Legalize Weed!

Marijuana Legalization position paper

The question of whether or not marijuana should be legalized has been an ongoing discussion ever since the prohibition of the plant in 1927. Although the reasoning as to why marijuana was made illegal seemed rational at first, the real terms of the experiment were released leaving room for discussion. I will disprove the theories attributing brain cell loss to marijuana consumption by exposing the hidden facts of the original marijuana experiment. I will also examine the many industrial purposes of the hemp plant in attempt to persuade those against the legalization of marijuana that this drug's benefits far outweigh its negative stereotype.

Marijuana is the product of an extremely versatile hemp crop. The key difference between Hemp and Marijuana is that hemp lacks the resin glads found in marijuana which produces tetrahydrocannobinal or THC. Therefore, Hemp only has one tenth the amount of THC that would be found in a marijuana plant. THC is the main ingredient responsible for triggering the commonly known side effects of marijuana. Considering that hemp does not contain these high levels of THC, the fact that it is illegal for industrial purposes is simply irrational. Industrial hemp is composed of three primary parts; seeds, hurds, and fiber. All of these parts have strong benefits to our present day lifestyles in the United States. The seeds provide many nutrients for people and animals and can also be used in oils for shampoos, soaps, and many other cosmetic products. The oil which is produced from the hemp plant contains the highest amount of polyunsaturated fats of any plant in the plant kingdom. This oil has many benefits including the clinically proven treatment of arthritis and premenstrual syndrome. The fiber of the hemp plant has many industrial purposes in making clothes, rope, and paper. In fact, Hemps absorbency and strength make it the most durable fiber in the world. Its resistance to salt water, UV light, and raw strength would make it an elite and highly valuable product in todays market. Lastly, the hurds, or woody core, can be used for paper as well as other chemicals, plastics, fuels, etc which would help the issue of deforestation. Along with the benefits produced from the basic processing of hemp, the waste resulting from this process also yields many benefits as well. The vast amount of waste can be used in paper making, as a biomass for fuel production, and serves as a renewable source of raw material for pastiche production.

The most popular and untruthful arguments against the legalization of marijuana is it causes smokers cough, has harmful affects to proper brain function, and kills brain cells. In the Heath Tulane experiment released by Ronald Ragan in 1974 he stated, "the most reliable scientific sources says permeant brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana." Throughout the study monkeys were pumped full of marijuana, supposedly 30 joints per day. Naturally, these monkeys began to die after 90 days. However, after 6 long years of requests about the true nature of the study many startling facts were uncovered. According to a documentary, "The Union," Adam Scorgie states, "instead of administering 30 joints a day for one year, they were given an equivalent of 63 columbian strength joints through a gas mask within 5 minutes over 3 months." In other words, these monkeys were pumped full of marijuana without any additional oxygen and consequently suffocated to death. By blocking the brain from receiving oxygen, the brain cells in these monkeys were killed but instead of attributing the death of brain cells to suffocation the experimenters claimed this was the direct result of smoking marijuana. The government then portrayed marijuana to the public as a harmful and damaging drug. Because of these untruthful conclusions marijuana was made illegal and a misleading stereotype began. These false claims became the basis for the illegalization movement when the results of the study should have proven otherwise.

As I stated above there is absolutely no evidence that marijuana causes brain cell damage. With that being known, marijuana should not only be legalized because of the many beneficial industrial purposes this plant provides but also because it is not proven that this drug is directly linked to any harmful longterm health issues.

Jordan Verastique