FREE ESSAY ON LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Legalize Marijuana
The question of marijuana being legalized has been a very controversial issue for a long
time. It's been controversial because of the bad track record it has sustained over the
years. Marijuana is considered to be a schedule one drug. That means that it has a high
potential for abuse and lacks an acceptance for legal medical use, as it is clearly
stated under the controlled substance act. It is estimated that 200,000,000 people have
consumed the drug worldwide for pleasure, escape from reality, and relaxation. The main
active principle of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and is what give the "high"
that is obtained from smoking or oral consumption of the drug. Marijuana is not a
narcotic and is not mentally or physically an addicting drug. One can use mild cannabis
preparations for years without physical or mental deterioration. When one weights the
pros and cons of re-legalizing marijuana, the logical result is to abolish the senseless
ban on pot because it has been proven to be less harmful than other legal drugs, it would
decrease violence and crime, boost our economy, and be used as an effective form of
medicine for the treatment of many fatal illnesses. 
Every year, 400,000 Americans die of complications caused by tobacco products. Smoking
kills more Americans each year than alcohol, crack, heroin, murder, suicide, car
accidents, fires, and AIDS all put together. Alcohol abuse contributes to almost 50% of
all traffic accidents, suicides, and homicides. Drinking also is known to cause liver
damage and liver cancer, which is in many cases fatal. The bottom line is that tobacco 
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and alcohol are very high-risk drugs, much higher than marijuana. However, despite the
proven dangers of these "socially acceptable" drugs, they are still legal. Research has
yet to pin any specific dangers to marijuana and it still remains illegal while the
dangerous drugs with proven effects remain legal. The bottom line is that tobacco and
alcohol are very high-risk drugs, much higher than marijuana.
Alcohol prohibition tore America apart once and now it is the war on drugs, particularly
marijuana. Harsh laws and the threat of lengthy jail sentences still do not stop the
distribution and drug use of marijuana. All they do is drive the price of the product up
and give dealers a reason to sell, making it an impossible war to win. Just as
Prohibition created organized crime, today's drug laws keep organized crime thriving and
all the violence and corruption that goes along with it. Before drugs were illegal,
Americans handled them with few problems. Let us respect people's right to control their
own bodies. Decriminalize marijuana, help those who need it, and let the police spend
their time protecting us from real crime. Making drugs illegal drives up their prices, so
addicts steal to support their habit. People rarely steal to buy alcohol or cigarettes,
although these substances are addictive too. Decriminalizing marijuana will end the
stealing and make our streets safer. 
Marijuana smoking is extremely common and for millions of mainstream, middle-class
Americans is the recreation drug of choice. Our ex-president, professional athletes,
movie stars, and many other successful Americans were or are avid pot smokers. A national
survey conducted by United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates
that at some point in their life, 70 million people have tried marijuana. 
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They also say that 18 million people have smoked in the past year, and that 10 million
people are current smokers. These numbers are extremely large considering that marijuana
is illegal. Wouldn't it make sense for the government to take over the cultivation and
distribution of marijuana? If they played it right, they could make billions of dollars
from this one plant. Think about this, the number one legal cash crop in 1990 was corn
and it brought in 16 billion dollars to the U.S. Marijuana, that same year, had an
estimated value of over 24 billion. That's 24 billion in revenue of illegal money that
the U.S. Government could be using to pay of debts or put toward education, but they wont
see any of it. Instead they spend billions of dollars trying to keep it out of the U.S.
Wouldn't it make sense for the government to keep track of marijuana and sell licenses to
farmers to grow it? Another way our government could benefit is by putting a steep tax on
it, much like the tobacco industry. Could you imagine what a cash crop with the demand
and industry of marijuana could do for our economy? Marijuana is going to generate large
amounts of money, whether legal or illegal. What is going to be the difference is who is
going to profit the U.S. economy or drug dealers. 
Not only would the harvest of marijuana produce a massive industry from the smoking
aspect, but also industrial hemp can be manufactured into 25,000 different products.
Often described as marijuana's misunderstood cousin, industrial hemp is from the same
plant species (Cannabis sativa) that produces marijuana. Unlike marijuana, however,
industrial hemp has only minute amounts of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the
psychoactive ingredient that gives marijuana its euphoric and medicinal properties. An
indispensable raw material throughout our nation's history (In 1640, the 
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Governor of Connecticut declared that, Every citizen must grow the plant.), industrial
hemp is acknowledged as one of nature's strongest and most versatile agricultural crops.
Various parts of the plant can be utilized in the making of textiles, paper, paints,
clothing, plastics, cosmetics, foodstuffs, insulation, and animal feed. In France, where
approximately 10,000 tons of industrial hemp is harvested annually, companies even use
coated hemp hurds to restore and build houses. Besides its spectrum of commercial uses,
hemp offers other advantages as well. It produces a much higher yield per acre than do
common substitutes such as cotton and requires virtually no pesticides. In addition, hemp
has an average growing cycle of only 100 days and leaves the soil virtually weed-free for
the next planting. Currently, hemp is grown legally throughout much of Europe and Asia
and is being cultivated successfully in test plots in both Australia and Canada. Domestic
sales of imported hemp products raked in an estimated $25 million dollars in sales in
1994 alone and the American Farm Bureau Federation recently called hemp one of the most
promising crops in half a century." Fashion giants Adidas, Ralph Loren, and Calvin Klein
recently added hemp goods to their clothing lines and Klein also has predicted that hemp
would become the fiber of choice for the home furnishing industry. 
The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is an extremely controversial subject. There
are many supporters, as well as many that are in opposition to the use of marijuana in
any situation. California was the pioneer state for medical marijuana; they passed
Proposition 215 that allows the use of marijuana to be used for medical purposes under a
doctor's supervision. Since then, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have
all passed laws of their own making the possession and use, cultivation, 
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and distribution of marijuana legal if prescribed by a physician. The intoxication, or
"high" acquired due to the smoking of marijuana, has two phases. These phases are initial
stimulation followed by pleasant tranquillity. The initial stimulation includes giddiness
and euphoria, then sedation and relaxation. Another result of marijuana is an increase in
appetite known commonly as "the munchies." These side effects prove to be very effective
for treatment of many common illnesses. Cannabis is thought to be effective in a wide
range of conditions, including appetite enhancement for the wasting syndrome of AIDS,
control of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, relief of spastically
and pain associated with MS (multiple sclerosis), a decrease in intramuscular pressure in
glaucoma, and control of migraine headaches and epileptic seizures. The list goes on and
on for the medical uses of marijuana and for the medicine world not to use this plant's
wide range of benefits would be foolish and unfair to the sick. 
I, too, want to live in a society where people are healthy and productive, not destroying
their lives with drugs. Marijuana is clinically determined to be not adictive and has
many positive uses. I believe that the legalization of marijuana would not only benefit
our economy and our sick, but our future generations with a decrease in violence and use
of drugs. Let's legalize marijuana so we can stop the violence and add a much-needed
boost to our economy and medical technology.