For as long as I can remember, marijuana has been illegal my whole life. Now, that’s not a very long time. Twelve years isn’t even enough to get to high school, but I’ve dwelled on this topic for long enough, and have decided that I need to share the thoughts I’ve stored for quite some time. Marijuana isn’t illegal everywhere, and thank god it’s not that way. Recently, a bill passed in Florida (where I currently live) in June of 2017. It states that “Medical Use of Marijuana; Providing an exemption from the state tax on sales, use, and other transactions for marijuana and marijuana delivery devices used for medical purposes; providing qualifying medical conditions for a patient to be eligible to receive marijuana or a marijuana delivery device; providing for the establishment of medical marijuana testing laboratories; establishing the Coalition for Medical Marijuana Research and Education within the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute,”. Medical marijuana use is already legal in Florida, so why not recreational?
Why is Marijuana Illegal?
I can’t think of a good reason why cannabis could put you behind bars and paying costly fines. “If nature is illegal, freedom doesn’t exist” I once read. I know that other plants produce chemicals that are extracted to make drugs. Such as the coca tree, that when put through a tedious process, that includes drenching the leaves in gasoline, makes cocaine, a drug notorious for giving someone lots of energy, and includes serious health problems long-term, which is also VERY addictive. The coca plant grows natively in western South America, so basically, the quote doesn’t apply to the coca tree because “freedom” is for America since we fought for freedom, and Brazil and Columbia are definitely not part of the U.S.
Though, I can think of a good reason why people don’t want it becoming legal.
Florida is the sunshine state. Where it stays about the same temperature year-round except the scorching sun in the summer, and the chilly winds in the winter. So when older people, that can’t shovel snow anymore, get tired of the winter, they move to Florida to make their lives easier. Especially when they’re not as mobile as they used to be. In the late 1920’s, according to the article “Why Is Marijuana Banned? The Real Reasons Are Worse Than You Think” A man named Harry Anslinger was in charge of the Department of Prohibition. There was a war on alcohol at the time with neighborhoods run by gangsters, but it quickly ended. After that, there was nothing for the department to do, and he “had said that cannabis was not a problem. It doesn’t harm people, he explained, and “there is no more absurd fallacy” than the idea it makes people violent.” stated the article. Then out of the blue, when his department needed a new topic to work on, he “suddenly” changed his position about marijuana. He stated that “First, you will fall into “a delirious rage.” Then you will be gripped by “dreams… of an erotic character.” Then you will “lose the power of connected thought.” Finally, you will reach the inevitable end-point: “Insanity”
“Marijuana turns a man into a “wild beast“ If marijuana bumped into Frankenstein’s monster on the stairs, Anslinger warned, the monster would drop dead of fright.”
“Harry Anslinger became obsessed with one case in particular. In Florida, a boy called Victor Licata hacked his family to death with an ax. Anslinger explained to America: This is what will happen when you smoke “the demon weed.” The case became notorious. The parents of the U.S. were terrified.” Harry Anslinger fed the people of America lies filled with fear. The polar opposite description of cannabis was put out there to make people afraid of a plant that brings peace.
People who were alive in the 20’s aren’t alive today, but the generation of elders alive today were probably children or teens who were warned about the “demon weed”. They grew up thinking that if they even touched marijuana, they would go “insane”.
Hemp vs Wood
Another cause that could have aided in the illegalization of marijuana is the Hemp vs Wood industries.
According to “Hemp Technologies Collective”, “Hemp makes paper more efficiently and ecologically than wood, requiring no chemical glues.” This article also states that “Hemp can produce bio-fuel and ethanol (better than corn). Hemp can be grown more than one time per year.” and “Hemp fibers can make very strong rope and textiles.”
Every year, about 5 billion trees are cut down to make things you could simply make with hemp. Trees are vital for survival. They produce oxygen with the carbon dioxide that living organisms expel. Humans are destroying the forests by cutting down trees and building man-made structures like housing or buildings. Deforestation is a big problem, but it produces an even more substantial problem. According to “The World Counts” “Tropical deforestation is the 2nd biggest contributor to climate change.” also, “Up to 28,000 species can go extinct in the next quarter century due to deforestation.” Cutting down forests kills the trees and kills the animals living in and around them. If we used hemp, why would we have to kill animals, and possibly make species go extinct?
But what is hemp?
Hemp is a plant that is typically found in the northern hemisphere. It is one of the fastest growing plants and one the first plants to be spun into useable fiber 10,000 years ago. It can be refined into a variety of things that include clothing, biodegradable plastics, paint, insulation, biofuel, food, and animal feed. It produces a bud that when consumed, the effects are euphoric. The main chemicals in the plant are THC and CBD. When marijuana is heated up past a certain point, the THC is activated and that is the only time when it is euphoric. CBD doesn’t get you high, but it has insane healing properties. It helps with pain, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, insomnia, epilepsy, and most importantly: cancer. It slows down the process of progressing cancer. It also relieves the pain that follows chemotherapy. According to “Using Marijuana Every Day: The Pros and Cons” the article states that smoking marijuana long-term can damage the lungs. “according to the American Lung Association, marijuana smoke can damage lung health. Additionally, since marijuana smokers generally hold their breath longer and inhale more deeply than people who smoke cigarettes, there is a risk that marijuana smokers may actually be exposed to more tar than cigarette smokers.” However, not everybody holds in smoke, so it’s not entirely true, but smoking anything exposes the lungs to tar. Moreover, you don’t have to smoke the marijuana. You can drink it, eat it, and vaporize it.
CBD also helps with nausea, inflammation, and a plethora of other reasons that makes this plant the go-to, over-the-counter medicine. Which brings me to my next topic.
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical companies are another roadblock to the legalization of Marijuana.
Pharmaceutical companies sell very expensive medications that cost thousands that many people can’t afford. A drug called Corticotropin, that treats infantile seizures, is $51,600 dollars for two vials of the medication. Marijuana could be used to treat this condition for so much cheaper, so much easier. Pharmaceutical companies make billions, even trillions in sales and revenues each year. Some drugs like Oxycodone, Adderall, and Xanax, just to name a few, are highly addictive, and dangerous. When abused, it results in serious health problems if misused, or even death due to overdose. Those drugs are used by people who are prescribed and people who aren’t. People who aren’t prescribed, buy the pills or tablets off of the street from people who have connections to people who are prescribed or get them straight from the first-hand person. When people deal them on the streets, they have constant buyers and need constant refills from their “healthcare” provider, which they pay thousands of dollars for life insurance who then buy the drugs from pharmaceutical companies. It’s a constant cycle. Just like the cycle of addiction.
Pharmaceutical companies purposely make these drugs addictive exactly for this reason. A drug named OxyContin, is also a painkiller, right beside Oxycodone. It is highly addictive because it relieves severe pain for about 12 hours and then after the drug wears off, it gives the user withdrawal. The article “The Addiction Conspiracy: How Government and Big Pharma Created an Epidemic” says that “Pharmaceutical companies are downplaying and misinforming doctors and patients about the addictive nature of opioid drugs. OxyContin, for example, became a blockbuster drug mainly through misleading claims, which Purdue Pharma knew were false from the start. The basic promise was that it provided pain relief for a full 12 hours, twice as long as generic drugs, giving patients “smooth and sustained pain control all day and all night.” However, for many, the effects don’t last anywhere near 12 hours, and once the drug wears off, painful withdrawal symptoms set in, including body aches, nausea, and anxiety. These symptoms, in addition to the return of the original pain, quickly begin to feed the cycle of addiction.”
Ultimately, Marijuana is a great plant that is a medicine to many. It doesn’t deserve to be illegal considering that there are many good things that come out of consuming this herb. It is outrageous that it could get you arrested, fined, and put behind bars. In the end, Cannabis should be recreational because due to the recreationalization in Colorado, crime rates went down, and the sales tax that came from the sales of marijuana brought more money to the state. If it was like this everywhere, the world for this country would be a better place.
Journalistic Writing
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I LOVE WEED!