A Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse survey conducted in2002 found that teens find buying marijuana easier than purchasingcigarettes or beer. It marked the first time the survey showedmarijuana as the most accessible of the three. “Things seemto be getting even easier for us potheads.” Well I guess thatis what I would say if I were a pothead.

By now unless you have been living in a hole you are somewhatfamiliar with the “dreaded weed.”

I am quite sure that since the time that you were small it hasbeen hammered into your head that smoking marijuana is bad. If youhave paid attention to the new television ads out there you mayhave found that you are going to have unprotected sex and shootyour friend in the head because you got high.

Marijuana is going to give you cancer, make you stupid, andprobably give you the gum disease gingivitis. Oh and don’tforget the Office of National Drug Control Policy says you are aterrorist if you smoke pot.

Is pot really this bad? We as a society spend a massive amountof time, money and manpower preventing this supposed iniquity.

The claim is that marijuana is harmful. However the evidenceproves otherwise.

When it comes to drugs Tobacco is the number one killer (400,000deaths annually) followed by Alcohol (100,000 deaths annually),according to an article in the Sept. 20 issue of The Lancet byStephen Sidney, associate director for research for KaiserPermanente in Oakland, Calif.

Even aspirin has caused more documented deaths than marijuana,according to mortality statistics from the National Instituted onDrug Abuse.

On the Sacramento State campus you are facing either suspensionor expulsion for smoking marijuana. In the courts, depending uponhow much marijuana you have, you could be looking at anywhere froma fine to prison time.

The United States spends millions of dollars trying to combatthe entrance of marijuana into our society. At the same time weallow tobacco and alcohol to roam free.

“The societal costs of (marijuana interdiction) cost U.S.taxpayers in excess of $12 billion annually,” according tothe National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. 613,986people were arrested in 2002 for simple marijuana possession. Thiswas 88 percent of marijuana arrests.

Each of these non-violent prisoners displaces another criminalin the corrections system.

We would be better served by keeping violent criminals in prisonlonger. Rapists and Murderers are set free early on parole to makeway for mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders.

Where did the legislators go wrong? Are we as a society as naiveto think that the way things are now are correct?

“Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging toan individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is thisclearer than in the laws against the possession of marijuana inprivate for personal use.” President Jimmy Carter said backin 1977. Arrests and penalties for possession have only increasedsince then.

The U.S. should follow Britain’s lead, where Members ofParliament voted this week 316 to 160 to downgrade marijuana from aClass B to a Class C scheduled drug. This makes money savingdecision about marijuana. I hope that we will soon follow. Thereare many other horrible drugs and crimes out there that we shouldbe worrying about.

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