Mary Jane's Freedom

Marijuana does not have a very good stigma in the United States. It has been used for centuries without much incident or turmoil; but the last 100 years have been quite the opposite for cannabis. Cannabis, or hemp as it was more commonly referred to, has been used by tribal leaders and spiritual shamans forever to cure illnesses and pains. Its influence even stretches all the way to the Declaration of Independence, which was written on a piece of hemp paper. Back in the late 1700’s it was grown for a wide plethora of uses including such necessities as writing paper, rope, oil, clothing, and even shoes. That’s not even to mention the list of medical ailments that cannabis can help treat and even cure. Even though cannabis has all these well-known uses, the new century brought about a propaganda campaign against marijuana that rivals that of the Third Reich.

Born out of the racism brewing within the American people and the distrust of foreigners, the government decided to jump on the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Tension between small farm owners and Mexicans was on the rise due to the increasing use of cheap Mexican labor for large farms. After the Great Depression jobs became scarce and the U.S. government needed a scapegoat to win over the American public. Since Mexican immigrants had commonly been known to partake in smoking marijuana it wasn’t hard to convince the American public that it was an insidious disease on the social structure of America and a threat to the integrity of the country itself. By alienating the new immigrants and the drugs they had at the same time the government was able to pass legislation unanimously that was supposed to quickly bring an end to the perceived issue of these new narcotics. Yet not only were these laws ineffective, they also hindered our national growth and further exacerbated the criminal activity related to drug trafficking.

            It doesn’t take long to see that the prohibition of marijuana has failed. Not just the prohibition of marijuana, but the prohibition of almost any substance or narcotic that the government deems “unsafe” has been a complete failure. Remember the prohibition of alcohol in the early 20^th century? Due to the “Noble Experiment” alcohol consumption decreased slightly but organized crime was born in the U.S. After the ban of alcohol was repealed the crime syndicates needed a new business to cover the loss of illegal alcohol. Since the government decided to leave marijuana and other narcotics illegal the organized crime families quickly flooded the drug trade.  But the government wasn’t content to just leave it illegal; they decided that they’d match the rise in crime with a rise of stiffer penalties like the “draconian Rockefeller drug laws in New York”.  These laws in the 1970’s significantly raised the penalties for illicit drug use to an all-time high. At the time the laws were praised and considered a “milestone in America’s war on drugs”. Yet as usual the government had claimed Mission Accomplished just a little too soon. As the current mayor of New York stated back in January, "I can't think of a criminal justice strategy that has been more unsuccessful than the Rockefeller Drug Laws." It seems that in their blind, racist attempt at finding a scapegoat for the great depression, the government actually created the drug epidemic on our hands today.

            In today’s society we are bombarded with consumer products, choices, and information all the time that help consumers make good, informed decisions. But with drugs, especially Marijuana, the government has indoctrinated the youth into believing they are the single most dangerous thing that they can ever do. This brainwashing has left the new generations of people without the skills to make informed decisions about drugs based upon solid facts, logic, and reason. Furthermore, it seems almost as if the government decided to ignore the rights of the people when they decided to ban Marijuana. They claimed this was for the “good of the nation”, but was it? Was there really a need to ban Marijuana and even list it as harmful as more hardcore drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamines, and heroin?

 For starters it is a naturally occurring plant that has no synthetic chemicals or additives like in cigarettes that force addiction or other actual harmful effects on the mind or body overtime. The only harmful part about smoking marijuana is the smoke itself. In fact, Marijuana is actually less harmful, and has a significantly higher overdose point than caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol; all legal substances in the United States of America. The craziest part is that there has never been a single documented death from an overdose of tetrahydrocannabinonl, the main ingredient in marijuana that causes the “high” effect, while over 1,300 Americans die each year from Alcohol poisoning. The only reason that marijuana even has an overdose point is because if it were even physically possible to smoke enough marijuana to die, it would be from carbon monoxide poisoning from the smoke rather than any effects from the THC. Not only is marijuana considerably safer for people than these other drugs, it can also cause a great deal of economic prosperity if it were utilized correctly.

According to speculation on the scope of the marijuana market there seems to be a consensus that if taxed by the U.S. government it could generate at the very least revenue of $800,000,000+ alone. That’s not even counting the almost $14 billion we spend on the war on drugs each year. Add that 14 billion dollars to the almost 800 million dollars from the tax revenue and the Marijuana industry would net just under the amount the tobacco industry makes. That’s not even counting how less taxed our prison systems would be considering the 850,000 people arrested on marijuana charges just this past year. As stated before prohibition has failed, so what’s next for Marijuana?

Well, for starters Marijuana needs to be legalized and all other drugs need to be at least decriminalized. The great taboo on drugs must be lifted in order to truly educate and inform people on the dangers, but also of the great benefits, of responsible drugs use. The government needs to start treating this as a healthcare issue instead of a criminal issue. Not all people who use drugs are criminals, but due to the government they are forced to interact with these criminals on a daily basis.

Not only do they force them to associate with criminals, but it makes the user feel that he truly is a criminal for not being able to overcome his addiction. Let’s face it; the drug propaganda makes it pretty clear that if you use drugs you are a criminal. But if you were to talk too just about anyone who is truly gripped by addiction to a drug such as heroin, meth, crack cocaine, they would tell you that what they truly want is to be free of their addiction. But because of the way we treat our drug problem, addicts either refuse to find treatment, can’t find treatment, or don’t even want to admit they have a problem for fear of criminal charges or of being exposed to friends and family..

What if I said that if we treat the drug epidemic as a healthcare issue people will be more willing to seek treatment, hardcore drug use will go down, marijuana use will most likely stay the same, and the government will create and save money while a large portion of the criminal underworld’s money supply is cut off? While I can’t say definitively that this would be the results the U.S. would get, it was the results of Portugal’s new drug decriminalization law. Hardcore drug use has gone down, people seeking treatment for drug use has tripled, marijuana use has stayed the same, and health-related issues like HIV and other transmittable diseases has gone down giving Portugal the lowest statistics of drug abuse in the entire European Union.

While they did not legalize marijuana or the other hardcore drugs they did decriminalize them, which mean that they have negated all previous laws that made drug use and possession of small amounts of drugs a felony or misdemeanor and replaced them with a simple fine. While it is still illegal to traffic drugs throughout the country, they have made it possible for people to get assistance with their drug use from government sponsored clinics that assure clean and safe drugs at the very least along with information about the drugs to help inform users about the dangers of them. Now there are rules and regulations about drugs you can get from clinics, the amounts you get, etc. to make sure that people aren’t abusing the system.

What I’m proposing is we take this one step further and fully legalize marijuana completely while decriminalizing other habit-forming drugs and treating these addictions like it should be on the healthcare front. It wouldn’t be the first time the United States has taken the lead on drugs since they were the leading pioneers of the drug prohibition throughout the entire world. It seems only fitting that America should be the first to end these ridiculous laws in its first true attempt to repair the damage that they have caused to the American public over the past century. Using the knowledge we have today from history and from technology we should be able to repeal these ineffective laws, help put a real foot forward in ending the drug trafficking problem in the United States, while also making a few bucks to put in Uncle Sam’s coffer every year.

What do you think? Do you feel Marijuana should be legalized? What about the decriminalization of other drugs? Do you agree with my conclusions? Let me know!!