Here's my first post for an official rambling. I wrote this for a class last year and thought I'd share it with everyone. Let me know what you think. 

Weeding out the Problem

            Cannabis, weed, reefer, dope, pot, toke, and Kush, these are but a few of the many different names supplemented for the plant commonly known as marijuana. About as many different names as it has uses, the marijuana plant is cause to a wide variety of controversial topics, arguments, and political discussions. Why is this plant and its products concern for politicians and doctors as well as the average American citizen? The reason why is because marijuana is illegal in the United States. It is deemed to be an illicit drug by our nation’s government and thusly its use has been outlawed throughout the country. Not only has use of the plant been outlawed but the propagation of marijuana is illegal as well. I feel it is necessary for people to become educated about marijuana, which in turn will lead to the legalization of the plant.

            If this plant has been banned from our nation there must be a good reason for it. After all Marijuana, also known as Cannabis, used to be one of the largest agricultural crops throughout the entire world, United States included. From a very well done documentary called Hempsters, I learned that hemp comes from cannabis and many don’t know that hemp is the most durable, robust, natural soft fiber on the earth. (Henning, M) Hemp was used throughout the world and has thousands of uses. Paper, lighting oil, medicines, most fabric and fiber, to name a few, all were predominantly made from hemp. “In 1938 Popular Mechanics had prepared an article called ‘New Billion Dollar Crop’ and listed Hemp as being able to produce over 5,000 textile products from its thread-like fibers and over 25,000 products from its cellulose, including dynamite and cellophane.” (Holowach, J)

            Oddly enough one of the first laws enacted in our country was to grow marijuana for the use of hemp, in the Jamestown colony, Virginia in 1619. Our founding fathers used cannabis-hemp in daily life and even for very important events. One of America’s first paper mills made paper from hemp and was opened by Benjamin Franklin. The first two copies of the Declaration of Independence were written on Cannabis-hemp paper.

Up through the late 1800’s, America’s textile production was made using hemp as well as up to 50% of the medicines used in our country. Queen Victoria actually used the resin from the plant to relieve pains caused by menstrual cramps. An interesting documentary called the Union describes the history of the plant. (Harvey, B)

Although people cannot get high from industrial hemp, it was wrongly associated with Reefer Madness. Reefer madness, in short, was a term coined from yellow journalism that all Blacks and Mexicans smoked pot, which made them play devils music and cause disrespect to white people.

In 1937 a tax act was placed on marijuana, as well as medical cannabis and industrialized hemp. It was speculated that because hemp was such a versatile plant it would be conflicting with other sources. With this act in place, in order to grow marijuana you needed a stamp; however, the government wasn’t issuing out any stamps. (Koch, K) This act, along with the belief of reefer madness, eventually led to the downfall of cannabis and its use in our industry, and caused all forms of cannabis to become illegal.

Marijuana remained illegal until World War II when the government realized how useful hemp was, releasing videos on the many uses of hemp. After the war, in 1948, the marijuana issue resurfaced and Congress realized that marijuana was made illegal for the wrong reason. Studies showed that pot didn’t, in fact cause you to go into a state of violence or madness, but actually calmed you down. Our government took this calm state as a state of pacifism. Afraid that communist countries would use marijuana against the American people causing them to lose their will to fight, congress once more outlawed it.

Throughout the years many reports, with commissions from the Mayor of New York to the president of the United States, have all come back with the view that marijuana should carry no criminal penalty attached to it. From the CNBC documentary concerning marijuana we learn of reports that included: The Wootton Report 1968, England; The Le Dain Report 1970, Canada; The Le Guardia Committee Report 1944, New York; The Shafer Report 1972, United States; Ganga in Jamaica: A Medical Anthropological Study of Chronic Marijuana Use, 1975 and CANNABIS: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy 2002, Canadian Senate. (Regan, T) However, even with all these reports on the plant, marijuana remains just as illegal today as it did more than 70 years ago

When asked if prohibition works, Senator Larry Campbell states, “The fact of the matter is that prohibition has never worked.” (Harvey, B) Most people are familiar with the prohibition of alcohol in the early 20^th century, which gave rise to some of America’s worst criminals. The goals of a prohibition are simply to reduce the supply of the drugs available and to reduce the demand for the product. In both cases of reducing the supply and demand for marijuana it is a complete failure. In 1937, the same year as the Marijuana Tax Act, there was an estimated 55,000 marijuana users in the U.S. Now there is an estimated 50 million marijuana users, a 1000% increase, during a time of prohibition where marijuana is outlawed. Dr. Perry Kendall of the British Columbia Provincial Health Office stated in a documentary titled A Norml Life, “Whether or not the drug is criminalized or decriminalized does not affect the rates of smoking of cannabis, either uptake or of discontinuation.” (Pitman, R)

A common misconception about marijuana is that it is harmful to the body. Some people have suggested over the years, that marijuana kills brain cells and therefore makes you dumb. In 1974 a study was done to scientifically show that marijuana caused brain damage after the governor of California Ronald Reagan was asked about the negative affects of marijuana. The study was called the Heath/Tulane Study. Monkeys were given thirty joints a day and after a ninety-day time span the monkeys had begun to atrophy and expire. The brain cells of both monkeys, subjected to marijuana, and ones that were not, were counted after the study was done. The amount of brain cells in the monkeys subjected to marijuana was significantly less than the other monkeys. Brain damage from marijuana was determined as a result of the study. Ronald Reagan then went on to say, “The most reliable scientific sources say, permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana.” (Harvey, B)

However, six years after the study was conducted, the methods used in the study were finally revealed. Instead of giving monkey thirty joints a day for a year a method was used by Dr. Heath of pumping sixty-three Columbian strength joints through a gas mask in five minute intervals over the course of three months. Oxygen wasn’t pumped through the masks and the monkeys were suffocated. The dead brain cells in the monkeys were not from marijuana but from the lack of oxygen. Nevertheless, it had already been associated that by using cannabis you would lose brain cells. New studies have gone on afterwards to prove that marijuana didn’t kill brain cells. In 2005, a study done by the University of Saskatchewan reported in the ‘Journal of Clinical Investigation’ “marijuana could possibly stimulate brain cell growth.”

Another common misconception is that marijuana causes lung cancer. There have been no studies to prove that this accusation is true. Elements in the tobacco products have been proven to cause cancer but the elements in cannabis don’t. Even in the case of other lung related diseases such as emphysema there have been no such cases. “Marijuana use does not cause or potentiate emphysema, in any way.” Dr. Donald Tashkin, M.D., UCLA. (Harvey, B) Even when looking at the amount of deaths in our country the number one cause of death in the U.S is from tobacco. It alone beat out Aids, heroine, crack cocaine, car accidents, murder, fire, and alcohol combined. The amount of deaths from Tobacco is averaging 430,000 people per year. In the amount of deaths from marijuana Dr. Lester Grinspoon, MD –Professor Emeritus, Harvard Medical School states, “There are no deaths from Cannabis use anywhere, you can’t find one.” (Harvey, B) It’s interesting to note that tobacco receives government subsidies and is grown with radioactive fertilizer yet it’s illegal to grow marijuana. Why?

Skeptics of the drug have dubbed marijuana as the “Gateway” drug and have developed the Gateway Theory. In essence the Gateway Theory suggests that if a person tries marijuana they are susceptible and more likely to try harder drugs. Out of every 100 cannabis users only 1 has tried cocaine and less than 1 have tried heroine. (Edwards, J) It’s used as a scapegoat as to why people are trying the so-called “hard drugs” in the first place. Studies have shown that there is nothing in marijuana either chemically or naturally that encourages users to pursue anything else. Norm Stamper, PhD who was the Seattle Chief of Police from 1994-2000, claims, “If this gateway theory were true then his addiction of alcohol was started with milk.” The theory holds no justification or evidence to support that marijuana is indeed the gateway drug. John Conroy, QC Criminal Defense Lawyer claims, “Because of the black market, because of the prohibition, people may be susceptible to seeing these other drugs and be willing to try these other dugs.” There is indeed a Gateway Effect but it’s a gateway caused by prohibition and a mixing of hard and soft-drugs markets. (Edwards, J)

We have a problem in our country and the problem is that the misconceptions of marijuana from our past are still being carried over to today. Marijuana is still in prohibition when its affects and uses are almost entirely beneficial to our nations economy.  By keeping marijuana in prohibition the people that benefit from it the most are the growers and dealers of pot. It really says something when drug lords are against the legalization of marijuana. Why would they be against it? Because by legalizing marijuana it would create a regulated market which the drug dealers would have no part of and wouldn’t profit from it. Without control from legalization it’s hard to monitor where marijuana is going, for example into the hands of children. Norm Stamper also states that for the past decade it has been easier for teenagers to obtain illegal drugs than it is to get beer or cigarettes. (Katel, P)

By making marijuana regulated in establishments, it would place the necessary safeguards on the product instead of having it roam the streets with no safeguards at all. By legalizing marijuana and not just decriminalizing it, then it would pump nearly 14 billion dollars into our economy. That money could go towards our health care systems, our national defense and better our economy overall. The producing, packaging and sales of marijuana could be handled in the same way alcohol is handled in our country. Monitoring the sales of marijuana and punishing those by revoking the license to sell if they break the law by selling to those under the influence or to minors.

When surveying students at my school, I found that a majority of students are for the legalization of the plant both for medicinal purposes as well as recreational use. When asked if they would vote for it to be legalized more than half of the students surveyed replied yes. The students were also asked what their suggestion to the government would be if marijuana were legalized. The answer from most was to regulate it similarly to alcohol. (Woodhall, B)

We should be making use of this marijuana plant. A plant that has so many good uses such as bio-fuel should be in use. The markets and money that would open from the legalization of marijuana are astounding. The fibers from hemp are the strongest natural fibers in the world and last much longer than cotton. I feel that by making the marijuana plant legal it would boost our economy from the thousands of different uses that come from the cannabis plant.