SPEECH: LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Can I see a show of hands how many people here have ever smoked
Cannabis sativa, commonly known as marijuana? I see none of you
raised your hand. Well obviously no one would want to admit to a
criminal activity in front of their teacher. But why is it that
smoking pot is so taboo in our society? After all numerous famous
intellectuals support marijuana. Al Gore is considered by many to be
the leading figure in climate change awareness and environmental
preservation. But few people know that Al Gore also supports the
legalization of marijuana. The famed German philosopher Freidrich
Nietzche once said, "If one seeks relief from unbearable pressure one
is to eat hashish". The founding father of our nation George
Washington, said, "Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it
everywhere!" Marijuana is one of the safest medicinal substances on
the planet and is supported by many acclaimed celebrity role models.
Famous Hollywood actor Johnny Depp says, "I'm not a big pothead or
anything like that... but weed is much, much less dangerous than
alcohol". Other well known supporters of marijuana include Snoop
Dogg, all of the Marley family, Niel Young, Willie Nelson, Michael
Phelps, Chris Farley, Al Gore, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln,
Nietzche, Barack Obama, John Adams, James Madison, JFK, and of course
myself. A total of 11 United States presidents either grew, smoked,
or supported the legalization of Marijuana. With the support of some
of the greatest thinkers and world leaders of all time it's a wonder
that marijuana is still illegal. "Government ties is really why the
government lies" Immortal Technique. Common Misconceptions about
marijuana are set about by high end government officials who think
only of themselves and own their prosperity. For instance few people
know the history of weed and the means by which it was criminalized.

Most of you have probably seen "Reefer Madness", the ridiculous
propaganda film set about by the U.S. government to discourage the
use of marijuana. The movie debuted in 1936 making arbitrary claims,
calling Cannabis "The devils weed", and stating that weed is more
dangerous that cocaine or opium. This was the outlook of the
government at the turn of the century, but in fact pot was smoked as
early as 2700 BC, in China. In 500 AD marijuana spread to Europe and
Africa where it was cultivated and smoked for its medicinal
qualities. By 1545 marijuana had been introduced to the New World
where it was grown as a cash crop alongside tobacco and cotton. Sold
in bars throughout the Americas pot was seen as tobaccos little
brother. It is reported that several of our founding fathers
including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington smoked ganja out of
water hookahs with Turkish emissaries shortly after the revolutionary
war. After this experience both Franklin and Washington began to grow
weed for themselves. At the turn of the 20th century marijuana began
to gain popularity and by the 1920's was the drug of choice for
America's youth. Historians say this popularity is what led to its
prohibition. But history itself tells a different story. Whenever
something be-it and idea, substance, or social behavior, becomes
popular, American companies brand and market it for all it's worth.
Take for example punk rock which originally was a counterculture but
through marketing was assimilated into mainstream society. So why is
it that the same fate was not suffered by marijuana, why was it made illegal?

In 1937 the first official action was taken against weed, the
Marihuana Tax Act. The act itself did not criminalize the possession
of cannabis but levied a tax on anyone dealing the substance. This
didn't just mean the buds anything with hemp or hemp oil in it was
essentially taxed out of business. A legitimate dealer was required
to have a tax stamp but no stamps were ever printed. These over
elaborate regulations prevented marijuana from being a profitable
source of income. In reference to the International Opium Convention
of 1928 Cannabis sativa was considered a drug and all state
governments had some kind of laws against its consumption. Today it
is generally accepted that these hearings included incorrect,
excessive, and unfounded arguments. The Marijuana Tax Act was
introduced to the U.S. congress by "Drug Czar" Harry Anslinger, a man
who had no sense of morals and may have had NPD (narcissistic
personality disorder), not to mention his pig faced features.
Anslinger is where the conspiracy starts. 1937, the year the tax act
was passed, was coincidentally the same year that the Decorticater
Machine was invented, with this new technology the hemp industry
would have been able to take over competing industries virtually
overnight. "Popular Mechanics" predicted that hemp would be America's
first billion dollar crop. William Hearst, a corporate business
owner, possessed enormous acreage of forest. His land and paper
making company would have lost tremendous value and eventually gone
bankrupt had the tax act not been passed. Hearst reportedly had
strong influence in Congress and his interest in preventing hemp
production is easily explained. DuPont, a chemical company that was
involved in other industries, also had a hand in the conspiracy. At
the time of the Marihuana Tax Act DuPont was patenting a new acid
process for producing wood pulp based paper. With the boom of the
hemp industry this invention would have been useless. DuPont was also
in the railroad car industry. According to their own records wood
pulp products accounted for 80% of all DuPont's railroad car loadings
for the 50 years prior to 1937. 80% of all their profits would have
been lost with a hemp takeover. Two years earlier, in 1935, DuPont
developed nylon, a substitute for hemp rope. Nylon was equal in
strength and quality but with the Decorticater Machine would not have
been cost effective when sold alongside hemp. Even with hemp
eliminated nylon was not extremely profitable.

The year after the tax was passed DuPont came out with rayon, a very
cost effective fiber that would not have been able to compete with
the strength and durability of hemp. Harry Anslinger, the man who
proposed the Marihuana Tax Act, was also a CEO of DuPont, and would
have stood to loose millions had marijuana not been driven out of
business. Anslinger, who was married to Treasury Secretary Andrew
Mellon's niece, was appointed to lead the FBN (Federal Bureau of
Narcotics). It's widely believed that his relationship with Mellon is
what earned him the promotion. Harry Anslinger's first action as
commissioner was to pass the Marijuana Tax Act. Reasoning behind
Anslinger, Hearst, and DuPont was for no moral or medical issues.
They fought to criminalize marijuana to save their business and to
save money. It's simply another example of capitalist pigs taking
advantage of their power and manipulating the law for personal gain.
Marijuana continued to be present in society throughout the 40's and
50's. During this time it came to be associated with the rise of rock
n' roll. The hippi movement of the 1960's and 70's was largely
involved in experimental drug use. Artists such as The Beatles and
Jimi Hendrix experimented with drugs like acid and heroin. Their fans
followed suit but Mary Jane remained America's drug of choice. The
increased support of the environmentalist movement also supported the
use of weed. Hemp can be made into paper that is equivalent to paper
made from trees, without destroying the rainforests. After all the
first, third and final drafts of the Declaration of Independence were
all written on hemp paper. At anti-Vietnam protests many people could
be seen smoking pot. This fueled the idea that marijuana should be
legal, and in the late 60's the first serious calls for legalization were made.

In 1975 weed supporters around the United States celebrated a victory
as Alaska decriminalized the use and possession of small amounts of
Cannabis. Until, in 1990, residents voted to recriminalize the
substance. During those 15 years Alaska prospered and its economy was
the highest it had been in years. Calling it a "dangerous experiment"
the DEA's stated reason for the recriminalization was that "teenagers
used marijuana at twice the national average". I think it's pretty
obvious that when a substance is legalized it will be used more than
when it was illegal. Had we kept the same policy throughout history
alcohol should have been recriminalized shortly after the repealing
of the 18th amendment due to an increase in alcohol consumption.
Several other countries have attempted various forms of legalizing
drugs, in the Netherlands marijuana is illegal but under certain
restrictions its consumption is allowed. The coffee shops of
Amsterdam are renowned worldwide as a pot-smokers Mecca. Coffee shops
are allowed to sell under 5 grams of marijuana as long as it is
smoked on the premises. One of the opposition's most acclaimed
arguments is that legalizing marijuana will lead to an increase in
crime rates. The only way to prove this theory is through real life
experience. The only domestic experience we have with legalized pot
was in Alaska in the 70's and 80's. Government analysis showed that
there was no change in the crime rate for these years. All other
claims about the marijuana-crime correlation are mere speculation.
The fact is that Amsterdam has a lower crime rate than any major U.S.
city. One could argue that the Alaskan experiment actually benefited
the crime rate. As a whole, the national crime rate went up from 1975
to 1990, while Alaska's remained the same.

Other Cannabis antagonists look to Switzerland's Needle Park
experiment to justify marijuana's legal status. People in Needle Park
were allowed to openly purchase and use drugs without police
intervention. The idea was to give addicts a "clean and safe"
environment to inject heroin. To compare this with legalizing
marijuana is absolutely absurd. First, in terms of classification
marijuana and heroin are completely different. Heroin is a level five
highly addictive drug that causes long term brain damage as well as
damage to the central nervous system. A heroin addict will experience
collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining, abscesses, and liver
disease. Not to mention second hand use of needles often leads to
full blown accounts of AIDS. Marijuana on the other hand has its own
category and no proven health detriments. The results of Needle Park
cannot be compared to those of legalizing marijuana. Your parents
have probably told you that smoking pot causes lung cancer and brain
damage. Unfortunately they were probably teenagers in the 70's and
smoked pot themselves so their very objection to weed is extremely
hypocritical. The U.S. government provides facts and statistics that
seem to demonstrate the pernicious nature of marijuana. Let's take a
look at the so called facts that the DEA claims are results of the
habitual smoking of Cannabis sativa. First, and I quote, "Marijuana
is an addictive drug". That my friends is an outright lie. All
clinical studies including those conducted by the government have
concluded that marijuana contains no addictive properties. A person
can become chemically dependent on the drug but that is radically
different than an addiction. Another study regulated by the
government studied 182 "random" fatal truck accidents. It just so
happened that in these "random" accidents marijuana was present in as
many of the drivers as alcohol. The National Transportation Safety
Board then determined that marijuana is just as dangerous as alcohol
while driving. The reasoning behind this argument has more than
several flaws. First of all marijuana can stay in a persons system
for more than 2 weeks, there is no way to tell that the drivers were
high at the time of their accidents. Now I'm not an expert but I know
that 182 is not a large enough number to be considered reliable
research. To study 182 of 5 1/4 million accidents, .0034%, and make
apocryphal claims based on that research shows ineptitude beyond that
of any man disposed to devout his life to a hierarchy of pious
infidels who understand nothing of the nature and complexity of life.

Other major concerns of consuming marijuana are lung and brain
damage, as well as memory loss. According to the UCLA School of
Medicine "marijuana does not impair long term memory". Weed can cause
short term memory loss but only while under the influence, the same
can be said for alcohol and many over the counter sleeping
medications. Brain damage that does occur is not because of any
chemical property in ganja, but because the brain is deprived of
oxygen for so long that brain cells are killed. For any self
acclaimed pot smoker that's an easy fix, just don't hold your hits in
for so long. One of the studies that is referred to the most was
performed on monkeys in which they suffered severe brain damage. It
was only until recently in careful review of the study that we
discovered that the monkeys were breathing pure THC for over a
minute, that lack of oxygen is what killed the brain cells, not the
marijuana. The other substantial health concern is over lung
function. Also according to the UCLA School of Medicine "neither the
continuing nor intermittent marijuana smokers exhibited any
significantly different rates of lung function as compared to those
individuals who never smoked marijuana". The study was conducted on
243 pot smokers over an 8 year period. Another of the governments'
critical expostulations against legalizing marijuana is that
pharmaceutical companies have developed a synthetic THC pill called
Marinol. But Marinol is substantially different than marijuana.
First, it's not real THC; there is not one part of the Cannabis
sativa plant in Marinol. It's a bunch of chemicals that some
scientist mixes up in a lab. Second Marinol is only available through
prescription, so it's incontrovertibly not the same as legalizing
marijuana. Not only is it very hard to obtain a prescription, the
requirements exclude nearly everyone. You must either be a cancer
patient who underwent chemotherapy or be an AIDS patient who has
appetite loss. Both diseases have no cure and are generally fatal. So
the government won't let you take Marinol unless you have a virtual
death sentence. If I have a malignant disease I'm not going to take
the time to get a government prescription, I'm going to smoke the
real thing. So please don't feed me spurious claims that legal
marijuana already exists.

Now that I have addressed the supposed health detriments let's take a
look at the medical benefits of Cannabis. As mentioned above
marijuana has been infallibly proven to relieve the vomiting and
nausea that come with chemotherapy. Many cancer patients have said
that marijuana was the best treatment for their symptoms. I
interviewed a cancer patient who has miraculously over come the
disease, for privacy reasons I won't reveal their name but when asked
about the effects of marijuana the interviewee said, "I would not
have lived if I didn't smoke lots of marijuana". Isn't it interesting
that cancer, one of the world's deadliest, incurable diseases, is
treated with marijuana, an illegal drug? Marijuana is also used for
treating multiple sclerosis and several mood disorders. After smoking
small amounts of marijuana patients are said to be relaxed and stress
free. Unlike alcohol which is a depressant, Cannabis can be used to
treat low level depression. Most depression is caused by stress;
smoking pot relieves stress and thus relieves depression. Glaucoma is
yet another disease that smoking weed will treat. Glaucoma is an
optical disease that leads to permanent damage of the optic nerve
endings and resultant visual fields, which can ultimately progress to
blindness. Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the world
and doctors predict that this number will increase as longevity also
increases. Symptoms of glaucoma include intraocular pressure, patches
of vision loss, headaches, and pain behind the eyeball. Despite
making the eyes red marijuana actually lowers intraocular pressure
and can prevent as well as cure Glaucoma all together. As you can see
marijuana has copious medical uses and little to no medical
handicaps. For it to illegal while tobacco and alcohol are legal is
absolute madness.

Like any substance marijuana can be abused, but it is impossible to
overdose on. The most common problem associated with marijuana abuse
is lethargic behavior, but does not cause serious health or social
concerns. Overuse of alcohol will result in an inability to walk,
stand, or even death, whereas overuse of weed will simply put a
person to sleep. 40% of all fatal car accidents are caused by alcohol
while no car accidents ever have been directly caused by marijuana.
Alcohol induces violent behavior and is often attributed to wife
beating and other violent behaviors. Someone under the influence of
alcohol will experience fits if rage which has often led to their own
demise or the death of others, while someone who got high from
marijuana will stroll around pleasantly with a smile on their face in
search of the nearest McDonald's. It is as the iconoclast Bob Marley
once said, "Herb is the healing of the nation, alcohol is the
destruction". Cigarettes are another legal substance that are far
more dangerous than some good sensimilla. Smoking cigarettes is the
leading cause of lung cancer in America. Tobacco cigarettes are
filled with harmful chemicals such as nicotine, rat poison,
formaldehyde, ammonia, and arsenic. Both cigarettes and alcohol are
immensely addictive phenomenon's that lead to very serious health
problems, predominantly cancer, and ultimately death. Marijuana is
considered by many to be a dangerous substance but in reality many of
our legal drugs are far more portentous.

Annual American Deaths Caused by Drugs

Tobacco................. 400,000

Alcohol.................. 100,000

All legal drugs......... 20,000

All illegal drugs........ 15,000

Caffeine................. 2,000

Aspirin.................. 500

Marijuana............... 0

In all of recorded history going back as far as 2700 BC there has
never been one single human death attributed to a health problem
caused by marijuana.

Not only is marijuana a safe drug with medical benefits but it could
rapidly stimulate our failing economy. At its current rate of
production legal marijuana generates 35.8 billion dollars per year.
Profits from marijuana exceed that of corn and wheat combined. And
that's just the legal margins. Revenue from illegal domestic
marijuana is speculated at around 60 billion dollars a year. That's a
total of 95.8 billion dollars each year excluding imports. Marijuana
is considered by profuse amounts of economists to already be our
nation's number one cash crop. It's already the number 1 cash crop in
12 states including California, Alaska, and Hawaii. In Washington
weed is second only to apples. In 30 other states ganja is among the
top three on the list of cash crops. As Thomas Jefferson said, "Hemp
is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country".
George Washington himself predicted that hemp would be our most
valuable product. Economists estimate that if marijuana were
legalized annual tax returns would be 6.2 billion dollars. That's
over 6 billion dollars in the hands of the federal government rather
than in the hands of so called drug criminals. This money could be
spent on combating the flow of hard, more serpentine drugs onto our streets.

If the fact that legalizing marijuana will engender enormous sums of
money isn't enough for some skeptics let's take a look at the money
that it will save. Approximately 7.7 billion dollars is spent
annually on law enforcement to traverse marijuana consumption.
Legalizing marijuana would eliminate 100% of these costs. Another
taxpayer expense that would be emphatically reduced is prison
disbursements. New FBI statistics show that one marijuana smoker is
arrested every 45 seconds, by the end of my speech more than 20
people will have been incarcerated on marijuana related offenses.
Since 1990 5.9 million innocent Americans have been arrested on
Cannabis charges, a number greater than the population of Alaska,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined. 88% of all
people in jail, a staggering 2 million, are there due to marijuana
offenses. In the case that marijuana is legalized that number will be
reduced to 440,000 people, a prodigious decline. The deprivation of
operating prisons would also deteriorate dramatically. The cost of
operating prisons comes directly out of taxpayers pockets. Currently
a 40 billion dollar per year expenditure would be cut back to 8.8
billion dollars, still a gargantuan amount but much, much less than
what it was. With this amount of savings and profits I find it
amazing that our capitalist society hasn't already demanded the
legalization of pot.

Simply selling the buds is not the only way to make money off the
Cannabis sativa plant. Hemp fibers from the stalks have countless
other uses. An entire hemp based industry will be created. Oil
extracted from the seeds was used to lubricate gears and mechanisms
in many of the original cars including Henry Ford's Model T. Hemp
fiber, renown for its strength, has long been used to test the
durability of other fibers. When George Bush Sr. was forced to eject
from his F-50 over Vietnam, the parachute that saved his life was
made from 100% hemp fiber. Hemp can be made into rope, clothing, and
paper. More important than the products made will be the jobs
procreated by this industry. The current unemployment rate is 8.9% as
of April 2009. 8.9% sounds like a small number out of 100 but 8.9%
translates to over 13.7 million people without a job. I talked about
tax deficits earlier but how about the decrease in taxes if all
13.7million people got off welfare and started working in the pot
industry. Though legalizing marijuana won't create all 13.7 million
jobs necessary it will create some. That's a step in the right
direction to resurrect our falling economy.

A common misconception is that smoking sensimilla makes a person this
lazy, unexcited, useless, crippling abrasion to society. That's not
true at all. Like most Americans, people who smoke pot pay taxes,
love and support their families, and work hard to make a better life
for their children. Suddenly they are arrested, jailed, and treated
like criminals solely because they choose to relax in a way that is
safer than tobacco or alcohol. State agencies frequently step in and
declare children of marijuana smokers to be "in danger", and many
children are placed into foster homes as a result. This causes
enormous pain, suffering, and financial hardship for millions of
honest American families. It also engenders distrust and disrespect
for the law and criminal justice system overall. If the children of
marijuana smokers are in danger than the children of cigarette
smokers and alcoholics are in a situation far more perilous.
Responsible pot smokers present no threat or danger to America and
there is no reason to treat them as criminals.

Many people also believe that marijuana is a gateway drug and will
lead to other more dangerous drugs. It's true that most people who do
hard drugs didn't immediately start out snorting cocaine or shooting
heroin, but smoking pot every now and then doesn't condemn you to be
some cracked out heroin feign. As it stands right now only a small
portion of sensi smokers go on to harder drugs and I'm sure that
number will go down if marijuana is legalized. If kids could run down
to the gas station and pick up some weed their interest in other
drugs would be diminished. The only way that pot could be considered
a gateway drug is if it is sold alongside hard drugs. True some pot
dealers sell harder stuff but legalizing marijuana completely negates
that arguement. If marijuana were legal there would be no need for
side street dealers who might have hard drugs on them, it could be
sold in any convenience store across the country. I know for a fact
that teenagers would much rather get high legally than break the law
to do so. The problem is legal highs aren't readily available, the
closest you can get is with cigarettes which not only taste
disgusting but are extremely deleterious to your health and the
health of others. Implying that smoking weed always leads to harder
drugs is like saying that anyone who has ever stolen something will
go on to armed piracy of oil tankers. The Somalians that hijacked
those tankers probably did steal in their youth but that doesn't mean
everyone who steals will end up like them. Marijuana as a gateway
drug is a false implication and cannot be used in a serious
discussion about legalizing marijuana. Many people also insinuate
that marijuana leads people to a life of crime. The only way to test
this theory is to study the results when pot is legal. Amsterdam,
where marijuana is legal, has a lower crime rate than any major U.S.
city. I think that soundly disproves that theory and clearly shows
that smoking marijuana is not a gateway to anything illegal.

I have provided you with information, facts and statistical evidence
that all point towards the legalization of marijuana. But the truth
is it doesn't matter what I say until you, the people, stand up and
besiege the government to re-address the litigation of marijuana. But
I'm sure there are many of you thinking, "Well that's a great speech
in all but I don't smoke pot so why should I care if it's legal or
not?" So I have come up with several reasons why everyone should
support the legalizing of marijuana. If you're politically left wing
stick it to the corporal business owners who made it illegal in the
first place. If your right wing, marijuana is our number 1 cash crop,
legalized we can make even more money than we are now. If your
Christian or adhere to the Bible, Genesis 1:29 "And God said, behold,
I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of
all the earth", according to the Bible it's your god given right to
grow and consume any plant on this earth, including marijuana. If
you're an environmentalist or at least care about the fate of our
planet, you can save the 4 billion trees that are cut down every year
to make paper. I assure you hemp paper is a fine substitute. Everyone
should support legalizing marijuana and everyone here now understands
why. The biggest problem is that people are more inclined to suffer
the sufferable that to rectify changes in their lives. But with
growing support the Cannabis sativa predicament will soon be
rectified and the world as a whole will be a better place, in the
words of Bob Marley, "Legalize it, don't criticize it".