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Marijuana: Its Time to Legalize

Lawrence Sampson

The Examiner

Wednesday 11 Jan 2012

For years marijuana supporters and the pro-marijuana lobby have battled myths and legends about the effects of marijuana. From being a "gateway drug" to being a hallucinogen, stories abound about the weed, often times told by people who have never even touched it. A new twenty year studyin the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported by the Associated Press dispels yet another untruth about the dangers of smoking one or more marijuana cigarettes or "joints" a week.

The science has been slow in coming, but it is commonly known that Cannabis (marijuana) stimulates appetite. The stories of people getting the "munchies" after smoking it are legendary and a Hollywood staple. This has led to the plant having medical uses particularly for those individuals undergoing chemotherapy treatment, which has a tendency to ruin a person's appetite. Patients needing to keep their strength up find marijuana invaluable during these times. The plant has also found use as a treatment if not cure for glaucoma. Again the science has been slow in coming, at least in part because the pharmaceutical industry has no incentive to bolster medicinal reports about a plant anyone can grow in their back yard or kitchen. It's called weed for a reason, and a weed doesn't make Big Pharm any money.

Unfortunately, America's law enforcement community has been slow to get on the Mary Jane Train. The drug war costfifteen billion dollars in 2010, or about five hundred dollars a second, just at the federal level. Part of that cost is from arresting people for the sale and use of marijuana at the rate of one every thirty seconds. This represents an extreme expenditure for a victimless consensual crime at a time when education and other crucial budget items cannot be met. Meanwhile, the cost in damage to our society by making criminals out of so many Americans is incalculable.

Hopes were raised when President Obama appointed the former police chief of Seattle as his drug Czar. Prior to coming to Washington, DC, Gil Kerlikowske had refused to arrest the casual marijuana user. However the dictates coming from the feds have since been a little schizophrenic, first announcing there would be no prosecution of medical marijuana dealers, only to later have several of the establishments in California raided and shut down.

In 2010 nineteen states had marijuana statutes on their ballots. A total of sixteen states now have legalized marijuana at least for medicinal reasons. During the economic downturn, marijuana has been a boon to local economies worth more than a billion dollars a year in California alone. Tennessee has all the earmarks of a state that could benefit from legalized marijuana: According to a report in Forbes magazine, we are the second most medicated state. Individuals and insurance companies could save untold millions by allowing Tennesseans to use marijuana as a home remedy. Second, we have plenty of rural land which could be used to cultivate such crops. Lastly, as one of the poorest states economically, our budget shortfalls are getting dire. Cannabis could give our municipalities a much needed shot in the arm, leading to job creation and growth for economies of scale. The upside is huge and with very little in the way of negatives, it's time to legalize marijuana in Tennessee.

http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-nashville/marijuana-its-time-to-legalize

 

 

 

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