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The Top Ten Reasons Marijuana Should Be Legal
Pubdate: Sat, 01 Sep 2007
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2007 Independent Media Institute
Contact: http://www.alternet.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1451
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
THE TOP TEN REASONS MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL
Prohibition has failed to control the use and domestic production of
marijuana -- it's time everyone faced this and the rest of the
compelling arguments for legalizing it.
Editor's note: There are millions of regular pot smokers in America
and millions more infrequent smokers.
Smoking pot clearly has far fewer dangerous and hazardous effects on
society than legal drugs such as alcohol. Here is High Times's top 10
reasons to marijuana should be legal, part of its 420 Campaign
legalization strategy.
10. Prohibition has failed to control the use and domestic production
of marijuana. The government has tried to use criminal penalties to
prevent marijuana use for over 75 years and yet: marijuana is now
used by over 25 million people annually, cannabis is currently the
largest cash crop in the United States, and marijuana is grown all
over the planet.
Claims that marijuana prohibition is a successful policy are
ludicrous and unsupported by the facts, and the idea that marijuana
will soon be eliminated from America and the rest of the world is a
ridiculous fantasy.
9. Arrests for marijuana possession disproportionately affect blacks
and Hispanics and reinforce the perception that law enforcement is
biased and prejudiced against minorities. African-Americans account
for approximately 13% of the population of the United States and
about 13.5% of annual marijuana users, however, blacks also account
for 26% of all marijuana arrests. Recent studies have demonstrated
that blacks and Hispanics account for the majority of marijuana
possession arrests in New York City, primarily for smoking marijuana
in public view. Law enforcement has failed to demonstrate that
marijuana laws can be enforced fairly without regard to race; far too
often minorities are arrested for marijuana use while
white/non-Hispanic Americans face a much lower risk of arrest.
8. A regulated, legal market in marijuana would reduce marijuana
sales and use among teenagers, as well as reduce their exposure to
other drugs in the illegal market.
The illegality of marijuana makes it more valuable than if it were
legal, providing opportunities for teenagers to make easy money
selling it to their friends.
If the excessive profits for marijuana sales were ended through
legalization there would be less incentive for teens to sell it to one another.
Teenage use of alcohol and tobacco remain serious public health
problems even though those drugs are legal for adults, however, the
availability of alcohol and tobacco is not made even more widespread
by providing kids with economic incentives to sell either one to
their friends and peers.
7. Legalized marijuana would reduce the flow of money from the
American economy to international criminal gangs.
Marijuana's illegality makes foreign cultivation and smuggling to the
United States extremely profitable, sending billions of dollars
overseas in an underground economy while diverting funds from
productive economic development.
6. Marijuana's legalization would simplify the development of hemp as
a valuable and diverse agricultural crop in the United States,
including its development as a new bio-fuel to reduce carbon emissions.
Canada and European countries have managed to support legal hemp
cultivation without legalizing marijuana, but in the United States
opposition to legal marijuana remains the biggest obstacle to
development of industrial hemp as a valuable agricultural commodity.
As US energy policy continues to embrace and promote the development
of bio-fuels as an alternative to oil dependency and a way to reduce
carbon emissions, it is all the more important to develop industrial
hemp as a bio-fuel source - especially since use of hemp stalks as a
fuel source will not increase demand and prices for food, such as
corn. Legalization of marijuana will greatly simplify the regulatory
burden on prospective hemp cultivation in the United States.
5. Prohibition is based on lies and disinformation. Justification of
marijuana's illegality increasingly requires distortions and
selective uses of the scientific record, causing harm to the
credibility of teachers, law enforcement officials, and scientists
throughout the country.
The dangers of marijuana use have been exaggerated for almost a
century and the modern scientific record does not support the reefer
madness predictions of the past and present.
Many claims of marijuana's danger are based on old 20th century
prejudices that originated in a time when science was uncertain how
marijuana produced its characteristic effects.
Since the cannabinoid receptor system was discovered in the late
1980s these hysterical concerns about marijuana's dangerousness have
not been confirmed with modern research. Everyone agrees that
marijuana, or any other drug use such as alcohol or tobacco use, is
not for children.
Nonetheless, adults have demonstrated over the last several decades
that marijuana can be used moderately without harmful impacts to the
individual or society.
4. Marijuana is not a lethal drug and is safer than alcohol.
It is established scientific fact that marijuana is not toxic to
humans; marijuana overdoses are nearly impossible, and marijuana is
not nearly as addictive as alcohol or tobacco.
It is unfair and unjust to treat marijuana users more harshly under
the law than the users of alcohol or tobacco.
3. Marijuana is too expensive for our justice system and should
instead be taxed to support beneficial government programs.
Law enforcement has more important responsibilities than arresting
750,000 individuals a year for marijuana possession, especially given
the additional justice costs of disposing of each of these cases.
Marijuana arrests make justice more expensive and less efficient in
the United States, wasting jail space, clogging up court systems, and
diverting time of police, attorneys, judges, and corrections
officials away from violent crime, the sexual abuse of children, and terrorism.
Furthermore, taxation of marijuana can provide needed and generous
funding of many important criminal justice and social programs.
2. Marijuana use has positive attributes, such as its medical value
and use as a recreational drug with relatively mild side effects.
Many people use marijuana because they have made an informed decision
that it is good for them, especially Americans suffering from a
variety of serious ailments. Marijuana provides relief from pain,
nausea, spasticity, and other symptoms for many individuals who have
not been treated successfully with conventional medications. Many
American adults prefer marijuana to the use of alcohol as a mild and
moderate way to relax.
Americans use marijuana because they choose to, and one of the
reasons for that choice is their personal observation that the drug
has a relatively low dependence liability and easy-to-manage side effects.
Most marijuana users develop tolerance to many of marijuana's side
effects, and those who do not, choose to stop using the drug.
Marijuana use is the result of informed consent in which individuals
have decided that the benefits of use outweigh the risks, especially
since, for most Americans, the greatest risk of using marijuana is
the relatively low risk of arrest.
1. Marijuana users are determined to stand up to the injustice of
marijuana probation and accomplish legalization, no matter how long
or what it takes to succeed.
Despite the threat of arrests and a variety of other punishments and
sanctions marijuana users have persisted in their support for
legalization for over a generation. They refuse to give up their long
quest for justice because they believe in the fundamental values of
American society. Prohibition has failed to silence marijuana users
despite its best attempts over the last generation. The issue of
marijuana's legalization is a persistent issue that, like marijuana,
will simply not go away. Marijuana will be legalized because
marijuana users will continue to fight for it until they succeed.
Learn more about High Times's 420 Campaign marijuana legalization
strategy. http://www.hightimes.com/ht/legal/content.php?bid=1446&aid=22
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