Legalizing Marijuana

The United States has made it clear that they aren’t going to tolerate the legalization of any kind of drugs. The U.S has invested billions of dollars to combat the war on drugs especially when it comes to illegal smuggling. Many people feel that the government should spent federal money on other important issues going on in the country, such as our economy. There are many debatable questions that come up when discussing if marijuana should be legalize or not. Marijuana has been banned for more than half a century. The U.S government has made it clear that the possession or the growth for personal use is a criminal act. The government has clear understanding that legalizing marijuana could have a good outcome for the country by helping people that need it for medical purposes, but also it could bring billions of dollars in tax revenue to the U.S economy. The U.S. has a long history with marijuana; some of the early presidents were advocates of marijuana. Many people think that Marijuana should be legalized because it can be used for medical purposes but other people who are against legalizing marijuana think that it would affect kids and schools. Marijuana should be legalized but only for people with medicinal needs and it should be treated similar to the alcohol regulations.

Background History of Marijuana
Marijuana has been known to date back thousands of years. According to Time Magazine, the marijuana plant goes back as early as 2737 B.C. found in China; one of the first person to use it was a Chinese emperor Shen Neng who prescribed marijuana to his patients who suffered from all different sorts of illness. Due to the drug’s popularity, marijuana spread throughout Asia and the Middle East (Stack). In the documentary The Union states that, Marijuana has been part of the U.S culture for hundreds of years. Marijuana was once one of the largest agricultural crops in the States. In fact one of the first laws regarding marijuana was 1610, when people were order to cultivate hemp. Hemp is one of the toughest fibers that are known to exist; it comes from the marijuana plant. In the 1800’s hemp was primarily used for making clothing, paper, medicine, lighting oils. Benjamin Franklin used hemp to start up one of the first paper mills. The two first copies’ of the constitution was written in hemp paper. Science behind marijuana There’s no clear evidence that states that marijuana is harmful. People have been made to believe that marijuana is very bad for the human body or it could even kill you. For decades we were made to believe that marijuana killed brain cells. “After producing the Heath/Tulane University study, the so-called “Great Communicator” proclaimed, “The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana.” (L.A. Times). The original report from Dr. Heath/Tulane had concluded that monkeys were smoking the equivalent of 30 joints a day, and began to atrophy and die after only 90 days. But after the study was reveled on how the research was conducted, it was clear that study was done wrong. The study was originally supposed to be conducted by giving monkeys 30 joints a day for one year, but the actual test was revealed that monkeys were giving 63 joint a day within 5 minutes through a gas mask and began dying after 90 days (electricemperor). The Ronald Regan administration began to advertize against pot after the brain cells were found in dead monkeys. The study was used to terrorize many of the parent, school, churches and much other organization to fight against marijuana. The correct study didn’t come out until several years later and still till this day few people know the truth behind the study. The damage has been done, until this day marijuana is believe to kill brain cells, cause lung cancer and memory loss. People should be worried about other harmful drugs that are available on the market today. With all the research that’s been done on marijuana, there’s no evidence that using marijuana has cause death since the first known existent of marijuana ,according to Dr. Lester Grinspoon from Harvard Medical school. The number one killer in the the U.S. has been tobacco, which kills more than 443,000 people a year. Despite these risks, approximately 46.6 million U.S. adults smoke cigarettes (CDC). The number two killer in the U.S. is alcohol killing on average 75,000 people a year (CDC). Although with this staggering number of deaths, tobacco and alcohol are still available to the American people.

Work Cited Time Magazine by Patrick stack-http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1931247,00.html Electric Emperor, Dr Heath/Tulane Study, 1974. - http://www.electricemperor.com/eecdrom/HTML/EMP/15/ECH15_03.HTM Center for disease and prevention-http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/AAG/osh.htm
Alcohol linked to 75,000 U.S. deaths a year- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6089353/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-linked-us-deaths-year/ The Union: The Business Behind Getting High, Documentary