Response # 2 "Its just business"

The Union: The Business behind Getting High.

                                Marijuana has always been a huge issue in the United States. Whether it’s the debate on the legalization of pot or just some poor guy getting arrested for possession it is without a doubt one of the most controversial substances of all time. I feel no shame in saying that I am a huge supporter of the legalization of marijuana as well as a user. This strong belief that I have that marijuana is not something to be punished for but rather studied and practiced has led me to write several papers for school on the subject in the past. So when looking through the list of articles and video clips from which we were to choose one and write a response to, this was an obvious choice for me.

                                I watched this documentary and can say that with all that I knew about marijuana this video enlightened me a great deal. Some of the things I learned from the video were that even though I knew marijuana used to be legal in our country I had no idea just how big it was. Now this doesn’t mean that everybody used to sit around and blaze up all day, but the hemp that comes from the marijuana plant used to be one of the biggest cash crops in the world. The very country that we live in that seems so set against the idea of legalizing marijuana was once very much funded off the revenue the plant made. Our declaration of independence was written on hemp paper. The first marijuana law in our country was a law ordering citizens to grow it. With so many negative thoughts and what seems to be false knowledge on the subject of marijuana and the effects it has when used it is likely that we will never see it legalized.

                                One of the more interesting things the video showed was the first man to ever be convicted of a marijuana crime. The movie didn’t give his name but they showed a picture and told that he had been given 4 years for having 2 joints. For those unfamiliar with pot two joints may be the equivalent of 1 gram of weed probably even less. I currently have 2 friends who are brothers that have 5 years probation for the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana so I am very familiar with the exact repercussion accompanied with pot. Still I see no reason as to why marijuana should remain illegal. In my opinion and that’s all that I have in this case, I think that the benefits outnumber the dangers by a substantial amount.

http://dialogic.blogspot.com/2009/12/union-business-behind-getting-high.html