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My unemployed ass sat around writing this paper today for my roommate's final writing paper.
It's an argumentative paper on the legalization of marijuana.
And for all you guy's that know my story... I go to court tomorrow for the marijuana possesion charge I got while moving that fuckin' tree... I'll let you all know how it goes.
I know this is long... if you bother to read it, let me know what you think of it. I haven't spell checked or proof-read so don't mind any errors there may be.
Marijuana has long been misrepresented and misclassified as a drug that is dangerous to a person's health and that offers no therapeutic value. There are many myths the government has brainwashed the people into believing are true of marijuana, when in actuality, the very reason marijuana was illegalized in the first place is unknown to most. Unfortunately, since it would be a crime to feel the effects of marijuana first hand, most of America's people are blinded by words of the government, and like the the government, they see marijuana as a narcotic comparable to cocaine or heroin. Therefore, the people that have not ever had the pleasure of smoking the sacred herb, follow the words of the government and ignorantly say 'ban it.' This is exactly what the government wants the people to do, and for good reason. However, your health or those around you isn't exactly the reason, as most would think. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the myths the government has portrayed of marijuana, and to expose their reasoning for doing so.
In the 1930's, the common belief that immigrants were inhumane and violent included a strong belief that marijuana was part of the cause. At the time, Mexican Immigrants were the primary users of the drug. Since it was associated with opiates, marijuana was quickly defined as a narcotic and by 1931 all but two states had passed anti-marijuana legislation. The final two did so by 1937, the same year the federal government created the Marijuana Tax Act (National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse) -for which no tax stamps were ever issued. Not once during this period of prohibitive legislation was any research conducted on marijuana and it's effects, nevertheless it was almost universally assumed that marijuana was a narcotic, caused psychological dependence, provoked violent crime, and led to insanity.
The government has used three main strategies to convince the American people to support marijuana's prohibition. The first of three strategies used to fight marijuana was silence. It was believed that if youth didn't hear about marijuana, they wouldn't become curious and experiment with it. Therefore, in the 1930's discussion about marijuana was forbidden in all public schools, and from 1934 to 1956 the Motion Picture Association of America banned all films showing the use of narcotics. The strategy did not work as well as hoped, so anti-marijuana groups adopted the next strategy: exaggeration.
The goal was to scare potential marijuana users. Even such respected periodicals as the American Journal of Medicine went along with this strategy, publishing such warnings as: "Marijuana users will suddenly turn with murderous violence upon whoever is nearest to them. They will run amuck with a knife, axe, gun, or anything else that is close at hand, and will kill or maim without reason." "Marijuana is the immediate and direct cause of the crime committed . . . the user is very often dangerous to handle or control, has no fear, feels no pain, and may commit crimes of violence. He may suddenly get the idea that his best friends or his own immediate family are about to take his life and proceed to kill them . . . in fact, no act is too fantastic or horrible to the user of marijuana."
The third tactic for marijuana use fluctuated with popular belief regarding its level of danger. If people believed the effects were particularly bad, the penalties were stiff, but during some decades public attitudes were more lenient, therefore penalties were reduced. Drug use declined, fear increased, and so did penalties throughout the 1950s. One of the first federal mandatory prison sentences was established at that time: 10 years minimum for marijuana possession, and a mandatory death sentence for selling marijuana to a minor. During the 1960s and 70s, penalties declined as use increased, with eleven states decriminalizing possession for personal use. Then, in the 1980s, drug use declined and penalties rose. The "three strike" program was established, under which a mandatory life sentence without parole must be given for third-time offenders. Judges no longer have the power to use their own discretion in sentencing, but are required to base their punishment on the "most serious readily provable charge" on the offender's third offense.
As one can easily see, once marijuana was blindly categorized along with that of an opiate or cocaine, the truth of the drug was hidden. Lawmakers and the American People in the 1930's saw an incredible rate of increase in crime, drugs, and illegal Mexican immigrants. Typically, these poor, low-class immigrants would smoke marijuana, cause havoc, and break different laws, such as stealing. So the lawmakers saw that if we could rid our soil of one (marijuana), the other would leave as well (the immigrants). However, that hasn't happened. Now the immigrants are importing the marijuana into the United States and are making the profit. What has happened is many American's that are family oriented, hard working businessmen have been persecuted and spent time in jail for a victimless crime. A 'crime' that surely won't cause a person to 'kill or maim' without reason. However, a drug that is legal, and much more deadly than marijuana can and will do so, has for decades, and will continue for many more... alcohol.
Here's a quick look at another drug, a legal one, that is marketable, highly taxable, and sold on every operating street corner of the United Sates, the terror to many; alcohol. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Studies, we now know that 4 in 10 violent victimizations involve the use of alcohol. Alcohol-related crimes in the United States account for 54 percent of murders and attempted murders, 68 percent of manslaughters, 52 percent of rape/sexual assaults, and 48 percent of robberies. Because their mothers drink during pregnancy, 40,000 babies are born each year with birth defects from alcohol abuse. In families with one alcoholic parent, the child is 34 percent more likely to be alcoholic than children of non-alcoholics. Social costs of alcohol addiction amount to $100 billion per year in lost productivity and related health costs. Alcoholism is one of the most preventable illnesses; yet 7 out of 10 adults drink alcohol. Of these, one out of seven is an alcoholic. 4 in 10 fatal car accidents are also alcohol-involved. Each year 300,000 violent crimes are reported in the U.S. each year at the hands of a drunk person. This figure does not include car accidents. Accoding to their study, 75% of domestic violent crimes against women are also commited by the hands of a drunk person. Only 5% reported abuse due to drugs, not just marijuana, but every drug. 11% was reported to be both drunk and on drugs. The remaining 9% of the abusers were sober. In 1996, 1,467,300 DUI arrests were made. That same year 17,126 fatalities occurred in car accidents, 40.9% of them, or 6850 people, were killed by a drunk driver. The only good news I can offer you, is that this is a reduction of 29% of fatalities than 10 years prior, where 24,000 were killed, 52%, by the hands of a drunk person. Aside from the destruction alcohol brings to their families, and the unfortunate one's that meet them on a road, alcoholism related deaths to the drinker himself is incredibly high. In 1999, more than 29,000 people died from liver cirrhosis alone. There are also 40,000 new borns who are brought into the world every year that have defects ranging from mental retardation, to missing hands or feet due to women drinking while they are pregnant.
Obviously, drinking is not good for a person's mind, body, nor spirit. The next legal drug I speak of, is even worse. With being held accountable for more than 430,700 premature deaths per year, the number one killer known to mankind, with an estimated $100 billion dollar annual cost to our nation in health care costs and lost productivity, the grim reaper itself it seems to be tobacco. According to the U.S. Public Health Service, nicotine is the most widespread example of drug dependancy in our country. While it is estimated that 9 out of 10 smokers would quit if they felt they could, the power of nicotine is described by many as comparbale to heroin in the likelihood of quitting. The drug is very powerful, used often, and for many too overwhelming to face... even with death staring them in the face. It's so obvious that nothing good could possibly come from tobacco, I feel there is not a need to go further in describing this killer drug that is legally sold in the United States to anyone over the age of 18. In the next 24 hours, 1180 Americans will die from tobacco use. In all 430,700 smokers will die from tobacco related disease each year. They are replaced in part by the 3,000 children who start smoking regularly everyday. The deaths speak for themselves.
Now that we clearly have the effects of alcohol and tobacco explained above, I don't know how one can understand why alcohol or tobacco is legal. Alcohol causes violence, anger, family problems, while smoking cigarettes leads to a tracheotamy, a terrible never ending cough, emphysema, lung cancer, yet marijuana, which would cause none of the problems described above is a Schedule 1 narcotic, in the same category as heroine. The only reason I can understand a person to believe marijuana should remain illegal, is if they are ignorant on the subject. And that's what seems to be the problem.
It seems as though the primary result of the three-pronged attack using silence, exaggeration, and strict penalties, has been increased ignorance. The old arguments of the 1930s continue to be used when establishing new soft drug laws. People's tendency to hold onto their initial beliefs means that most of their knowledge on the topic of marijuana is based on what their parents taught them. While it is the responsibility of all parents to teach their children values, this is not an acceptable basis for creating law.
While prison growth and population is also another area in which our country struggles, 62% of all inmates are in prison for drug offenses-the result of a 1,100% increase in drug arrests between 1980 and 1992, even though marijuana use dropped from 35% to 13% during the same period. That's an interesting, yet disturbing fact. Of felons convicted of crimes related to marijuana possession, production and trafficking during this period, 58% had no prior arrest history, 91% were not identified as organizers, leaders, managers or supervisors of drug-oriented organizations, and 92% did not own or possess a gun. In other words, the large majority of these felons should not be viewed as individuals that pose a thread to society. I believe the main point of these statistics is that an enormous amount of money is spent each year on incarcerating non-violent and otherwise law-abiding citizens. Not including the money spent on prison management and construction, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) now spends $1.3 billion a year "fighting" marijuana. Overall, federal anti-marijuana efforts have cost taxpayers $30 billion. The result: $2 billion worth of marijuana being seized and destroyed, 4 million people being arrested, and 250,000 individuals being jailed for more than one year--but no basic change in usage patterns from the 1960s.
Those numbers are pretty astounding. 4 million people have been persecuted in the United States for using or selling a non deadly, natural plant. Non deadly. Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality. Now, this really is a remarkable statement, considering the the record on marijuana encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, marijuana is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that from twenty million to fifty million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year. Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine marijuana's LD-50 rating in test animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce death. At present it is estimated that marijuana's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response. Therefore, in practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio defines the difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a dose which is capable of inducing adverse effects. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio defines the difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a dose which is capable of inducing adverse effects. A commonly used over-the-counter product like aspirin has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20. Two aspirins are the recommended dose for adult patients. Twenty times this dose, forty aspirins, may cause a lethal reaction in some patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to the digestive system, including extensive internal bleeding. The therapeutic ratio for prescribed drugs is commonly around 1:10 or lower. Valium, a commonly used prescriptive drug, may cause very serious biological damage if patients use ten times the recommended (therapeutic) dose. There are, of course, prescriptive drugs which have much lower therapeutic ratios. Many of the drugs used to treat patients with cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis are highly toxic. The therapeutic ratio of some of the drugs used in antineoplastic therapies, for example, are regarded as extremely toxic poisons with therapeutic ratios that may fall below 1: 1.5. These drugs also have very low LD-50 ratios and can result in toxic, even lethal reactions, while being properly employed. By contrast, marijuana's therapeutic ratio, like its LD-50, is impossible to quantify because it is so high. These studies are in reference to the journal of FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED TOXICOLOGY, Dr. William Slikker, director of the Neurotoxicology Division of the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR). While the studies were performed in 1988, 14 years later the article stands true, and still not one person, nor animal, has ever died from smoking marijuana.
Another argument of the government and pro-prohibition organizations is that marijuana is a gateway drug. This has been one of the favorite tricks of the anti-drug propaganda artists, because it casts marijuana as something insidious with hidden dangers and pitfalls. This follows the second tactic I wrote of earlier. This statement's intent is to scare people from trying marijuana, in fear that suddenly, they will turn to more harsh drugs and quickly become addicted, and their lives and families will be ruined. With the estimated 40 million people alive in this country that have smoked marijuana for a period of their lives, why aren't their tens of millions of heroin or crack users then? The fact that a lot of heroine or cocaine addicts previously, or still smoke marijuana, does not mean that most marijuana users will ever take heroin or cocaine. In fact, the majority never do. Unforunately, there are those that are simply looking for a different high. Some people do not like the calming effect of the drug, and are looking for something different, maybe something that makes them sedated, or much more energetic.
Another problem with the gateway ideology is the subculture marijuana smokers are forced to associate with to attain their marijuana. In truth, marijuana does not create the drug subculture, the drug subculture uses marijuana. There are many marijuana users who are not a part of the subculture, but rather have to interact with the drug culture to attain marijuana. In the meantime, their drug dealer introduces them to new drugs to make his business more profitable, and soon America has another crack addict on the streets. If marijuana were legal, the drug markets would be separated, and less people would start using the illegal drugs that can cause such havoc within themself, to their families, loved ones, and society in general. If anything, the number one killer in America should be considered the 'gateway' drug; cigarettes. How many people do you know smoked a joint before a cigarette? Why do you think people smoke cigarettes before smoking pot? And why is that not all cigarette smokers end up as pot smokers? Also, how many people smoke marijuana before trying their first beer? If anything, the two legal drugs, the two drugs that kill more people than any other, percentages included mind you, are the actual 'gateway' drugs. Marijuana is the only 'gateway' drug that doesn't have any potential to make the government money if it were legalized.
With the astounding amount of money the government makes from alcohol sales, this brings us to an important issue that must be discussed. Earlier I indicated that 1,467,300 people were arrested for drunk driving in 1999. Without the cost of attorney fees (which are of coursed taxed) a person convicted of drunk driving in the U.S., as a first time offense faces an estimated $2500 fine. That equates to $3,668,250,000 the government makes in court fines alone. In that same year, there was over $12.4 billion of alcohol revenue in the U.S. At a 10% tax, that is an additional $1.24 billion revenue per year for the government in alcohol sales per year. Alcohol is also the only legal drug that is advertised on radio and television. Typically the number one sponsor of sporting events, alcohol sales generate big business. From the policemen salaries to the judges that pass down sentences, to the man in the White House himself, we all need to make money in order to survive. One large room for debate is that the government is making money off marijuana the only way they can, and that is to illegalize it and fine, drastically, anyone caught using it. However, because marijuana can be grown in your own home, or in your own fields, Uncle Sam wouldn't have a piece of the profit. He would need less police officers to enforce the laws, less judges to sentence people, much less wardens and correctional facility workers in general. Legalizing marijuana wouldn't help the government. It would lower their revenue, lower the amount of workers needed, all the way from the DEA to undercover officers around the nation. The legalization of marijuana will come by the people, for the people. For profitable reasons, there is no way it can happen otherwise. At the same time, the government could concentrate their workers on the true tryrants of the earth. The people that violate other people's rights, the murderer's, rapists, and thieves alike. They could also concentrate the war on drugs to the drugs that actually cause self destruction and death. The DEA could spend the $1.3 billion a year currently used to fight marijuana use, to fight drug use that really does kill people and destroy lives. The only lives destroyed from marijuana presently, are the ones that are caught by the police. As it stands now, marijuana possession is a felony in most states, a simple possession charge could be the end of a person's career, or even homelife.
The truth of the matter is, there was a marijuana tax before, and although it has never been used, it surely could be. Unfortunately, legalizing a substance that the government has described as a drug for the last 60 years won't make a good impression on the 'war on drugs', and the smoker's who lives are at stake for their decision to smoke marijuana need to remember that's exactly what this is. A war, and it must be fought like one. Someone has to lose. While there is no winner in any war, the 300,000 + people per year that will be persecuted, and taken away from their families and jobs until the war is over are worth fighting for. For they are your doctors, lawyers, garbage men, store clerk, the range is endless. The misconception of the 16 year old kid at home playing video games, eating a bag of cheeto's saying 'dude' all the time is the media's version of a pot smoker. A real pot smoker is someone you can look at and not tell they are 'impaired.' A marijuana smoker feels a relaxed state of euphoria. There certainly isn't violence as there is with alcohol. A person that has smoked pot certainly doesn't feeling like being violent or fighting. In fact, if marijuana was legalized and there were two opposing bars on a street corner, one which served alcohol, and the other marijuana, which bar would the police have to frequent more often? While it's hard to believe anyone would waste their time in an alcohol bar when there is a marijuana bar across the street, however, if there were an equal number of people in each establishment, the marijuana bar would be a relaxing, friendly, peace promoting environment. The place across the street would be filled with obnoxious, angry drunks. A place where you accidentaly bump into someone, and instead of enjoying a bowl together for the confusion, you throw fists. There certainly wouldn't be a need for bouncers in a marijuana bar.
So will I say that smoking marijuana has no negative influence and that everyone should smoke marijuana daily? No. The first step to legalizing marijuana is to recognize responsible use of marijuana. The same laws should be applied to marijuana use that are set for alcohol use. You must be 21, and can not drive after you've smoked. While marijuana is said by most experts to be safer than alcohol and many prescription drugs with motorists, a responsible smoker should not drive after he has smoked. Some people are afraid that the legalization of marijuana would sprout a 'nation under pot' and that somehow everyone would start to smoke pot. While the use would be increased at the time of initial legalization, over time a marijuana cigarette would replace the hardworking man's 6 pack. Just because alcohol is legal, doesn't mean that everyone drinks, or that everyone is an alcoholic. The same principle would apply to marijuana. Some people would still choose not to smoke for their own reasons. Some people would try it, and simply not like the effects. Then, as there is now, there would be a handful of people that enjoy smoking marijuana responsibly, in the privacy of their own home, without the threat of being placed in jail, or having to communicate with drug pushers to buy marijuana. With the same laws in effect that currently rule alcohol, marijuana could be sold in a marketable fashion across the United States, with a tax profitable for the government. Hemp could also be reintroducted, and the uses of hemp are unbelievable. We could make paper out of hemp to save the rain forests. We could make clothing out of hemp. There are many uses the American people could use hemp, while saving money doing so.
The time has come for American's to realize that the war on drugs should never have included marijuana. It's a tragedy that this natural herb has been categorized so blindly, and it's more tragic that more American's don't question the decisions the lawmakers have passed, and more importantly, for what reasons they have passed them. Marijuana is not pyhsically addicting, and while it is mentally addicting, the calming effects one experiences are obviously desired when they realize the true nature behind marijuana. Used properly, marijuana can be a very spritual drug, and has been used accordingly for thousands of years. It's time to allow the good, hard working American people to sit down and relax with a joint and a loved one, and not fear any persecution for doing so.
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It's an argumentative paper on the legalization of marijuana.
And for all you guy's that know my story... I go to court tomorrow for the marijuana possesion charge I got while moving that fuckin' tree... I'll let you all know how it goes.
I know this is long... if you bother to read it, let me know what you think of it. I haven't spell checked or proof-read so don't mind any errors there may be.
Marijuana has long been misrepresented and misclassified as a drug that is dangerous to a person's health and that offers no therapeutic value. There are many myths the government has brainwashed the people into believing are true of marijuana, when in actuality, the very reason marijuana was illegalized in the first place is unknown to most. Unfortunately, since it would be a crime to feel the effects of marijuana first hand, most of America's people are blinded by words of the government, and like the the government, they see marijuana as a narcotic comparable to cocaine or heroin. Therefore, the people that have not ever had the pleasure of smoking the sacred herb, follow the words of the government and ignorantly say 'ban it.' This is exactly what the government wants the people to do, and for good reason. However, your health or those around you isn't exactly the reason, as most would think. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the myths the government has portrayed of marijuana, and to expose their reasoning for doing so.
In the 1930's, the common belief that immigrants were inhumane and violent included a strong belief that marijuana was part of the cause. At the time, Mexican Immigrants were the primary users of the drug. Since it was associated with opiates, marijuana was quickly defined as a narcotic and by 1931 all but two states had passed anti-marijuana legislation. The final two did so by 1937, the same year the federal government created the Marijuana Tax Act (National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse) -for which no tax stamps were ever issued. Not once during this period of prohibitive legislation was any research conducted on marijuana and it's effects, nevertheless it was almost universally assumed that marijuana was a narcotic, caused psychological dependence, provoked violent crime, and led to insanity.
The government has used three main strategies to convince the American people to support marijuana's prohibition. The first of three strategies used to fight marijuana was silence. It was believed that if youth didn't hear about marijuana, they wouldn't become curious and experiment with it. Therefore, in the 1930's discussion about marijuana was forbidden in all public schools, and from 1934 to 1956 the Motion Picture Association of America banned all films showing the use of narcotics. The strategy did not work as well as hoped, so anti-marijuana groups adopted the next strategy: exaggeration.
The goal was to scare potential marijuana users. Even such respected periodicals as the American Journal of Medicine went along with this strategy, publishing such warnings as: "Marijuana users will suddenly turn with murderous violence upon whoever is nearest to them. They will run amuck with a knife, axe, gun, or anything else that is close at hand, and will kill or maim without reason." "Marijuana is the immediate and direct cause of the crime committed . . . the user is very often dangerous to handle or control, has no fear, feels no pain, and may commit crimes of violence. He may suddenly get the idea that his best friends or his own immediate family are about to take his life and proceed to kill them . . . in fact, no act is too fantastic or horrible to the user of marijuana."
The third tactic for marijuana use fluctuated with popular belief regarding its level of danger. If people believed the effects were particularly bad, the penalties were stiff, but during some decades public attitudes were more lenient, therefore penalties were reduced. Drug use declined, fear increased, and so did penalties throughout the 1950s. One of the first federal mandatory prison sentences was established at that time: 10 years minimum for marijuana possession, and a mandatory death sentence for selling marijuana to a minor. During the 1960s and 70s, penalties declined as use increased, with eleven states decriminalizing possession for personal use. Then, in the 1980s, drug use declined and penalties rose. The "three strike" program was established, under which a mandatory life sentence without parole must be given for third-time offenders. Judges no longer have the power to use their own discretion in sentencing, but are required to base their punishment on the "most serious readily provable charge" on the offender's third offense.
As one can easily see, once marijuana was blindly categorized along with that of an opiate or cocaine, the truth of the drug was hidden. Lawmakers and the American People in the 1930's saw an incredible rate of increase in crime, drugs, and illegal Mexican immigrants. Typically, these poor, low-class immigrants would smoke marijuana, cause havoc, and break different laws, such as stealing. So the lawmakers saw that if we could rid our soil of one (marijuana), the other would leave as well (the immigrants). However, that hasn't happened. Now the immigrants are importing the marijuana into the United States and are making the profit. What has happened is many American's that are family oriented, hard working businessmen have been persecuted and spent time in jail for a victimless crime. A 'crime' that surely won't cause a person to 'kill or maim' without reason. However, a drug that is legal, and much more deadly than marijuana can and will do so, has for decades, and will continue for many more... alcohol.
Here's a quick look at another drug, a legal one, that is marketable, highly taxable, and sold on every operating street corner of the United Sates, the terror to many; alcohol. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Studies, we now know that 4 in 10 violent victimizations involve the use of alcohol. Alcohol-related crimes in the United States account for 54 percent of murders and attempted murders, 68 percent of manslaughters, 52 percent of rape/sexual assaults, and 48 percent of robberies. Because their mothers drink during pregnancy, 40,000 babies are born each year with birth defects from alcohol abuse. In families with one alcoholic parent, the child is 34 percent more likely to be alcoholic than children of non-alcoholics. Social costs of alcohol addiction amount to $100 billion per year in lost productivity and related health costs. Alcoholism is one of the most preventable illnesses; yet 7 out of 10 adults drink alcohol. Of these, one out of seven is an alcoholic. 4 in 10 fatal car accidents are also alcohol-involved. Each year 300,000 violent crimes are reported in the U.S. each year at the hands of a drunk person. This figure does not include car accidents. Accoding to their study, 75% of domestic violent crimes against women are also commited by the hands of a drunk person. Only 5% reported abuse due to drugs, not just marijuana, but every drug. 11% was reported to be both drunk and on drugs. The remaining 9% of the abusers were sober. In 1996, 1,467,300 DUI arrests were made. That same year 17,126 fatalities occurred in car accidents, 40.9% of them, or 6850 people, were killed by a drunk driver. The only good news I can offer you, is that this is a reduction of 29% of fatalities than 10 years prior, where 24,000 were killed, 52%, by the hands of a drunk person. Aside from the destruction alcohol brings to their families, and the unfortunate one's that meet them on a road, alcoholism related deaths to the drinker himself is incredibly high. In 1999, more than 29,000 people died from liver cirrhosis alone. There are also 40,000 new borns who are brought into the world every year that have defects ranging from mental retardation, to missing hands or feet due to women drinking while they are pregnant.
Obviously, drinking is not good for a person's mind, body, nor spirit. The next legal drug I speak of, is even worse. With being held accountable for more than 430,700 premature deaths per year, the number one killer known to mankind, with an estimated $100 billion dollar annual cost to our nation in health care costs and lost productivity, the grim reaper itself it seems to be tobacco. According to the U.S. Public Health Service, nicotine is the most widespread example of drug dependancy in our country. While it is estimated that 9 out of 10 smokers would quit if they felt they could, the power of nicotine is described by many as comparbale to heroin in the likelihood of quitting. The drug is very powerful, used often, and for many too overwhelming to face... even with death staring them in the face. It's so obvious that nothing good could possibly come from tobacco, I feel there is not a need to go further in describing this killer drug that is legally sold in the United States to anyone over the age of 18. In the next 24 hours, 1180 Americans will die from tobacco use. In all 430,700 smokers will die from tobacco related disease each year. They are replaced in part by the 3,000 children who start smoking regularly everyday. The deaths speak for themselves.
Now that we clearly have the effects of alcohol and tobacco explained above, I don't know how one can understand why alcohol or tobacco is legal. Alcohol causes violence, anger, family problems, while smoking cigarettes leads to a tracheotamy, a terrible never ending cough, emphysema, lung cancer, yet marijuana, which would cause none of the problems described above is a Schedule 1 narcotic, in the same category as heroine. The only reason I can understand a person to believe marijuana should remain illegal, is if they are ignorant on the subject. And that's what seems to be the problem.
It seems as though the primary result of the three-pronged attack using silence, exaggeration, and strict penalties, has been increased ignorance. The old arguments of the 1930s continue to be used when establishing new soft drug laws. People's tendency to hold onto their initial beliefs means that most of their knowledge on the topic of marijuana is based on what their parents taught them. While it is the responsibility of all parents to teach their children values, this is not an acceptable basis for creating law.
While prison growth and population is also another area in which our country struggles, 62% of all inmates are in prison for drug offenses-the result of a 1,100% increase in drug arrests between 1980 and 1992, even though marijuana use dropped from 35% to 13% during the same period. That's an interesting, yet disturbing fact. Of felons convicted of crimes related to marijuana possession, production and trafficking during this period, 58% had no prior arrest history, 91% were not identified as organizers, leaders, managers or supervisors of drug-oriented organizations, and 92% did not own or possess a gun. In other words, the large majority of these felons should not be viewed as individuals that pose a thread to society. I believe the main point of these statistics is that an enormous amount of money is spent each year on incarcerating non-violent and otherwise law-abiding citizens. Not including the money spent on prison management and construction, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) now spends $1.3 billion a year "fighting" marijuana. Overall, federal anti-marijuana efforts have cost taxpayers $30 billion. The result: $2 billion worth of marijuana being seized and destroyed, 4 million people being arrested, and 250,000 individuals being jailed for more than one year--but no basic change in usage patterns from the 1960s.
Those numbers are pretty astounding. 4 million people have been persecuted in the United States for using or selling a non deadly, natural plant. Non deadly. Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality. Now, this really is a remarkable statement, considering the the record on marijuana encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, marijuana is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that from twenty million to fifty million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year. Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine marijuana's LD-50 rating in test animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce death. At present it is estimated that marijuana's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response. Therefore, in practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio defines the difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a dose which is capable of inducing adverse effects. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio defines the difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a dose which is capable of inducing adverse effects. A commonly used over-the-counter product like aspirin has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20. Two aspirins are the recommended dose for adult patients. Twenty times this dose, forty aspirins, may cause a lethal reaction in some patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to the digestive system, including extensive internal bleeding. The therapeutic ratio for prescribed drugs is commonly around 1:10 or lower. Valium, a commonly used prescriptive drug, may cause very serious biological damage if patients use ten times the recommended (therapeutic) dose. There are, of course, prescriptive drugs which have much lower therapeutic ratios. Many of the drugs used to treat patients with cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis are highly toxic. The therapeutic ratio of some of the drugs used in antineoplastic therapies, for example, are regarded as extremely toxic poisons with therapeutic ratios that may fall below 1: 1.5. These drugs also have very low LD-50 ratios and can result in toxic, even lethal reactions, while being properly employed. By contrast, marijuana's therapeutic ratio, like its LD-50, is impossible to quantify because it is so high. These studies are in reference to the journal of FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED TOXICOLOGY, Dr. William Slikker, director of the Neurotoxicology Division of the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR). While the studies were performed in 1988, 14 years later the article stands true, and still not one person, nor animal, has ever died from smoking marijuana.
Another argument of the government and pro-prohibition organizations is that marijuana is a gateway drug. This has been one of the favorite tricks of the anti-drug propaganda artists, because it casts marijuana as something insidious with hidden dangers and pitfalls. This follows the second tactic I wrote of earlier. This statement's intent is to scare people from trying marijuana, in fear that suddenly, they will turn to more harsh drugs and quickly become addicted, and their lives and families will be ruined. With the estimated 40 million people alive in this country that have smoked marijuana for a period of their lives, why aren't their tens of millions of heroin or crack users then? The fact that a lot of heroine or cocaine addicts previously, or still smoke marijuana, does not mean that most marijuana users will ever take heroin or cocaine. In fact, the majority never do. Unforunately, there are those that are simply looking for a different high. Some people do not like the calming effect of the drug, and are looking for something different, maybe something that makes them sedated, or much more energetic.
Another problem with the gateway ideology is the subculture marijuana smokers are forced to associate with to attain their marijuana. In truth, marijuana does not create the drug subculture, the drug subculture uses marijuana. There are many marijuana users who are not a part of the subculture, but rather have to interact with the drug culture to attain marijuana. In the meantime, their drug dealer introduces them to new drugs to make his business more profitable, and soon America has another crack addict on the streets. If marijuana were legal, the drug markets would be separated, and less people would start using the illegal drugs that can cause such havoc within themself, to their families, loved ones, and society in general. If anything, the number one killer in America should be considered the 'gateway' drug; cigarettes. How many people do you know smoked a joint before a cigarette? Why do you think people smoke cigarettes before smoking pot? And why is that not all cigarette smokers end up as pot smokers? Also, how many people smoke marijuana before trying their first beer? If anything, the two legal drugs, the two drugs that kill more people than any other, percentages included mind you, are the actual 'gateway' drugs. Marijuana is the only 'gateway' drug that doesn't have any potential to make the government money if it were legalized.
With the astounding amount of money the government makes from alcohol sales, this brings us to an important issue that must be discussed. Earlier I indicated that 1,467,300 people were arrested for drunk driving in 1999. Without the cost of attorney fees (which are of coursed taxed) a person convicted of drunk driving in the U.S., as a first time offense faces an estimated $2500 fine. That equates to $3,668,250,000 the government makes in court fines alone. In that same year, there was over $12.4 billion of alcohol revenue in the U.S. At a 10% tax, that is an additional $1.24 billion revenue per year for the government in alcohol sales per year. Alcohol is also the only legal drug that is advertised on radio and television. Typically the number one sponsor of sporting events, alcohol sales generate big business. From the policemen salaries to the judges that pass down sentences, to the man in the White House himself, we all need to make money in order to survive. One large room for debate is that the government is making money off marijuana the only way they can, and that is to illegalize it and fine, drastically, anyone caught using it. However, because marijuana can be grown in your own home, or in your own fields, Uncle Sam wouldn't have a piece of the profit. He would need less police officers to enforce the laws, less judges to sentence people, much less wardens and correctional facility workers in general. Legalizing marijuana wouldn't help the government. It would lower their revenue, lower the amount of workers needed, all the way from the DEA to undercover officers around the nation. The legalization of marijuana will come by the people, for the people. For profitable reasons, there is no way it can happen otherwise. At the same time, the government could concentrate their workers on the true tryrants of the earth. The people that violate other people's rights, the murderer's, rapists, and thieves alike. They could also concentrate the war on drugs to the drugs that actually cause self destruction and death. The DEA could spend the $1.3 billion a year currently used to fight marijuana use, to fight drug use that really does kill people and destroy lives. The only lives destroyed from marijuana presently, are the ones that are caught by the police. As it stands now, marijuana possession is a felony in most states, a simple possession charge could be the end of a person's career, or even homelife.
The truth of the matter is, there was a marijuana tax before, and although it has never been used, it surely could be. Unfortunately, legalizing a substance that the government has described as a drug for the last 60 years won't make a good impression on the 'war on drugs', and the smoker's who lives are at stake for their decision to smoke marijuana need to remember that's exactly what this is. A war, and it must be fought like one. Someone has to lose. While there is no winner in any war, the 300,000 + people per year that will be persecuted, and taken away from their families and jobs until the war is over are worth fighting for. For they are your doctors, lawyers, garbage men, store clerk, the range is endless. The misconception of the 16 year old kid at home playing video games, eating a bag of cheeto's saying 'dude' all the time is the media's version of a pot smoker. A real pot smoker is someone you can look at and not tell they are 'impaired.' A marijuana smoker feels a relaxed state of euphoria. There certainly isn't violence as there is with alcohol. A person that has smoked pot certainly doesn't feeling like being violent or fighting. In fact, if marijuana was legalized and there were two opposing bars on a street corner, one which served alcohol, and the other marijuana, which bar would the police have to frequent more often? While it's hard to believe anyone would waste their time in an alcohol bar when there is a marijuana bar across the street, however, if there were an equal number of people in each establishment, the marijuana bar would be a relaxing, friendly, peace promoting environment. The place across the street would be filled with obnoxious, angry drunks. A place where you accidentaly bump into someone, and instead of enjoying a bowl together for the confusion, you throw fists. There certainly wouldn't be a need for bouncers in a marijuana bar.
So will I say that smoking marijuana has no negative influence and that everyone should smoke marijuana daily? No. The first step to legalizing marijuana is to recognize responsible use of marijuana. The same laws should be applied to marijuana use that are set for alcohol use. You must be 21, and can not drive after you've smoked. While marijuana is said by most experts to be safer than alcohol and many prescription drugs with motorists, a responsible smoker should not drive after he has smoked. Some people are afraid that the legalization of marijuana would sprout a 'nation under pot' and that somehow everyone would start to smoke pot. While the use would be increased at the time of initial legalization, over time a marijuana cigarette would replace the hardworking man's 6 pack. Just because alcohol is legal, doesn't mean that everyone drinks, or that everyone is an alcoholic. The same principle would apply to marijuana. Some people would still choose not to smoke for their own reasons. Some people would try it, and simply not like the effects. Then, as there is now, there would be a handful of people that enjoy smoking marijuana responsibly, in the privacy of their own home, without the threat of being placed in jail, or having to communicate with drug pushers to buy marijuana. With the same laws in effect that currently rule alcohol, marijuana could be sold in a marketable fashion across the United States, with a tax profitable for the government. Hemp could also be reintroducted, and the uses of hemp are unbelievable. We could make paper out of hemp to save the rain forests. We could make clothing out of hemp. There are many uses the American people could use hemp, while saving money doing so.
The time has come for American's to realize that the war on drugs should never have included marijuana. It's a tragedy that this natural herb has been categorized so blindly, and it's more tragic that more American's don't question the decisions the lawmakers have passed, and more importantly, for what reasons they have passed them. Marijuana is not pyhsically addicting, and while it is mentally addicting, the calming effects one experiences are obviously desired when they realize the true nature behind marijuana. Used properly, marijuana can be a very spritual drug, and has been used accordingly for thousands of years. It's time to allow the good, hard working American people to sit down and relax with a joint and a loved one, and not fear any persecution for doing so.
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