Marijuana Needs Reform

Marijuana Needs Reform

January 6, 2009

By ISO 420

Two years ago, Virginia resident Michael LewisMichael Lewis Easton was arrested for growing marijuana in his garage. His girlfriend, Debra Allyn Morris, was also arrested for conspiracy to manufacture 50 or more marijuana plants. Police found 20 to 30 plants in the garage on Easton's property in January 2007. He admitted to growing 20 to 30 plants previous to the ones found during the search. Easton admitted to using the marijuana as well as selling to some of his friends. As a marijuana user myself, meeting many growers and sellers in the past, those that grow marijuana usually do not sell for a profit, but simply to pay for their grow supplies. They typically want to keep as much of the marijuana as they can for medicinal or recreational use. Regardless of what his intentions were for selling it, had it been taxed, Easton alone could have easily earned the government $6000 a year had the government charged as little as $10 per plant as a growing tax and taxed the sale of the marijuana to a dispensary, similar to how California regulates its medical marijuana growing.

Instead, this victimless crime will end up costing the tax payers nearly $100,000 with the 15 months of federal prison time given to Easton on January 5, 2009 and the 12 months of time given to his girlfriend that same day (not to mention the thousands more spent on the investigation and trial of the couple). This has also cost Easton and Morris their house, his business as a home renovation contractor, and their right to vote and to uphold their Second Amendment. It will also affect the couple in their future after finishing their sentences as they will have to disclose prior convictions on job applications or at interviews. It will be nearly impossible for Easton to get a loan to start his business back, not to mention his ruined reputation in the town.

What an American does in their own home is their business. If a citizen decides to smoke weed, that's their right. If they want to keep that alternative lifestyle a secret, that's their right. Every day over a thousand Americans are embarrassed and their right to privacy is violated as law enforcement shares their secrets with newspapers, local TV stations, and online reporters. I myself have essentially been forced to move away from the small town I grew up in as the people I went to church with and worked with saw me as just some stoner or pot head. Had I not been arrested for a victimless crime, no one would have known. Now that my secret is out, I have come to realize that I should fight for my beliefs instead of letting society make me feel like I should be ashamed of those beliefs. God put marijuana on this Earth. If you believe it is wrong to do, that’s your right. If I believe that cannabis was given to us to by God for us to use, who are you to say I am wrong? Only God can judge me. God did not create narcotics; people created heroin, crack, methamphetamine, LSD, PCP, ecstasy, acid and even prescription pills.

If used responsibly, marijuana does not affect you in any negative way. It's beneficial medically, mentally, and emotionally. The medical advantages of marijuana alone should be reason enough to legalize it without question. There are dozens of diseases, conditions, and common ailments that marijuana treats, without the harmful side effects that come with prescription or OTC alternatives. Marijuana can ease pain, reduce stress and anxiety, treat insomnia, treat depression, treat ADD and ADHD, and even reduce skin cancer. It has also been found to stunt tumor growth in lung cancer. More and more medical and scientific studies are completely disproving the lies the government has been feeding Americans ever since the release of Reefer Madness in 1937.

Alcohol is legal because our government feels that at 21 years old we are responsible enough to purchase and consume alcohol because we should be responsible enough at that age to know our drinking limits and to know not to drink and drive. Let’s not forgot, though, that alcohol kills over 100,000 Americans each year, even if we ARE responsible with our drinking habits. Over 4 billions prescriptions are filled each year and when these prescriptions are used responsibly, patients often times get better, yet sometimes patients are irresponsible and overdose (or even at no fault of their own, they can have allergic reactions or interactions with other drugs). Prescription drugs kill thousands of Americans each year. On the other hand, marijuana is virtually impossible to overdose on.

Studies have shown no harmful side-effects when subjects were given 7000 the amount of THC required for a "buzz" – try that with alcohol! (Don’t really try it; that would be a death wish). To break it down, 7000 times the amount required for a buzz from alcohol could kill nearly 300 average sized adults. Cigarettes kill almost half a million people every year -- that's over a thousand per day! With that known, the government still feels that if you're 18 years old, you're responsible enough to make the decision of whether or not you want to use tobacco. Marijuana accounts for zero deaths annually. Look it up. Which one do you think should be legal to purchase at 18? Do you want your citizens to have easy access to killer cancer or a cancer killer? Think about it.

On president-elect Obama's website, Change.org, Obama took questions from Americans to see what our top issues were. Of the top 15 questions, one requested to end the war on drugs, another asks to decriminalize marijuana, and the number one voted question calls for the legalization of marijuana. This is America's opinions. This is America's voice. This is not just one marijuana advocate speaking his mind, this is America speaking up. Listen to your voters. Legalize a harmless and beneficial plant and stop arresting people for a victimless crime. The only victim is the marijuana user being removed of their right to smoke marijuana, especially for medicinal purposes. Boost our economy, create new jobs, reduce the overcrowding prison populations, reduce crime, reduce narcotic use, and restore citizens' rights. It can all be done within Obama’s 4-year term by simply legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana.

Nearly $10 billion each year is spent due to over 800,000 annual marijuana arrests. Some believe this number to be upwards of nearly $50 billion when factoring in time lost when officers pursue, investigate, arrest, and process marijuana offenders on top of the court costs (especially the thousands of public defenders that have to be paid as the average American cannot afford a private attorney). With over 300 marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles alone (one dispensary for every 30,000 Americans), it's safe to assume that roughly 10,000 marijuana dispensaries could be opened in America if marijuana was to be legalized. With each dispensary needing multiple growers in order to be assured they have a full stock year-round, legalization of marijuana could create a million or more jobs by next election. Some may criticize the administration at first, but by the end of Obama’s first term most disbelievers will have witnessed first hand that legalization helped America. Instead of spending billions of dollars of the tax-payers’ money each year, we could be saving the tax payers that money as well as creating a new source of revenue for the government’s budget in our dismal economic times.

Free Michael Easton, Debra Morris, and the thousands of other marijuana offenders in prisons and jails all across America. Stop lying to your citizens. Stop lying to the people that vote you into office. Stop punishing patients of medical marijuana. Stop spending billions of our tax dollars and bring a beginning to the end of this recession. If legalized, dozens of non-profit marijuana activist groups such as NORML, ASA, and even Christians for Cannabis could put their resources towards studying further medical advantages of marijuana instead of fighting for reform of the marijuana laws. The benefits of marijuana legalization are virtually endless.

Links

ISO 420 Blog -- http://iso420blog.synthasite.com
NORML -- www.norml.org
ASA -- www.safeaccessnow.org
MPP -- www.mpp.org
ACLU -- www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/index.html

LEAP -- www.leap.cc
Drug Science -- www.drugscience.org
Christians for Cannabis -- www.christiansforcannabis.com