Why Marijuana Should Be Legal?

Why Marijuana Should Be Legal

Amendment One in the U.S. Constitution clearly states that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereofÐ'..." If this is so, why is this natural grown plant still illegal? Rastafaians consider marijuana "wisdom weed", therefore it is smoked to gain wisdom and bring them closer to their inner self and closer to God (Jah). To make such an herb illegal is an infringement of their rights. The Hindu religion states that during certain holidays higher caste men must drink bhang, which is a cannabis and milk infusion, to bring them closer to Shiva (God). Marijuana is grown from the ground, naturally, and has been around for centuries. The first American common law regarding pot (V.A. Assembly 1619) required every house to grow it. How can something be illegal in 2005 that hasn't changed one bit since it was legal in the 1600s?

Perhaps the greatest argument in favor of decriminalizing marijuana is that explaining its medicinal usage. Many people can benefit from the use of marijuana, from AIDS patients who are too sick to eat, to people suffering from migraines or insomnia. Denying terminally ill patients a drug that could potentially help them and ease their pain is vindictive and inhumane. DEA administrative law judge Francis Young stated that, "Marijuana in its natural form is one of the most therapeutically active substances known to man". Marijuana grows out of the ground; it is a natural substance, not one that is manufactured in government run laboratories.

Marijuana is considered a schedule 1 drug, putting it in the same category as heroin and PCP. Schedule 1 drugs have a high potential for abuse and they are not currently accepted as medical treatments in the U.S. Cocaine, morphine and amphetamines are considered schedule 2 drugs, meaning they are accepted for medical treatments in the U.S. with some restrictions. There has not been one case of anyone overdosing from marijuana in the U.S., yet there are approximately 3,000 reported deaths from cocaine overdose every year. How can a drug with 3,000 reported deaths be more widely accepted for medicinal purposes than a drug with no reported deaths? This country is backwards on its standards in deciding which drugs should be legal and which should not.

Numerous studies have shown the following effects of THC:

AIDS: reduces nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by the disease itself and as a side effect of treatment with AZT.

Arthritis: Controls pain and acts as an autoimmune modulator

Cancer: Stimulate appetite and alleviates nausea and vomiting

Depression: Marijuana has been shown to help dysphoria gently and naturally

Glaucoma: Marijuana can reduce intraocular pressure, alleviating pain and slowing the progress.

Multiple Sclerosis: Limits the muscle pain associated with the disease, relieves tremor and unsteady gait.

Migraines: Limits pain, inhibits the release of serotonin during attacks.

Paraplegia: Relieves pain better than opiates, suppresses muscle twitches and tremors.

Insomnia: Helps induce sleep without side effects of other hypnotics. Cannabidiol is the active ingredient that helps people sleep.

Arguments against the legalization of marijuana state that labs have also produced a drug called Marinol that acts the same way THC does. Marinol, generically known as dronabinol, is a highly concentrated formulation of delta-9-THC, one of the many active forms of THC found in marijuana. There are over 20 active forms of THC in marijuana and Marinol is only one of them. Natural marijuana also contains many other nonpsychoactive ingredients which help to dilute the full force of pure THC. If you give someone who has never smoked before a pill of pure THC they are going to be a little uncomfortable. At least with smoking marijuana patients can control their dosage and stop when they have reached a sufficient high. As for AIDS patients whose main trouble is nausea and loss of appetite, taking the pill may in itself induce vomiting, or just put them right to sleep, defeating the whole purpose of it. Lastly, each capsule of Marinol costs $10 or more, when used as recommended that is over $1,000 per week. In comparison, marijuana grown naturally is much less expensive.

In 2003 President George W. Bush spent $19.2 billion dollars fighting this war on drugs. All this "war" has accomplished was putting innocent people in jail, overcrowded jail cells, and a big waste of money because the amount of people using marijuana has increased by 5, 000 percent in the past 65 years. In 1994 there were 481,098 arrests for marijuana, by 2000 there were 734,500. Despite all of these arrests there are more people than ever using marijuana. At any given time there are approximately 330,000 people in jail cells. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that our jails are extremely over crowded. Murderers, rapists, and other dangerous criminals are being let back out onto the streets early because of something called plea bargaining. Bryan Epis, medicinal marijuana provided opted not to plea bargain his case and received 10 years in prison for providing pot; the Sybianese Liberation Army pleaded guilty to murdering a bank customer in an armed robbery and received 8 years in a prison. The cost to keep just one person in jail for one year is $20,000. If the government made marijuana legal that would save taxpayers 1.2 billion dollars annually! With 1.2 billion extra dollars in the budget it could be used to clean up the roadways (pot holes anyone?), add more extracurricular activities to schools, clean up the parks, provide government funded day care, and spend more resources on locking up dangerous criminals that pose a threat to our society.

The government is missing out on a very lucrative cash crop. At this time the largest cash crop in the United States is corn, grossing 19 billion dollars annually. Marijuana has the potential to gross nearly 25 billion dollars annually. It is no secret that organized crime is one of the biggest profiteers. This source of untaxed income is just adding to the wealth and power of organized crime. If it were to become legal, the price would go down, it would eventually