Abraham Lincoln once said two quotes about prohibition, "Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes crimes out of things that are not crimes," and "A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." I believe that he is right for stating that we have rights and they should not be taken for granted. He may have not been thinking of marijuana when he made his speech, but it involves prohibition, meaning prohibition in general and of any kind.

Prohibition has accomplished some things, one being it has made criminal drug dealers richer. The risks of trafficking marijuana has increased, thus enabling these people raise the price of weed, which increases their profits. Second, marijuana has caused taxpayers tremendous amounts of money on police, court costs, and jails. Last, it has torn apart families with members that use marijuana. Did you know that 58% of marijuana felons have no relevant prior crime history, 91% were not considered organizers, leaders, managers, or supervisors, and 92% did not even own guns (Schlosser 93). Now what does this say about our judicial system to put away people such as these. I believe that we have far more important things to worry about. The average time served in prison for selling marijuana is four years, compared with just one year for rape or manslaughter. So apparently this proves that drug crimes are more important than violent crimes. It treats drugs as more important than God-given constitutionally protected rights.

of American hemp was grown in 1611 (Grinspoon 11). However, the modern practice of smoking marijuana was not introduced until the 1920's. This was a time of drug intolerance. America was in the stages of the prohibition of alcohol campaign. Marijuana was introduced and smoked by the early immigrants. In the 1930's it was a common belief that immigrants were inhumane and violent, so these attitudes were associated and blamed on the marijuana. By 1931 all but two states had anti-marijuana legislation. By 1937 all states had prohibited marijuana use and made it illegal to have anything to do with this drug. No research was ever made on marijuana at this time or its effects. People simply believed in assumptions made about marijuana, such things as it provoked violent crime and caused insanity.

Misunderstanding. Washington: GPO, 1972.

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Approximate Word count = 1411
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)