By Karen Johnson, Assistant Intrigue Editor Source: Auburn Plainsman Canada has always been associated with the maple leaf, but soon it may be better known for another kind of leaf because its government is considering legalizing marijuana. Although some people may feel this is a precursor to the downfall of our northern neighbors, this can be looked at as an economic opportunity the United States is losing out on. During prohibition, people in the United States still drank alcohol. Some of these people made it themselves, while others bought it from Canadian companies. So now Canada has the chance to reap millions of dollars in tax money from an easy-to-grow cash crop, and once again it will profit from the good people of the United States. So why doesn't our government make use of this potential piggy bank? Why is the government perfectly willing to take tax money from alcohol and cigarette purchases, but it won't even let cancer patients ease their pain with medical marijuana. It's obviously not for health reasons. I've never heard of anyone dying of marijuana poisoning, yet I've known people who have had their stomachs pumped because they drank too many martinis. There never has been a study that says smoking weed increases violent tendencies, yet we've all witnessed an alcohol-induced rage. They say pot makes you stupid, yet we've had senators, congressmen and even a president who has admitted trying it. Marijuana is known as the "gateway drug," but I think you would be hard pressed to find a pothead who didn't first try alcohol and cigarettes. Smoking weed is bad for you, but it's not the great evil that it's been made out to be. Sure it makes you lazy, but so does watching television. Getting high makes people bad drivers, but more wrecks are caused by drunkenness and sleep deprivation. We do all kinds of things that are bad for us, but it's not the government's place to regulate bad habits. If it had that right then we would all be forced to be on special diets and exercise plans. Recently there have been commercials that say buying drugs supports terrorism. Well, there is an easy solution to that. If the government legalized pot and then regulated nonlicensed production, people would naturally turn to the conveniently packaged legal weed and abandon their old suppliers. Think about it this way - how often do you go to your local moonshiner? If Canada does decide to take this step, I doubt it will be too many years before we do too. Once we see that society won't fall to pieces people will start to question why we spend so much money and jail space on harmless hippies when we could be using those resources on real criminals like rapists and pedophiles. Once people see that there is money to be made, that old American spirit called capitalism will wake up and start exploiting. Source: Auburn Plainsman, The (AL Edu) Author: Karen Johnson, Assistant Intrigue Editor Published: October 24, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Auburn Plainsman Contact: letters@theplainsman.com Website: http://www.theplainsman.com/
Another reason why weed CAN'T be a gateway drug is this: In the UK (for example) there are roughly 10 million cannabis users. There are also 500,000 heroin users. So if it was true that weed leads to harder drugs wouldn't there be several million heroin users?