Re: Should Cannabis be illegal, or legal?
I was looking at the reasons of why it is illegal:
1. It is perceived as addictive.
Apart from this being not true, so is tobacco. However if you want to play it that way, alcohol can be "perceived" as addictive.
2. It has "no accepted medical use."
Again that is untrue, why do you think doctors assign it for help with pain? Also, tobacco has "no accepted medical use" either.
3. It has been historically linked with narcotics, such as heroin.
So has tobacco. However, you only hear about the marijuana. Great marketing, isn't it? Let's all sell cancer sticks!
4. It is associated with unfashionable lifestyles.
Drunks will beg to differ.
5. It was once associated with oppressed ethnic groups.
Is that talking about hippies...? I think drunk abusers are more of a problem.
6. Inertia is a powerful force in public policy.
Definition of Inertia: "to be inactive". Apparently this means that it's been illegal for so long that people think of it as a form of evil.
7. Advocates for marijuana legalization rarely present an appealing case.
That, sir, is because they're stoned. What kind of case did Alcohol or tobacco actives present?
Actual reason of ban
- In a nutshell, it's saying the government can't profit from marijuana.
William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane) and the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division of Kimberly Clark owned vast acreage of timberlands. The Hearst Company supplied most paper products. Patty Hearst's grandfather, a destroyer of nature for his own personal profit, stood to lose billions because of hemp.
In 1937, Dupont patented the processes to make plastics from oil and coal. Dupont's Annual Report urged stockholders to invest in its new petrochemical division. Synthetics such as plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol, nylon, rayon, Dacron, etc., could now be made from oil. Natural hemp industrialization would have ruined over 80% of Dupont's business.
Andrew Mellon became Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury and Dupont's primary investor. He appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Secret meetings were held by these financial tycoons. Hemp was declared dangerous and a threat to their billion dollar enterprises. For their dynasties to remain intact, hemp had to go. These men took an obscure Mexican slang word: 'marihuana' and pushed it into the consciousness of America.
My opinion, being an anarchist of course, is that Cannabis
should be legalized. It should never have been illegal in the first place. The reasons it was made illegal are the exact reason that everyone is yelling "GLOBAL WARMING"!
