Marijuana Laws Need to Change!

Dear National Institute of Drug Abuse,

For most people in America, cannabis – more commonly known as marijuana – is strictly illegal, with upwards of forty billion dollars being pumped into its anti-drug campaign annually. According to publications made on your website, it is suggested that the production, distribution, and recreational use of marijuana, due to a plethora of psychological and physical health risks, should remain illegal. Being a nineteen year old college student from Vermont, I’m usually more than open to new ideas. Over the course of my brief yet interesting life, I have heard the opinions of hundreds of people. After many heated debates on topics ranging from local laws like gay marriage and the operation of a malfunctioning nuclear power plant to global debates like the conflict in Iraq and global climate change, I can confidently say that I have a relatively sensible and rational head on my shoulders. However, I regret to say that my openness is not so easily earned when it comes to the debate on marijuana laws. Although I am generally more subtle with my dissatisfaction of the illegality of cannabis, I can no longer allow myself to sit idly as false information slowly weaves itself into the fabric of our nation and entire planet. These publications from your website not only provide misleading and – in some cases – entirely false statements about marijuana, but they also encourage a systematic war on drugs that destroys the lives of should-be innocent people, allows many of the more dangerous drugs to fly under the radar, and entirely lacks any amount of cost efficiency. Granted, there are many legitimate points that you note, like how marijuana introduces teens to the black market world of drugs and the psychological dangers that come about from smoking too much, but why is marijuana illegal in the first place? How has marijuana remained illegal for so long? And why has it taken until now for the people to challenge these laws?

The first thing that I’d like to point out regarding the history of marijuana is how very much legal it used to be. Marijuana is created from cannabis hemp, and it wasn’t just legal; it was the most prominent agricultural crop on the planet. Up until 1883, cannabis hemp was used in the creation of thousands of different products. The majority of fabrics, medicines, and papers came from hemp. In fact, one of the first “marijuana laws” ordered farmers to grow hemp. Even the first copy of the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper, and Queen Victoria used the extracted resin to alleviate her menstrual cramps. Even stranger is the fact that, although industrial hemp (since it is not the same as marijuana) cannot be used to get high, a Marijuana Tax Act was implemented for all forms of cannabis in 1937. This tax was generally accepted, up until people wanted to grow hemp (and ultimately, marijuana), which required a federal stamp to do so. The only problem was that the government wasn’t giving any stamps out, to anyone, and all forms of cannabis were made illegal.  Popular Mechanics magazine had even prepared an article commending hemp as the new “billion dollar crop.” The article read, “Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile strength and durability. It is used to produce more than 5,000 textile products ranging from rope to fine laces…and [it’s cellulose content] can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to cellophane.” (Popular Mechanics, February, 1938) Hemp remained illegal up until World War II, where it was used for war materials. But once the war ended, the government made it illegal again, and, with the exception of a few brave states in our country, marijuana remains as illegal now as it did seventy years ago.