Wednesday, October 27, 2010
f-r-e-e-d-o-m
Going back to the same quote I used in my “Just the basics” post Abe Lincoln once said “Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded”. OBVIOUSLY I couldn’t agree with him more! Most of my blog so far has been focusing on the negative effects of the prohibition of pot and the pros of legalizing it in terms of stimulating the economy and making monayyy. I didn’t even stop to think about one basic thing: it should be up to the people of America to decide if they want to smoke marijuana. I know that the government is trying to protect the people in this great country but guess how many deaths there are due to marijuana consumption…zero. Yep, none!! I would just like to point out that over 400,000 people died due to obesity in 2000 and that number is only increasing. Is obesity illegal? No way José. So then why is marijuana? Hmmm? I think that the government should spend their time and effort trying to protect the American people from preventable diseases, such as obesity, and let American people smoke their pot if they want to. It’s a win/win/win/win situation folks! The government isn’t controlling the American people too much, our economy gets stimulated by the revenue from marijuana being sold, the number of citizens getting arrested decrases, and dangerous drug cartels get all their power taken away. Talk about a great situation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is one of the most compelling arguments that I have ever read! I basically agreed with everything you talked about in the post. Abraham Lincoln is arguably the greatest president in American history and his quote on prohibition is spot on. If I recall correctly I believe that "government was created by the people, for the people." It should not be up to a few politicians to decide what Americans can and cannot do, but rather up to the people. It’s our government, don’t we get a say in it? I was also surprised to learn that there have been zero deaths due to marijuana. Still, it just goes to show the lack of harm in legalizing it. Also in my economics class, we discussed one day how legalizing marijuana would be very profitable and beneficial to the economy. It would create jobs and obviously there would be a "high" demand for it. Plus if marijuana is legal there will be fewer drug related crimes which in turn would help solve the growing problem of overcrowded prisons. No longer would tax payer money be used to have marijuana related court trials and no longer would citizens be forced to sit through such cases because of jury duty. It truly is a win/win/win/win situation to legalize marijuana. The time has come for a national vote to decide if marijuana should be prohibited or not; let the people decide.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I agree with your opinion on saying that America should try to focus their efforts on diseases that are preventable. The government are not the ones that are smoking and drinking alcohol. People choose to do those things and they know the risks that come with them. They know that if they choose to smoke marijuana, it will get them high and could cause cancer. They know that if they drink too much alcohol, it could get them drunk and cause them to do dumb things. This could be applied to hundreds of things in society, so why does government try to control these things when ultimately it is in control of the people. Whether or not the drug marijuana is illegal, people are still going to smoke and use it. It doesn't matter what the government does, people will do what they want to do. This has been proven by the amount of people that already smoke the drug when it is illegal. The real only solution the government has would be to try to gain some positive out of the use of marijuana. That would be by bringing in taxes or helping the economy out with the industry. The government is focusing on too many things that it shouldn't try to control. I'm surprised fat people don't have mandatory hours they have to work out yet so they don't die of obesity.
ReplyDelete