Pubdate: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 Source: Spectator, The (U of WI, Eau Claire, Edu) Copyright: 2009 The Spectator Contact: http://www.spectatornews.com/main.cfm?include=submit Website: http://www.spectatornews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3941 Author: Tyler Sadek Note: Sadek is a sophomore political science major and guest columnist for The Spectator. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) COUNTRY SHOULD LEGALIZE MARIJUANA Substance Not Dangerous, Spending Towards War On Drugs Foolish Marijuana use should be legalized and decriminalized in the United States. The foundation for the oppression of a responsible marijuana policy in America's history has been created by ignorant hysteria, poor government prioritization and a lack of education on the topic. Marijuana use, the act of consuming the chemical tetrahydracannabinol (THC), is less dangerous than drinking alcohol, but is treated as a much more dangerous act in American law. People are allowed to go out to bars and get drunk legally, so why aren't there bars for people to go and use marijuana if they don't want to get drunk? The reason for this and all American marijuana policy is based on unreasonable double standards of society that have defined marijuana as a dangerous, criminal thing. In reality it is just a plant that has a chemical that makes you feel funny. These double standards need to be common knowledge to people, in order to educate them and keep them away from prejudicial perspectives. There is a stigma behind marijuana use in America. But where does this stigma come from? Perhaps it is the after-effects of anti-marijuana propaganda that circulated in America, such as the cult film "Reefer Madness," created in 1936, which portrays marijuana users as murderous, sexual lunatics - a truly ignorant preconception. Perhaps it is marijuana's inexplicable relation to the dangers of heavier drugs such as cocaine and heroin - side effects such as violent addiction - when studies have actually shown alcohol and tobacco to be more dangerous than marijuana. Or perhaps it is the current propaganda on television, such as commercial advertisements showing the "dangers" of smoking marijuana. In one such advertisement, some boys are shown smoking marijuana and then buying food at a drive-thru, and subsequently run over a child on a bike because of it. Advertisements and propaganda such as these are insane and blur the reality of marijuana use. Instead of informing the public, such movements have served no purpose other than causing an unnecessary stigma behind something that is not dangerous. These movements have created the ignorance that sustains the oppression of marijuana, while alcohol continues to kill tens of thousands in driving accidents and people become addicted to easily available pills. The reality of alcohol and marijuana laws is full of irony. Alcohol has a damaging effect on the body: causing liver damage, killing brain cells, creating impotent males. Surprisingly, marijuana use only causes one of these three problems - an association to impotency among male users. Unfortunately, marijuana use also has a negative effect on the lungs, but with the creation of new smoking devices such as vaporizers, which are used medically in places such as California, lung risks have been lowered significantly for users. The short-term effects are substantial between the two as well. People experience fits of violence, get incredibly sick, experience hangovers and occasionally lose that inhibition known as "common sense" when they are under the influence of alcohol. On the other hand, marijuana users experience a temporary euphoria that produces a relaxing effect in the body, only to leave them mildly exhausted after the drug's effects have worn off. Yet marijuana remains illegal and alcohol is restricted to people 21 and older. In the same vein, millions of Americans take over-the-counter pain pills with a doctor's prescription - pain pills that are more addictive and tend to have similar effects on the body as marijuana - - and it is completely legal. Not to mention very profitable. I realize that an America with marijuana legalized federally is a bit farther in the future, but I think the first step should be taken in this movement towards the ending of marijuana prohibition: the decriminalization of marijuana. President Nixon, in 1971, coined the phrase "War on Drugs" to refer to government policy towards drugs in the United States. Since then the government has spent billions upon billions attempting to prevent and eliminate drug use in America. I do not believe the idea of a "War on Drugs" is a bad idea, but I do believe that considering marijuana as a drug dangerous enough for billions of dollars worth of enforcement is just foolish. Nonviolent drug offenders receive sentences that place them in the same prisons as rapists and murderers as well as other violent offenders. This irony also needs to be brought to focus a bit more. Placing a nonviolent offender in a prison full of violent people will only turn the nonviolent person into a violent person. Not only that, but taxpayer money is used to bust these nonviolent offenders, as well as keep them in prison. The fact that our nation's ignorance of marijuana is the cause for such double standards is something that needs to be fixed. A person caught drunk driving gets a short time in jail and has to take a class, while a person growing marijuana for their own personal use will receive years in prison and thousands in fines. On the other hand, I do not wish to believe marijuana legalization should be such a pipe-dream in our current times. States such as California are pioneering the movement by legalizing medical marijuana and decriminalizing it within the state, while it is still federally illegal. Not only that, but marijuana can be grown, bought and sold in parts of California for medical purposes. The money California makes in taxes from the industry, billions in revenue, also pays for the money spent fighting the illegal drug trade in California. California is inching towards the larger possibilities of marijuana legalization in America. Not only is there a market for marijuana to be bought, sold, and taxed, but jobs could be created by the marijuana production industry, hemp from the crop could be harnessed as a resource, and an entirely commercial sub-market could be created for marijuana, the same way that alcohol now has a competitive commercial market. Ideally, marijuana could be regulated in the same manner alcohol is regulated: you can't do it while driving, while at work and you have to be old enough. America would not only save billions in fighting the "War on Drugs," but they would make billions more in taxes. Yet, none of this will happen until society abandons its preconceptions of marijuana. Marijuana legalization is not about smoking a lot of marijuana - it is about principle. Marijuana, superficially, is another way for human beings to relax and amuse themselves. People should be allowed to do things that make them happy without people telling them they can't, especially when it only affects the user. People are allowed to do a lot of things to their bodies and minds, and the fact that marijuana use is not legal only serves as a contradiction in American law. I believe laws on such subjects should come down to personal responsibility. If you don't want to smoke or drink, then you don't have to. If you abuse something like marijuana though, you have no one to blame but yourself. People can use marijuana responsibly, but America has to give them the chance first. Get out and vote. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom