speech Vincent Pisacano

Most people can probably agree that marijuana is a significant issue in today’s world, and especially in the United States. This is an issue that the government loves to ignore. They rarely address the problem, and even less frequently any solution. What they hate to admit is the most simple solution of them all is the best. To simply legalize it. 4 states have already legalized it recreationally, those being Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and most recently Alaska. These states are choosing to decriminalize a federal law. Better yet, the federal government has done nothing about it. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way complaining, and im sure the citizens of those states aren’t either. But the fact that such a silly law that is being nullified by 4 states already, and quite frankly being ignored by the other 46, is still in effect is an alarming fact.

What the government gets out of legalizing a relatively harmless drug I truly do not understand. In 2005, a University of Oxford study on marijuana concluded that even long-term marijuana use does not cause “any lasting physical or mental harm. Overall, by comparison with other drugs used mainly for ‘recreational’ purposes, cannabis could be rated to be a relatively safe drug.”  There is an overwhelming amount of studies to support the idea that marijuana is in fact safer than most other drugs and substances. In the mid 1990s, the World Health Organization commissioned a study on the health and societal consequences of marijuana compared to alcohol, nicotine, and opiates. It concluded: “Overall, most of these risks [associated with marijuana] are small to moderate in size. They are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco. … On existing patterns of use, cannabis poses a much less serious public health problem than is currently posed by alcohol and tobacco in Western societies.” In 2002, a review of marijuana and health performed by a special Canadian Senate committee found that “scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue.” The studies go on and on, and I could cite many more, but I’m sure you get the point. To really bring this home, I would like to bring forward some alarming statistics. In our world today, there is about 2.5 million alcohol related deaths every year, as well as about 6 million deaths to tobacco. Both of which, may I remind you, are legalized substances in America. Well, marijuana is illegal, so it should be much worse than these numbers, right? Marijuana leads to a shocking 0 deaths by overdose every year. Most dangerous drugs, one would think, would allow for misuse, and a possibility to overdose and die. I mean you can even overdose off of ibeprohen, and that is probably in all of your medicine cabinets at home.

                The government is not even trying to enforce the laws on marijuana, while at the same time doing nothing to try and legalize it. 100 million americans have tried marijuana. That’s nearly a third of the entire population of the United States. An even more alarming statistic would be one performed at the university of Michigan in 2013, which showed that 36 percent of high school seniors report using marijuana in the past year. You can do the math, what is that, 9 or 10 of us in this classroom alone? I can tell you from personal experience that marijuana has been easily accessible to me since I was in sixth grade. Now, im not saying ive smoked weed since sixth grade, or smoked weed at all, but it was nonetheless accessible to me as a sixth grader. The government refuses to legalize it, leaving the incredibly huge marijuana market to remain underground. The government could regulate this market, and try and put a dent in this national debt, but no. they wanted to leave the billion dollar industry to the black market. I mean that’s practical isn’t it?

As I am sure most of you have seen, the movie super size me follows a man who eats nothing but Mcdonalds for a month, and alarming physical health deterioration were present after the 30 day period. A similar documentary, Super High Me, follows a man who smokes marijuana for 30 days. His physical and mental health was not deteriorated in any significant fashion, other than the fact that he gained a few pounds. This builds on the fact that marijuana is really not that bad for you, and the sad truth is having mcdonalds for a month is truly more deteriorating to your health than smoking marijuana for a month.

The president of the United States smoked marijuana. The greatest American Olympian in recent history, my man Michael Phelps, smokes marijuana. The fact of the matter is that it plays a profound role in American culture and history. My generation, our generation, will not stand for the government trying to regulate our lives. We will make our own choices, and decide for ourselves what is good and bad for us.  I see no problem with the government legalizing and taxing marijuana. it’s a win win for the government and for the citizens. Something needs to be done, and we are the generation to do it. I am not by any means commissioning a bunch of high-schoolers to go out and smoke marijuana, but the first chance we get to take action is the only chance we will need.

Works Cited

"DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends." DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends. N.p., n.d. Web. 14         Dec. 2014.

"NORML.org - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws." About Marijuana. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

"Marijuana Policy Project." Marijuana Is Safer Than Alcohol: It's Time To Treat It That Way. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Super High Me. Dir. Michael Blieden. Perf. Doug Benson. 2007.