Prohibition creates, sustains and handsomely rewards the illegal drug industry while pretending to fight that very same industry.
By Michael Komorn
10. The benefits of hemp are denied. Hemp can be used for paper, paneling, plastics, clothing and thousands of other useful products. The seeds are highly nutritious and can be used to make flour, cooking oil and cattle feed.
(Related: Drug Legalization Called for by Ex-policeman, GOP Lawmaker at Rochester Town Hall)
Hemp is an environmentally friendly plant that grows without herbicides, nourishes the soil, matures rapidly and offer high yields. It’s the number-one biomass producer in the world – ten tons per acre in four months. It could be a highly proficient fuel-producing crop.
Hemp, often referred to as “nature’s perfect plant,” could rain favor to suffering American farmers in addition to reducing America’s dependence on fossil fuels, which could play an integral role mitigating climate change.
(Related: Cannabis Science)
9. Prohibition consumes billions that could be used to help the needy. More than 50 government agencies feed at the drug war trough. An average of $2.4 billion is spent annually in the U.S. on the War On Drugs. Food stamps and other social programs are being slashed while billions are spent trying to stop adults from using marijuana — a plant that grows naturally..
8. Prohibition is undoubtedly counterproductive. The certainty of lucrative profits for anyone on who can produce and deliver marijuana to the streets assured that even more will be produced and delivered.
7. Criminalizing marijuana is without moral justification. Real crimes require both a victim and a perpetrator. Can you imagine being tried for robbing yourself? Our government has done the equivalent by making adult use of marijuana a crime.
(Related: Top 10 Health Benefits of Marijuana, Part 1)
6. Marijuana users are not debased human beings. Billions around the commonly enjoy positive benefits from mind-altering drugs (especially from alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and marijuana).
Demonizing and criminalizing some drugs, while approving others without rational criteria, is arbitrary and ill-calculated. Why are marijuana users criminals while alcohol and tobacco users are not? Why are marijuana dealers demonized, but alcohol and tobacco dealers are not?
5. Marijuana is effective medicine. There’s overwhelming documented evidence that marijuana can safely relieve pain, nausea and vomiting caused by various illnesses. In fact, marijuana is patently and naturally safer than most commonly prescribed drugs.
4. Promising medical research is condemned. The discovery of naturally occurring marijuana-like substances in the human body that activate so-called cannabinoid receptors has opened up vast possibilities for new medicines derived from the 66 or so cannabinoids identified in marijuana. These receptors are not just in the brain, but also found in many other parts of the body including the immune, endocrine and reproductive systems.
(Related: Michigan Supreme Court rules driving with any presence of marijuana protected by the MMMA)
3. Billions in potential taxes go to drug cartels. Our cash-strapped states are being cheated out of billions that could be obtained by taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol.
2. Thousands of prohibition murders occur each year. Mexico is the world’s largest exporter of marijuana (most goes to the United States). There were at least 24,000 prohibition-related murders in Mexico since 2006. Thousands more died here, also a direct result of marijuana prohibition.
1. Prohibition denies our most basic human right. Prohibition takes away our right of sovereignty over our own bodies and gives this power to government. Does any other human right make sense if we don’t have sovereignty over our own bodies?
The drug war is a futile and perpetual effort that not only furthers the very effect it seeks to diminish. Our government deprives the needy in an effort to control the masses and fuel pharmaceutical dependence.,
Despite 40 years and $1 trillion-plus of taxpayer money spent trying to stop – not robbery, not rape, not murder, not even shoplifting – but mostly trying to stop adults from using marijuana; despite draconian punishments; despite jailing millions of nonviolent Americans; despite thousands of prohibition-related murders each year, illegal drugs are cheaper, purer and more readily available than ever.
Read more: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/legalize-marijuana-now-here-are-10-reasons-why
If you or someone you know is facing charges as a result of Medical Marijuana prescribed to you as a Medical Marijuana patient under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, contact Komorn Law and ensure your rights are protected.
Michael Komorn is recognized as a leading expert on the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. He is the President of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA), a nonprofit patient advocacy group with over 26,000 members, which advocates for medical marijuana patients, and caregiver rights. Michael is also the host of Planet Green Trees Radio, a marijuana reform based show, which is broadcast every Thursday night 8-10 pm EST. Follow Komorn on Twitter.
