Uncle Sam welcomes Mary Jane
TO: STLCOP STUDENTS Do you know the population of Miami, Florida? It is 433,000 people. What about the leading cause of death in America? More than AIDS, Ethyl alcohol, heroin, cocaine and murder combined? The answer is Tobacco, with over 435,000 deaths annually. That’s more than Miami’s population and then some. The Deaths attributed to Marijuana/Cannabis per year is zero. You would have to smoke roughly 20,000 to 40,000 blunts in one sitting to die from consuming cannabis. There are many benefits that will come from legalizing marijuana.
Today, people still use and grow Tobacco legally, and Cannabis has been against the law since 1937. And yet up until 1883 that Cannabis/Hemp was the biggest cash crop in the world? Our founding fathers grew it; in fact, the first draft of the Declaration of Independence used hemp paper.
Yet somewhere along the line, it got mixed up with the propaganda of the 1930’s. It was said that African Americans and Mexicans used it, and that they would go crazy, and rape your wife. So they made it illegal. After figuring out the positives, it was made legal during World War II. But afterwards, people found out that it didn’t make you mad, but instead made you passive. And this made them think that everyone would get stoned, and The Soviets would take advantage and attack us. It was banished again, for the exact opposite reason as before.
People will tell you that it causes brain damage and kills brain cells. In other words, the more you smoke, the more stupid you become. The basis of this was a 1974 study that said a group of monkeys received 30 blunts per day, and over 90 days all were brain dead. People began to cite that. Playboy magazine revealed in 1982, that in fact the Monkeys were given the equivalent to 63 Colombian blunts via gas mask in a five minute span. 4 minutes without oxygen leads to suffocation. Suffocation kills brain cells. It wasn’t the Marijuana that hurt these monkeys; it was the deprivation of oxygen.
They also said it causes cancer, but there are no studies to back it up. People are afraid to get addicted, but the only reason is because of the stats of people going to rehab for drug abuse. When in court, judges would give people the option of jail or treatment for marijuana addiction. Of course they’ll choose treatment!
There have been cases to legalize it. Not too long ago in California, Prop 19 tried to make it legal to buy and grow Cannabis in small doses. But it didn’t pass. But maybe after hearing these facts, people would’ve reconsidered their vote. But Marijuana makes people feel better and relieves chronic pain. THC is the active ingredient in cannabis and it is used in several medical applications such as pain relief for terminally ill patients. This is normally done through pills though, not smoking of the drug as smoking cannabis, hashish, tobacco (or anything else) is harmful. Nobody has ever died from the plant itself. Even smoking it can’t cause cancer because 1 ingredient in it (THC) kills aging cells preventing cancer. This is why it is used for medical purposes in some States. People will tell you it makes America lazy! But if this is true, then what about Steve Jobs? He developed Apple Computers while smoking it. Bill Clinton? George Bush? Barack Obama? All of them have used it. Our economy would also be benefited from legalizing marijuana