Reply #7: Because if marijuana were legal - [View All]

[Mike K]

- it would soon impact very significantly on the profits of a number of very influential lobbying entities, such as the liquor industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the paper industry, the cotton industry and the oil industry.

Consider:

Marijuana induces a much more satisfying effect than alcohol. It is not addictive. No one has ever died or been made sick from using it. It produces no hangover, nor can it be overdosed. And, as any experienced police officer will attest, it does not engender violent behavior. It would take a while for the public to realize all that and to discard the inhibition imparted by government propaganda over the past 75 years, but once the facts were known those industries would suffer substantial losses.

One of the most common and profitable prescription medications is Valium (generic diazapam), which is an addictive tranquilizer that manifests a number of negative side-effects. Marijuana is a far more effective tranquilizer than Valium, it is not addictive and the vast majority of users experience absolutely no side effects.

Legalized marijuana would promote the resumption of large scale hemp growth, which would pose a significant threat to the paper, cotton and oil industries. In fact, William Randolph Hearst was largely responsible for having the anti-marijuana Harrison Act passed in 1937 right after a process was invented for making paper from hemp -- because Hearst had just invested heavily in timber fields to supply his paper-making mills. Hearst used his newspaper empire as the initial source of the lies we continue to hear about marijuana today. He was the arch purveyor of Reefer Madness propaganda.

Add to above that hemp is a excellent source of an oil which converts to a highly efficient bio-fuel.