Maryjane

6 Pages 1438 Words

IS THE ILLEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA VALID?


The debate over the legalization of Cannabis sativa, more
commonly known as marijuana, has been one of the most heated
controversies ever to occur in the United States. Its use as a
medicine has existed for thousands of years in many countries
world wide and is documented as far back as 2700 BC in ancient
Chinese writings. When someone says ganja, cannabis, bung,
dope, grass, rasta, or weed, they are talking about the same
subject: marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized because the
government could earn money from taxes on its sale, its value to
the medical world outweighs its abuse potential, and because of
its importance to the paper and clothing industries. This action
should be taken despite efforts made by groups which say
marijuana is a harmful drug which will increase crime rates and
lead users to other more dangerous substances.
The actual story behind the legislature passed against
marijuana is quite surprising. According to Jack Herer, author of
The Emperor Wears No Clothes, the acts bringing about the
demise of hemp were part of a large conspiracy involving DuPont,
Harry J. Anslinger, commissioner of the Federal Bureau of
Narcotics (FBN), and many other influential industrial leaders
such as William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Mellon. Herer
notes that the Marijuana Tax Act, which passed in 1937,
coincidentally occurred just as the decoricator machine was
invented. With this invention, hemp would have been able to
take over competing industries almost instantaneously.
According to Popular Mechanics, "10,000 acres devoted to hemp
will produce as much paper as 40,000 acres of average [forest]
pulp land." William Hearst owned enormous timber acreage so his
interest in preventing the growth of hemp can be easily explained.
Competition from hemp would have easily driven the Hearst
paper-manufacturing company out of business and significantly
lo...