Legalization Of Marijuana And Hemp Research Paper

John Black
English
4/11/2011
Legal Regulation of Marijuana and Hemp
The concept of marijuana and hemp legalization has been heavily debated over the past 80 years. The current problem with marijuana and hemp in our country is that it is illegal, and proper legalization would be more beneficial than prohibition. There are many supporters of cannabis, and only a few who still oppose this movement. Since marijuana's first recorded use dating back five thousand years ago, it has never gained much popularity until the last century with prohibition and antiwar movements. Now propositions to legalize the plant have risen and been subject to controversy and heated debate.
Even though the government has portrayed marijuana as a harmful substance
millions of people use it every day. According to Rachael Baldwin “It is estimated that 20 million Americans have used marijuana in the past year”. This estimation was given in 2007, and this number has grown significantly by today. Statistics from the alcohol-and-drug-guide say “marijuana use in the USA is high since over 40% of the population has tried marijuana at least once and that this figure rises to over half the population between the age of 18 and 50 years”. While marijuana use is rapidly growing, the United States national debt has never been so high, and with the search to cure diseases going on, marijuana has the potential to solve many problems if it were to be legalized and regulated.
A change in our current policies would greatly impact the U.S. economy. The regulation of marijuana and hemp would save tax payers and law enforcement agencies a large amount of money. The legalization of marijuana alone could also generate billions of dollars in tax revenue every year. Even with these possible economic benefits, people view marijuana as a dangerous and hard drug. This is a common misconception that has been created by the government to construct a negative image for marijuana and hemp. There are actually many health issues marijuana could help with. Many people are affected by this including AIDs, HIV, and cancer patients. There have been many studies done proving cannabis to be beneficial for all sort of patients suffering from a wide variety of medical ailments. It would be beneficial, safer, and cheaper to legalize and regulate marijuana and hemp. With so many benefits and supporters that include famous public figures such as Johnny Depp, Snoop Dogg and Al Gore many people would wonder why Cannabis is still illegal.
In fact many citizens who oppose the legalization of marijuana truly don’t know or understand the process marijuana went through to become illegal.
It was first made illegal on an unjustified basis by the wrong people. The real reason cannabis was made illegal in the US, late 1930s, and still remains illegal today in the US and UK is because its counter-part, Hemp, is a major threat to major corporations, wood and cotton in particular. Hemp itself has a large variety of uses, including paper products and clothes. The legalization of industrial hemp would provide solutions for many of the world's most critical issues. Industrial hemp would create jobs, nourish and clothe people, build houses and reduce our dependence on forest products. Prohibition has been a unique and repeatedly failed attempt to regulate things considered harmful by the government. “Government ties is really why the government lies” – Immortal Technique. This quote from Immortal Technique, an American rapper, sums it all up. Common Misconceptions about marijuana are set up by high end government officials who think only of themselves and their own prosperity. For instance few people know the history of marijuana and the means by which it was made
illegal.
In the 1900s companies such as Randolph Hearst and DuPont started a media campaign against hemp. Most people have probably heard of “Reefer Madness”, a ridiculous propaganda movie to discourage the use of marijuana. The movie was first showed in 1936 making false claims, calling Cannabis “The devils weed”, and stating that weed is more dangerous than cocaine. This was the outlook of the government at the time, 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 benefits. By 1545 marijuana had been introduced to the New World where it was grown as a cash crop alongside tobacco and cotton. By the 1900s the media had the power and the scope to construct a false reality for enough people, and pushed the federal government to act.
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 put a tax on anyone dealing the substance. Harry Anslinger, the man who proposed the Marihuana Tax Act, was also a CEO of DuPont, and would have lost millions had marijuana not been taken out of business. By the mid-1930s Cannabis was regulated as a drug in every state, including 35 states that adopted the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. In the 1970s, many places in the United States started to abolish state laws and other local regulations that banned possession or sale of cannabis. The same thing happened with cannabis sold as medical cannabis in the 1990s. All this is in conflict with federal laws; cannabis is a Schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which classified cannabis as having high potential for abuse, no medical use, and not safe to use under medical supervision. Multiple efforts to reschedule cannabis under the Act have failed, and the United States Supreme Court has ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Coop and Gonzales v. Raich that the federal government has a right to regulate and criminalize cannabis, even for medical
purposes.
A change in our current policies would change and greatly impact the U.S. economy. The regulation of medical marijuana and hemp would save law enforcement agencies a large amount of money. Miron estimates that marijuana legalization could save the United States as much as 7.7 billion dollars in law enforcement costs per year. The legalization of marijuana alone could also generate billions of dollars every year. “Marijuana legalization would also generate tax revenue of $2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like all other goods and $6.2 billion annually if marijuana were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco”( Miron). This leads me to believe Marijuana is one of the U.S.’s most valuable crops and could provide a larger economic benefit than any other crop in the U.S. According to Venkataraman from abc News” The study estimates that marijuana production, at a value of $35.8 billion, exceeds the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion)”. American people continually ignore these benefits that heavily out weight the detriments.
Marijuana legalization would undeniably reap many benefits but more specifically its counterpart Hemp has a large variety of uses including paper products and clothes. Railey states that, “hemp can be used for an endless variety of products including clothing, curtains, upholstery, shoes, backpacks, and towels”. The legalization of industrial hemp would provide solutions for many of the world's most critical issues such as deforestation and fossil fuel pollution. Railey explains that “charcoal, methanol, methane, and gasoline, can be manufactured utilizing the hemp hurds. This type of fuel that is made from hemp is called biomass fuel, and is cleaner and “will not produce the level of air pollution fossil fuels do” (Railey). Industrial hemp would create jobs, nourish and clothe people, build houses and reduce our dependence on forest products. Railey argues that “Over a 20-year period, one acre of hemp will produce as much pulp as 4.1 acres of forestland”. This would singlehandedly end deforestation, as hemp only take 6 months to grow while tree’s take years to grow back.
Along with all the economic and environmental benefits, Marijuana is believed to have many therapeutic uses. Cohen argues “There is now considerable evidence in the peer reviewed scientific literature that smoked marijuana has legitimate therapeutic and palliative uses that are not accompanied by dangerous side effects”. There are actually many health issues marijuana could help with. Many people are affected by this including AIDs, HIV, and cancer patients. There have been many studies done proving cannabis to be beneficial for all sort of patients suffering from a wide variety of medical ailments. Woolridge conducted a study on HIV infected patient dosing them with marijuana and he explains that “The collective results demonstrated statistically significant improvement in half or more patients in symptoms of nausea, anxiety, nerve pain, depression, tingling, numbness, weight loss, headaches, tremor, constipation, and tiredness”. These studies prove that marijuana is significantly helpful for HIV, and AIDs patients. Medical marijuana is even useful for treating certain illnesses and suppressing symptoms for patient are not suffering from diseases such as AIDs or cancer. “Marijuana can be very effective in treating a number of illnesses…Some of the more common conditions and symptoms treated with medical marijuana include chronic pain, nausea, glaucoma, seizure disorders, diabetes, muscle spasms, and many more”(Pain Management of America). To deny these facts, shows that the America we live in today is ran on the fear produced by our media. Our media has allowed billions of citizen to go uninformed about real problem and there real solutions.