Los Angeles Marijuana Clinic Blog

While California waits to see what will happen with medical marijuana… whether to keep the existing medical marijuana laws, of go further, and outright legalize medical marijuana laws altogether. No matter how it plays out California will be the winner. Californians will be able to still purchase marijuana at either their local collectives or at a bar. What a great time to live in this state

Cannibas sativa, better known as marijuana, has been apart of our planet for thousands of years. Its history can be dated back as far as 2737 BC in China and is deeply rooted in medicine and economics. Although illegal in the United States as of 1970, many individuals from all walks of life are now calling for the legalization of marijuana. The original reasoning's behind marijuana's prohibition was based on lies and governmental conspiracies. Proponents claim that the medicinal, as well as economical, benefits of legalizing marijuana outweigh the cost to keep it illegal. Due to the surmounting evidence in support of marijuana, legalization is long overdue.

It is interesting to note that marijuana's history in America begins as a mandatory cash crop. In 1619 the first marijuana law was enacted in Jamestown Colony, Virginia, ordering all farmers to grow Indian hemp seed (procon.org). During the 1600's cannabis was mainly used for fibers, ropes, and clothing; however, the medicinal purposes were not well known. According to the United States Census of 1850, there were 8,327 cannabis plantations over 2,000 acres each (procon.org). Until the 1930's marijuana was still a very lucrative cash crop for United States, primarily for farmers in the south. Since the process of harvesting hemp required extensive labor, after the abolition of slavery the industry began to decline to almost extinction. With the population boost at the turn of the century, attention was brought to the influx of Mexican immigrants crossing the border and with the increasing numbers of Mexican immigrants some farmers were able to profit again with their cheap labor. This cheaper Mexican labor came under careful scrutiny after the Great Depression due to the increased tensions as jobs and welfare resources became scarce (Guither). Since the connection of marijuana was made with Mexican immigrants due to their introduction of smoking the plant, the government started a large propaganda campaign against it.

In 1931 Harry J. Anslinger was appointed to head the newly organized Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. At this time the propaganda had become grossly exaggerated claiming such idea that marijuana caused craziness and loose women or you would kill your brother (See Fig. 1).

Most of Anslingers' comments were filled with racial and stereotypical denotations of the time to be used as scare tactics in illegalizing marijuana. He had been quoted saying:

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negros, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negros, entertainers, and any others”.

“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death”

“Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men”

“Marijuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”

“You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother”

Newspaper reports and claims also ran rampant with the same ludicrous rampages. They would gain immensely from the banning of marijuana since most newspaper companies were invested in the lumber industry. Without paper being produced from hemp, it would have to be produced from lumber, and thus a profit for them. The tirade of propaganda mixed with the support from large companies like Dupont (whom wanted hemp removed as competition since their nylon patent) made it possible for Anslingers Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 (Guither). Ironically, this bill was passed even after Dr. William C. Woodard from the American Medical Association protested the bill saying, “The entire fabric of federal testimony was tabloid sensationalism! No real testimony had been heard! This law, passed in ignorance, could possibly deny the world a potential medicine, especially now that the medical world was just beginning to find which ingredients in cannabis were active” (procon.org). The law was passed in late 1937 even though the representative from the Ways and Means committee had lied on the floor of Congress when he assured Congress the American Medical Association was in complete agreement with it. Even with the Marijuana Tax Act it still did not actually illegalize marijuana. The law indirectly made it illegal by decreeing “that marijuana could not be traded or possessed without government-issued tax stamp…then the government never made any stamps, effectively making possession a crime” (sinsebility.com). Marijuana did become officially illegal in 1970 when it was included in the “Controlled Substances Act as a schedule 1 (totally banned) drug” (sinsebility.com).

Moving forward to the 1990's many studies had been completed on the medical consequences of smoking marijuana as well as the medicinal uses of the drug. In 1997 the UCLA School of Medicine completed an eight-year study of cannabis and concluded that “long-term cannabis smokers do not experience a greater annual decline in lung functions that non-smokers” and another study by Kaiser Permanente in the same year concluded that there were “relatively few adverse clinical effects from the chronic use of marijuana” (procon.com). Marijuana's main medical uses have been as an appetite stimulant and nausea reliever for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, as well as a pain reliever for certain terminal illnesses such as AIDS and again cancer. One of the main chemicals in marijuana, THC, had also been found to reduce arterial blockage. Smoking marijuana has also contributed to the relief of “glaucoma and certain neurological illnesses such as epilepsy, migraines, and bipolar disorder” (wikipedia.com). The list of medical uses continues to grow as more research is conducted in the United States as well as the rest of the World. Other countries, such as Canada, already prescribe a sublingual spray derived from an extract of cannabis for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (wikipedia.com).

The legalization of marijuana in the United States would benefit immensely not only to the citizens regarding medical uses but economically as well. On average “a single drug case can run $15,000 or more” to prosecute (Guither). In 2004 there were approximately 684,319 arrests for marijuana possession and 87,285 for sale/manufacturing in state and local governments. That equates to at least $11.6 billion in prosecuting costs for marijuana alone. Dr. Jeffrey Miron, a professor of economics at Harvard University, concluded that “with a system of legal regulation” marijuana “would save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement - $2.4 billion at the federal level and (total) $5.3 billion at the state and local levels” (prohibitioncosts.org). So that is an annual savings of $19.3 billion per year. This is just in savings alone. Dr. Miron also concluded that if marijuana was legalized, and the system of taxation and regulation similar to that used on tobacco products was implemented, it would produce tax revenue between $10-$14 billion annually. Altogether, just from the sale of marijuana in a tobacco type form the United States would save and profit between $29.3 billion and $33.3 billion annually. This does not include the profits and benefits of sale of hemp for clothing; fuel to be made in use of in homes for heat and cars to replace gas and paper to replace wasting trees.

Although the legalization of marijuana is far into the future, if ever, with all of the surmounting benefits to the United States citizens' health, economy, and nature there definitely needs to be an open and honest debate about it. With all of the medicinal uses, clothing, paper goods, fuel, and savings we should legalize it now. The shear impact of having upwards of $30 billion annually that can go towards schools, medical research and community improvements is almost a blessing. Especially since it is already out there and already used by millions of Americans every day. We cannot continue to let governmental lies and deceit to continually force our ways of thinking naively about marijuana. Legalize marijuana now.

Works Cited

Sinsebility

Racism and Fear

http://www.sinsebility.com/history.htm

(24 August 2006)

Procon.org

Medical Marijuana: History of Marijuana as Medicine

http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/pop/history.htm

(24 August 2006)

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/marijuana

(24 August 2006)

Guither, Pete. “Why is Marijuana Illegal?”\

Drug War Rant. 22 December 2003

http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html

(24 August 2006)

Prohibitioncosts.org

Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States

http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/index.html

(24 August 2006)

read comments (0)