Chill out

      Marijuana for recreational use needs to be made legal. The truth about marijuana is coming to the light more and more everyday. The movie  "Reefer Madness" (1936) was a ridiculous way of demonizing the wonderful plant which has done virtually no harm to anyone. Can we just make it legal and get it over with? I mean come on, if alcohol and ciggarettes are "legal" then why isn't marijuana? According to The American Cancer Society, since 2002 50 million people have died from the use of tobacco and "If trends continue, one billion people will die from tobacco use and exposure during the 21st century, or roughly one person every six seconds"(Castillo 3). The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) reports that in the United States 25,692 have died from alcohol induced deaths, not including accidents and homicides in 2012. Another 15,990 people have died that same year from alcoholic liver disease. How many people has the evil marijuana killed? 1 million? 10 million? A billion? Actually, there has not been one single reported case of somebody dying from smoking marijuana.

      As far as I have noticed, school systems and many government officials will have you believe that marijuana is as bad as crack cocaine and heorine, but I am noticing a shift in many people's awareness towards this so called "evil-plant" and people are waking up to the true and false facts about marijuana everyday. "Despite more than 70 years of federal marijuana prohibition, Americans’ consumption of and demand for cannabis is here to stay. It is time for state lawmakers to acknowledge this reality" (Armentano). The lawmakers need to pull their heads out of their butts and face the reality of this marijuana being illegal situation. Fore once they pull their already tiny narrowly-minded noggins out of their pompously tight butts and clear away the fecal matter which has stringently worked its way through their corneas all the way through to their optic nerves which inturn has further hindered their obviously flawed ability to reason, they will come to realize that people like to smoke weed and they can not stop them from doing so.

      People should not be deprived of their freedom for recreationally using this wonderful plant. About 755,000 people were arrested in 2011 for marijuana possession, that means "that marijuana users were arrested last year at a rate of one every 42 seconds" (Webster 2). Some folks like to drink a beer when they get off of work, some like to smoke a ciggarette when their day is done, and others would simply like to smoke a joint when they get off of work without having to worry about having their freedom stripped away from them because a guy in a suit says its not okay. Life is short, toke up. I do not mean live only for the sole purpose of smoking marijuana, but a few hits of a joint every now and then will not kill you. Neither will a couple bong rips. Thus this wonderful plant and people's clear and present demand for it, deserve much more appreciation and respect than they currently receive.


Armentano, Paul, NORML Deputy Director Maryland, Lawmakers To Debate Marijuana Legalization Bill Tomorrow March 18, 2013

Castillo, Michelle. "Tobacco use claimed 6 million lives in 2011, report shows." CBSnews . Web. 25 Mar. 2013. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57401584-10391704/tobacco-use-claimed-6-million-lives-in-2011-report-shows/.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm

 

Webster, Stephen C. "America’s 2011 drug war tally: One marijuana arrest every 42 seconds." The Raw Story 29 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/29/americas-2011-drug-war-tally-one-marijuana-arrest-every-42-seconds/