Marijuana should be legalized because it has many medicinal and practical uses and was made illegal because of lies told back in the 1930??s. I had many questions while I was researching this paper. Why was marijuana made illegal to begin with? Does marijuana physically hurt people? Does marijuana being illegal hurt people more than it hurts them? Does marijuana have any medical uses? Is hemp useful? Would legalization lead to more hard drug users? Would legalization lead to more marijuana usage?
My first question was why marijuana was made illegal. There were many people responsible for this, but I have found one man who stood out from the rest. His name is Harry Anslinger. He was not a doctor, or a lawyer, or a politician. I have found some quotes that show just how he accomplished this feat. ?I believe in some cases one cigarette might develop a homicidal mania, probably to kill his brother.? ??As the marijuana situation grew worse, I knew action had to be taken to get legislation passed... Much of the irrational juvenile violence and killing that has written a new chapter of shame and tragedy is traceable directly to hemp intoxication.? ??Prolonged use of marijuana frequently develops a delirious rage which sometimes leads to high crimes such as assault and murder.? ??The habitual use of this narcotic poison always causes a very marked mental deterioration and sometimes produces insanity.? These are a few of many lies told by Harry Anslinger. These quotes come directly from his books and transcripts taken from court hearings. A more recent extremist is Lyndon LaRouche. He did not accomplish as much as Harry Anslinger, but he certainly tried. One of the many ??evils? he was trying to correct was marijuana. He tried to send a letter to the president stating that John Lennon of the Beatles was the most evil man on the planet because he condoned the usage of marijuana. Answer this, do these people sound like people who should be making laws in this country?
The second question I had was if marijuana physically hurts people. There are some tests that have been done in the past, but there is not enough to safely say that marijuana hurts or doesn??t hurt people. There are many reasons why people think they shouldn??t legalize marijuana. Most of these reasons have been disproved. One reason would be that marijuana can kill you. In fact, marijuana has never caused an overdose. To compare it to other drugs that are considered safe, aspirin causes hundreds of deaths each year. Also, alcohol related accidents outnumber marijuana-related accidents ten thousand to one. Another reason people have is that it is addictive. In reality, nearly everyone who tries marijuana eventually gives it up, which would be impossible if it were highly addictive. Another reason is the Gateway Theory. A study was done in 1994 and it showed that of the 70 million marijuana users, 98% of them did not move on to harder drugs. Also, people think that marijuana usage damages the brain. Studies of lifelong marijuana smokers in Jamaica, Greece and Costa Rica show little physical or brain damage. Also, scientists have found compounds in the brain that closely resemble cannabinoids found in marijuana. They call them endocannabinoids.
My third question was if making marijuana illegal hurts people more than it helps them. There are many reasons people have for making marijuana legal in terms of money. A 1988 evaluation of the Moscone Act, California??s 1976 decriminalization law, estimated that the state saved $958 million in arrest costs alone through 1985. NORML has estimated that legalization could save $10 billion in law enforcement. Revenues from marijuana taxes could range from $2.2 billion to $6.4 billion per year. Legalization could also lead to other spin-off industries such as coffeehouses, gardening equipment, and paraphernalia. Some other reasons are for human suffering. In 2000 there were 646,042 arrest for possession alone. In that same year, one of every six inmates in a federal prison system was arrested for a marijuana-related offense. Being charged with possession can also lead to random drug tests, paying for mandatory drug counseling, expensive legal fees, and more. There have also been a few hypocritical politicians who were against marijuana legalization. One of them was Congressman Dan Burton, who also supported the death penalty for some marijuana-related crimes. In 1994, his son was arrested for transporting nearly eight pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car. The funny thing is that he only received probation for this. Most people would have been locked away for most, if not all, of their lives. He had also had various charges against him later on, for which he received equal punishment to before.
Another question I had was if marijuana has any medical uses. There have been some studies done on the uses of marijuana in medicine. The studies that were done responsibly, and by nonbiased researchers, have found a strikingly large number of uses for marijuana. Users of marijuana often experience what they call ??the munchies?, a stimulated appetite for food. This could make marijuana the best medicine on the planet for treating anorexia. Marijuana can also dry your mouth in what users refer to as the ??cotton-mouth? effect. This is the safest way known to dry your mouth for the dentist, and could replace toxic methods that are now being used. Marijuana has been proven to be 2 to 3 times more effective than other glaucoma medicines. This could help 90% of the 2.5 million glaucoma victims. Marijuana has also been found to help epileptics. And one of marijuana best known uses is to help control nausea and vomiting in cancer chemotherapy patients. Another serious problem it could help with is stress. Marijuana lowers blood pressure, dilates the arteries, and reduces the body??s temperature by an average of ½ degree, which would help relieve stress.
Another question I had was if hemp is useful. Hemp has been proven to withstand heat, mildew, insects, and light. I have found that there are many uses for hemp. I am going to list a few of them. The first is paper products. It has been shown that one acre of hemp produces as much pulp as four acres of trees. Also, hemp takes less than a year to mature and a forest can take up to 300 years to mature. Until 1883, between 75% and 90% of all the world??s paper was made from hemp. Hemp paper lasts 50 to 100 times longer than preparations of papyrus and is much easier to make. Benjamin Franklin started one of America??s first paper mills with hemp. This allowed America to have a free colonial press without having to beg or justify the need for paper products from England. The second thing I have found is that hemp is useful in clothing and textiles. The United States Census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp plantations. These plantations were at least 2,000 acres and didn??t include the small farms and patches of hemp. Until the 1820??s and the 1900??s in most of the rest of the world 80% of all textiles were made from hemp. My third use is in painting. For thousands of years, almost all good paints and varnishes were made with hempseed and/or linseed oil. The paintings of Van Gogh, Gainsborough, Rembrant, and many others were painted primarily on hemp canvas and are still around today. These are just a few of many uses I have found.
My last question is if marijuana being legal would lead to more drug usage, be it marijuana or other drugs. I have found some statistics that actually show that making marijuana illegal has lead to more marijuana usage. In 1937, when marijuana was banned, only 60,000 people used marijuana on a regular basis. In 1998, between 25 and 50 million people used marijuana on a regular basis. Legalization could lead to less hard drug users. Legalization would separate channels of marijuana from other illegal drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, ecstasy, and LSD, and will limit exposure of marijuana users to these drugs.
I have found many reasons why marijuana should be made legal and I have shown you a few of them. Marijuana was made illegal because of lies told by politicians and other people who were looking for something to point the blame at for evils in society. Marijuana has not been shown to do much harm to a person. Marijuana is actually hurting people more by being illegal than if it was legal, because of costs to society, both monetary and in human suffering. Marijuana has been shown to have some medical value, but it cannot be fully assessed without legalizing it for research. Hemp has been proven to be useful for thousands of years, and it should be able to be used today. And finally, making marijuana legal should not lead to more drug usage as I have explained above.
