Marijuana Or Bust

Here we go, yet again, with the over-inflated and extremely misunderstood issue of the legalization of Marijuana. I read an article today from Manteca Bulletin that not only made no sense at all to me, but the write got so many facts wrong, and seems to be obviously wearing blinders, that it wasn't even worth putting into print.

Right off the bat, the writer states "The war, as they say, is going badly." What war? The drug war, or the 3 other wars the United States has gotten themselves into around the globe? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the basic math on this one. If the drug war was the only war we were having to worry about at this point, the United States would be in a hell of a lot better shape financially than it is now. Hmm, let me see, drug war or war in 3 other nations? I'll take the drug war, thanks.

It is also immediately obvious that the writer didn't bother to take his time to do any research what so ever. That is clear early on as well when I read the statement, "One of the pitches is that if you legalize pot you will somehow eliminate much of the crime its use triggers.". All anyone has to do is take a quick scan regarding the Prohibition Era, and you'll see how incredibly inaccurate that statement was.

The truth of that particular matter is as follows:
The Prohibition era of the 1920s gave rise to the organized crime syndicate in the United States. Federal efforts to enforce prohibition, including raids on speakeasies, were countered by well-organized bootlegging operations with national and international connections. A particularly notorious gang of the times was Al Capone's mob in Chicago. There were also gangs in Detroit, New York and other cities. Wars among gangs, producing grisly killings, frequently made headlines."....
When the 1933 repeal of prohibition made buying liquor legal once again, gangs that were still intact resorted to different sources of illegal gain, among them gambling, narcotics trafficking and labor racketeering.

So let's gets to the real issue. The one no one wants to write about, for fear that they'll come across looking like a completely weak person (which, they probably are). Fear. That's right, it boils down to fear. The fear that if Marijuana is legalized, that every man, woman and child in this country is all of a sudden going to be curious about using the drug, and eventually get addicted to the drug...and the fear just escalates from there.

The 'idea' behind the fear is based upon the decades of negative media information that has been streamed to us through every possible outlet available to us. Let's face facts. We're not going to pick up a newspaper and read an article about how beneficial Marijuana can be to the textile and oil industries. Instead, we only hear the 'bad' things that happen in association with Marijuana. This is intentional. The media outlets want you to get it through your head that marijuana is BAD, in every aspect, and that anyone who uses the plant (legally, or not) is nothing more than a reliant pot head, that needs to be pitied by the bulk of 'civilized society'. Again, if you haven't put the blinders on yourself, the media and the government are putting them on for you.

When you look at the plant itself, it's one heck of a beautiful plant. Leafy, a bright color of green, highly prolific, and, like Bamboo (you know.. a legal plant to grow), can be used for almost countless productions on a mass scale. Sadly, it's still illegal. What the medical industry tries (and often fails) to hide is the fact that there are hundreds of medications on the market today that have been derived from plants. Prozac is a reproduction of the same effective substance found in the St. John's Wort plant. Morphine is also reproduction of the same-effective opiate substance found in Poppies (go figure). Codeine is a reproduction from the same effective substances found in the Poppy plant. There are hundreds of others, but I'll spare you the eye sore of reading through all of that.

So we have the fear of a plant. This fear is such that it wouldn't be too far off the track to say that the bulk of the United States population suffers from a Marijuana based Botanophobia. Now let's remember, Heroin was once prescribed by doctors as a type of 'cure all, as was green ketchup. Not to mention the fact that Coca Cola had Cocaine in it, and was consumed by thousands of people on a daily basis. The 'counter-offensive' made by the medical industry these days is that they learned their lesson and helped to remove those types of products from the market. Of course they did....and turned these products into Rx medication that people can get addicted to, and die from each year. So far, I have yet to see anyone die from smoking Marijuana.

The whole truth of the matter is that Marijuana has so many uses, that it's the one crop that possibly holds the potential of helping to take this nation out of the hell hole in a hand basket it's dug for itself. Given the technologies we have available today, I'm actually surprised that more people haven't opened their eyes to the legalization of this plant, even if it's for no other purpose than to mass produce it for alternative fuel and textile potentials.

Hemp (a variation of the Marijuana plant - still illegal) oil, derived from the seeds, is a highly effective alternative fuel. Not to mention that the fibers from the Hemp can also be used to produce many other items, such as fabrics and ropes. Prior to the US Civil War, Hemp farmers out numbered Cotton farmers 3 to 1. In fact, 1 acre of Hemp produces the equivalent to 3 acres of Cotton. Easy math. This should really be common sense by now. Oh, and by the way, the items produced by Hemp are far easier to work with, and more durable, than those produced by Cotton.

For those environmentalist freaks out there, please note, that this plant can replace trees as our primary source of paper products. I'm sure they've figured that out by now, but none the less, they're still afraid of the legalization of the plant. Perhaps they're concerned that all of their workers will actually enjoy going to work? I don't know. Beyond the textile industries, the legalization of Marijuana would bring in millions, if not billions, of dollars in revenue. Recreational Marijuana can be taxed, it would create jobs, reduce the illegal importation of the plant from other countries and put a huge crunch on these drug cartels AND would be financially beneficial to the medical industries.

When it comes down to it, there is no way that any person on any level of any part of this country can honestly sit back, after having looked at the truth about Marijuana, and tell anyone that it is 'bad', without being flat out liars. It is a highly prolific plant. It is capable of being produced on a mass scale. It grows in a number of different environments and climates. It's capable of being used in almost every industry this nation has. It would help to stimulate the economy, and create much-needed jobs throughout the nation, and if you're afraid of it, don't use it.

How easy is that? You actually have the option of telling people that you do not want to use Marijuana. I don't see any difference between making that choice, and choosing not to smoke tobacco products or drink alcoholic beverages. It's a CHOICE people, it's not like someone is going to be standing over you with a bong and forcing you to inhale anything you don't want to. To top that off, there are also thousands of people, such as myself, that simply CAN'T use it. Why? We're allergic to it. Ironically, even that allergy will not kill anyone. Aspirin kills over 700 people a year, and yet it's legal, and on the market for mass production and has no signs of slowing down. Marijuana has never killed anyone (EVER), including those of us who have allergic reactions to the plant, and yet, it's still illegal and banned from any type of production outside of highly restricted medical use.

THINK about that for a moment, would you please?

UPDATE 1: Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 7:22 am PST: Hemp Facts