SUPPORT LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

I am a daily recreational user of marijuana, along with a lot of other
people in Tulare County and California. I have been hearing of the
people that have problems with their neighbors growing or smoking at
their own houses. Now, I want to ask: Why is that a problem? I thought
this was America.

Now, I understand if you have gang members or something selling it and
a bunch of bad people in and out of your neighborhood, but with
marijuana users, that is usually not the case. If you have something
like that going on, I can almost guarantee they aren't just smoking
pot.

Typical marijuana growers/patients keep to themselves. They don't want
people knowing about their stuff, and they do their best to respect
their neighbors. I understand where nonsmokers are coming from, but I
also know that they typically don't know anything about the herb
themselves, which is why it seems so bad. So I just want to put a few
things in perspective for people.

First off, I think everyone needs to know that marijuana has no
long-term effects. There are no studies linking marijuana to any sort
of lung cancer or brain problems. In fact, it has been shown that
cannabis use actually slows, and sometimes prevents, cancers from
forming, is shown to be effective against Alzheimer's disease, and is
helpful to people with eating disorders and nausea from chemotherapy.
Not only that, but you can't overdose on marijuana. So, how are the
three different bottles of manmade drugs the doctor gave your grandma
better than God's given plant that people have been using for
thousands of years? I'm pretty sure Grandma is getting sick and losing
her appetite from those pills, don't you think?

Second, there is not one recorded death related to marijuana. No ODs,
no car accidents, nothing. Yet there continue to be thousands a year
from tobacco and alcohol, whether from drunken driving and taking
innocent lives, alcohol poisoning or the many harmful chemicals in
cigarettes to make you addicted. Marijuana is not addicting and
doesn't impair your driving or daily tasks like alcohol, and you
cannot overdose.

Third is California's huge debt. Last year the state of California
brought in $1.7 million in tax money off the already legal
dispensaries up and down the state. So, since we can probably pay off
the debt in five to 10 years with legal marijuana, how is that a bad
thing? Not only the money but the legalization of hemp can help in
numerous ways. (Hemp is not marijuana. It has less then 1 percent of
THC in it, the stuff that gets you high.) Hemp can be used for paper,
building, clothes and fuel, and fields of hemp double the amount of
oxygen trees produce, helping our ozone.

Aside from these, marijuana has helped not only medical patients, but
everyday people. It's used to relieve stress at the end of a hard day.
It's used to get through depression. It's used for skinny people that
don't have appetites and want to gain weight, like myself. It's used
to help with concentration in people with ADD and ADHD. It's used
socially and has saved people, like myself, from fights and bullies by
way of the "peace pipe."

So, before you throw a bunch of bad assumptions our way, I ask one
thing: Use your Internet. Look up the good stuff marijuana can do. The
government made such a bad image for it because of their control over
everything. They tried prohibition of alcohol. That didn't last long.

So, why has prohibition of marijuana gone on so long when it has so
many good things that can come out of it? It has been wasting
taxpayers' money for years, taking time from the police when they
could be catching the guy that just stole your car rather than the
kids smokin' some pot and hangin' out. There are too many innocent,
peaceful people going to jail for nothing.

Our prisons are already crowded. Keep the peaceful stoners out of it
and catch the people that deserve it -- the ones harming everyone
else. There has been so much more discussion about the topic this
year. There's gotta be a reason for it; I keep on hearing people
complain about it but never ever hear a reason why they are against
it.

More than 65 percent of Americans support the legalization of
marijuana now. There's got to be a reason for it, right?

I just think everyone needs to stop being so judgmental and open their
eyes and minds to new things and the changing of the times. If you're
going to contact your council member, I hope it's for support.

The silent majority is definitely stirring from their "sleep," but the
majority is no longer against it. Support legalization.