Legalizing Marijuana

1. Legalizing Marijuana By Jessica Koffer, Sam Young, Dana Erickson, Drew Johnson & Emily Kace

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjd74gzMAKU

3. History of Marijuana • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiaC-2K1LM

4. Health Pros • Relieves nausea and vomiting • Relieves spasticity of the muscles • Helps treat appetite loss associated with HIV/AIDS and certain types of cancers. • Relieves pain • Safe, safer in fact than most other prescribed medications to treat the same symptoms. • Smoking marijuana alone does not increase the risk of lung diseases. • Has been used for centuries as a medicinal agent with good effect.

5. Health Cons • Frequent marijuana use can seriously affect your short-term memory • Frequent use can impair your cognitive ability • Can damage your lung tissue • Carries a risk of abuse and addiction • Smoked marijuana contains cancer-causing compounds

6. Why legalize medicinal marijuana? • It is best used to control nausea in cancer’s chemotherapy or nausea disorders • Marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. • In 10,000 years of known use of cannabis, there's never been a single death attributed to marijuana. • To get a toxic amount of delta-9 tetrahydrocannibinol (THC), you have to smoke 15,000 joints in 20 minutes.

7. States where medicinal marijuana is legalized Marijuana reform is sweeping the nation, at least at the state level. By the end of 2012, over 80% of the country could have some type of reduced penalties for marijuana.

8. Diseases that Marijuana has been proved to help: • Cancer: works to slow down tumor growth in the lungs, breasts & brain considerably. • Seizures: Marijuana is a muscle relaxant & has “antispasmodic” qualities which have proven to be a very effective treatment of seizures. • Migraines: have been able to treat more than 300,000 cases of migraines that conventional medicine couldn’t through marijuana. • Glaucoma: there is not a single valid study that exists that disaproves marijuana’s very powerful & popular effects on glaucoma patients. • Multiple Sclerosis: it works to stop the neurological effects & muscle spasms that come from the fatal disease • Tourette’s & OCD: the effects slow down the tics in those suffering from Tourette’s and the obsessive neurological symptoms in people with OCD

9. Diseases that Marijuana has been proved to help (cont’d): • ADD & ADHD: alternative for Ritalin & treats the disorder without any of the negative side effects of the pharmaceutical • IBS & Crohn’s: helps with symptoms of the chronic diseases as it stops nausea, abdominal pain & diarrhea. • Alzhiemer’s: blocks the deposits in the brain that cause this disease • Premenstual Syndrome: used to treat cramps & discomfort

10. Why is it illegal again? • Medical marijuana may be beneficial for everyone's health, but it's not very healthy for the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies. • Americans in need of a cheap, all-natural alternative medicine, the pharmaceutical industry is the biggest industry in America with powerful connections in high places. And they don't like marijuana. • Pharmaceutical companies don't want you growing your own medicine. • The idea of legalizing a cheap, all-natural medicine that grows out of the dirt is a threat to the pharmaceutical industry's bottom line. • Since no company can patent a plant, pharmaceutical industries are incentivized to keep cannabis and industrial hemp illegal as they try to recreate the same drug with the same effects.

11. Legality & other issues • The US spent $8 billion every year on Marijuana Prohibition Enforcement (taxpayer money) • Prohibition does not work • Marijuana use increased from 2000 to 2012 by 5.2% • 853,000 arrests for marijuana violation in 2011 • 750,000 arrests were for simple possession alone • Marijuana is a 10-12 Billion dollar industry • Marijuana represents 60% of drug cartel and gang revenue • Alcohol related deaths per year: 2.5 million • Tobacco related deaths per year: 500,000

12. History of Hemp • In the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson smuggled illegally obtained Chinese hemp seeds to the colonies. • George Washington said, “make the most you can of the Indian hemp seed. Sow it everywhere.” • Until early 1900s, cannabis hemp was treated like any other farm crop and its cultivation required no special regulations or licenses. • Hundreds of thousands of acres of hemp grew in Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota & Michigan

13. Hemp vs. Marijuana • Hemp & marijuana come from the same plant – Cannabis sativa. • But the plants are not the same. The biological difference between them is demonstrated by their respective levels of THC, the plant’s psychoactive ingredient. • For industrial hemp, the generally accepted THC level is 1% or less. • For recreational marijuana, the THC level is at least 3% • Hemp grows lean and tall with flowers on the canopy marijuana branches widely with resinous buds on all sides.

15. Reefer Madness (1938) • Reefer Madness is an exploitation film made in 1938 portraying the tragic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try “marihuana” • A hit & run accident, manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape & madness • “Assassin of Youth” • After the Prohibition of Alcohol ended in 1929 many gov’t officials were unemployed & now focused their attention of marijuana • This lead to nations first drug was – public vice #1 became cannabis over alcohol

16. Marijuana vs. other drugs • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_xs63Afe4U

17. Economy • It would save the US gov’t $13.7 billion by eliminating enforcement costs and adding billions in tax revenue. • $17.4 billion can be cut from the deficit • Could decrease unemployment rate because of the opening of marijuana dispensaries for medical marijuana. • Dispensary ads would boost newspaper revenue.

18. Economy cont’d • There is some controversy over recent events that has happened.

19. Religious Purposes • Use for religious purposes in the US is prohibited • Religious use dates back to 2000 BC • Ancient Chinese • Scythian people of Central Asia • Ancient Germanic Paganism • Hinduism • Rastafarianism

20. Public Safety • Marijuana impairs driving skills • Keeping marijuana illegal funds drug cartels and criminals • It also wastes police resources • Kids can get it easier illegally • Marijuana arrests account for more than half of all drug arrests

21. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKgY5eOlhEc

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