Demonizing a Miracle

I'm going to encourage you all to watch as many documentaries on this subject as possible. It would be incredibly difficult for me to pack as much history, scientific data, and other information into one post as there is in an hour long documentary. Here's a short list:

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (Great for history, medical info, industry, etc.)

A NORML Life (Describes laws, patient stories, etc.)

Reefer Madness (Not a documentary! I only ask you to watch this so you'll see the ridiculous reputation marijuana has had for decades through even more ridiculous propaganda funded by those who want marijuana to remain illegal for all the wrong reasons.)

Super High Me (A documentary similar to Super Size Me, but with pot, that shows how insignificant the effects of long term marijuana use are.)

There are a number of other documentaries I think everyone ought to watch, but those 4 alone were enough to make me angry and appalled at our government and society for allowing such a heinous thing as the drug war on pot to continue for so long. Marijuana is listed as a Schedule 1 narcotic, making it seemingly more dangerous and its possession more punishable than cocaine. That fact makes me literally want to laugh in the faces of the men and women who have tried to suppress marijuana use for all this time. There are more scientific studies and patient cases than ever before that show marijuana's amazing benefits for the body.  There are even a number of politicians speaking in medical marijuana's favor. There are thousands of advocacy groups for the legalization of medical marijuana; this includes moms, cops, retired military men and women, lawyers, doctors, etc. According to a recent study by CBS 77% of Americans think medical marijuana ought to be legalized (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57327004-503544/poll-public-supports-medical-marijuana-but-not-full-pot-legalization/). How is it that something so many people think can help our country's citizens is still so demonized? 

A lobbyist in California reportedly made $400,000 fighting against a bill for legalization in CA (http://www.naturalnews.com/035277_John_Lovell_California_marijuana_legalization.html). That's just one man, one time. Imagine the amount of money other lobbyists are making off of this same issue. Imagine how much money is floating around the dark corners of the black market that wouldn't be there if marijuana was legalized. Imagine the number of police forces that get a large portion of their funding from the government for marijuana eradication. Imagine the amount of money and resources the police and government seize from drug lords running marijuana. Millions. Billions. There is so much money to be made in the fight against marijuana that I guess these people haven't stopped to look at how much money could be made from the plant if it were legalized. This plant, as an industrial resource and a medicine and even further in the future as a regulated product similar to alcohol, has the potential to pull this country out of debt. Even if marijuana were solely legalized as a medicine the profits would be in the billions. As an industrial resource, which is more easily renewable than most others, this plant could bring in a few more billion. It's one of the strongest natural ropes known to man, it makes durable and comfortable clothing, it makes paper without the terrible loss of forests, it makes crude oil that all automobiles could be modified to run off of. That ought to be enough information right there for this plant to be growing on every available acre in the country. I won't bother going into the amount of money that could be made if recreational marijuana were legalized, taxed and regulated since that doesn't seem to be in the cards for years. But there are so many uses for this plant. And there's so much money to be made. We could stop fighting other countries for oil. We could stop raising gas prices and actually see almost all the gas prices as profit. We could stop importing the majority of our goods (aside from produce and services) from other countries. There are so many benefits that I just find it baffling that this plant is still illegal. It blows my mind and I hope it blows yours too. Tomorrow I think I'll write about the reverse effect the war on marijuana is having in our society. Please leave me questions or comments about things you'd like to see covered. Thanks! Educate and Enjoy!

MGkush