Marijuana and America

Marijuana and America

I. Like most Americans, people who smoke marijuana also 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 of their recreational drug of choice.

II. The United States spends billions of dollars annually on the war on drugs.

III. Its use as a medicine has existed for thousands of years in many countries worldwide and is documented as far back as 2700 BC in ancient Chinese writings.

IV. An entire industry could be created out of hemp based products. The hemp fiber, valued for its strength that it is used to judge the quality of other fibers, could be manufactured into ropes, clothing, or paper. Most importantly, the money the government would make from taxes could be used for more important things, such as serious drugs or the national debt. The recreational use of marijuana would not stimulate crime like some would argue. The crime rate in Amsterdam, where marijuana is legal, is lower than many major US cities

V. If the government were to legalize marijuana, it could reasonably place high taxes on it because people are used to buying marijuana at high prices created by the risks of selling marijuana illegally

VI. Marijuana is actually less dangerous than alcohol, cigarettes, and even most over-the-counter medicines or prescriptions

VII. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care

VIII. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug. According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 104 million Americans aged 12 or older have tried marijuana at least once in their lifetimes, representing 41.5% of the U.S. population in that age group. The number of past year marijuana users in 2009 was approximately 28.5 million (11.3% of the population aged 12 or older) and the number of past month marijuana users was 16.7 million (6.6%).

IX. The government could make billions of dollars off of the taxes it could impose on its sale, and its implementation into the industrial world would create thousands of new jobs for the economy. Also, because of its role in paper making, the rain forests of South America can be saved from their current fate of extinction.

X. Estamated 400,000 people a year die from tobacco use

0 From marijuana use.