A speech in favor of the legalization of marijuana

(I would like to just explain that this manuscript is really more of a conglomerate of the ideas i wish to express in my speech pulled otgether as best i could to get the ppint across like an essay)

Can anyone name an illegal substance that has caused a death by overdose? go ahead and raise your hand if i you thought of any thing like, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, meth, LSD. what about Marijuana? if you raised your hand, guess what, you would be wrong, Marijuana has caused exactly 0 deaths by overdose, and yet it remains illegal due to an antiquated piece of legislation. over the next few minutes I hope to convey to you the benefits of total legalization of marijuana for recreational, by allowing the statistics to speak for them selves, as well as to deliver to you a plan by which the states can reap the benefits of this already mass produced cash crop.

Lets start with the economic benefits, in 2006 Jon Gettman compiled a few charts detailing the production of marijuana in the united states, in that year the nation as a whole produced a whopping 35.8 billion dollars of the green stuff illegally, Kentucky was the third most active of the states in this production raising 4.4 billion on its own, and while thatnumber doesnt seem like much compared to something like national debt its actually very impressive. If marijuana were to be legalized, this number shows the potential of increasing exponentially, providing the economic stimulus that kentucky needs to grow in todays world. If you dont believe me just look at the economic benefits that recreational marijuana legalization had on colorado this past year, the state made twice the money off of marijuana taxes than they did off of alcohol. This is incredibly similar to the affect that the legalzaion could have on kentucky as weed is already our true cash crop. and total national legalization could only lead to the increase in state revenues across the board. this influx of money in state governments could be used to increase funding for things like education social security and health care, and could help to stimulate local economies in agricultural states like Kentucky.

Despite the economic benefit it could have the fact of the matter is that legalization of marijuana is happening. in 2012 there were over 658000 marijuana related arrests. The use of marijuana in the united states has become far to high justify arresting everyone who uses it and a lot of states are tired of locking up citizens for possession or use of the substance.[wegman] some sates including dc have decriminalized marijuana, reducing possession charges to the equivalency of a traffic ticket or small fine. these legalization efforts are happening all across the nation, with 72% of the states legalizing either medical use, recreational use or both despite the possibility of national laws penalizing the growers.

This coflict between states like colorado and washington, and the CSA is the only real reason that the push for a written and approved legalization exists. the Controlled substance act prohibits the farming and use, medically or recreationally of marijuana in the united states, this means that at any time washington could decide to bring down the hammer and charge all the various stores in colorado with massive fines and jail time. in colorado one grower is allowed to have no more than 10200 plants growing at any time. the legal standard of punishment for this is 10 years in jail and a $10 million dollar fine for only a thousand plants, the act isnt prepared to effectively punish the crime and the crime its self has already become to integrated as a part of the american society to be eliminated at all.

One of the main points that opponents of legalization like to cite is the negative health affects of marijuana. sure its a fair argument, if you ignore the fact that marijuana is less harmful and addictive than either acohol or nicotine, both comercially available and both incredibly harmful to human life. last year the world heath organization reported more than 3.3 million deaths related to alcohol,[casillo] and in the US there are a repoted 2200 deahs every year due to alcohol poisoning. and nicotine in cigarettes not only is more addictive but is a major cause of cancer and lung and heart disease due to the massive amounts of chemicals that the companies that make them add to them causing the mortality of cigarette smokers to be twice that of non smokers. by comparison marijuana, as caused a whopping grand total of 0 deaths world wide over the course of its recorded history seems to be not nearly so harmful, and the fact that its affects are truly not that different from those of alcohol makes this argument seem ephemeral at best. It has even been found that teens who smoke marijuana casually due better academically than their peers who smoke cigarettes. its also been shown that it would take 40000 times the amount of THC in a joint to cause a fatal overdose of marijuana, so its safe to say that its not a realistic concern or piece of evidence against its legalization.

its important to address that legalization efforts that have been made arent being made to force a national legalization of marijuana as aright s=citzens have, but is actually to merely eliminate any government interference in the process of allowing the states to decide for themselves whether or not it is acceptable to allow medical an recreational use of the substance. It isnt fair to anyone to have the federal government force a law like that upon the nation, unlike abortion and same sex marriage not only do the majority of people not want an full out nationally imposed legalization but also the issue its self falls under a different category, where as the first two are moral debates and have more to do with human rights to life and the pursuit of individual happiness, the debate over marijuana is truly a state issue. One piece of legislation that i personally hope will be pursued in this process is the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act proposed by colorado representative Jared Polis[firestone]. the act calls for the complete removal of marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act(CSA) as well as requiring distributors and growers to have a license similar to that of alcohol for ditrubiting product.

I would simply like to close my speech with this idea, its time for us to recognize that one way or another marijuana legalization is fast approaching, the true debate now is whether or not congress and the white house will get on or in front of the train.

Works Cited:

Firestone, David. "Let States Decide on Marijuana." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 July 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-let-states-decide-on-marijuana.html?op-nav>.

Boffey, Philip M. "What Science Says About Marijuana." The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 July 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/opinion/what-science-says-about-marijuana.html?op-nav&_r=0>.

Castillo, Stephanie. "Marijuana vs. Alcohol: What Science Has To Say." Medical Daily. N.p., 06 May 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.medicaldaily.com/marijuana-vs-alcohol-effects-psychoactive-drugs-have-physical-and-mental-health-332094>.

Gettman, Jon. "Domestic Marijuana Production." Domestic Marijuana Production. Drugscience.org, 2006. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr2/domstprod.html>.

"Controlled Substances Act." Controlled Substances Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.fda.gov/regulatoryinformation/legislation/ucm148726.htm>.

"Tobacco-Related Mortality." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/>.