Sources from http://www.drugwarfacts.org/marijuan.htm will be cited by the number corresponding to where it was found.
Understand that I believe that possession and the private use of marijuana should always be legal. Driving while intoxicated should not (and already is illegal). Smoking in public should be a local issue, as it is the preference of the people living there that should decide whether marijuana can be used publicly. Trafficking of drugs is the only thing that should be federally regulated, as it is an international issue and directly falls under their jurisdiction. Also understand that whether or not you use (or would use) marijauna is your choice, having marijuana legalized only means you can legally make the choice for yourself. At all times you can decide not to use it, but those millions of americans who do are facing excessive criminal penalties for behavior that affects only them, NOT YOU. You have the constitutional right to not use marijuana, but I believe that it should also be your right to choose for yourself.
The long half-life of THC prevents "crashing" after using the drug and greatly reduces the chance of dependency. Little to no withdraw symptoms were found with average marijuana use.
* paraphrased from the IOM report "Marijuana and Medicine"
There is no scientific evidence that marijuana use leads to 'harder' drugs.
* need citation
Addiction rates:
Nicotine - 35% * almost twice as addictive as cocaine and kills 25 times more people per year (if all 17000 deaths from all illicit substances were contributed to cocaine).
Cocaine - 19%
Marijuana - 9%
Death rates:
Tobacco - 435,000 /yr
Alcohol - 85,000 /yr
All illicit drugs - 17,000/yr
Marijuana - 0 (can not overdose)
* center for disease control
** Alcohol related deaths kill 5 times more people per year than ALL illicit drugs
Effects:
*Tobacco
Very mild calming feeling, Yellow teeth/nails/skin, emphysema, lung cancer, etc.
*Marijuana
Obvious acute effects, bronchitis (long term) -- notice I did NOT list cancer.
** A california study observing heavy marijuana users over the course of 8 years found that marijuana smokers were no more prone to cancer than non-smokers.
"Since 1969, government-appointed commissions in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, and the Netherlands concluded, after reviewing the scientific evidence, that marijuana's dangers had previously been greatly exaggerated, and urged lawmakers to drastically reduce or eliminate penalties for marijuana possession."
*#32
"...It criminalizes large numbers of otherwise law-abiding, mainly young, people to the detriment of their futures. It has become a proxy for the control of public order; and it inhibits accurate education about the relative risks of different drugs including the risks of cannabis itself."
* #37
"Statements in the popular media that the potency of cannabis has increased by ten times or more in recent decades are not support by the data from either the USA or Europe."
* #39
The U.S. federal government spent over $19 billion dollars in 2003 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $600 per second. The budget has since been increased by over a billion dollars.
* Office of National Drug Control Policy
** Don't you think this could go to more important expenditures?
Just this year 540,658 arrests have been made for cannibis. FBI statistics reported 829,625 arrests in 2006 for cannibis, the highest ever in one year, and of those arrests 738,915 (89%) were for possession alone. An American is now arrested for violating cannabis laws every 38 seconds.
*Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation Nope.
The laws are way too lenient.
We should bar anybody with any kind of a drug conviction from any job where judgment is required. No.
Just like I don't think there should be a law telling people they have to wear their safety belt. Educate people to make the correct decisions for themselves, or otherwise live with the natural consequences.
Here's some food for thought on some other narcotics:"In his famous Concord prison study, Leary administered psilocybin to 32 inmates in a maximum security prison in Concord, Massachusetts. He helped the prisoners assimilate their experiences in such a manner that only 25% of his subjects ever returned to jail again. Compare this to the typical recidivism rate of 80% at that time and in 1999. Psilocybin appeared to reform criminals more effectively than any method that had ever been used or has been used since. (Lee & Shalin, 75) "
Unfortunately we have allowed our government to tell us what is ok rather than us telling the government was is ok. This was is the downfall of what Americans call the judicial system. They made us think we were in control, while they were steering us down this horrid path all along. one more tidbit for you. in 1989 a federally paid for study revealed the presence of cannabis receptors in the human brain. not only isn't it harmful, we are designed to receive THC. The DEA never touts this fact do they?
Remember that the marihuana stamp act was passed in the 8th year of the great depression just as it was poised to re-emerge on the textile market thereby challenging cotton's dominance, not to mention all the other parties that saw this harmless textile as an economic threat.
I can't believe someone gave a thumbs down. everything here is verifiable, the government has stuck to it's lies for over 70 years and contrived new ones to support their previous lies. Many people have been deceived and that's pardonable but when the truth is put before you and one clings to the old lies, that is not, it's just showcases ignorance.
We need to learn the facts, spread the truth and work toward undoing a long over due injustice. Irony:
The government's war on cannabis stops less than 1% of all cannabis trades from border to consumer.
However, the war has increased the value of cannabis 1000% or more due to its status.
This means that not only do 99% of American's who would smoke pot, do smoke pot..
That also means billions of dollars are funneled AWAY from the country to smugglers.
Not to mention the waste of tax money on attempting to stop and punish the cannabis user.
who is other wise a law abiding citizen
I know doctors and lawyers and big stock traders and even a ceo that smoke down all the time
No, the current laws do not make sense. The US not only spends the $20+ billion on the war on drugs but they are also throwing money away by keeping so many people in prison for petty drug charges. Come on people, lets use that money for education or health care instead of trying to stop a naturally growing plant with minimal ill effects. Why should alcohol be legal and marijuana illegal when you can die from drinking too much but it is impossible to die from smoking too much. |
