Legalizing Marijuana - Useful Plant, Government wants extinct

Posted on: Helium I have been following the debate of legalization of marijuana ever since my return from living in Europe for 4 years. The history of Marijuana is long and distinguished. It has been around for centuries and has been used for Spirtiual, medical, industrial and yes recreational use. As a previous frequent user of Marijuana I was very confused on the reason it was illegal her in the United States. As a recovering Alcoholic I am confused on why alcohol is legal, and as a tobacco user I am even more confused why tobacco is legal. While thinking about these issues I have done a lot of research on these issues. The first thing that is said to me when ever I discuss the problem with Alcohol and the legalization of Marijuana is always, "We tried making Alcohol illegal once and it didn't work" My answer is always, Marijuana has had laws against it here in the US since 1937, recent studies have shown that 41% of adults have used marijuana at some time in their life. Alcohol prohibition was not sucessful because the american public ignored the law and people were getting put into jail for something they believed they should be allowed to do. Last year there were over 800 thousand people arrested and jailed for non-violent marijuana crimes. I believe that would beat any records set during Alcohol Prohibition. adparams.getadspec('c_billboard1'); During my drinking days I can not count the amount of fights I had in bars, how many morning I couldn't get to work because I woke up sick and hungover, and yes I was taken to the hospital for Alcohol poisoning twice. During my Marijuana days I never fought, never missed work and as far as I can find in my research no one has ever had to go to the hospital for Overdose of Marijuana. I am not saying that the government should make alcohol illegal but comparing the two drugs I do believe the Government has it backwards at the moment. Another issue I have that is because of the current marijuana laws this also makes Hemp illegal. Hemp is a great product for industrial use. At this current time the US can not produce Hemp products but that does not stop us from importing Hemp Products. Mercedes Benz has used Hemp for parts of their cars such as Dashboards. Henry Ford had an image that some day he would be able to make a car of plastic "grown from the ground" this was a plastic made from industrial Hemp. At one point in American History American farmers were ordered to grow Hemp and all ropes used in the US Navy was made from Hemp. Hemp is a strong fiber that last longer than any other natural fiber. The final reason that I have turned up in my research on Marijuana is medical reasons. Since federal law does not allow for private research of marijuana's medical benefits the only research that gets done is to prove how bad marijuana is. Fortunatly there are studies done out side of the US that prove benefits of Medical Marijuana. One study that I have looked into a lot was the study on marijuana causing cancer. There have been a lot of studies trying to prove that marijuana increases the chance of getting cancer. One study's final report was that Smokers that also smoked Marijuana were actually shown less likely to get lung cancer since the canniboids increase blood flow to clear the toxins in tobacco. This research was not funded by the government after the report was written. A newer research project was found that smoking marijuana actually helped reduce the size of tumors in the brain. Fox News reported a couple of weeks ago that Marijuana also assists in the recovery and helps stop the spread of breast cancer. I remember hearing a story about a doctor that worked with AIDS patients and realized that patients that used marijuana were living longer with the disease. He asked the Government to research this and they turned him down four years in a row. The fifth year he said he wanted to research the idea that Marijuana destroys the immune system faster if the patient smokes marijuana, he got the grant. Of course his research proved that Marijuana helps with AIDS wasting disease and does not effect the immune system. His grant was denied for renewal. The US government is suppose to be the voice of the public they are suppose to make decisions that make the US a better place. This is a government that is being told by national organizations that Marijuana is relativly safe and can be used for Industrial and Medical use and is not that dangerous when used for recreational use. Unfortunatly the US governement is not paying attention to the public when all polls in the past 2 years have shown 60-70% of Americans want Marijuana legalized for Medical Use. Instead our taxes are being used to pay a Governement agency to make a great plant extinct.