(no subject)
"If the words ' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on."
- Terence McKenna
Since 1937 marijuana has been illegal in the United States under the Marijuana Tax Act. As early as and possibly before 6000 B.C., man has been using this mysterious plant that grows naturally out of our very own soil. Cultures and civilizations such as the Romans, Chinese, Jews, and Arabs all supported and used the plant for several purposes. Ancient Hindu texts refer to cannabis as one of the five sacred plants, used medically and ritually. It seems strange for something that was so well respected and widely used to now be contraband in our country. The United States government, seeking a scapegoat during the great depression, blamed the Mexican workers who were bringing it across the border. At the time the hemp plant was believed to have a violent effect on “degenerate races” and the government stepped in to repress the foreign workers.
Making a substance illegal in order to discriminate against other races is nothing new to America. Sadly, the same thing happened in 1875 with opium and the Chinese. This first American anti-drug law was passed because of a fear that Chinese men were luring white women to their “ruin” in opium dens. It happened again a few years later with cocaine and African-Americans. After this it became clear how the hypocritical land of the free, home of the brave felt about drugs.
At first, making the substances illegal was not easy because our founding fathers had no solid laws against drug consumption. Bureaucrats worked hard to pass their laws, which directly violated our constitution. Originally, the government was unable to regulate what people put inside of their own bodies; it seemed to be a logical freedom at the time. It was not until they concluded drug consumption to be a tax violation that they were able to control the use.
The Federal Government can control what an individual puts in their body because it is linked to interstate commerce, which the Federal Government regulates in the form of taxes and licenses. The drug users are made out to be the criminals while the bureaucrats are the ones altering the foundation of our legal system. Even after an alcohol prohibition failed some years prior, the government felt confident this was the right move to make and that somehow it would work this time.
Decades have gone by and this country has been through a lot of changes, updating laws and reworking our society according to modern lifestyles. Despite this, our country’s drug laws remain in effect. It has come to my attention that not only is this unnecessary, but it is doing more harm keeping certain drugs illegal than if they had been made legal; specifically, marijuana.
Exactly how many people actually die from marijuana each year? None. There has never been a single recorded death connected directly to marijuana in the United States. Yet legal substances like alcohol and tobacco are killing off people by the thousands. Tobacco alone kills 390,000 people a year in the United States and that doesn’t include the other 50,000 from second hand smoke. Alcohol kills an additional 80,000 people a year. Even over the counter drugs like Aspirin kill 2,000 people, but still no confirmed deaths from marijuana.
Clearly these substances are not made illegal due to health hazards. It appears the government could care less about our health, though a tax violation is a great concern to them. While marijuana is not entirely healthy, what most people have heard the dangers is greatly exaggerated. Studies have shown that heavy and frequent use does not have any permanent effects.
The U.S. Surgeon General C. Everette Koop did a study on cigarette smoke in comparison to marijuana smoke and determined it is the radioactivity found only in tobacco, not the tar, which can lead to lung cancer. Nicotine is a toxin and will kill you at large doses and can become physically addicting to the point where the chemical becomes essential for the body or metabolism to function. If a user stops receiving the chemical they are addicted to it can lead to anxiety, stress, trauma, nausea, and depression. It is near impossible to reach a level of toxicity with marijuana and studies have shown very minor withdrawal symptoms when kicking the habit.
Everyone has heard one myth or another about how cigarette smoke and marijuana smoke are the same, or even that marijuana smoke is worse. As with most rumors about the drug, this is a great misconception. The Berkeley Carcinogenic Tar Studies of the 1970s proved cannabis smoke actually dilates air channels while tobacco smoke narrows air passages. This is why marijuana is used medically to help treat severe asthma and why a doctor would never give patients cigarettes for any reason. Marijuana can even be used to clear the lungs of smog, pollutants, and cigarette smoke. Surprisingly, it may actually reduce the risk of emphysema, bronchitis, and lung cancer. These are just examples of the medical benefits from the plant.
There are endless numbers of practical uses with marijuana such as using hemp oil to fuel diesel cars as had been the original intention when the diesel engine was invented. In fact, in World War II farmers were exempt from military services if they grew hemp for the government to help fuel our army’s vehicles. Additionally, hemp leaves can be used as a very effective paper source. These two things alone can aid in preventing the destruction of large quantities of trees and preserving our fossil fuels. Of course, there are also mental benefits from the effects of the plant which appears to be the main reason for use.
The extent of marijuana’s effects is limited to the period of intoxication. Comparing users to non-users in a school and work scenario proved to appear identical. There was a share of unmotivated users, but just as many as nonusers. Several users proved to be just as intellectual and hard working as the nonusers. The lack of motivation was most likely present before the person had started using the drug.
There is a constant struggle between drug users and the US government who tries to regulate it. The struggle is at such an extreme level it is often referred to as “The War on Drugs.” In order for the government to successfully win they must stop drug production in other countries, stop drugs at the border, and stop the sale of drugs within the United States. The US Drug Enforcement Agency has only been able to stop roughly one percent of the world’s foreign drug crops. Our government’s best effort falls 99% short of their goal. Even if we did stop drug production in other countries it would result in a major economical collapse for them, making it highly unreasonable for us to do so.
Trying to stop drugs at the border has proven to be an expensive failure. Our own Federal Government has stated that there is no way to stop or even reduce smuggling drugs over the border to have any kind of impact on the market. Sadly, our country is too stubborn to end their failed project and continues to waste our time and money fighting a war they have already lost.
This leaves stopping the sale of drugs within the United States. The government has estimated between 12 and 40 million drug dealers in our country alone. To solve the drug problem and arrest all of these people would mean constructing five times the number of prisons that already exist in the United States. This is under the assumption that no new drug dealers come along and take over to fill in the missing gaps.
Our country simply cannot afford this. It costs roughly $450,000 to put a single drug dealer in jail on a five-year sentence and upwards of ten to fifteen trillion dollars to imprison all of them. These costs exclude the lost revenue from the imprisonment of millions of once employed, tax-paying citizens.
In 1992, the Los Angeles County Jail ran out of room in their prison and let one inmate go for every new person that came in due to a lack of tax funds to build more prisons. There are already twenty-four states that have similar problems with overcrowded prisons. Clearly it is less desirable to have a rapist or thief on the streets than a man walking around with plants in his pocket. Nearly sixty percent of the Americans in prison are there on drug offenses, mostly petty charges such as possession. Funding to keep these people locked up comes out of our pockets.
It is time for our country to abandon this failed pipe dream and get realistic. Several European countries have chosen to follow the Frankfort Accord, which decriminalizes drugs. Decriminalizing marijuana will immediately result in saving annually $37 billion because the government will no longer have to waste money on ineffective drug elimination projects. With decriminalization, offenders will pay a fine rather than serving jail time. This means instead of tax paying citizens supporting these people in jail, the offenders will pay for the crime themselves. It is logical to decriminalize marijuana for so many reasons though it has not happened yet due mostly to a misconception of the drug and its uses. If the country were made more aware of this situation, perhaps positive changes could be made and actions could be taken to fix this problem.
Marijuana was made illegal for reasons that are now outdated. Prohibition did not work for alcohol and it certainly has not worked for drugs. The effects of marijuana have been proven to be less extreme and profound than once thought. Myths about health problems caused by the plant have been replaced by factual evidence based on research that disproves the myths. It is time for us as a nation to take a step forward and decriminalize marijuana before we throw any more money away and put more people behind bars at our expense.
- Terence McKenna
Since 1937 marijuana has been illegal in the United States under the Marijuana Tax Act. As early as and possibly before 6000 B.C., man has been using this mysterious plant that grows naturally out of our very own soil. Cultures and civilizations such as the Romans, Chinese, Jews, and Arabs all supported and used the plant for several purposes. Ancient Hindu texts refer to cannabis as one of the five sacred plants, used medically and ritually. It seems strange for something that was so well respected and widely used to now be contraband in our country. The United States government, seeking a scapegoat during the great depression, blamed the Mexican workers who were bringing it across the border. At the time the hemp plant was believed to have a violent effect on “degenerate races” and the government stepped in to repress the foreign workers.
Making a substance illegal in order to discriminate against other races is nothing new to America. Sadly, the same thing happened in 1875 with opium and the Chinese. This first American anti-drug law was passed because of a fear that Chinese men were luring white women to their “ruin” in opium dens. It happened again a few years later with cocaine and African-Americans. After this it became clear how the hypocritical land of the free, home of the brave felt about drugs.
At first, making the substances illegal was not easy because our founding fathers had no solid laws against drug consumption. Bureaucrats worked hard to pass their laws, which directly violated our constitution. Originally, the government was unable to regulate what people put inside of their own bodies; it seemed to be a logical freedom at the time. It was not until they concluded drug consumption to be a tax violation that they were able to control the use.
The Federal Government can control what an individual puts in their body because it is linked to interstate commerce, which the Federal Government regulates in the form of taxes and licenses. The drug users are made out to be the criminals while the bureaucrats are the ones altering the foundation of our legal system. Even after an alcohol prohibition failed some years prior, the government felt confident this was the right move to make and that somehow it would work this time.
Decades have gone by and this country has been through a lot of changes, updating laws and reworking our society according to modern lifestyles. Despite this, our country’s drug laws remain in effect. It has come to my attention that not only is this unnecessary, but it is doing more harm keeping certain drugs illegal than if they had been made legal; specifically, marijuana.
Exactly how many people actually die from marijuana each year? None. There has never been a single recorded death connected directly to marijuana in the United States. Yet legal substances like alcohol and tobacco are killing off people by the thousands. Tobacco alone kills 390,000 people a year in the United States and that doesn’t include the other 50,000 from second hand smoke. Alcohol kills an additional 80,000 people a year. Even over the counter drugs like Aspirin kill 2,000 people, but still no confirmed deaths from marijuana.
Clearly these substances are not made illegal due to health hazards. It appears the government could care less about our health, though a tax violation is a great concern to them. While marijuana is not entirely healthy, what most people have heard the dangers is greatly exaggerated. Studies have shown that heavy and frequent use does not have any permanent effects.
The U.S. Surgeon General C. Everette Koop did a study on cigarette smoke in comparison to marijuana smoke and determined it is the radioactivity found only in tobacco, not the tar, which can lead to lung cancer. Nicotine is a toxin and will kill you at large doses and can become physically addicting to the point where the chemical becomes essential for the body or metabolism to function. If a user stops receiving the chemical they are addicted to it can lead to anxiety, stress, trauma, nausea, and depression. It is near impossible to reach a level of toxicity with marijuana and studies have shown very minor withdrawal symptoms when kicking the habit.
Everyone has heard one myth or another about how cigarette smoke and marijuana smoke are the same, or even that marijuana smoke is worse. As with most rumors about the drug, this is a great misconception. The Berkeley Carcinogenic Tar Studies of the 1970s proved cannabis smoke actually dilates air channels while tobacco smoke narrows air passages. This is why marijuana is used medically to help treat severe asthma and why a doctor would never give patients cigarettes for any reason. Marijuana can even be used to clear the lungs of smog, pollutants, and cigarette smoke. Surprisingly, it may actually reduce the risk of emphysema, bronchitis, and lung cancer. These are just examples of the medical benefits from the plant.
There are endless numbers of practical uses with marijuana such as using hemp oil to fuel diesel cars as had been the original intention when the diesel engine was invented. In fact, in World War II farmers were exempt from military services if they grew hemp for the government to help fuel our army’s vehicles. Additionally, hemp leaves can be used as a very effective paper source. These two things alone can aid in preventing the destruction of large quantities of trees and preserving our fossil fuels. Of course, there are also mental benefits from the effects of the plant which appears to be the main reason for use.
The extent of marijuana’s effects is limited to the period of intoxication. Comparing users to non-users in a school and work scenario proved to appear identical. There was a share of unmotivated users, but just as many as nonusers. Several users proved to be just as intellectual and hard working as the nonusers. The lack of motivation was most likely present before the person had started using the drug.
There is a constant struggle between drug users and the US government who tries to regulate it. The struggle is at such an extreme level it is often referred to as “The War on Drugs.” In order for the government to successfully win they must stop drug production in other countries, stop drugs at the border, and stop the sale of drugs within the United States. The US Drug Enforcement Agency has only been able to stop roughly one percent of the world’s foreign drug crops. Our government’s best effort falls 99% short of their goal. Even if we did stop drug production in other countries it would result in a major economical collapse for them, making it highly unreasonable for us to do so.
Trying to stop drugs at the border has proven to be an expensive failure. Our own Federal Government has stated that there is no way to stop or even reduce smuggling drugs over the border to have any kind of impact on the market. Sadly, our country is too stubborn to end their failed project and continues to waste our time and money fighting a war they have already lost.
This leaves stopping the sale of drugs within the United States. The government has estimated between 12 and 40 million drug dealers in our country alone. To solve the drug problem and arrest all of these people would mean constructing five times the number of prisons that already exist in the United States. This is under the assumption that no new drug dealers come along and take over to fill in the missing gaps.
Our country simply cannot afford this. It costs roughly $450,000 to put a single drug dealer in jail on a five-year sentence and upwards of ten to fifteen trillion dollars to imprison all of them. These costs exclude the lost revenue from the imprisonment of millions of once employed, tax-paying citizens.
In 1992, the Los Angeles County Jail ran out of room in their prison and let one inmate go for every new person that came in due to a lack of tax funds to build more prisons. There are already twenty-four states that have similar problems with overcrowded prisons. Clearly it is less desirable to have a rapist or thief on the streets than a man walking around with plants in his pocket. Nearly sixty percent of the Americans in prison are there on drug offenses, mostly petty charges such as possession. Funding to keep these people locked up comes out of our pockets.
It is time for our country to abandon this failed pipe dream and get realistic. Several European countries have chosen to follow the Frankfort Accord, which decriminalizes drugs. Decriminalizing marijuana will immediately result in saving annually $37 billion because the government will no longer have to waste money on ineffective drug elimination projects. With decriminalization, offenders will pay a fine rather than serving jail time. This means instead of tax paying citizens supporting these people in jail, the offenders will pay for the crime themselves. It is logical to decriminalize marijuana for so many reasons though it has not happened yet due mostly to a misconception of the drug and its uses. If the country were made more aware of this situation, perhaps positive changes could be made and actions could be taken to fix this problem.
Marijuana was made illegal for reasons that are now outdated. Prohibition did not work for alcohol and it certainly has not worked for drugs. The effects of marijuana have been proven to be less extreme and profound than once thought. Myths about health problems caused by the plant have been replaced by factual evidence based on research that disproves the myths. It is time for us as a nation to take a step forward and decriminalize marijuana before we throw any more money away and put more people behind bars at our expense.