Burning More Green for Prohibition
The war on drugs in the United States has been going on since President Reagan was in office. Marijuana seems to be the warʼs main focus. Marijuana or cannabis is less harmful and more useful than alcohol and tobacco combined, yet the government spends over 10 billion dollars a year on prohibition. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man (US Department of Justice).
The legalization of marijuana would save the government billions of dollars, and can be used in many other ways besides as a recreational drug.
Cannabis/hemp was our planetʼs largest agricultural crop and an important
industry of products and enterprises up until 1883 AD (Wallach).
Hemp has many environmental, industrial, and medical uses. It can be used to make food, fuel, clothing, cosmetics, paints, paper, building materials, and more. Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great strength and durability and is used to make over 5,000 textile products (Wallach).
Paper made from hemp is stronger, finer, and longer-lasting than wood-based paper. Using hemp instead of other harmful materials could save millions of dollars.
Hemp has been used as medicine for ages. In India, the use of hemp extracts as
a remedy was described before 1000 B.C. (Mikuriya 34).
In 1839, the therapeutic use of cannabis was introduced to Western medicine. Cannabis was described to have medicinal properties such as analgesia, anticonvulsant action, appetite stimulation, ataraxia, antibiotic properties and low toxicity. It has been used for the management of
The Essay on Hemp Seed Marijuana Oil Percent
According to archeologists, the cannabis plant was among the first crops purposely cultivated by human beings at least 6, 000 years ago and perhaps even more than 12, 000 years ago. It is considered by many to be one of the most resourceful crops on earth. It can be used for industrial, medical, and recreational purposes. Rather than waging war on marijuana users, this resourceful crop should be ...
pain, chronic neurologic diseases, convulsive disorders, migraine headache, anorexia, mental illness, and bacterial infections (Mikuriya 35).
With many important medicinal uses, we should take advantage of this remarkable plant.
What are the harmful effects of marijuana? Many people believe different things,
because the government has done biased research. However, most of these harmful effects are myths such as, marijuana kills brain cells. In 1974, a study by Dr. Heath of Tulane University was put into action to study this myth. In this study, monkeys were pumped full of marijuana equal to 30 joints a day. The monkeys began to die after approximately 90 days (The Union).
Brain damage was determined after counting and comparing the number of dead brain cells in the monkeys subjected to the marijuana and those that had not. The cannabis smoking monkeys had enormous amounts of dead brain cells in comparison to the control group. However, what was not mentioned in the study was that Dr. Heath pumped 63 columbian strength joints through a gas mask without additional oxygen. He suffocated the tested monkeys then correlated the dead brain cells to smoking marijuana. “With the concentration of smoke used, the monkeys were a bit like a person running the engine of a car in a locked garage for 15 minutes at a time every day” (Herer).
The government has continued to fund biased research they believe justifies the prohibition.
Another much disputed effect from marijuana smoke is that it causes lung
cancer, like tobacco. There has been no proven cases of cannabis causing lung cancer. Cannabis smoke does cause irritation to the large airways of the lungs, but the symptoms dissipate when smoking is discontinued. Tobacco smoke causes long term and permanent damage. There are about 400 chemical compounds in cannabis smoke.
Sixty of these are known to have therapeutic value (Herer).
There are over 430 thousand deaths a year caused by tobacco diseases, but there are zero recorded deaths attributed to marijuana (The Union).
The Term Paper on Marijuana Hard Drug
Americans have been trying to legalize marijuana for years. It seems that all of their opinions divide into three basic groups. Many think that it is not worth legalizing marijuana, many seem to think it should be legalized, and a group of people say it should only be legalized for medicinal purposes. In the following paragraphs I will try to show you reason for all three opinions. My hopes of ...
To ingest enough marijuana to suffer an overdose, one human being must smoke around 15 thousand joints in 20 minutes (The Union).
This raises the question; why is the government subsidizing tobacco but spending billions of dollars on the prohibition of marijuana?
More kids are in addiction clinics for marijuana than any other substance (The
Union).
This leads society to believe that marijuana is an addictive substance. Most of the kids in the clinics were caught using marijuana and given the option of treatment or jail. Almost all of them choose treatment for a perceived non-addiction instead of spending time in prison. Two researchers were asked to rate drugs in the order of addiction with Nicotine coming in first, then alcohol, heroine, cocaine, caffeine, and marijuana coming in last (The Union).
The user of marijuana, when deprived of the drug, will not experience the agonies of withdrawal (Subject Narcotic).
Another argument is marijuana is a gateway drug. Marijuana has no inherent
psychological pharmaceutical properties that pushes the user towards another drug. Only one in every 104 marijuana users will move on to cocaine (The Union).
Legalizing marijuana could considerably reduce the possibility of moving on to harder drugs. Regulation of the drug could keep it off the streets, and out of the hands of drug dealers who offer their buyers harder drugs. Additionally, it would help eliminate the possibility of marijuana being laced with cocaine, acid, or meth. Americaʼs largest illegal cash crop is grown exclusive by unregulated criminals, often in environmentally damaging
locations such as national parks and wilderness areas. Such problems are unknown with legal, regulated crops such as tobacco (MPP).
The prohibition is costing the government nearly $7.7 billion annually on law
(Miron).
This is a small number compared to the amount of money marijuana brings into the black market. Marijuana costs more than gold, at about $200 an ounce (The Union).
The prohibition of marijuana costs taxpayers $41.8 billion annually (Hardy).
In British Columbia, Canada, the illegal business of marijuana employs anywhere from 90 to 150 thousand people (The Union).
The Term Paper on Marijuana Prohibition Is A Violation Of First Amendment Rights
... million other adults who used marijuana last year can make is the martini ("Against Drug Prohibition" ix). The legal acceptance ... Prohibition"). Drug smugglers tend to carry and sell hard drugs in extremely potent form (i. e. cocaine) for the same reason. The federal government ... Journal of Medicine, August 1997). American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Northern California co-counsel Ann ...
Is the prohibition worth this much money, and is it working?
In 1920 there was a national prohibition of alcohol. The plan was to reduce crime
and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. The results were the complete opposite. During the prohibition, alcohol consumption went up, organized crime increased, court and prison systems were stretched to breaking point, and corruption of public officials was rampant (Thornton).
If the alcohol prohibition was such a failure, the government shouldʼve known the prohibition of marijuana would not bring different results.
Marijuana production has been considered a gift of revenue to organized crime
and tax payer burden.
There have been almost 9.5 million arrests in the United States since 1995, Including 872,720 arrests in 2007, which is more than all violent crimes combined. One person is arrested for marijuana every 36 seconds. About
89%
of all marijuana arrests are for possession, not manufacturing or distribution (MPP).
The growers and drug dealers are making anywhere from 150 to 300 thousand dollars a year (The Union).
Neither of them wish to see marijuana legalized. Without the prohibition, thousands of people will lose their jobs including, dealers, growers, clippers, and many more. The prohibition is fueling the black market. Dealers want to see the penalties become stiffer because they will profit more. This makes it harder to regulate areas of concern, like keeping marijuana out of the hands of minors. Dealers donʼt care how old the buyer is, theyʼll sell to six year olds as long as theyʼre making money. Every year about 85% of high school students consider marijuana “very easy” to obtain (MPP).
Shouldnʼt this be the governmentʼs main concern? Vigorous enforcement of the marijuana laws forces the toughest, most dangerous criminals to take over marijuana trafficking, linking marijuana sales to violence, predatory crime, and terrorism (MPP).
The Essay on Marijuana Prohibition Drugs Used To Treat
Current laws enforcing marijuana prohibition further overcrowd jails and divert scarce public safety resources away from issues and problems that really need attention. Nicotine presents a high degree of toxicity and was first used as an insecticide in the 18 th century. Whereas excessive alcohol consumption can be lethal, marijuana is medically nontoxic and not lethal to humans. As with any legal ...
More than 41,000 Americans are in state or federal prison on marijuana charges,
not including those in county jails. Thatʼs more than the number imprisoned on all charges combined in eight individual European Union countries (MPP).
The U.S. nonviolent prisoner population is larger than the combined populations of Wyoming and Alaska (Irwin).
Legalization would reduce the amount the government spends in prisons. Federal spending to incarcerate drug offenders totals around $3 billion a year (ONDCP).
Most of the arrests made for marijuana are for possession and distribution. Few of these arrests are for violent crimes. A person must serve a five-year mandatory minimum sentence if federally convicted for the cultivation of 100 marijuana plants. This is longer than the average sentences for auto theft and manslaughter (MPP).
The government needs to take advantage of the cannabis plant, instead of
spending ten billion dollars a year on prohibition. Legalization would save a lot more than money. Using hemp for paper instead of trees is only one of many things that would help our environment. The US economy is down, and legalizing marijuana could be part of the solution. Studies show that marijuana is virtually harmless and it has many medicinal uses. Keeping the prohibition is making marijuana dangerous because it is put into the hands of criminals. Legalization would also open up many jobs. Considering the income cannabis plants could bring the government, it seems only logical that ending the prohibition would be a solution.
Work Cited Rosenthal, Ed, and Steve Kubby. Why Marijuana Should be Legal. New
York, NY: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003. 1-179. Print. Office of National Drug Control Policy, “National Drug Control Strategy: FY 2003 Budget
Summary” (Washington, DC: Office of the President, February 2002), Table 3,
pp. 7-9. Thorton, Mark. “Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure.” CATO institute 157
(1991): n. pag. Web. 31 Mar 2010. Hardy, Quentin. “Cost of Marijuana Prohibition: $42 Billion Per Year.”
Green Change (2007): n. pag. Web. 31 Mar 2010. “Marijuana Prohibition Facts.” Marijuana Policy Project (2009): n. pag.
The Review on Marijuana Smoke Drug Alcohol Pot
War Against Marijuana A total of 3, 470, 545 Americans have been arrested for marijuana offenses. In 1997 state and local law enforcement arrested 695, 200 people for marijuana violations. That number is the highest ever recorded by the FBI. Of the 682, 885 arrests made in 1998, approximately 88% were for simple possession. The remaining 12% were for sale and manufacture. Every 52 seconds, a ...
Web. 31 Mar 2010. Sanders, Denis. Subject: Narcotics. Sanderʼs Production company, 1951. Herer, Jack. The Emperor Wears No Clothes. 11th. Van Nuys, CA. : Ah Ha
publishing, 1998. 1-291. Print. Mikuriya, Tod H. . “Marijuana in Medicine.” January 1969: 34-40. Print. US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, “In the Matter of Marijuana
Rescheduling Petition,” [Docket #86-22], (September 6, 1988), p. 57. Irwin John, Ph. D., Schiraldi Vincent, and Ziedenberg Jason, America’s One Million
Nonviolent Prisoners (Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, 1999), pg. 4. Wallach, Elicia. “The Power of Hemp.” (2007): n. pag. Web. 12 Apr 2010.
. The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. Director Brett Harvey,
Adam Scorgie. 8 June 2007
