Marijuana is a drug that has been used for thousands of years. Marijuana wasused in ancient China, as far back as 5000 B. C. The Incans and Mayans usedmarijuana in religious ceremonies. Marijuana also has roots in this country.
TheIndians of the plains used marijuana in their peace pipes as a sign offriendship and peace. After prohibition there was a sharp rise in the use ofthis drug in America, but after prohibition was repealed the use went down. Inthe 1920s and 30s the use of marijuana was primarily by the minorities. Inthe 1930s it was common belief that minorities where inhumane and violent,and people believed that marijuana was part of the cause.
Then in 1937 marijuanawas declared illegal. This was done with no research. It was just assumed thatmarijuana caused psychological dependence, provoked violent crimes, and led toinsanity. People were told that marijuana would make people want to take a gun,knife, or weapon and kill someone.
Prohibition on marijuana was established dueto a misunderstanding. Prohibition has not achieved its goal, and goes againstan American philosophical approach. I believe it is time to look at the factsand benefits, and to reconsider marijuana prohibition. Marijuana has a positiveeffect on patients with certain diseases. AIDS victims are sometimes prescribedmarijuana to help increase their appetite. Victims of AIDS do not want to eatand thus they do not get the nutrients they need.
Marijuana helps them to eat,and thus enabling them to get the nutrients they need. Marijuana also helps toincrease the appetite in cancer patients. People who get glaucomas also usemarijuana. It helps to ease the pain for many glaucoma patients.
Marijuana isvery helpful to these people. This is just one example of why marijuanaprohibition should be reconsidered. When comparing tobacco, alcohol, andmarijuana, there is evidence that marijuana has the least addictive power. During the Nixon administration, the government concluded that marijuana did notposses any physically addictive traits.
The University of California did a studyon the power of heroin, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and marijuana interms of power to induce psychological dependence. Nicotine was first, marijuanalast. Marijuana was deemed least likely to produce signs of withdrawal uponquitting, and last in terms of producing a physical tolerance to the drug. Marijuana is less addictive than two legal drugs in this country. This does notmake sense, and so prohibition should be reconsidered. The United Statesgovernment spends too much money each year on prohibition of marijuana.
The DEAspends 1. 3 billion fighting marijuana, and that does not include thecost of prison management and construction. Overall, the government has spent 30billion of the taxpayers money. Of felons convicted of crimes related tomarijuana possession, production and trafficking through 1980-1992, 58% had noprior arrest history, 91% were not identified as organizers, leaders, managersor supervisors of drug-oriented organizations, and 92% did not own or posses agun. In other words, the government is spending millions of dollars puttingnon-violent otherwise law-abiding citizens in jail and making the taxpayers paythe bill.
The amount of money spent on war on marijuana is unreasonable. This is not worth it, and is another reason why prohibition of marijuana shouldbe reconsidered. The original motivation for marijuana prohibition was based ona lack of knowledge, and should be reconsidered. Even after research showing thedrug to be much better than originally thought, people will not change theirview on the matter.
And so billions of dollars will continually be spent onpersecution and enforcement, while is does not change anything. The patterns donot change and the use does not decline, and the government will not changetheir view on the subject. The prohibition on marijuana is costly, does notwork, and should be reconsidered. It is time that we see and end to theprohibition of marijuana.Environment
