This document discusses the history of marijuana use and arguments for legalizing it. It outlines marijuana's medicinal uses in ancient Asia and its spread to Europe. In the US, marijuana was legal until the 1930s when it became prohibited due to prejudices. The document argues for legalizing marijuana and taxing it like alcohol in order to benefit medical patients, the economy, and reduce criminal penalties while generating tax revenue. Legalizing marijuana could help combat drug cartels and the document provides comparisons to show marijuana is less dangerous than legal substances like alcohol and tobacco.

1. By Anna Jensen

2. Topic Selection
Why Marijuana?
 People effected negatively by marijuana laws in school
and community
 Close to home issue- affects entire nation
 Clear up misconceptions about cannabis
 Encourage a change to benefit the country

3. Federal marijuana laws must
be changed in order to
further benefit those with
disabilities and the entire
nation.

4. World history of cannabis
Asia
 Chinese herbalists- Stomach Pain, malaria, menstrual
cramps
 Indian god Shiva was said to have given the plant for a
joyful past time
 Marijuana migrated from East to the Middle East

5. Europe
 Arab traders brought the plant to North Africa and
Spain
 Napoleon introduces marijuana to Europe after
conquest in Egypt- 1804
 Traveled to London for recreation and medicine-
insomnia, pain, tuberculosis, and lowering fevers

6. American History
Legal Marijuana
 Traveled from Europe to New York in early 19th century
 Prohibition caused an increase in popularity (Cheap
and legal)
 Marijuana was linked to violence and crime caused by
illegal bootlegging- scape goat
 15 states voted to ban non-medical distribution in 1924
 Drug also banned in south due to prejudice during the
depression

7. Illegal Marijuana
 Harry J. Anslinger takes office at the Federal Bureau of
Narcotics
 Since immigration issues were involved, marijuana
became a political issue
 Outlawing a weed had never been done
 The constitution stood in the way of making a federal
law against cannabis until a loophole was found
(National Fire Arms Act)
 1950s- Marijuana was illegal, meth amphetamine was
the most prescribed drug in American history

8. Continued..
 Mayer LaGuardia commissioned a four years study
involving medical professionals to study marijuana
 Timothy Leary questioned the marijuana stamp act
and the law was overturned
 Marijuana was officially banned with the Controlled
Substance Act of 1970
 Medicinal marijuana was not recognized until the
1990s

9. The Current Situation
 Medicinal marijuana is recognize by 14 states which
allow it
 The laws are very inconsistent and vague, creating
gaps
 According to federal law, marijuana is illegal under any
circumstances- patients are not protected
 Since marijuana was outlawed, there have been more
than 20 million marijuana arrests

10. Solution= Legalization
Marijuana should be legalized but restricted as
alcohol is
3 approaches to issues regarding marijuana: banning,
decriminalizing, legalizing
 Decriminalized (no criminal penalties for possessing,
using, or transferring marijuana without profit) in Canada
and England
 No negative affect on crime rate
 The country has no ability to tax marijuana for profit

11.  The Netherlands and Spain have taken the approach of
legalizing marijuana:
“Legalization of the drug in Spain saw a sharp
decrease in the number of frequent
users, ostensibly because doing so ceased to be
seen as a dangerous, rebellious activity. In
Holland, where marijuana has been legal for
decades, about 5% of the population smokes on a
regular basis.”
 Also had no increase in crime
 The countries’ governments are able to make profit off
legal marijuana through taxes

12. Positives of legalization
 Combating criminals- less demand for illegal drug
dealers and violent Mexican drug cartels
 Many legal drugs are equally or more harmful than
marijuana
 Prescription drugs:
 Deaths from 1976-1977: 0
 880 deaths from Valium
 390 deaths from Aspirin
 The difference between a dose of morphine which
causes pain relief and death is minuscule
 Marijuana is virtually impossible to overdose on

13.  Alcohol
 Marijuana is far less addictive than alcohol (scale 1-6:
marijuana=1 and alcohol=3)
 Deaths from alcohol are far higher: 331 deaths from
alcohol in 2001, 0 from marijuana
 Alcohol is one of the most toxic drugs, marijuana is one
of the least-
 Alcohol: using 10 times what one would drink to
become intoxicated leads to death
 Marijuana: one must use 1000 times the intoxicating
amount to over dose

14.  Alcohol contributes to the likelihood of sexual assault
and domestic violence, marijuana does not
 About 3 million violent crimes occur each year in which
victims perceive the offender to have been drinking at the time
of the offense
 Among spousal victims, 3 out of 4 incidents were reported to
have involved an offender who had been drinking
 Alcohol is involved in nearly 50% of all domestic violence
cases in Denver, and the use of alcohol by the perpetrator is a
predominant factor in fatal cases of domestic violence
 Marijuana is not mentioned as a correlating or causal factor in
cases of domestic violence in Denver

15.  Tobacco
 Like marijuana, tobacco is harmful to the lungs and can
cause cancer, but is still legal
 Nicotine is far more addictive than marijuana (scale 1-6:
Marijuana=1, Nicotine=6, Heroine=5)
 There has never been a documented case of lung cancer
in a marijuana only smoker

17.  Benefits to the economy
 Marijuana is America’s largest cash crop- $2 billion
revenue
 Eliminating many marijuana arrests would put less tax
money into housing prisoners
 Billions of dollars are spent each year in order to keep
marijuana illegal
 Case study: Mendocino County, Northern California
 2/3 economy marijuana related
 Economy would fail if cannabis was eliminated- 60%
population involved in industry
 Law enforcement spent more than $10 million battling
marijuana trade in this county alone

18.  Marijuana in the medical field
 Marijauna could be more accessible for medical
marijuana patients suffering from debilitating illnesses
 Doctors could recommend marijuana to patients
without being concerned about careers
 Natural alternative to many harmful prescription drugs
 Other disabilities not addressed by current medical
marijuana laws could benefit (anxiety)
 Medical research on marijuana could be easily
performed, possibly exposing more medicinal uses

19. Conclusion
 Marijuana has been an affective medicine for
thousands of years
 Cannabis was outlawed through demonization and
propaganda- scape goat for minority crime
 Outlawed as a schedule I substance (high potential for
abuse, unsafe, no medical application) all of these
claims have been proven false
 Since this time there have been more than 20 million
marijuana arrests- punishment must be put to an end
 Now is the time for marijuana to be legalized in order
to benefit the country as a whole

20. “A prohibition law strikes a
blow at the very principles
upon which our government
was founded.”
Abraham Lincoln

21. For more information, please visit
www.saferchoice.org