Marijuana. This word alone often strikes fear in many. They think of juvenile delinquents getting into trouble. They think of inferior people wasting away their minds and ruining their bodies. They think of these pot smokers as a poison, and make sure to keep their loved ones away in fear that they too will become infected. I can guarantee you they didn’t think of George Washington, John Adams, Barack Obama, or Thomas Jefferson. They surely didn’t think of Albert Einstein or Steve Jobs. Yes that's right. Some of the smartest and most well respected men did in fact smoke weed. Marijuana is thought of in such a narrow-minded way. It has so many benefits that people are unaware of because they can't wrap their minds around the fact that it has other uses besides just recreational. This pragmatic substance should be kept off the streets no longer. Marijuana needs to be legalized in Kentucky because it will be prosperous to the economy, aid in lowering our alarmingly high smoking rate, and because it has many health benefits. Kentucky has the highest smoking rate in the nation. Consequently, it also has the highest lung cancer rate. Cigarette smoking affects nearly every organ in your body and causes about 90% of all lung cancer deaths. Ten times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died from all the wars fought by the United States in its history. This substance is legal and you encounter it daily. Marijuana on the other hand, is illegal and has caused zero reported deaths. Emory University did a study on people who smoked a joint a day for 20 years and found no statistical difference between their lungs and the lungs of non-marijuana smokers. It has also been found that marijuana can increase lung capacity. Weed is not nearly as addictive as tobacco and doesn't contain nicotine. If Kentucky legalized marijuana, it would be a phenomenal substitute for tobacco. I just can't fathom why this substance isn't being taken advantage of further. We have a solution to our lung cancer and smoking problem but we are doing nothing to enforce it. Cancer kills about 27 people a day in Kentucky. Together, we can make that number go down. Our economy would benefit from the legalization of marijuana significantly.
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Washington collects around $220 million in tax from marijuana and Colorado brings in $129 million. Think about what our government could do with extra millions of dollars. That money could profoundly improve our education system, transportation, state police, housing, environment, and much more. An ACLU report from 2013 suggests that taxpayers hand over anywhere from $1.6 to $6 billion to cover pot enforcement, prosecution, and incarceration. That is money we wouldn't have to pay if marijuana were legalized. An ACLU and Human Rights Watch stated that in any given year, police arrest more people for marijuana use than for all other violent crimes combined. Many people do, however, think marijuana usage kills brain cells. Their argument is, why would we legalize a substance that is going to hurt our brain? Those people are not properly educated on the effects marijuana has on our bodies. Recent studies have shown that there is little evidence to show that marijuana has neurotoxic effects when administered at appropriate doses
Washington collects around $220 million in tax from marijuana and Colorado brings in $129 million. Think about what our government could do with extra millions of dollars. That money could profoundly improve our education system, transportation, state police, housing, environment, and much more. An ACLU report from 2013 suggests that taxpayers hand over anywhere from $1.6 to $6 billion to cover pot enforcement, prosecution, and incarceration. That is money we wouldn't have to pay if marijuana were legalized. An ACLU and Human Rights Watch stated that in any given year, police arrest more people for marijuana use than for all other violent crimes combined. Many people do, however, think marijuana usage kills brain cells. Their argument is, why would we legalize a substance that is going to hurt our brain? Those people are not properly educated on the effects marijuana has on our bodies. Recent studies have shown that there is little evidence to show that marijuana has neurotoxic effects when administered at appropriate doses