 states completely legal. Fun fact, Marijuana originally had an H instead of a J but the states changed it to sound more Mexican and start drug propaganda. North of where we live is one of the most verdant areas for growing pot called the Emerald Triangle which includes Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity. California spent $1.3 billion on weed this year. If we legalized it, think of the tax revenue that could be brought in. The upper Midwest has some of the highest prices for pot which correlates with the penalties of up to a year for its possession for something that has fewer fatalities than tobacco and alcohol. Luckily I think overall even though it’s state by state, we are moving towards a more open mind for something very harmless.

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  20. I think this graph is very effective because it educates the reader on each state's policy on marijuana. I learned a lot about California's policy but what struck me was Delaware's. I think their law is a little to extreme. I personally believe that marijuana should be legalized because if the federal government put a very high and strict tax on it the economy would grow tremendously. Another reason why it should be legalized is that it would help with overpopulation in prisons. A lot of people in prison are there for the sale and possession of marijuana and if it is legal it would make more room for criminals who need to be there.

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  21. When it comes to the graph pictured above I think it is an effective way to show you the average price of marijuana from state to state. What is confusing about graph is you do not know if that is the price for legal marijuana prices or illegal prices. On the issue of marijuana I stand on the side where it should be illegal period. A lot of our tax money is going into the war against drugs. It is so easy to get legal marijuana all you need is a medical card to get it. If you walk down the street at Santa Monica there are tons of places where you can get that medical card. It’s a joke if you ask me. But looking at the way things are turning out it looks like at least in California that Marijuana will be legal. What should happen is that they should make marijuana like a DUI. If you are under the influence while you are high you should be penalized.

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  22. The graphic is helpful and effectively displays the price ranges for the cost of an ounce of marijuana throughout the United States. Not only do the variation of colors approximately identify the price of the drug in any given state, but it also allows viewers to easily approximate the prices without having to be overwhelmed with an abundance of numbers. I believe marijuana should remain illegal for recreational use in all states. However, I do condone the use of medical marijuana for patients only. The drug is highly taxed, contributing to funding for schools and other national purposes. Despite the heavy prices for patients, the demand for the drug remains high. If marijuana was legalized for recreational use, the price on the drug would increase dramatically, possibly disallowing initial patients to afford medication.

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  23. I believe that the use of marijuana is a choice. We choose to smoke or consume marijuana. So like every other food or drink, it should be legal for us to buy marijuana. it confuses me how smoking itself is harmful for the body yet we can buy cigarettes and tobacco products at a gas station, but we aren't allowed to smoke weed without a penalty. There are cases where medical marijuana helps patients through medical problems more than laboratory made medicines designed for the patient. Why is it that we can smoke a harmful cigarette but we can't smoke a joint of marijuana without a fine or jail time. Marijuana should be legalized.

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  24. Legalizing marijuana is still a touchy and controversial subject for the public. I am not sure if marijuana should be legalized or not, but marijuana does have more benefits than detriments. I personally believe that marijuana could be the cure for peace in the world. From my knowledge, marijuana has not caused a single death. On the contrary, drugs like alcohol, heroin, meth, etc, have all reported that users have overdose. It is proven that marijuana is used as a medicine, to help kill certain cancer cells, used for glaucoma, helps for epileptic seizures, and etc. However, legalizing marijuana has several effects in society. If marijuana was legalized, the government would profit much because of all the taxes that would be place on the product. In my personally opinion, I think that it will be less crimes because everyone would have access to it. Lastly, it would prevent several of people from going to jain on low level drug possession. In some states, being caught with marijuana is just as bad as killing someone. In addition, it has been proven that blacks have been jailed more than whites on low level drug possession. Legalizing may prevent the large amount of jail incarcerations, thus resulting in less families being broken up over a small drug charge.

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