This is his essay. its very well written.
Can I see a show of hands how many people here have ever smoked
Cannabis sativa, commonly known as marijuana? I see none of you raised
your hand. Well obviously no one would want to admit to a criminal
activity in front of their teacher. But why is it that smoking pot is
so taboo in our society? After all numerous famous intellectuals
support marijuana. Al Gore is considered by many to be the leading
figure in climate change awareness and environmental preservation. But
few people know that Al Gore also supports the legalization of
marijuana. The famed German philosopher Freidrich Nietzche once said,
“If one seeks relief from unbearable pressure one is to eat hashish”.
The founding father of our nation George Washington, said, “Make the
most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!” Marijuana is one
of the safest medicinal substances on the planet and is supported by
many acclaimed celebrity role models. Famous Hollywood actor Johnny
Depp says, “I’m not a big pothead or anything like that… but weed is
much, much less dangerous than alcohol”. Other well known supporters of
marijuana include Snoop Dogg, all of the Marley family, Niel Young,
Willie Nelson, Michael Phelps, Chris Farley, Al Gore, Andrew Jackson,
Abraham Lincoln, Nietzche, Barack Obama, John Adams, James Madison,
JFK, and of course myself. A total of 11 United States presidents
either grew, smoked, or supported the legalization of Marijuana. With
the support of some of the greatest thinkers and world leaders of all
time it’s a wonder that marijuana is still illegal. “Government ties is
really why the government lies” – Immortal Technique. Common
Misconceptions about marijuana are set about by high end government
officials who think only of themselves and own their prosperity. For
instance few people know the history of weed and the means by which it
was criminalized.Most of you have probably seen “Reefer
Madness”, the ridiculous propaganda film set about by the U.S.
government to discourage the use of marijuana. The movie debuted in
1936 making arbitrary claims, calling Cannabis “The devils weed”, and
stating that weed is more dangerous that cocaine or opium. This was the
outlook of the government at the turn of the century, but in fact pot
was smoked as early as 2700 BC, in China. In 500 AD marijuana spread to
Europe and Africa where it was cultivated and smoked for its medicinal
qualities. By 1545 marijuana had been introduced to the New World where
it was grown as a cash crop alongside tobacco and cotton. Sold in bars
throughout the Americas pot was seen as tobaccos little brother. It is
reported that several of our founding fathers including Benjamin
Franklin and George Washington smoked ganja out of water hookahs with
Turkish emissaries shortly after the revolutionary war. After this
experience both Franklin and Washington began to grow weed for
themselves. At the turn of the 20th century marijuana began to gain
popularity and by the 1920’s was the drug of choice for America’s
youth. Historians say this popularity is what led to its prohibition.
But history itself tells a different story. Whenever something be-it
and idea, substance, or social behavior, becomes popular, American
companies brand and market it for all it’s worth. Take for example punk
rock which originally was a counterculture but through marketing was
assimilated into mainstream society. So why is it that the same fate
was not suffered by marijuana, why was it made illegal?In 1937
the first official action was taken against weed, the Marihuana Tax
Act. The act itself did not criminalize the possession of cannabis but
levied a tax on anyone dealing the substance. This didn’t just mean the
buds anything with hemp or hemp oil in it was essentially taxed out of
business. A legitimate dealer was required to have a tax stamp but no
stamps were ever printed. These over elaborate regulations prevented
marijuana from being a profitable source of income. In reference to the
International Opium Convention of 1928 Cannabis sativa was considered a
drug and all state governments had some kind of laws against its
consumption. Today it is generally accepted that these hearings
included incorrect, excessive, and unfounded arguments. The Marijuana
Tax Act was introduced to the U.S. congress by “Drug Czar” Harry
Anslinger, a man who had no sense of morals and may have had NPD
(narcissistic personality disorder), not to mention his pig faced
features. Anslinger is where the conspiracy starts. 1937, the year the
tax act was passed, was coincidentally the same year that the
Decorticater Machine was invented, with this new technology the hemp
industry would have been able to take over competing industries
virtually overnight. “Popular Mechanics” predicted that hemp would be
America’s first billion dollar crop. William Hearst, a corporate
business owner, possessed enormous acreage of forest. His land and
paper making company would have lost tremendous value and eventually
gone bankrupt had the tax act not been passed. Hearst reportedly had
strong influence in Congress and his interest in preventing hemp
production is easily explained. DuPont, a chemical company that was
involved in other industries, also had a hand in the conspiracy. At the
time of the Marihuana Tax Act DuPont was patenting a new acid process
for producing wood pulp based paper. With the boom of the hemp industry
this invention would have been useless. DuPont was also in the railroad
car industry. According to their own records wood pulp products
accounted for 80% of all DuPont’s railroad car loadings for the 50
years prior to 1937. 80% of all their profits would have been lost with
a hemp takeover. Two years earlier, in 1935, DuPont developed nylon, a
substitute for hemp rope. Nylon was equal in strength and quality but
with the Decorticater Machine would not have been cost effective when
sold alongside hemp. Even with hemp eliminated nylon was not extremely
profitable. The year after the tax was passed DuPont came out with
rayon, a very cost effective fiber that would not have been able to
compete with the strength and durability of hemp. Harry Anslinger, the
man who proposed the Marihuana Tax Act, was also a CEO of DuPont, and
would have stood to loose millions had marijuana not been driven out of
business. Anslinger, who was married to Treasury Secretary Andrew
Mellon’s niece, was appointed to lead the FBN (Federal Bureau of
Narcotics). It’s widely believed that his relationship with Mellon is
what earned him the promotion. Harry Anslinger’s first action as
commissioner was to pass the Marijuana Tax Act. Reasoning behind
Anslinger, Hearst, and DuPont was for no moral or medical issues. They
fought to criminalize marijuana to save their business and to save
money. It’s simply another example of capitalist pigs taking advantage
of their power and manipulating the law for personal gain. Marijuana
continued to be present in society throughout the 40’s and 50’s. During
this time it came to be associated with the rise of rock n’ roll. The
hippi movement of the 1960’s and 70’s was largely involved in
experimental drug use. Artists such as The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix
experimented with drugs like acid and heroin. Their fans followed suit
but Mary Jane remained America’s drug of choice. The increased support
of the environmentalist movement also supported the use of weed. Hemp
can be made into paper that is equivalent to paper made from trees,
without destroying the rainforests. After all the first, third and
final drafts of the Declaration of Independence were all written on
hemp paper. At anti-Vietnam protests many people could be seen smoking
pot. This fueled the idea that marijuana should be legal, and in the
late 60’s the first serious calls for legalization were made.In
1975 weed supporters around the United States celebrated a victory as
Alaska decriminalized the use and possession of small amounts of
Cannabis. Until, in 1990, residents voted to recriminalize the
substance. During those 15 years Alaska prospered and its economy was
the highest it had been in years. Calling it a “dangerous experiment”
the DEA’s stated reason for the recriminalization was that “teenagers
used marijuana at twice the national average”. I think it’s pretty
obvious that when a substance is legalized it will be used more than
when it was illegal. Had we kept the same policy throughout history
alcohol should have been recriminalized shortly after the repealing of
the 18th amendment due to an increase in alcohol consumption. Several
other countries have attempted various forms of legalizing drugs, in
the Netherlands marijuana is illegal but under certain restrictions its
consumption is allowed. The coffee shops of Amsterdam are renowned
worldwide as a pot-smokers Mecca. Coffee shops are allowed to sell
under 5 grams of marijuana as long as it is smoked on the premises. One
of the opposition’s most acclaimed arguments is that legalizing
marijuana will lead to an increase in crime rates. The only way to
prove this theory is through real life experience. The only domestic
experience we have with legalized pot was in Alaska in the 70’s and
80’s. Government analysis showed that there was no change in the crime
rate for these years. All other claims about the marijuana-crime
correlation are mere speculation. The fact is that Amsterdam has a
lower crime rate than any major U.S. city. One could argue that the
Alaskan experiment actually benefited the crime rate. As a whole, the
national crime rate went up from 1975 to 1990, while Alaska’s remained
the same.Other Cannabis antagonists look to Switzerland’s Needle
Park experiment to justify marijuana’s legal status. People in Needle
Park were allowed to openly purchase and use drugs without police
intervention. The idea was to give addicts a “clean and safe”
environment to inject heroin. To compare this with legalizing marijuana
is absolutely absurd. First, in terms of classification marijuana and
heroin are completely different. Heroin is a level five highly
addictive drug that causes long term brain damage as well as damage to
the central nervous system. A heroin addict will experience collapsed
veins, infection of the heart lining, abscesses, and liver disease. Not
to mention second hand use of needles often leads to full blown
accounts of AIDS. Marijuana on the other hand has its own category and
no proven health detriments. The results of Needle Park cannot be
compared to those of legalizing marijuana. Your parents have probably
told you that smoking pot causes lung cancer and brain damage.
Unfortunately they were probably teenagers in the 70’s and smoked pot
themselves so their very objection to weed is extremely hypocritical.
The U.S. government provides facts and statistics that seem to
demonstrate the pernicious nature of marijuana. Let’s take a look at
the so called facts that the DEA claims are results of the habitual
smoking of Cannabis sativa. First, and I quote, “Marijuana is an
addictive drug”. That my friends is an outright lie. All clinical
studies including those conducted by the government have concluded that
marijuana contains no addictive properties. A person can become
chemically dependent on the drug but that is radically different than
an addiction. Another study regulated by the government studied 182
“random” fatal truck accidents. It just so happened that in these
“random” accidents marijuana was present in as many of the drivers as
alcohol. The National Transportation Safety Board then determined that
marijuana is just as dangerous as alcohol while driving. The reasoning
behind this argument has more than several flaws. First of all
marijuana can stay in a persons system for more than 2 weeks, there is
no way to tell that the drivers were high at the time of their
accidents. Now I’m not an expert but I know that 182 is not a large
enough number to be considered reliable research. To study 182 of 5 ¼
million accidents, .0034%, and make apocryphal claims based on that
research shows ineptitude beyond that of any man disposed to devout his
life to a hierarchy of pious infidels who understand nothing of the
nature and complexity of life.Other major concerns of consuming
marijuana are lung and brain damage, as well as memory loss. According
to the UCLA School of Medicine “marijuana does not impair long term
memory”. Weed can cause short term memory loss but only while under the
influence, the same can be said for alcohol and many over the counter
sleeping medications. Brain damage that does occur is not because of
any chemical property in ganja, but because the brain is deprived of
oxygen for so long that brain cells are killed. For any self acclaimed
pot smoker that’s an easy fix, just don’t hold your hits in for so
long. One of the studies that is referred to the most was performed on
monkeys in which they suffered severe brain damage. It was only until
recently in careful review of the study that we discovered that the
monkeys were breathing pure THC for over a minute, that lack of oxygen
is what killed the brain cells, not the marijuana. The other
substantial health concern is over lung function. Also according to the
UCLA School of Medicine “neither the continuing nor intermittent
marijuana smokers exhibited any significantly different rates of lung
function as compared to those individuals who never smoked marijuana”.
The study was conducted on 243 pot smokers over an 8 year period.
Another of the governments’ critical expostulations against legalizing
marijuana is that pharmaceutical companies have developed a synthetic
THC pill called Marinol. But Marinol is substantially different than
marijuana. First, it’s not real THC; there is not one part of the
Cannabis sativa plant in Marinol. It’s a bunch of chemicals that some
scientist mixes up in a lab. Second Marinol is only available through
prescription, so it’s incontrovertibly not the same as legalizing
marijuana. Not only is it very hard to obtain a prescription, the
requirements exclude nearly everyone. You must either be a cancer
patient who underwent chemotherapy or be an AIDS patient who has
appetite loss. Both diseases have no cure and are generally fatal. So
the government won’t let you take Marinol unless you have a virtual
death sentence. If I have a malignant disease I’m not going to take the
time to get a government prescription, I’m going to smoke the real
thing. So please don’t feed me spurious claims that legal marijuana
already exists.Now that I have addressed the supposed health
detriments let’s take a look at the medical benefits of Cannabis. As
mentioned above marijuana has been infallibly proven to relieve the
vomiting and nausea that come with chemotherapy. Many cancer patients
have said that marijuana was the best treatment for their symptoms. I
interviewed a cancer patient who has miraculously over come the
disease, for privacy reasons I won’t reveal their name but when asked
about the effects of marijuana the interviewee said, “I would not have
lived if I didn’t smoke lots of marijuana”. Isn’t it interesting that
cancer, one of the world’s deadliest, incurable diseases, is treated
with marijuana, an illegal drug? Marijuana is also used for treating
multiple sclerosis and several mood disorders. After smoking small
amounts of marijuana patients are said to be relaxed and stress free.
Unlike alcohol which is a depressant, Cannabis can be used to treat low
level depression. Most depression is caused by stress; smoking pot
relieves stress and thus relieves depression. Glaucoma is yet another
disease that smoking weed will treat. Glaucoma is an optical disease
that leads to permanent damage of the optic nerve endings and resultant
visual fields, which can ultimately progress to blindness. Glaucoma is
the leading cause of blindness in the world and doctors predict that
this number will increase as longevity also increases. Symptoms of
glaucoma include intraocular pressure, patches of vision loss,
headaches, and pain behind the eyeball. Despite making the eyes red
marijuana actually lowers intraocular pressure and can prevent as well
as cure Glaucoma all together. As you can see marijuana has copious
medical uses and little to no medical handicaps. For it to illegal
while tobacco and alcohol are legal is absolute madness.Like any
substance marijuana can be abused, but it is impossible to overdose on.
The most common problem associated with marijuana abuse is lethargic
behavior, but does not cause serious health or social concerns. Overuse
of alcohol will result in an inability to walk, stand, or even death,
whereas overuse of weed will simply put a person to sleep. 40% of all
fatal car accidents are caused by alcohol while no car accidents ever
have been directly caused by marijuana. Alcohol induces violent
behavior and is often attributed to wife beating and other violent
behaviors. Someone under the influence of alcohol will experience fits
if rage which has often led to their own demise or the death of others,
while someone who got high from marijuana will stroll around pleasantly
with a smile on their face in search of the nearest McDonald’s. It is
as the iconoclast Bob Marley once said, “Herb is the healing of the
nation, alcohol is the destruction”. Cigarettes are another legal
substance that are far more dangerous than some good sensimilla.
Smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of lung cancer in America.
Tobacco cigarettes are filled with harmful chemicals such as nicotine,
rat poison, formaldehyde, ammonia, and arsenic. Both cigarettes and
alcohol are immensely addictive phenomenon’s that lead to very serious
health problems, predominantly cancer, and ultimately death. Marijuana
is considered by many to be a dangerous substance but in reality many
of our legal drugs are far more portentous.Annual American Deaths Caused by Drugs Tobacco…………….. 400,000
Alcohol……………… 100,000
All legal drugs………. 20,000
All illegal drugs…….. 15,000
Caffeine…………….. 2,000
Aspirin……………… 500
Marijuana…………… 0
In
all of recorded history going back as far as 2700 BC there has never
been one single human death attributed to a health problem caused by
marijuana. Not only is marijuana a safe drug with medical
benefits but it could rapidly stimulate our failing economy. At its
current rate of production legal marijuana generates 35.8 billion
dollars per year. Profits from marijuana exceed that of corn and wheat
combined. And that’s just the legal margins. Revenue from illegal
domestic marijuana is speculated at around 60 billion dollars a year.
That’s a total of 95.8 billion dollars each year excluding imports.
Marijuana is considered by profuse amounts of economists to already be
our nation’s number one cash crop. It’s already the number 1 cash crop
in 12 states including California, Alaska, and Hawaii. In Washington
weed is second only to apples. In 30 other states ganja is among the
top three on the list of cash crops. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Hemp is
of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country”. George
Washington himself predicted that hemp would be our most valuable
product. Economists estimate that if marijuana were legalized annual
tax returns would be 6.2 billion dollars. That’s over 6 billion dollars
in the hands of the federal government rather than in the hands of so
called drug criminals. This money could be spent on combating the flow
of hard, more serpentine drugs onto our streets. If the fact
that legalizing marijuana will engender enormous sums of money isn’t
enough for some skeptics let’s take a look at the money that it will
save. Approximately 7.7 billion dollars is spent annually on law
enforcement to traverse marijuana consumption. Legalizing marijuana
would eliminate 100% of these costs. Another taxpayer expense that
would be emphatically reduced is prison disbursements. New FBI
statistics show that one marijuana smoker is arrested every 45 seconds,
by the end of my speech more than 20 people will have been incarcerated
on marijuana related offenses. Since 1990 5.9 million innocent
Americans have been arrested on Cannabis charges, a number greater than
the population of Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and
Wyoming combined. 88% of all people in jail, a staggering 2 million,
are there due to marijuana offenses. In the case that marijuana is
legalized that number will be reduced to 440,000 people, a prodigious
decline. The deprivation of operating prisons would also deteriorate
dramatically. The cost of operating prisons comes directly out of
taxpayers pockets. Currently a 40 billion dollar per year expenditure
would be cut back to 8.8 billion dollars, still a gargantuan amount but
much, much less than what it was. With this amount of savings and
profits I find it amazing that our capitalist society hasn’t already
demanded the legalization of pot. Simply selling the buds is not
the only way to make money off the Cannabis sativa plant. Hemp fibers
from the stalks have countless other uses. An entire hemp based
industry will be created. Oil extracted from the seeds was used to
lubricate gears and mechanisms in many of the original cars including
Henry Ford’s Model T. Hemp fiber, renown for its strength, has long
been used to test the durability of other fibers. When George Bush Sr.
was forced to eject from his F-50 over Vietnam, the parachute that
saved his life was made from 100% hemp fiber. Hemp can be made into
rope, clothing, and paper. More important than the products made will
be the jobs procreated by this industry. The current unemployment rate
is 8.9% as of April 2009. 8.9% sounds like a small number out of 100
but 8.9% translates to over 13.7 million people without a job. I talked
about tax deficits earlier but how about the decrease in taxes if all
13.7million people got off welfare and started working in the pot
industry. Though legalizing marijuana won’t create all 13.7 million
jobs necessary it will create some. That’s a step in the right
direction to resurrect our falling economy. A common
misconception is that smoking sensimilla makes a person this lazy,
unexcited, useless, crippling abrasion to society. That’s not true at
all. Like most Americans, people who smoke pot pay taxes, love and
support their families, and work hard to make a better life for their
children. Suddenly they are arrested, jailed, and treated like
criminals solely because they choose to relax in a way that is safer
than tobacco or alcohol. State agencies frequently step in and declare
children of marijuana smokers to be “in danger”, and many children are
placed into foster homes as a result. This causes enormous pain,
suffering, and financial hardship for millions of honest American
families. It also engenders distrust and disrespect for the law and
criminal justice system overall. If the children of marijuana smokers
are in danger than the children of cigarette smokers and alcoholics are
in a situation far more perilous. Responsible pot smokers present no
threat or danger to America and there is no reason to treat them as
criminals. Many people also believe that marijuana is a gateway
drug and will lead to other more dangerous drugs. It’s true that most
people who do hard drugs didn’t immediately start out snorting cocaine
or shooting heroin, but smoking pot every now and then doesn’t condemn
you to be some cracked out heroin feign. As it stands right now only a
small portion of sensi smokers go on to harder drugs and I’m sure that
number will go down if marijuana is legalized. If kids could run down
to the gas station and pick up some weed their interest in other drugs
would be diminished. The only way that pot could be considered a
gateway drug is if it is sold alongside hard drugs. True some pot
dealers sell harder stuff but legalizing marijuana completely negates
that arguement. If marijuana were legal there would be no need for side
street dealers who might have hard drugs on them, it could be sold in
any convenience store across the country. I know for a fact that
teenagers would much rather get high legally than break the law to do
so. The problem is legal highs aren’t readily available, the closest
you can get is with cigarettes which not only taste disgusting but are
extremely deleterious to your health and the health of others. Implying
that smoking weed always leads to harder drugs is like saying that
anyone who has ever stolen something will go on to armed piracy of oil
tankers. The Somalians that hijacked those tankers probably did steal
in their youth but that doesn’t mean everyone who steals will end up
like them. Marijuana as a gateway drug is a false implication and
cannot be used in a serious discussion about legalizing marijuana. Many
people also insinuate that marijuana leads people to a life of crime.
The only way to test this theory is to study the results when pot is
legal. Amsterdam, where marijuana is legal, has a lower crime rate than
any major U.S. city. I think that soundly disproves that theory and
clearly shows that smoking marijuana is not a gateway to anything
illegal. I have provided you with information, facts and
statistical evidence that all point towards the legalization of
marijuana. But the truth is it doesn’t matter what I say until you, the
people, stand up and besiege the government to re-address the
litigation of marijuana. But I’m sure there are many of you thinking,
“Well that’s a great speech in all but I don’t smoke pot so why should
I care if it’s legal or not?” So I have come up with several reasons
why everyone should support the legalizing of marijuana. If you’re
politically left wing stick it to the corporal business owners who made
it illegal in the first place. If your right wing, marijuana is our
number 1 cash crop, legalized we can make even more money than we are
now. If your Christian or adhere to the Bible, Genesis 1:29 “And God
said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon
the face of all the earth”, according to the Bible it’s your god given
right to grow and consume any plant on this earth, including marijuana.
If you’re an environmentalist or at least care about the fate of our
planet, you can save the 4 billion trees that are cut down every year
to make paper. I assure you hemp paper is a fine substitute. Everyone
should support legalizing marijuana and everyone here now understands
why. The biggest problem is that people are more inclined to suffer the
sufferable that to rectify changes in their lives. But with growing
support the Cannabis sativa predicament will soon be rectified and the
world as a whole will be a better place, in the words of Bob Marley,
“Legalize it, don’t criticize it”.
