Why Marijuana is illegal?

Joe Rogan said it best: The only reason why marijuana is illegal is because of economics. If marijuana was legal, it would cost pharmaceutical and alcohol companies billions of dollars every year. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is funded by alcohol companies. Alcohol is a sanctioned drug!

Marijuana has the ability to treat a number of debilitating diseases and improve the daily life of millions of people around the world.

Ten illnesses that can be treated by marijuana

Marijuana can be used to treat and prevent glaucoma. According to the National Eye Institute, marijuana decreases the pressure inside the eye. “Studies in the early 1970s showed that marijuana, when smoked, lowered intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma.”
Marijuana helps reverse the carcinogenic effects of tobacco and improves lung health. In January 2012, a study was published in Journal of the American Medical Association which said marijuana does not impair lung function and it can even increase lung capacity.
Marijuana can help control epileptic seizures. Charlotte Figi suffers from Dravet’s Syndrome and a strain of marijuana called “Charlotte’s Web” has decreased Charlotte’s seizures from 300 a week to just one every seven days.
Marijuana can decrease anxiety. In 2010, researchers at Harvard Medical School suggested that that some of marijuana’s benefits may be associated with reduced anxiety.
THC slows the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. A study led by Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute suggests that marijuana may be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. In 2006, the study published in the journal of Molecular Pharmaceutics found that THC, the active chemical in marijuana, slows the formation of amyloid plaques by blocking the enzyme in the brain that makes them. These plaques are what kill brain cells and cause Alzheimer’s.
Marijuana helps ease the pain associated with multiple sclerosis. GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) has developed a drug derived from cannabis called Sativex which helps patients who suffer from multipe sclerosis.
Marijuana relieves arthritis discomfort. In 2011, researchers said that marijuana alleviates pain, reduces inflammation and promotes sleep, which may help relieve pain for people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
Marijuana can potentially eliminate Crohn’s disease. A study in Israel showed that smoking a joint significantly reduced Crohn’s disease symptoms in 10 out of 11 patients. Marijuana caused a complete remission in five of the patients.
Marijuana helps veterans suffering from PTSD. The Department of Health and Human Services recently signed off on a proposal to study marijuana’s potential as part of the treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Marijuana reduces some of the pain and nausea from chemotherapy and stimulates appetite.

How did marijuana become illegal?

In 1861, a farmer from Bologna manufactured a decorticator which gave famers the ability to process hemp in a cost effective manner. The decorticator was about to revolutionize the way hemp related products were made and in the mid-1900s the cover of a magazine called Popular Science said, “Hemp the new billion dollar product.”

William Randolph Hurst owned a paper mill and was very well connected with high ranking government officials. Hurst started printing stories about a new drug called marijuana which was not even a slang term for cannabis at the time. The stories said that marijuana was a type of Mexican wild tobacco and “Blacks and Mexicans would smoke it and rape white women.”

Congress ended up making marijuana illegal without even realizing they were making hemp illegal.

In 10,000 years, no one has died from smoking marijuana

No one has ever died from smoking marijuana but every year more than half a million people die from alcohol and tobacco. Every year, people die from the following substances:

400,000 people die from tobacco
100,000 people die from alcohol
20,000 people die from legal drugs
15,000 people die from illegal drugs
2,000 people die from caffeine
500 people die from aspirin

Joe Rogan said, “I thought the same thing, you know I didn’t start smoking pot till about five years ago, I though pot made it stupid, you know I bought into it just as much anybody did. I realized when I was like 30 years old that I was tricked; I was like you gotta be fucking kidding me. People say well you can abuse marijuana. Well shit you can abuse cheeseburgers too. You know, you don’t go around closing Burger King, because you can abuse something. I could take a fuck-in fork and jam it in my eyeball. That means forks should be illegal? You know, I could jump off a bridge, should we outlaw bridges?”