Is The Illegalization Of Marijuana Valid?
?
The debate over the legalization of Cannabis sativa, more commonly known
as marijuana, has been one of the most heated controversies ever to occur in the
United States. Its use as a medicine has existed for thousands of years in many
countries world wide and is documented as far back as 2700 BC in ancient Chinese
writings. When someone says ganja, cannabis, bung, dope, grass, rasta, or weed,
they are talking about the same subject: marijuana. Marijuana should be
legalized because the government could earn money from taxes on its sale, its
value to the medical world outweighs its abuse potential, and because of its
importance to the paper and clothing industries. This action should ...
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industrial leaders such as
William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Mellon. Herer notes that the Marijuana Tax
Act, which passed in 1937, coincidentally occurred just as the decoricator
machine was invented. With this invention, hemp would have been able to take
over competing industries almost instantaneously. According to Popular Mechanics,
"10,000 acres devoted to hemp will produce as much paper as 40,000 acres of
average [forest] pulp land." William Hearst owned enormous timber acreage so his
interest in preventing the growth of hemp can be easily explained. Competition
from hemp would have easily driven the Hearst paper-manufacturing company out of
business and significantly lowered the value of his land. Herer even suggests
popularizing the term "marijuana" was a strategy Hearst used in order to create
fear in the American public. Herer says "The first step in creating hysteria
was to introduce the element of fear of the unknown by using a word that no one
had ever heard ...
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Marijuana is actually less
dangerous than alcohol, cigarettes, and even most over-the-counter medicines or
prescriptions. According to Francis J. Young, the DEA's administrative judge,
"nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal affects, but marijuana is
not such a substance...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" (DEA Docket No. 86-22, 57). It doesn't make sense then, for marijuana to
be illegal in the United States when alcohol poisoning is a major cause of
death in this country and approximately ...
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Is The Illegalization Of Marijuana Valid?. (2004, March 13). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Is-The-Illegalization-Of-Marijuana-Valid/4503
"Is The Illegalization Of Marijuana Valid?." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 Mar. 2004. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Is-The-Illegalization-Of-Marijuana-Valid/4503>
"Is The Illegalization Of Marijuana Valid?." Essayworld.com. March 13, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Is-The-Illegalization-Of-Marijuana-Valid/4503.
"Is The Illegalization Of Marijuana Valid?." Essayworld.com. March 13, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Is-The-Illegalization-Of-Marijuana-Valid/4503.
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