[IMAGE THREE]
CAPTION:
(Image is a NIDA Jack Henningfield graph of Nicotine, Heroin, Cocaine, Alcohol, Caffeine, and Marijuana. The graphs compare each drug??s 5 types of addictive properties. Marijuana is lower in ??seriousness? than any of the drugs, in any category, except two places: Marijuana is slightly more intoxicating than nicotine and caffeine, and Marijuana has a slightly more ??serious? ??reinforcement? score than caffeine.)

After comparing the different drugs on this chart, it is clear that Marijuana??s addictive properties do not justify its legal status as a ??Schedule I substance.? The ??Intoxication? scores on this chart represent the effects of the drug. If people use drugs for a desired effect, or intoxication, it would make sense to weigh the addiction effect against the intoxication effect. Ideally a substance would have low addiction and high intoxication. Refer to the above graph for the most ??ideal? popular drug: Marijuana.
The Family Council on Drug Awareness offers this answer: ??Is Marijuana Addictive? No, it is not [8]. Most users are moderate consumers who smoke it socially to relax. We now know that 10% of our population have ??addictive personalities? and they are neither more nor less likely to overindulge in cannabis than in anything else. On a relative scale, marijuana is less habit forming than either sugar or chocolate but more so than anchovies. Sociologists report a general pattern of marijuana use that peaks in the early adult years, followed by a period of leveling off and then a gradual reduction in use [9].? (The Family Counsel on Drug Awareness)
The recent discoveries of the brain??s cannabinoid receptors are ground shaking. Normally, drug use stimulates the dopamine receptors in the brain. ??Smokin?? Dope? is now an invalid slang term for ??Smoking Cannabis,? because only the brain??s natural cannabinoid receptors are stimulated, not the dopamine receptors. Research thus far has only been able to find one substance that stimulates cannabinoid receptors: Cannabis. The nature of the cannabinoid receptor allows the brain to turn off the receptor, killing any potential for addiction; in fact this unique quality can actually help fight addiction to other substances that stimulate dopamine receptors. Reiter states: ??Finally? ?this power of cannabis to initiate a melatonin cascade on cue does tend to support to the claims of harm reductionists of the utility of weaning addicts off cocaine, cigarettes and alcohol with low-dose cannabis.? (Reiter) ??Reiter cited Italian researchers who gave pure THC, the main active ingredient of cannabis, to 9 volunteers whose serum melatonin levels went up 4,000% in the next two hours!? (Reiter) It appears that we can conclude that the dangers of Marijuana addiction are non-existent, and if anything, Marijuana fights addiction. ??Meanwhile, advocates of marijuana-law reform must learn to use the latest research as a tool to demonstrate that marijuana users have been right for a long, long time. The remaining challenge is to confront the irrationality of America's current public policy.? (Gettman)
One particular Marijuana Activist, Jack Herer, is offering $100,000 to anyone that can prove his pro-??CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA? argument wrong. Herer can safely do this because the argument is worth much more than money, as displayed in his opening paragraph:
??If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction, were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the greenhouse effect and stop deforestation; then there is only one known annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world's paper and textiles; meet all of the world's transportation, industrial and home energy needs, while simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil and cleaning the atmosphere all at the same time... and that substance is the same one that has done it before... CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA!? (Herer $100K) Herer??s challenge was announced July 4th, 2002. ??No one has taken the $100,000 challenge to prove me wrong. Why? Because I am right. The U.S. government has been lying to us since the early 1900s. Do economic interests and the police have more to say than the people about the future of our planet?? (Herer $100K)
One must also acknowledge the valid claim that Marijuana is illegal for reasons other than our safety-- reasons of government agenda. Even within the DEA this claim is made loud and clear as seen in Judge Young??s ruling: ??On September 6, 1988, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled: "In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care... ...[T]he provisions of the [Controlled Substances] Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II [(Less Punishable)] It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance." (Young)
The preceding ruling made by Young says exactly what all research on Marijuana says; Marijuana is far from dangerous! Unfortunately our government is still too ignorant (or corrupt) to stop the atrocious incarceration of otherwise law abiding citizens. The FBI reports horrific numbers: ??In 2000, 46.5 percent of the 1,579,566 total arrests for drug law violations were for cannabis -- a total of 734,497. Of those, 646,042 people were arrested for possession alone. This is an increase over 1999, when a total of 704,812 Americans were arrested for cannabis offenses, of which 620,541 were for possession alone.? (FBI) This figures are overwhelming, but if we were actually winning the ??Drug War? figures could be more like this: ??It would cost $365 billion to jail everyone who smoked marijuana last year??five times the total national, state and local spending for all police, courts and prisons combined. To contain this crowd behind walls, we would need a cadre of guards and other prison employees larger than all of our military forces combined. These projections are not entirely academic: The nation is completing the construction, on average, of a new prison every week.? (Kane)
In conclusion, Marijuana is a powerful drug. Cannabis??s ability to stimulate Cannabinoid receptors destroys tumors, retards the spread of cancer, and relieves chronic pain; its research should be legalized. Cannabis is one of the safest substances for humans and one of the healthiest plants for Earth. Hemp and the responsible adult use of Marijuana should be legalized, to both stimulate the economy, and protect our citizens from tumors, cancer, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and hard drug addiction. To add catalyst, the government??s ignorance and brutality should be more than angering, and it should stop. -from a huge research paper