What would you say if I told you there was a plant that was easy to grow, and served multiple industrious purposes such as providing fibers for eco-friendly clothes and multiple cosmetic products, could be made into oil and gasoline, and could even be used as a medicine? What would you say if I told you that plant was called Cannabis? Well it’s true. Cannabis is an extremely useful genus of plants mainly known for two highly psychoactive species called Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica. These two species are more commonly recognized as Marijuana. Even though legalization of Cannabis also includes legalization of Marijuana, every species of Cannabis should be legalized for any purpose.

Why should we legalize Cannabis? First, why don’t we ask ourselves why it was made illegal in the first place? To most, the answer might sound obvious. “Because it’s an addictive drug and it kills brain cells” is a common explanation. Believe it or not, not only is Marijuana (for the most part) a non-addictive drug, less addictive than caffeine and less harmful than alcohol, but also, it doesn’t kill brain cells. The study saying it did was actually rigged. The monkeys used in the test DID lose brain cells, but that fact isn’t solely because they smoked too much dope. The monkeys’ were actually forced to smoke the equivalent of 63 joints in the matter of five minutes through a mask. Not only was that too much smoke, but there was no oxygen flow into their lungs and supply their brain with energy.

But that’s not the only lie. Remember when your DARE officer warned that usage of Marijuana would result in cancer? While that is partially true, it isn’t a solid fact. There are multiple ways that users can take in THC (the main psychoactive chemical
found in Marijuana) without smoking. These ways include cooking into foods or vaporization. In vaporization, the herb is heated enough to burn the psychoactive chemical, but not the plant matter itself. This way, there is little or no buildup of tar in the lungs.

So let’s take a step away from Marijuana for a little while. Did you know there’s much more to Cannabis than “getting blazed”? Aside from the controversial medicinal use of THC, cannabis can do much more than you probably think. Another species of cannabis is called Cannabis Ruderalis, more commonly known as hemp. Hemp is much less potent than Sativa or Indica strains because it has less than 2% THC. Smoking hemp would at most give you a headache. Even though recreational value is next to nothing, there’s a high variety of the things it can do industrially. The plant’s fibers can be made into clothing and other cloth related materials, paper, oil and gas, multiple cosmetic products, and more practically, a food spice. Since cannabis grows faster than trees and cotton, it’s highly eco-friendly. Therefore, there’s a growing demand for it. The hemp industry is growing almost as fast as the crops and can bring the USA millions, even billions of dollars of taxes and tariffs into the American economy.

So how else can cannabis legalization help America’s economy? Well, since it’s your tax money used to house, and feed our prisoners, how does it make you feel knowing that you’re paying for one new marijuana related prisoner every 37 seconds? Not only that, but law enforcement officers need to be paid too. And where does the money used to pay for countless gallons of gas burnt every hour by helicopters used to locate illegal growth of Marijuana? If you guessed “your tax dollars”, give yourself a round of applause.

Remember when I mentioned “the controversial use of THC”? Well, I know an old man with serious leg pains. A few years ago, he was hit by a car, and now, his legs bleed every time he walks too much. He can’t really leave his house for too long and his legs will probably never heal. To help him deal with the pain and accept his reality, he smoked marijuana. The THC made him feel comfortable and made the pain easier to cope with. He was recently arrested for possession. Not only should he have the right to do what he wants with his own body, but is something makes a lonely and sick old man feel happy and peaceful again, is it really morally right to have him arrested?
So if you’re part of the percentage of Americans that doesn’t believe that THC can ease and treat headaches, nausea, pain, cancer, glaucoma, and some eating disorders, take a look on the shelves of your pharmacy. It’s called Marinol. What it is, is a synthetic form of THC. It comes in pill form, is prescribed by doctors, and is used to treat all of everything I just mentioned. So if THC (as said by the FDA) has no medical value, how is Marinol prescribed by doctors? Its proof right there that the DEA is full of hypocrisy. If you’re still on the fence about legalizing cannabis, I encourage you to research more. There are plenty off outside sources full of information. To sum up everything in this paper, not every species of Cannabis is potent, all kinds of it are industrial, potent species have medical uses, and Marijuana is nearly harmless. Keep reading other reports. There are so many facts, not all of them will become burnt out anytime soon. No pun intended.