The Legalization of Marijuana for All Purposes

Drugs are major problem in our society today. Although the Canadian

government has taken measures against drugs, in stiffening laws concerning the

cultivation and trafficking of drugs and various media awareness programs, the

problem continues to get worse. The government is exercising many options to

control the problem or even solve the problem. It seems as if the "war on drugs" is a

futile war or at least next to impossible to win. The government should consider using

different options than ones they have used in the past. The legalization of softer drugs

like marijuana should be considered as one option. Some people may feel that this

would lead to a sharp increase in its use, but it might be worthwhile because it would

reduce the amounts of money spent on government enforcement of current laws, if

taxed, it could increase our country's revenue. The government could then focus on

cracking down on the harder drugs like crack and heroine.

The government should also legalize marijuana because of its several medicinal and

industrial purposes. Legalizing hemp based products could create a whole new

industry. Fuels can be made by extracting oils from seeds and the hemp fiber could be

used to make ropes, clothing, or paper of a higher quality because of the strength of

the fibers.1

Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in Canada. Four million Canadians have

used marijuana, including 1.4 million teenagers.2 The large number of users can

probably be explained by the drugs relatively low cost and light criminal consequences

for dealing it; when compared with other drugs. Since 1969 about half a million

people have been convicted for possession and use of the drug3. The Canadian

government spends $100 million a year enforcing drug laws.4

The criminalization of marijuana does not prevent people from using it, in fact it makes

the problem worse. People continue to consume marijuana, laws just make it harder

and more expensive to acquire. Since the black market has no regulations the

consumers of drugs have to trust their dealers. What's particularly dangerous about

black market drugs is that they can be mixed with other drugs or chemicals and can be

contaminated with pesticides. When banning the use of marijuana the government also

bans drug paraphernalia that impedes the production and marketing of water pipes and

other more advanced technology that could reduce the harmfulness of the marijuana

smoke.5 Since the price of marijuana is higher than it would be if it were legalized it is

less economical to eat, which is the best way to avoid the harmful smoke; this is

because it takes two or three times more marijuana when eaten to produce the same

high when smoked.6

The use of marijuana has steadily declined since 1979, and an Addiction Research

Foundation survey in 1987 showed that four of every one hundred Canadians between

the ages of 18 and 19 use marijuana on a daily basis.7

The decline in the number of marijuana users since 1979 is probably a result of

numerous drug awareness campaigns and the publication of other biased information

on the subject. It could also be that hippies are getting older and more responsible.

What is Marijuana?

Marijuana refers to a mixture of leaves, stems and flowering tops of cannabis sativa8.

It has hallucinogenic and pleasure-giving effects on the user when smoked or eaten.

Tetrahydrocannabinal (THC) is the non-narcotic psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.9

Marijuana use has been documented as far back as 3000 BC in Central Asia and China,

where it was used as a folk medicine.10 By the 20th century the drug started to be

used as a pleasure-inducing drug, and by the 1960s and 70s it was, after alcohol, the

second most popular drug in North America.11

Marijuana has never been proven to be physically addictive, but users develop a

psychological dependency. Users experience two phases of intoxication: initial

stimulation, giddiness, and euphoria, followed by sedation and pleasant tranquillity.

When marijuana is smoked the user feels the onset of the "high" within about seven

seconds and within about 30 minutes when eaten. The drug brings the user to a

relaxed and peaceful state, and sometimes to a euphoric state of mind. Hallucinations

can occur when taken in high doses. The effects last between two to four hours after

ingested, and the user can be left in a relaxed state for several hours after ingestion.

Short term memory is inhibited for the duration of the high, and users find it difficult to

concentrate on complicated logical concepts like mathematics.

Marijuana is not physically addictive, and in fact many users experience a reverse

tolerance, this is where after long-term use smaller amounts of the drug eventually

produce the same high.12 Some psychological dependence is possible. Studies have

found that the psychological dependency is less than sugar or chocolate, but is more

habit forming than anchovies.13(Family Council on Drug Awareness) No studies have

found conclusive evidence that marijuana causes any long-term physical or

psychological harm. Like smoking anything, however, long-term use can lead to

higher risks of lung cancer. The health risk of smoking the marijuana can be eliminated

by eating the plant, or can be reduced by smoking less of a more potent variety of

marijuana. (Family Council of Drug Awareness)

According to leading doctors, nearly all drugs are toxic and have potentially lethal

affects when taken in large amounts, but marijuana is not one of these drugs. While

over 100 thousand deaths annually are directly linked to acute alcohol poisoning

no-one in the 4,000 years of marijuana's documented use has ever died from a pot

overdose14. Marijuana does have its negative affects, but they are quite pale in

comparison to the social and health problems caused by alcohol. It therefore is

illogical to prohibit the use of marijuana a drug has many more positive sides than

alcohol or tobacco.

Marijuana is said to cause an "amotivational syndrome".15 This is where the user is

said to withdraw themselves from society and lose their ambition. Scientific evidence

supporting this theory is lacking. Scientists cannot conclude that these symptoms are

caused by the use of marijuana or present in the user before they use marijuana. These

symptoms are present in people who do not use marijuana. Many troubled people seek

escape through the use of marijuana, and frequent use of marijuana may become one

more in a serious of counterproductive behaviors of troubled individuals.

Marijuana use is not limited to people of any identifiable group, social class or level of

education; a cross-section of marijuana users is as diverse as the rest of the population.

The general assumption that marijuana users are lazy and lack ambition is just a myth.

In a survey of a leading teaching hospital (no name given) it was discovered that over

60 percent of medical students were found to be marijuana user.16

42,209 people were convicted of marijuana charges in the U.K. in 1991 and close to

90 percent of all drug offenses involved cannabis.17 All this does is crowd the courts

and the jails, and costs tax payers millions. If the government would legalize marijuana

they could go after the more serious drugs like heroin and crack. The U.S.

government spends over a billion dollars on its "war on drugs," when it could be

making at least that much from legalizing and taxing it.18 The average price of

marijuana is about $10 per gram. These prices of marijuana are extremely inflated

because of the risks of growing and selling it. Marijuana has very easy growing

conditions and can be produced at far less cost than it is currently being sold for.

Because of this the government could reasonably place high taxes on marijuana and

still yield high profit. Marijuana could be bought at convenient stores like tobacco is

today, provide an temporary escape from the pains of everyday life, and bring in

billions of dollars that the government could put to good use.

The recreational use of marijuana does not create higher crime rates like most

government policy makers seem to believe. The crime rates in Amsterdam (where

marijuana is legal) are much lower than other cities in Europe and most major North

American cities.19 In fact the possession and trafficking of marijuana is the only crime

most users of marijuana commit where marijuana is illegal.

The so called "War on Drugs is a complete failure. Prisons are filled with drug

criminals costing the government millions, while drug use continues to rise. Legalizing

and taxing marijuana and focusing their efforts against is a logical route for drug policy

makers to take. The government could make money while putting the black market in

disarray. The government could concentrate on the control of the drugs that are a

serious threat to society.

Marijuana as Medicine

Marijuana can be used for several medicinal purposes. Marijuana is effective for

treating AIDS-related wasting and the nausea from cancer chemotherapy.20 Other

prescribed drugs are used but are often expensive and don't always work. The drugs

also have harmful side effects. Many of them cause hives, impotence, difficulty in

breathing, tremors and rigidity and leukopenia.21 Marijuana isn't free of risks - it

contains a number of toxins - but is far less toxic than many prescription drugs. Unlike

many other drugs marijuana has no recorded cases of death from overdose. Since it is

taken one puff at a time users can feel the effects as they go and regulate their intake

according to their need.

Many chronic pain sufferers report that marijuana works better than other prescribed

drug for their pain. The fact that marijuana can be taken a puff at a time with almost

immediate effects is also a big advantage to chronic pain sufferers or people with

spastic disorders like multiple sclerosis. While other prescription drugs can

incapacitate a patient for the whole day, marijuana allows patients to administer the

desired amount.

Marijuana can be used to treat glaucoma. Glaucoma is a disease that increases the

pressure within the eye and eventually can lead to blindness. Marijuana can reduce the

pressure within the eye.22 The downside however, is that is may also reduce blood

flow to the optic nerve, which can exacerbate the loss of vision. The reduced blood

flow to the optic nerve is less serious to the side-effects of other leading conventional

treatments. Beta-blocker eye drops, a more conventional treatment for glaucoma, can

cause sluggishness and sometimes activates asthma attacks.23

There are still too many skeptics who doubt marijuana's ability as a medicine. A study

was devised in 1996 to change the minds of such skeptics. It was devised by the San

Francisco General Hospital and it would have tested the benefits of smoking marijuana

and would eventually lead to the legalization of marijuana. The study was endorsed by

the FDA (The Food and Drug Administration), but the federal government wouldn't

provide the marijuana for the study.24 It seems as if the government was afraid that

they were wrong about marijuana.

The Industrial Uses of Hemp

Industrial hemp looks a lot like its cousin, Cannabis sativa, but you can't get high

smoking it. Industrial hemp lacks the psychoactive ingredient, THC, that is found in

Cannabis sativa.25 Industrial hemp is tall, lanky and is prized for its fibrous stalk and it

oil-rich seeds.

The cultivation of industrial hemp in North America is illegal because governments are

afraid that people would grow their marijuana alongside their industrial hemp; which

would make it harder to spot. The importation of finished hemp products is still legal

in North America and the demand for them is rising at enormous rates. Famous

fashion designers like Calvin Klein are now using hemp in their clothing lines. Adidas

reported sales of over 30,000 pairs for a line of shoes made partly from hemp last

years.26 Stores specializing in hemp products are become more and more common in

North America. The worldwide trade of hemp products around the world was

estimated at $100 million dollars in 1996.27 Market analysts say that if the industry

continues to grow at its current rate, the above figure could double or even triple

within the next three years.

The growth in the sales of hemp products is probably a sign of the eco-friendly times.

The plant can produce as much as four times as much pulp per acre than trees and can

grow with the broadest geographical range.28 It can be grown without pesticides and

does not need to be irrigated like cotton does. Hemp can also be used to produce a

substitute for diesel fuel.

Hemp products are not cheap though. Hemp shirts may sell for around $60

(American) and jeans may cost around $80 American. The high costs a consequence

of the shortage of hemp. Only about a dozen countries can grow hemp legally. These

include Russia and several Eastern European nations.29 Hemp clothing manufactures

end up having to go great lengths to find hemp suppliers.

So if Marijuana isn't Dangerous Why Isn't Legal?

The biggest reason why marijuana is an illegal drug is that most of what we know

about it is false information. According to Jack Herer and other marijuana experts the

criminanization of hemp was part of a conspiracy involving DuPont, Harry J. Ansinger,

then commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and other influential industrial

leader like William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Mellon.30 According to Herer the

Marijuana Tax Act was passed in 1937, just as the decoricator machine was invented.

With the decoricator machine, hemp would have been able to take over competing

industries quite rapidly. It would have strangled competing industries because 10,000

acres of land devoted to hemp would produce as much paper as 40,000 acres of the

average forest.31 William Hearst's interest in preventing the industry from growing

could be easily explained because he owned enormous timber acreage; land best suited

for conventional pulp. The new competition created by hemp would have cost him

millions and would lower the value of his land. It has even been suggested that Hearst

popularized the term marijuana to create fear in the public.

DuPont involvement in the criminalization of marijuana is also quite easy to explain.

At around 1937 DuPont was patenting a new sulfuric acid process for producing

wood-pulp paper.32 The companies own records state that wood-pulp products

accounted for more than 80% of all DuPont's railway car loadings.33 Harry Anslinger

would be the man that DuPont used to help in his anti-hemp campaign. Harry

Anslinger was appointed to the FBN by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, who was

at the time chairman of the Mellon Bank, which was also DuPont's chief financial

backer.34 The DuPont-Mellon relationship went further than business, DuPont was

also married to Mellon's niece.35 Herer's conspiracy theory may be hard for some to

swallow, but DuPont, Anslinger, Hearst, and Mellon all would be severely affected

financially if Hemp hadn't been criminalized.

The motivation for DuPont, Anslinger, and Hearst was not related to any moral or

health related issues. They fought to destroy an industry before that growing industry

crushed them. The American Medical Association at the time tried to argue that there

were significant medical benefits of hemp.36 They lost out and all hemp related

products were banned.

Ever since marijuana was banned in 1937 biased research has been conducted and

released in media awareness programs. No other example best represents this than a

Partnership for a Drug-Free America television ad. In the television ad they first

showed a normal human brainwave and second a flat brainwave from a 14-year-old on

marijuana. Several researchers were disgusted by the ad and called-up TV networks to

complain about the commercial. As a result of this the Partnership had to pull it from

the air. The commercial was revealed to be completely bogus, it was in fact the exact

opposite of the truth. Marijuana actually increases alpha wave activity in the brain.

Alpha waves are often associated with human creativity.37

In other cases drug awareness groups and the government draw conclusions from

insubstantial evidence and use them in their anti-marijuana campaigns. Most of the

scary statistics and studies that the government uses in their anti-marijuana campaigns

are based on the research of Dr. Gabriel Nahas. In one of his experiments he

suffocated monkeys with marijuana for five minutes at a time. He repeated over a

period of six months and concluded that marijuana caused brain damage. Being

suffocated with any kind of smoke would cause brain damage.38

Conclusion

If marijuana were legalized it could free up the clogged court system, saving time and

money. It would allow the police to focus on more serious drugs. If it were legalized

it could be taxed and the government could generate billions. The government would

also generate money by taxing the manufactures and retailers of marijuana. Hemp

based products are already hot property in North America; even though they are

expensive. If industrial hemp were legalized for cultivation in North America the

industry would no doubt experience rapid growth and create many much needed jobs.

It is illogical to ban marijuana and industrial hemp because they have so many positive

uses. There aren't many other plants that serve so many uses. Industrial hemp has

several industrial purposes, marijuana can be used as medicine, and can also provide a

temporary escape from the agonizing mechanical routine of life. It has its downsides

though; it's mildly habit forming, it has carcinogenic ingredients and it can be a road

hazard. Tobacco and alcohol, both which are legal, are much more addictive and have

more long-term consequences on your body than marijuana does; it should also be

noted that they have little medicinal or industrial purposes. Marijuana is a truly

extraordinary plant which probably has many more uses yet to explore; it shouldn't

take much longer for policy makers to see that this plant is god's greatest gift to man.

Nathan Ludwig

manofverse@hotmail.com