S-Chassis.com - my 2nd love, pot

I. History of marijuana

A. Marijuana has a long and deep-rooted past in early human development.

1. Large fields of hemp were cultivated by the Chinese thousands of years before the birth of Christ (Whipple, 35)

2. The Chinese called the female hemp plant, "the Delight Giver" and the Indians called it "The Bringer of Happiness" (Whipple, 34)

B. Marijuana was grown as a cash crop in America by the founders of the United States.

1. Before 1900 hemp was considered a cash crop even grown by George Washington (Inglis, 181)

II. Criminalization of marijuana

A. The bases that marijuana was made illegal have no foundation in medical fact and are based largely on propaganda.

1. As of late 1967, the Presidents Commission on Law Enforcement concluded, "No careful and detailed analysis of the American experence with marijuana seems to have been atempted. Basic research has ben almost non-existent" (Lieberman, 77)

2. In 1939, with the help of the New York Academy of Medicine, La Guardia set up a committee consisting of twenty-eight doctors, pharmacologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists. The outcome was [...] no direct relation had been found between marihuana and crimes of violence. (Inglis, 186)

3. Colored students at the University of Minnosetta partying with female students (white) smoking and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result, pregnancy. (Sloman, 85)

III. Reasons why marijuana should be legal

A. Marijuana is an effective tool in the treatment of the symptoms of diseases and less harmful than alchol, as proven by medical testing.

1. Cannabis is very valuable for the relief of pain, particularly that depending on nerve disturbances; it produces sleep; it gives great relief in paralysis and tends to quit tremors. (Snyder, 9)

2. Road tests were done comparing marijuana users, drunk drivers, and sober people. The overall findnigs were that marijuana did not impair motor skills, that there were almost no differences driving high on marijuana and driving sober. (Goode, 146)

B. Government documents as well as books written by respected professors agree that the old stigmata surrounding marijuana is dead, and its continued persicution should be haulted.

1. The decision to criminalize cannabis was made "without any apparent scientific basis nor even any real sense of social urgency". (Senate Special Committee)

2. The criminalization of the drug market has proven to be as counter-productive as Prohibition (Inciardi, 288)