Colorado, which has a smaller population than Wisconsin, created 23,407 jobs through the sale of cannabis. Forbes projects the marijuana industry will create more jobs than manufacturing by 2020. If that happened in Wisconsin and we made sure the jobs went to the poor who have been most harmed by the criminalization of the drug, we would save over $437 million dollars on welfare (according to Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, Wisconsin welfare costs $16,241 per year per person). This does not take into account incarceration costs or on the plus side, the income from sales tax. This year Colorado is expected to see over $1.3 billion in sales from the crop. Most importantly we have an opportunity to rejuvenate a marginalized community—the African American community. A community that was unjustly criminalized for selling it and suffered the most with its prohibition. We can bypass medical marijuana and fully legalize the cannabis plant by taxing and regulating cannabis like alcohol and reserving the growing jobs for black adults currently living in poverty. Our first step is to remove legislators who oppose legalizing cannabis from office.