Before you read the following data understand that I feel it is our constitutional right to do as we wish, as long as we do NOT violate the constitutional
rights of others. I respect your rights, you respect mine. I feel as if I am being religously and socially discriminated against for my beliefs, since the issue is
"controversial." Driving impaired is already illegal (and wrong), smoking publicly is a LOCAL issue, but private use of cannabis should remain constitutionally protected.
Whether the government can tax it or not is moot, what matters is that you retain the right to choose for yourself, not have someone choose for you. Drug imports/exports are a federal matter.
Addiction rates:
Nicotine - 35%
Cocaine - 19%
Marijuana - 9%
Death rates:
Tobacco - 435,000 /yr
Alcohol - 85,000 /yr
All illicit drugs - 17,000/yr
Marijuana - 0 (can not overdose)
* center for disease control
Effects:
*Tobacco
Very mild calming feeling, Yellow teeth/nails/skin, emphysema, lung cancer, etc.
*Marijuana
Obvious acute effects, bronchitis (long term) -- notice I did NOT list cancer.
** A california study observing heavy marijuana users over the course of 8 years found that marijuana smokers were no more prone to cancer than non-smokers.
The U.S. federal government spent over $19 billion dollars in 2003 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $600 per second. The budget has since been increased by over a billion dollars.
* Office of National Drug Control Policy
**
Just this year 540,658 arrests have been made for cannibis. FBI statistics reported 829,625 arrests in 2006 for cannibis, the highest ever in one year, and of those arrests 738,915 (89%) were for possession alone. An American is now arrested for violating cannabis laws every 38 seconds.
*Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation
"Both Australian studies suggest cannabis may actually reduce the responsibility rate and lower crash risk. Put another way, cannabis consumption either increases driving ability or, more likely, drivers who use cannabis make adjustments in driving style to compensate for any loss of skill (Drummer, 1995). This is consistent with simulator and road studies that show drivers who consumed cannabis slowed down and drove more cautiously (see Ward & Dye, 1999; Smiley, 1999. "
* many sources, taken from #30 at http://www.drugwarfacts.org/marijuan.htm
"Since 1969, government-appointed commissions in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, and the Netherlands concluded, after reviewing the scientific evidence, that marijuana's dangers had previously been greatly exaggerated, and urged lawmakers to drastically reduce or eliminate penalties for marijuana possession."
*#32
"...It criminalizes large numbers of otherwise law-abiding, mainly young, people to the detriment of their futures. It has become a proxy for the control of public order; and it inhibits accurate education about the relative risks of different drugs including the risks of cannabis itself."
* #37
"Statements in the popular media that the potency of cannabis has increased by ten times or more in recent decades are not support by the data from either the USA or Europe."
* #39
Other reasons why marijuana is still illegal:
** Local and state police make ENORMOUS amounts of money from drug busts. If they can prove that the money was tied to criminal activity they are allowed to confiscate it. Federally we are losing approximately 19 billion dollars annually on the War on Drugs.
** Tobacco lobbyists obviously oppose the legalization of marijuana. Legalization would put an item on the market that can compete with tobacco, and it will be extremely cheap when current marijuana smokers start growing in their backyards. This could mean huge losses.
** Marijuana is commonly used to treat physical and psychological symptoms. Legalization would make it much more difficult for drug companies to obtain the consumer base they have today.
** International treaties make it difficult for individual countries to change their laws. If they were to legalize marijuana, they would violate the treaty, and that would cost them certain benefits.
** Marijauna pacifies the person, making them less "gun ho." War, one of the most profitible engagements ever, would not start very easy if much of the american body were more prudent with their decisions. Ignorance and blind rage is the "bread and butter" of the federal government, allowing legislation and wars we do not even want to go into effect.
** The larger religions oppose marijuana, because of their personal beliefs, and refuse to allow others (that don't share their beliefs) to make that choice for themselves. It must be "god's will."
Final notes:
The effects drug use (of any kind) has on your body is a concern for doctors, but that doesn't mean they can push to make it illegal. They can recommend to you not to do it, and they can ask for the public use of d
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