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We are fighting a losing battle

By Jeff Snyder

Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.

Abraham Lincoln, in a speech in the Illinois House of Representatives, December 18, 1840.I think that anyone who smokes marijuana (or tobacco for that matter), except for medicinal purposes, is an idiot. Inhaling large quantities of smoke in pursuit of a “buzz” is not exactly a sign of higher order intelligence. The champions of cannabis claim that the wacky weed is harmless, but it is filled with carcinogens, tar, and carbon monoxide. Pot smokers might as well follow TARC buses around town and suck down diesel fumes all day. Besides, if marijuana is so benign then why do heavy users all start to act and sound like Sean PennÍs character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. If you are looking for a way to expand your mind, try yoga, meditation, or reading a good book. You have to be a real dope (pun definitely intended) to use marijuana.

That said, I agree with the views of Honest Abe when it comes to alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. First, marijuana is a plant. Not everyone can cook up a batch of PCP or LSD at home, but even people who cannot spell “chemistry” can grow marijuana. All you need are seeds, dirt, water, and sunlight. Any effort to control marijuana production is doomed to fail. The only question is how many tax dollars we will spend on this futile effort before we realize that it is demand not supply that fuels the marijuana trade. It would be better for us to focus on treatment and education just as we do with tobacco.

Second, the role of government is not to protect us from making bad choices. Marijuana falls into the same category as alcohol, tobacco and even fast food as things that are addictive and bad for us. Should the government outlaw anything that could harm us if we abused it? What would the social engineers ban next? Fast cars, extreme sports, blind dates, and the Jerry Springer Show? Dean Alfange once said, “I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.”

I am not advocating the legalization of drugs like cocaine or heroin. Those things are poisons for which there is no safe level or method of usage. America should use the money saved by legalizing marijuana (and the revenue generated by the inevitable federal tax on it) to target the hard drugs. We have a chance to win that battle as long as we understand that targeting supply is still secondary to reducing demand.

America’s well-intentioned attempt to control the appetite for marijuana through legislation has been a dismal failure. This is a war we simply cannot afford and a fight we certainly cannot win. Jeff Snyder is a senior history major and a columnist for The Louisville Cardinal.

Legalization of Marijuana Has Many Benefit

By Eric Groves

Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? There should be but one reason why marijuana is legalized, and it is a simple one: junk food. Don’t laugh! The growth in sales of junk food would be enough to jump-start America’s severely lagging economy. Think about it: conglomerates like Pepsi, Hostess, Nestle’s, Little Debbie and Frito Lay would see their stock values skyrocket! I can’t believe the good people at TRICON aren’t pushing harder to get pot legalized. Okay, seriously, that’s not really good rationale to legalize Mary Jane, but there are certainly plenty of legitimate reasons why we all would benefit from legalization of America’s most used illicit substance.Many in the pro-legalization camp argue, “If alcohol and cigarettes are legal, why shouldn’t pot be legal too?” Good question. Studies have shown that pot is far less addictive than nicotine, alcohol or even caffeine. No one (except maybe Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High) chain-smokes pot the way they do cigarettes. Therefore logic will tell us that when one smokes a joint, they are inhaling far less smoke than someone who smokes a pack and half of unfiltered Camels every day.

Not only is marijuana not entirely bad for you, it also has several practical uses. During colonial times, “hemp” — the industrial strain of the marijuana plant — was farmed extensively in the newly formed American colonies. (Famous hemp farmers included George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.) The fiber of the hemp plant can be used to make everyday products such as rope, canvas, and paper. And not only is it practical, hemp harvests are worth a fortune. In 1999, on average the value of pot was estimated at a staggering $70,000 per bushel! Last week the price of a bushel of corn, Kentucky’s number one legal agricultural grain, was a measly $2.01. I’m no economist, but does it really take one to determine which is more valuable? Not only would the revenue be hundreds of times more bountiful, production costs would also be significantly reduced because marijuana is so easy to cultivate.

Perhaps the most compelling reason to legalize marijuana is for its potential in medicine. Marijuana has been found to alleviate the nausea caused by chemotherapy prescribed to cancer patients. It also reduces the excruciating pain — the most overlooked and under-treated symptom of cancer sufferers — in these patients. It has also been prescribed to treat AIDS patients and, has been found to effectively treat glaucoma. Medicinal uses of marijuana have been legalized in California and Arizona. A very telling statistic can be found in a recent poll of cancer therapists. When asked if they would prescribe marijuana to their patients, half of them claimed they would. Marijuana would offer a cheap and simple remedy compared to the enormous and exorbitantly expensive cocktail of drugs that is currently prescribed to such patients.

Perhaps Ralph Nader said it best when he quipped, “We do not send alcoholics to jail in this country. We do not send nicotine users to jail in this country.” So it begs the question, “why do we send Marijuana users to jail?” The long term effects of marijuana are no worse for the human body than caffeine, nicotine or alcohol. Marijuana has several practical uses in society and it’s worth a fortune. It is far beyond time for the government to change its antiquated laws and legalize marijuana.

Eric Groves is a junior English major and a columnist for The Louisville Cardinal.