by Kristen Berleue

Created on: January 25, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

What needs to be remembered when discussing the legalization of marijuana is the orchestrated lies that initially made the plant illegal in the first place. If you do your research much can be learned. When marijuana was first introduced to the United States it became a socialite drug of choice - permited in bars, many of whom were devoted solely as a place to congregate and partake in the smoking of this exotic plant. It was around the time of the prohibition of alcohol and marijuana became the foremost "relaxation" tool. Americans, and people in general, have enjoyed a way to relax and unwide, whether its been alcohol, tobacco or marijuana. Only when aspiring polititians decided they wanted to make a name for themselves, did marijuana become a topic of debate and this is where the lies came in. False data and statistics helped this extremist group convince the country that marijuana caused hallucinations, erratic behavior and could cause insanity. The commercials produced at the time pictured young adults either laughing hysterically with crazy looks in their eyes or stumbling, half-conscious as if they had taken a roofy. Reality is far from this propaganda. In fact, marijuana continues to have less damaging effects to the body as compared with alcohol and tobacco - both of which are legal. Also, with its sedating effects, marijuana seems to be the antithesis of alcohol in that, drunk driving, angry bar fights and racial slurs in a drunken rant (just to name a few), are virtually eliminated.

A secondary concern to the American people is marijuanas ties to other drugs, i.e. cocaine, herione, etc. To legalize marijuana would, for some, cause concern regarding the next illegal drug to possibly hit the grocery store shelves. An unnecessary concern I assure you. Marijuana has absolutely no connection to any other drug whatsoever - including our prized tobacco and alcohol. A person cannot grow there own tobacco plant and harvest it and make some cigarettes. The same is true for other illegal drugs. Marijuana is the only one that can be grown in one's own backyard and then used as instructed with no further change in its chemistry. It should be noted that every Christian and God-believing individual should support the legalization of marijuana for this notation alone. If God created the universe, Marijuana was a part of it and requires no human involvement to "tweak" it or change it to make it "work". The only reason marijuana could be a gateway drug to other drugs

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