I could really use some informed opinions and assistance.

Most people seem to really only care about what happens to them. (I don't think this is a moral flaw though, just part of human nature).

If we cared more about other people then the thousands of murders in Mexico would be enough to make all of us demand legal adult marijuana sales. According to the ONDCP, two-thirds of cartel money comes from selling marijuana in the U.S. - this provides them with $10 billion a year and gives them the incentive and ability to murder thousands of people every year - including children, police officers, politicians and journalists. By far, the main reason the cartels murder is to protect the supply routes and market share of their biggest cash cow - selling marijuana to us. In the past five years the cartels have brutally murdered more than 40,000 people.


Unfortunately though, this happens in a foreign country so most of our people are completely ignorant of it and those that do know about it say that it's all Mexico's fault and has nothing to do with us. (Even though the cartels' reason for killing is to protect the money that they get from us).

Because people only care about what affects them, I feel that we have to focus on how the prohibition is harming *them* and how legalizing adult marijuana sales will benefit them. I think that our target audience should be NON-smoking parents as they have a lot of political influence and I feel that when we get them demanding legalization that it will definitely happen.


We could focus on the 850,000 annual arrests for possession and tell them that their children will be safe from these when marijuana is regulated like wine, but until their kid gets arrested they'll just say that they shouldn't be smoking pot anyway. So I feel that we have to focus on how drug dealers reduce the safety of their children and how banning legal adult marijuana sales draws drug dealers into their neighborhoods and around their children. Simple economics tells us that massive, unrelenting demand combined with zero legal supply is going to have really bad consequences because, as they teach us in economics 101, where there's demand there'll be supply - whether it's legal or not.

You could talk about how the cartels grow on *our* public land and how they operate out of every major American city - almost every day there's news reports about them doing this. And you could talk about good, non-violent people (people like their children) being killed while trying to score a little weed. You could also mention how it's impossible to end the demand for marijuana in this country (according to NIDA 6,000 people use marijuana for the first time every single day) and then ask them a question - do they want drug dealers selling marijuana to kids or supermarkets selling legally-grown marijuana to adults at prices low enough to prevent illegal competition. GL.

 

I'm actually also in the process of writing an argumentative paper explaining why marijuana should be legalized. Lot's of useful information in that post, much appreciated.

 

I'd just focus on the immediate, obvious impact legalization would have and the fact that weed really isn't all that bad for you and there's no real reason for it to be illegal in the first place. Take this opportunity to re-educate your class (you'll rarely get to do this in high school) about marijuana. Then briefly mention the other things in a list without bothering to explain them in the conclusion ("The benefits of legalizing marijuana are too numerous to explain in one short paragraph, including..."). Just make sure you know why these things will happen if anyone in your class asks.

 

You can start by calling it CANNABIS, not "marijuana"



CANNABIS is food,biofuel, paper, clothing, rope, and thousands of products.

The flower variety of Cannabis is what gets you high, but its still cannabis.




The first woven fabric: Cannabis, The first paper: Cannabis



EDUCATE YOURSELF

www.votehemp.com Its wayyyy more than "marijuana"


dont even give your teacher the time of fucking day by calling it that

 

If you want to know all the good things that cannabis can do, read over Granny's List.

http://forum.grasscity.com/medical-marijuana/645925-grannys-mmj-list-july-2010-a.html

 

Super broad topic and you can dominate in every single aspect of it. I would go to norml.org and click the "Library" button on the left side of the page.

Maybe you should start by demonstrating that prohibition has failed to achieve any of it's goals. After you have proved that, you can work on individual harm. There are many good studies on cannabis toxicity and even compare it to popular modern medications. You should probably make it crystal clear that alcohol is a physically addictive drug that is legal. Mental addiction is a bogus argument. About 30% of people who try tobacco become dependent, only 9% who try marijuana become "dependent". I could go on and on

 

Please include something about victimless crimes. I think it is the most overlooked violation of personal freedom. As a result of the number of possession arrests each year, one could argue it is the most damaging aspect of Drug War enforcement, marijuana being the number one offense.

$10,500 per marijuana arrest on average. $40,000/yr per inmate for incarceration. Do the math and OUR bill is HUGE. Not to mention the broken families...