According to Harvard Medical Professor Lester Grinspoon, it is a “miracle drug”, one that prevents blindness, acts as an appetite stimulant for AIDS patients, and prevents muscle spasms in epileptics. When speaking of the same plant, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics for over thirty years, Harry J. Anslinger said that this “evil weed” led to killings, sex crimes and insanity. How can two such highly respected experts have such night and day outlooks on the same thing?

While Anslinger presided as America’s leading anti-drug official his McCarthyish hunt down of Marijuana users led to he downfall of many well respected Americans. During the 1900’s the United Stated has committed itself to and unprecedented war on marijuana that is costly, unjustified and impossible to win. The topic of Marijuana is quite broad. It encompasses history, legislation, and the benefits as well as the harms of the plant itself. Marijuana is the name of the plant known to botanists as Cannabis Sativa. Other names for the plant exist throughout the world.

In Africa, Marijuana is known as “dagga”, in China as “ma”, in Northern Europe as “hemp” and in the United States as either “pot”, “buds”, “reefer”, “weed” or the more direct, “smoke”. Marijuana goes back over five thousand years. It is one of the oldest agricultural commodities not grown for food. Hemp, first cultivated in China as early as 2800 B. C. , soon stretched to central Asia where it spread like milkweed or thistle. Marijuana soon began to crowd out neighboring grasses and reaching heights of three to twenty feet stretched over large plains.

Local people began to use the plant for its strong, durable fibers which they used for rope and to construct material similar to linen. Early in the Christian Era, Marijuana reached the Mediterranean countries of Europe. Its cultivation spread through the rest of Europe during the Middle ages. Hemp’s progression to Africa can easily be marked through the Middle East where it remains a major cash crop. It is unknown how the plant found its way to the America’s. One of the most popular theories is that European explorers brought the seeds along with them.

The cultivation of Marijuana has been successful in almost every climate. It is the unbounded growth of Marijuana that will later lead to its difficulty in egislation. The Hemp plant has dozens of uses. It can be made into canvas, paper, rope, twine, cable, yarn artificial sponges and clothing. The seed of the plant can be made into Hempseed oil, paints, soaps, carnishes and birdseed. For all of its usefulness it is the Hemp plant’s leaves for which it has been condemned.

It is this part of the plant that yields the sticky yellow resin, rich with cannabinoids. This resin contains more that sixty compounds unique to Marijuana. The most prominent is delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol. This substance therwise known as delta-9-THC which causes Marijuana’s psychoactive effects. “The effects of Marijuana”, according to Leo Hollister, former president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and current professor at the University of Texas “poses no greater risk that moderate consumption of Alcohol.

Harvard Professor Lester Grinspoon in his book, Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine, claims that the drug has countless benefits, among which are: relief of nausea associated with chemotherapy, preventing blindness induced by glaucoma, serving as an appetite stimulant for AIDS patients, warding off sthma attacks and migraine headaches, relieving chronic pain and deduction of the muscle spasticity that accompanies multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and paraplegia, the list continues.

Through the 1900’s, specifically the 1970’s, a number of studies were done on Pot which claimed that it kills brain cells, damages chromosomes, caused impotence in men and prompts men to grow breasts. These conclusions, as stated by Eric Schlosser a writer for The Atlantic Monthly and authority on Marijuana, “… were based on faulty research. ” However, there re real consequences to smoking Reefer. One of these consequences is a psychological dependence in some users.

The compound delta-9-THC has a half- life of five days. This means an occasional user can fail a drug test three days after smoking, a heavy user can fail for over a month. There have been no immunosuppressive of reproductive effects linked to delta-9-THC. Some studies have shown short-term memory deficiency, although reversible, in heavy smokers. The biggest health concern with Pot smoke is its damage to the respiratory system. The risks run parallel with tobacco smoking.

Marijuana is the dried flower clusters and leaves of the hemp plant when taken to induce euphoria. Marijuana has been in existence for centuries even Magellan spoke of it during his trip to India. In his log he spoke of a plant that you smoked that made a man drunk without drinking. Marijuana would be beneficial if legalized because it would bring in extra money, it has medical uses, hemp is one of the best materials in the world and on average it is healthier for you then beer or liquor. The old cash crop of the Americas was tobacco in today’s world it is marijuana.

More marijuana is transported into and out of this country at a higher rate then tobacco. As of last year there were 1,147,591 of seized marijuana by the United States Coast Guard. If the average price of a pound of marijuana were only fifteen hundred dollars that would put the price at 1,721,386,500 when the GNP (Gross National Product) for year two thousand is projected at 17 billion. If marijuana were actually a taxed good at the normal rate of five percent that would put the price up to 1,807,455,825 it would take the price up a total of one hundred million dollars.

Not only would the legalization bring in more then nine percent of the GNP. It would take the amount of drug dealing and money laundering due to dealing down. With this decrease in crime the money spent on police could be put to better use. The police could spend more time in trying to solve crimes such as murders or theft. Though in another area there would have to be a specific police unit to deal with these new stores. The insurance rate would also be astronomically high due to break-ins and the cost of the merchandise being sold. Though even now there are stores that do sell “smoking accessories”.

I mean who honestly would smoke tobacco through a water bong. I’ve never met a person who smokes tobacco through anything except a Sherlock pipe. These stores have been around for a long time and nothing extremely bad has ever happened to one. There just another type of store that can be taxed and put its share towards GNP. This is all a store that sold marijuana would do be taxed and brings its share of the GNP. How can it be wrong to legalize it? When this would bring in a huge portion of money to the US and put a large section of drug dealers out of work.

Also the medicinal uses are humongous. While marijuana kills absolutely no one aspirin kills up to one thousand people per year and other prescription drugs kill up to twenty seven thousand people a year#. Also cannabis has been proven to take down the risk of cancer and they show a lower rate of illness then non-users#. Medical marijuana has been shown to relieve the symptoms that no other prescription drug has been able to do. The uses that it has the potential are amazing nothing else can compare to it except maybe penicillin.

There is an amazing market for new medical drugs not just the development but the search for the all-amazing wonder drug still continues. Marijuana could be this drug if it was given a chance like every other drug it might surprise people but instead people try to ignore it when it has so many aspects of it. Smoking marijuana has been proven to be the most expedient method of use in medically needs. # At first glance people hear the world legalization and they automatically think smoking some pot. Yet there are many other#r aspects and reasons to legalize it.

For one there are many uses for hemp. It is one of the strongest rope’s ever made it is cheaper then normal rope and its faster to make. Hemp can also be used in the making of cloth. Hemp produces an extremely rugged cloth product that can be used to make shirts and pants. These products would be cheaper in production and sale, being the rugged durable fabric it is they would probably last longer then normal clothes. With the average worldwide consumption of paper is up to two hundred and sixty million tons a year. People are now looking towards hemp as a substitute for trees as paper.

It is cheaper and once again it is more durable paper then the paper made out of trees. This would save the environment chiefly the trees. Hemp’s THC content is point one to point four percent was as marijuana that is smoked has a THC content of four percent up to twenty percent. That’s not enough to do anything to your body or mind. Hemp’s growing season is a rotational plant, which will keep the ground together and soil in an enriched state. Hemp also need no herbicides to grow which will keep the environment safer then growing cotton for example.

Hemp’s growth rate is amazing it grows five to twenty feet in a three to four month growing cycle. This growth rate suppresses the growth of weeds and is just one more added benefit. Not all legalization contains the psychoactive ingredient it is also a source for cheap strong fibers; a way to control weeds and enriches fields. The strange thing in today’s world people don’t realize that drinking and smoking cigarettes are just as bad even worse then simply smoking marijuana for recreational use.

For instance the amount of people who die per year due to marijuana are under ten thousand deaths a year; were as alcohol kills one hundred thousand people annually and tobacco is responsible for four hundred and fifty thousand deaths annually. # Marijuana has not even been totally linked to the cancers it’s supposed to create such as mouth related, throat and lung. On the other hand alcohol has been linked without doubt to exacerbate liver, heart disease, peptic ulcers, hepatitis, cancers, and physical dependence.

Also marijuana has been said to cause brain damage when in reality there is no hard proof that can be shown on this subject. The reports that have been highly publicized have been proven false, such as the rhesus monkey study of Dr. Robert Heath#. This study was performed in the late seventy’s and was reviewed again in nineteen eighty-two. The study was shown to have no true understanding of the monkey’s brain in being able to determine the normal brain to the damaged brain.. The control group was to small to consistening of only four monkeys and there was an experimental bias.

This study was torn apart by the American Medical Association (AMA). In another comparison marijuana is no where near as addictive as cigarettes for instance. Cigarettes have a ninety- percent addiction rate while marijuana is less addictive than caffeine#. Marijuana in the non-smoked form is safer than the non-smoked form of cigarettes, which is snuff or chew. The non-smoked version of marijuana is in many forms one of the more popular types are bhang a Middle Eastern drink that contains an extract. This drink is totally non-carcinogenic unlike chew, which causes mouths and throat cancer.

The addiction factor in marijuana is next to non-existent. The majority of people who smoke marijuana do it socially and to relax. Even with the so-called addictive personalities it is still not a leader, as some would have you think. On an average scale the addiction of marijuana is less than that of sugar and chocolate but more so than that of anchovies#. The gateway effect is a widely used term to express the false impression that marijuana leads people to harder and harder drugs. This is a lie marijuana is not a “gateway” drug it does not lead people to do crack, heroin or LSD.

In Holland with the legalization of marijuana the use of hardcore drugs has shown to decrease. If marijuana were a gateway drug and it were legalized then the only thing that could logically happen would be that the use of hardcore drugs (cocaine, heroin) would have increased. Yet the opposite happened the harder drugs declined while marijuana did increase it took the place of these drugs#. Some of the more uneducated people in the world talk about overdosing on marijuana this next to impossible. If you take the dosage of alcohol to kill you the equal level of that to cannabis would have to be multiplied by hundreds.

Marijuana has been called the safest therapeutically active substance known to man#. One of the main things associated with “pot” smokers is chronic laziness. This is a stereotypical misconception that was brought by Mexican borracho. Studies have shown that the majority of responsible adults do not have this habit. Even the U. S. Army has done studies on the subject and found no effect#. When you look at all these facts that have been presented in a bias manor by the media and the government. How can an argument be made against the legalization of marijuana?

The amount of money that it could bring in is unbelievable. The simple fact that the sale of marijuana would bring in almost nine percent of today’s GDP. That hemp could replace half a dozen other fabrics, be cheaper to produce and even be more ecological. The sale of hemp would be another factor to be brought up the first figure I had is just the sale of smoked marijuana. The sale of hemp wasn’t calculated into it that it would just bring up the tax money and possibly take its percentage of GDP up to fifteen or at the most eighteen percent. Medicinal uses of it outweigh by far the supposed cancers it produces.

If given the chance marijuana could be the next penicillin a miracle drug curing sicknesses never thought to be curable. Marijuana the so-called gateway drug the highly addictive drug, this was all a lie. Its been shown that marijuana is not even as addictive as caffeine or chocolate. Cigarettes cause twice as many cancers as marijuana and marijuana’s non-smoked form causes no cancers while chew cigarettes non-smoking form causes several oral cancers. If these reasons are enough for you to reconsider your view on marijuana laws please visit http://www. norml. com and see what the truth is.