OriginalCrazyone
Bluelighter
I have been working on an editorial that I have been submitting to newspapers across the country on the subject of legalization, and I thought I would share it here. Please feel free to comment, critique, and suggest anything that I should add to it. Thanks for reading!
-OcO-
An honest and open discussion on the legalization of Marijuana
I would like to present everyone within our community with some food for thought. Our nation is still deep in a financial mess that no one has a clear cut method to enable recovery from. Families are suffering from the lack of work because the corporations are taking their operations overseas for the cheap labor, and the people in control of these companies are taking their profits outside of the country to keep from paying taxes on their income. The political parties are butting heads over the various ideas to increase revenue, because the neither side is willing to sacrifice for the greater good, and the only ones who are being forced to sacrifice are those who cannot afford to do so.
There is a way to solve this problem, that would create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in industry, transportation, research and development, agriculture, increase revenue into federal and state governments, reduce costs to both federal and state governments and eliminate our reliance on foreign resources and would bring about an economic recovery without increasing taxes or sacrificing any federal programs. This method of recovery would also allow us to pay off our massive federal debt, and would prevent the collapse of the Social Security and Medicare programs, a program that is necessary for the health, safety and quality of life of our elderly. This method of recovery is to eliminate the federal prohibition of marijuana.
Hemp is a plant that has many industrial uses. It can be used to manufacture plastics, biofuels, fabrics, paper, lubricants, adhesives, and can eliminate nearly all uses of fossil fuels in industry, manufacturing and heating and electricity production. We can make a fuel from hemp oil that will run in every car on the road today with little or no modifications. Unlike fossil fuels, it is a renewable resource that can be produced almost anywhere. In the case of an accidental spillage, hemp oil does not cause an ecological disaster that kills wildlife and harms the soil, hemp oil would act like a fertilizer in the case of a pipeline bursting or a truck spilling and cause no harm to the environment.
The government would gain many new sources of revenue thorough the legalization of marijuana. The manufacture and use of hemp can be taxed at every level, from a licensing fee to grow, transportation tax, and retail licensing tax for sales and distribution. There would also be a tremendous increase in revenue from income tax, from the new jobs created across the country.. By legalizing, it would also reduce costs from the budget in several areas. Legalization would reduce the money empowering the Mexican cartels by 50% , helping to eliminate the power of these criminal organizations, reducing the cost of border enforcement and homeland security. It would also decrease the costs involved in local and state law enforcement, the court system, and the prison system by 30%, and can decrease these costs even further by releasing any non violent offenders incarcerated for possession of marijuana. The resources spent by the federal government to go after medical marijuana dispensaries could better be used to go after the criminals dealing prescription drugs, methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin and other illegal substances with a severe societal impact. You don't find addicts breaking into someones home to rob them to go buy cannabis, they do those kind of activities while suffering from the effects of withdrawal from those more dangerous substances.
You may ask about how to control the negative effects of legalization. What about underage usage? Recent studies have found that more 13 year olds have smoked marijuana than have smoked tobacco or drank alcohol. Legalization brings better regulation to help prevent this. The number 1 reason for the underage usage given by those surveyed is that it is easier to get than tobacco or alcohol. A drug dealer is not going to care about the age of the client they sell to, but a liquor store or pharmacy will care, and not risk fines or losing their licensing to sell to someone underage.
What about health concerns and increasing the cost of medical care? Yearly, we have thousands of deaths happen from the use of alcohol through alcohol poisoning. We have many more die from the effects of tobacco use. We even have an average of around 200 people die each year from asprins. In the recorded history of the use of marijuana there has been 0 deaths caused by overdosing on marijuana. Recent studies have shown that the chemicals in the smoke are less likely to cause cancer, and in several studies they have shown it to actively prevent cancer development by bonding to the cancer causing agents and helping the body to eliminate them easier.
There are other concerns regarding legalization, such as drugged drivers on the road. To combat those concerns, we can pass laws like we have with alcohol with severe consequences to anyone under the influence behind the wheel. And have them increase in severity if their action causes damages to another individual or their property.
Through the reductions in cost and increases in revenue caused by legalization of marijuana, we can pay off the national debt within 20 years without reducing any services from the government and without increasing taxes for anyone. We can maintain the social security and Medicare programs and ensure their survival for future generations, reduce the daily costs on families for fuel heating and electricity by eliminating our dependance on foreign oil, and improve the quality of life for everyone in our country by bringing an entire new industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs to the american worker. So, in all honesty, wouldn't you agree that it is the time for a serious discussion about eliminating prohibition of marijuana?
-OcO-
An honest and open discussion on the legalization of Marijuana
I would like to present everyone within our community with some food for thought. Our nation is still deep in a financial mess that no one has a clear cut method to enable recovery from. Families are suffering from the lack of work because the corporations are taking their operations overseas for the cheap labor, and the people in control of these companies are taking their profits outside of the country to keep from paying taxes on their income. The political parties are butting heads over the various ideas to increase revenue, because the neither side is willing to sacrifice for the greater good, and the only ones who are being forced to sacrifice are those who cannot afford to do so.
There is a way to solve this problem, that would create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in industry, transportation, research and development, agriculture, increase revenue into federal and state governments, reduce costs to both federal and state governments and eliminate our reliance on foreign resources and would bring about an economic recovery without increasing taxes or sacrificing any federal programs. This method of recovery would also allow us to pay off our massive federal debt, and would prevent the collapse of the Social Security and Medicare programs, a program that is necessary for the health, safety and quality of life of our elderly. This method of recovery is to eliminate the federal prohibition of marijuana.
Hemp is a plant that has many industrial uses. It can be used to manufacture plastics, biofuels, fabrics, paper, lubricants, adhesives, and can eliminate nearly all uses of fossil fuels in industry, manufacturing and heating and electricity production. We can make a fuel from hemp oil that will run in every car on the road today with little or no modifications. Unlike fossil fuels, it is a renewable resource that can be produced almost anywhere. In the case of an accidental spillage, hemp oil does not cause an ecological disaster that kills wildlife and harms the soil, hemp oil would act like a fertilizer in the case of a pipeline bursting or a truck spilling and cause no harm to the environment.
The government would gain many new sources of revenue thorough the legalization of marijuana. The manufacture and use of hemp can be taxed at every level, from a licensing fee to grow, transportation tax, and retail licensing tax for sales and distribution. There would also be a tremendous increase in revenue from income tax, from the new jobs created across the country.. By legalizing, it would also reduce costs from the budget in several areas. Legalization would reduce the money empowering the Mexican cartels by 50% , helping to eliminate the power of these criminal organizations, reducing the cost of border enforcement and homeland security. It would also decrease the costs involved in local and state law enforcement, the court system, and the prison system by 30%, and can decrease these costs even further by releasing any non violent offenders incarcerated for possession of marijuana. The resources spent by the federal government to go after medical marijuana dispensaries could better be used to go after the criminals dealing prescription drugs, methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin and other illegal substances with a severe societal impact. You don't find addicts breaking into someones home to rob them to go buy cannabis, they do those kind of activities while suffering from the effects of withdrawal from those more dangerous substances.
You may ask about how to control the negative effects of legalization. What about underage usage? Recent studies have found that more 13 year olds have smoked marijuana than have smoked tobacco or drank alcohol. Legalization brings better regulation to help prevent this. The number 1 reason for the underage usage given by those surveyed is that it is easier to get than tobacco or alcohol. A drug dealer is not going to care about the age of the client they sell to, but a liquor store or pharmacy will care, and not risk fines or losing their licensing to sell to someone underage.
What about health concerns and increasing the cost of medical care? Yearly, we have thousands of deaths happen from the use of alcohol through alcohol poisoning. We have many more die from the effects of tobacco use. We even have an average of around 200 people die each year from asprins. In the recorded history of the use of marijuana there has been 0 deaths caused by overdosing on marijuana. Recent studies have shown that the chemicals in the smoke are less likely to cause cancer, and in several studies they have shown it to actively prevent cancer development by bonding to the cancer causing agents and helping the body to eliminate them easier.
There are other concerns regarding legalization, such as drugged drivers on the road. To combat those concerns, we can pass laws like we have with alcohol with severe consequences to anyone under the influence behind the wheel. And have them increase in severity if their action causes damages to another individual or their property.
Through the reductions in cost and increases in revenue caused by legalization of marijuana, we can pay off the national debt within 20 years without reducing any services from the government and without increasing taxes for anyone. We can maintain the social security and Medicare programs and ensure their survival for future generations, reduce the daily costs on families for fuel heating and electricity by eliminating our dependance on foreign oil, and improve the quality of life for everyone in our country by bringing an entire new industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs to the american worker. So, in all honesty, wouldn't you agree that it is the time for a serious discussion about eliminating prohibition of marijuana?
