Marijuana comes from the hemp plan. It can readily be grown in fields across the nation and was cultivated heavily in colonial period. After 130 years of being legal, the potential problems of marijuana were brought into the public eye by Harry J. Anslingler, the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and author of Marijuana: Assassi

sed. What science and real experience tells us is that marijuana tends to be substituted for much harder drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and heroin (Hagar 1). Another misconception is that marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol. Extremely high doses of cannibinoids are thought to cause death, but no deaths have ever been attributed to cannibinoids alone. Extremely high doses is the key word here. Scientists have concluded that the ratio of cannibinoids needed to get a person intoxicated (stoned) relative to the amount necessary to kill him is 1 to 40,000. That means that to overdose on marijuana you would need to consume 40,000 times as much as you would to get stoned. The ratio of alcohol varies between 1 in 4 and 1 in 10. Over 5000 people die of alcohol overdoses each year, and no one has ever died from overdosing on pot (Hagar 2).

and use of hard drugs, and the environmental benefits of hemp to name a few. With all these reasons taken into consideration the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana seems like a good idea whose time has come.

n of Youth (Goldman 88). In his book, Anslinger portrayed images of Mexican and Negro criminals, as well as young boys, who became killers while under the influence of marijuana. With the added public pressure, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This law made the use and sale of marijuana a federal offense. At this point marijuana was removed from the public eye, and heavy users included poor Negroes, migrant Mexicans, and Jazz Musicians (Himmelstein 3). Marijuana reappeared in the mid 1960's with the emergence of the "Hippie." Widespread objection to the use of marijuana remained bec!

ause of the set of values and lifestyles associated with it, but use appeared in colleges and among middle-class youths in the suburbs (Himmelstein 103). Marijuana became a symbol of counter-culture, and youthful rebellion. As a consequence, marijuana use rose for the next ten years. Marijuana was becoming more accepted across the nation. As the demographics of marijuana users changed, the attitudes about the danger of marijuana broke down. In 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act reduced the classification of simple possession and non-profit distribution from felonies to misdemeanors (Himmelstein 104). This was a good start; however, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1973 and over the next 20 years, each succeeding president continued to escalate the drug war. This policy has done nothing to stop the recreational use of drugs in this country; on the contrary, it is causing great harm. It's time to try something new.

"The time devoted to tracking down, arresting and then trying marijuana users is perhaps the greatest exercise in lost time in contemporary activity. In the last two years, approximately 750,000 arrests were made in our mad, quixotic effort to stamp out marijuana. What this adds up to is millions of police hours spent on fruitless missions, millions of hours of court time wasted, and millions of months in jail, using up space sorely needed to contain people who can't wait to get out in order to resume mugging and murdering (Buckley 39A)."

on he product NORML has estimated that legalization would produce over $40 billion in taxable revenue (NORML 3). As Congress debates the national debt, legalization would provide the needed funds to help our economy.

The push for legalization of Cannibis is making news across America just as it did in the 60's. Shirts are being worn

Some common words found in the essay are:
Richard Nixon, Gabriel Nahas, United NORML, Buckley Jr, Civil Liberties, , Crowes Increasing, Amendments ACLU, Hippie Widespread, Laws NORML, hager 1, aclu 1, possession manufacture, manufacture distribution, possession manufacture distribution, civil liberties, manufacture distribution drugs, war drugs, distribution drugs, marijuana laws, marijuana users, criminalizing possession, criminalizing possession manufacture, reformation marijuana laws, marijuana laws norml,
Approximate Word count = 2396
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)