MARY JANE, YOU'RE FREE TO GO

So I was scrolling through these different campaign issues that have
recently popped up on Facebook (by the way, I still do not like the
site's annoying news feed), and there was one campaign issue in
particular that caught my eye - the legalization of marijuana.

That made me wonder: why exactly is marijuana illegal in the first
place? If I were to make a plant illegal, I'd choose something like
poison ivy or kudzu.

Even though I have not smoked marijuana, I know what it smells like.
How is that you may ask? Because in every apartment complex I've lived
in there have been at least two tenants who like to party with Mary
Jane. And I must say - the stuff doesn't smell bad. Actually, it
almost has a pleasant, earthy smell to it. I wish I could say the same
for cigarette smoke, which, to me, smells like old, moldy gym socks.

I asked some of my friends why they think pot is illegal and I got a
general answer: because it's a drug and drugs are bad.

OK. So it's a drug.

Well, in that case, so is caffeine. That means coffee, chocolate,
cigarettes and soda should be banned because they all have "drugs" in
them.

I decided to search for an answer online. Here is the gist of what I
found:

The road to making cannabis illegal more or less started when the 1937
Marijuana Tax Act was passed (correctly recorded as the 1937 Marihuana
Tax Act) because marijuana was thought to be a dangerous, deadly
substance that provoked insanity and violence among ethnic minorities.

Then there was the weed-is-satanic propaganda that had the gullible
public believing it created "devil music" a.k.a. jazz, reggae and rock
'n' roll.

So let me get this right.

The U.S. is making its citizens follow a law that was basically
created out of ignorance, racism and the hatred of good music?

Interesting.

I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem to be a legitimate
reason for making something illegal.

I wonder what would happen if marijuana was made legal in the next
decade. My guess is it will probably take over tobacco as the main
"smoking" cash crop, which would actually make tobacco companies happy
because they'll be able to turn a massive profit by growing cannabis
and have fewer lawsuits to worry about.

There would be more advances made in the medical field on how to use
it for cancer treatment. It would also take the burden off an
overstressed criminal justice system. I mean, how many people are in
the slammer right now because of marijuana?

If growing marijuana was made legal, then cultivation of hemp will
probably skyrocket, giving rise to another awesome cash crop - just
like good old George Washington had in his day.

This could possibly even lead to a renewable energy source for the
entire world. The number of lung cancer victims will possibly decrease
and hippies from the '60s and '70s can relive their glory days and
spread the love.

And tell me, what is so wrong with doing something that can change
people's lives for the better. Absolutely nothing.

What many people tend to forget is that this is now our generation's
turn to step up and make a change. We are the ones who need to fix
errors of the generations before us.

Some people might think I'm a brainless twit for babbling on about
legalizing the use of a plant when there are so many other pressing
issues in the world that need to be solved.

Hey, sometimes taking care of one so-called insignificant issue makes
solving big issues a little easier.