cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Should Be Legal





Marijuana Should Be Legal
Posted by CN Staff on October 12, 2005 at 21:32:53 PT
By The News Record 
Source: News Record
Ohio -- The marijuana debate has been argued this way or that ever since the late sixties with no definitive answer or solution in sight. Pot advocates obviously want to, as Peter Tosh would say, "Legalize It." American society has shunned the idea of legalizing marijuana, labeling it taboo through various anti-pot commercials. You know, like "Parents. The Anti-Drug," or the one where the guys are getting high in a drive-through, then proceed to run over a little girl on a bike.
Well, before tackling the whole issue of legalization we should consider some facts.First, we must ponder the question of why marijuana is illegal, while tobacco and alcohol are not. According to The Gallup Organization's Annual Consumption Habits poll (conducted July 2005) about 63 percent of America's 295,734,134 people drink alcohol. That's 186,312,504 people. That's a lot of people and tax dollars.Now consider that according to the Journal of the American Medical Association there are about 85,000 annual deaths due to alcohol. If that number fails to impress it should be noted that it doesn't include the 17,401 drunken driving related deaths a year, which tallies the death toll to about 102,401. Not to mention the 327,000 people that were injured in drunk-driving accidents last year. In respect to tobacco use, according to "A National Action Plan for Tobacco Cessation," there are about 24 million smokers in America, which is less than alcohol consumers. Yet tobacco still yields the highest annual preventable death rate claiming about 435,000 people a year. Now why should you care about these numbers? Because according to the same medical journal that published those findings, the use of marijuana is responsible for, are you ready for this, zero deaths a year. That's right, zero. In fact, the US Drug Abuse Warning Network says that instances of drugs in medical examiners' autopsy reports says that marijuana, although found in conjunction with other drugs, have not been shown to cause an overdose death. As far as driving goes, cases of marijuana-induced car accidents or deaths are so scarce there is barely any pot-specific information about it on the Internet.So now that we've established that marijuana, on its own, doesn't kill people. Why again is it illegal? Maybe we should approach the problem from the view of, "Why should marijuana be legalized?" From the government's standpoint the answer is easy: taxes. What else do we have to say? But on another note, the legalization of pot can have some very profound effects on the crime rate. In 2003, 45 percent of the 1,678,192 total drug abuse arrests were for marijuana. That makes about 755,186 arrests of which 662,886 were made for possession of marijuana.The decriminalization of pot (which means that instead of getting arrested for possession, one is just fined) would effectively cut down almost half of the drug arrests in America, limiting arrests solely to felony offenses.Currently the 11 states that have decriminalized pot, including Ohio, can also look to save a substantial amount of money that would otherwise be used on incarcerating minor offenders. Decriminalization of marijuana saves California $100 million per year.Do not forget the millions of dollars the government would make in taxes. So with a government so focused on the bottom line, America should seriously think about putting some of those numbers in its pipe and smoking it. Source: News Record, The (OH Edu)Published: October 13, 2005Copyright: 2005 College Publisher and The News RecordWebsite: http://www.newsrecord.org/Contact: opinion.newsrecord gmail.comRelated Articles:Legalize, Tax and Regulate Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21146.shtml National Group Seeks Legalize Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21132.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #8 posted by CorvallisEric on October 14, 2005 at 05:31:29 PT
Re: what if it were legal (comment 5)
If cannabis were legal, what would happen to the tobacco industry? a safe-smoking alternative would destroy the tobacco industry. also, fossil fuel corporations would suffer because hemp is non-toxic and would produce an endless supply of energy.If cannabis were legal, there would be nothing to stop these same "greedy and evil" corporations from getting into the cannabis business and making just as many trillions of dollars as they do now. And nothing to keep them from colluding with corrupt politicians just like they do now.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 13, 2005 at 20:52:38 PT
runderwo 
I could never be a politician either. You have to learn to play the game of politics to make it in politics and I'm just not a good game player.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by runderwo on October 13, 2005 at 20:41:28 PT
politicians
If I were a politician, I would do what is best for the people. That's probably why I'll never become a politician. People are more impressed by empty promises and glamor than by honesty and integrity.I'm curious why this article didn't cite the numerous live traffic and closed course studies that have shown that being high alone improves driving, if anything.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by freshy on October 13, 2005 at 16:34:38 PT
what if it were legal
If cannabis were legal, what would happen to the tobacco industry? a safe-smoking alternative would destroy the tobacco industry. also, fossil fuel corporations would suffer because hemp is non-toxic and would produce an endless supply of energy. our politicians make a lot of untaxed money from the bribes of these corporations... Bush was looking into hydrogen, so he had a meeting with the fossil fuel corporations. If i were a politician, i would probably do what was best for me, not what was best for the people, and that is what politicians will do.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by john wayne on October 13, 2005 at 12:26:39 PT
the killer weed
> American society has shunned the idea of legalizing marijuana, labeling it taboo through various anti-pot commercials. You know, like "Parents. The Anti-Drug," or the one where the guys are getting high in a drive-through, then proceed to run over a little girl on a bike. Seems like every time I get high, some little kid winds up dead. Stop me before I bong again!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on October 13, 2005 at 10:16:53 PT
taxes
The problem from the taxes angle is that the government is already taking and spending HUGE amounts of taxes from the WOD.Brainwashing people with scare tactics, ridicule, and scorn will get the people to support billions and billions of spending on the WOD. If they don't have enough tax money to foot the bill, they just borrow it. In a few years when we hit a crisis, we'll be forced to choose between healthcare for the elderly, social security checks for the elderly, or a huge tax increase. Then the government will get whatever taxes they require.If people don't like it, what can they do at that point? The only available 2-party political candidates both support increasing spending, and thus, taxing. (And don't forget, both parties staunchly support WAR in the mideast as well, don't think we'll save any money there). The real effect of legalization would shift the money that is being spent from law enforcement to other areas of the budget.And then you begin to see the big picture of why our culture is this way.Think about this: How many TV shows do you see that about crime and police heroes?  How many do see about heroic teachers, or social workers, or drug treatment counselors? Heroic highway workers? Heroes building commuter rails & subways? 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by whig on October 12, 2005 at 22:08:38 PT
Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's
Cannabis is not Caesar's.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by whig on October 12, 2005 at 22:07:19 PT
Homegrown
(That's the way it should be.)The tax argument fails on this point, unless the state would require a license to cultivate and so empower the corporations who have so destroyed tobacco to create "marijuana cigarettes" containing harmful impurities, additives and all manner of negative effects that may ensue.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment