Someday soon, marijuana will be legal everywhere. Prohibition, which has ruined the lives of millions of innocents, will be brought to an end. Over a trillion dollars has been wasted prosecuting a "War on Drugs," which, according to the Washington Post, has led to the quadrupling of United States' prison population since 1980. The public has turned against this abhorrent practice. In fact, a Gallup poll taken in October 2013 showed that 58 percent of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana; in 1969, 84 percent supported prohibition.
Despite the recent political sea change towards marijuana, there is still meaningful opposition to its reintroduction to legality in American society. This stems mainly from a prohibitionist disinformation campaign that warped the public's view of marijuana from the 1930s until very recently.

The most conspicuous misconception is the word "marijuana" itself-the plant now known as marijuana is actually called cannabis. In order to gain popular support for outlawing the plant, Harry Anslinger-the lead prohibitionist-popularized its Mexican Spanish name "marijuana" to evoke xenophobic reactions toward a new, foreign-sounding drug.
In fact, however, cannabis was anything but foreign; it was frequently found in doctors' medical bags and was ubiquitous as a home remedy to many Americans.

Cannabis even remained in the U.S. pharmacopoeia until 1942, five years after its effective prohibition; it was regarded like any other plant with known medicinal properties.
Now, cannabis' medical benefits are constantly making news. While its analgesic effects have been known for centuries-Queen Victoria used cannabis to relieve menstrual cramps-many new uses for the plant have come to the forefront. The plant's dual abilities to prevent nausea and stimulate hunger create a powerful tag-team to fight eating disorders and chemotherapy-induced vomiting. 

A shocking case this year involved Charlotte Figi, an eight-year-old girl, whose violent and life-threatening seizures were effectively treated by cannabis. More shocking, yet, are Harvard and Stanford Medical School studies which have shown that cannabinoids-the active chemicals in cannabis which get people high-seem to make cancer cells kill themselves.
To prevent patients from accessing a medicinal plant this versatile is barbaric. Many advocates of prohibition have recognized this, and have directed the remainder of their effort toward the continued prohibition of recreational cannabis use. The prohibitionists have no scientific grounds to attack cannabis as a deadly toxin. According to the Schaffer Library of Drug Policy, cannabis is 10,000 times less toxic than alcohol, and no one has ever overdosed from it. Instead, the tip of their argumentative spear is to demonize cannabis as a "gateway drug," which, upon ingestion, leads users to experiment with new drugs like cocaine or heroin, which are both addictive and deadly.

This argument is misleading. Cannabis has never been shown to cause the use of other drugs, by chemical means or otherwise. Cannabis use and usage of other drugs are correlated, but there are legitimate outside causes for this. Jacob Sullum of Reason Magazine, in a piece called "High Road," explains these. First, he states that pot users are already forced to be lawbreakers, so they are not risking anything further by breaking the same law in a new way. Sullum also emphasizes that after people uses cannabis safely, they will realize that the propaganda they have been fed is wrong, and distrust what they were told about the real dangers of other drugs. Lastly, he explains that since people are buying cannabis on the black market, it is likely that their dealers will have no qualms about selling them more dangerous drugs.

Note that all of these causes which contribute to the "gateway drug" theory are artifacts of cannabis prohibition and its supporting propaganda-not cannabis itself.
Prohibitionists will still point to cannabis' main effect, getting people high, as a problem itself. They worry that American youth will turn into drug-addled bums. This boils down to a fear of a Cheech & Chong sort of caricature of stoners, with no regard to the actual reality of this situation. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, over 14 million Americans consume cannabis regularly; many of these people are working professionals who function normally. Burnout stoners, who make up a small portion of this group, should be viewed the same way that alcoholics are-as substance abusers. The vast majority of cannabis users, similarly, should be looked at the same way that Friday night drinkers are-as innocent people seeking enjoyment.

Many other problems, such as the issue of drivers being impaired by cannabis, will have to be solved over time. Recent studies performed by CBS Seattle and Fox Denver, in collaboration with their local police authorities, attempted to explore what it means to be "too stoned to drive." They found that it varied tremendously between person to person, with novice smokers being impaired by just a small quantity of cannabis, and medical patients able to drive satisfactorily at well over 12 times the legal limit of five nanograms per milliliter of urine. 

Despite the growing pains that will come from learning how to properly manage things like high driving, there will be many great things to come out of the end of cannabis prohibition. We will witness the rebirth of an entire industry. Entrepreneurs will create interesting new products, and will employ many people in the process. Organized crime will be cornered out of the cannabis market by legitimate businesses. Most importantly, innocent and peaceful people will no longer be thrown into cages for ingesting a plant.
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