Legalize It or Not

       There is a lot of controversy surrounding the legalization of marijuana, some people want it and some do not.  There is an answer though, I feel there is an answer for every question posed, the only problem is finding the right answer.  I see benefits and downfalls to legalizing marijuana.  The obvious benefit is revenue gained from the legal sales of marijuana.  With the shape our country is in right now I do not feel that any proposal should be out of the question.  What we need to realize is that we can benefit from the legal sales of marijuana and in more ways than just one.

       Humans are destroying this planet faster now than ever before and what does the planet need to rebuild itself?  Trees.  Hemp is an excellent alternative to deforestation for paper.  There are also many other uses that we can benefit from.  A 1938 Popular Mechanics article explains how it can become the next billion dollar industry.  Lotus, the exotic car company, built a car using hemp in the seats and body panels using hemp that was grown locally to them.  Costing pennies on the dollar to manufacture and almost every single square inch being used why can't we harness this power?  That is a good question. A good answer is not easy to find. 

       Marijuana is to us now what alcohol and Prohibition was to us in the 1920's.  Prohibition was the U.S. governmental effort to criminalize alcohol. The American government spent $310,000,000 enforcing Prohibition during the 1920s and early 1930s, and the government lost $11,000,000,000 in tax revenue. These figures are adjusted for inflation.  We do have a bunch of people in jails strictly for marijuana and spend a bunch of money enforcing it = a ton of wasted money.  Wasting money banning something that could help our national debt and well-being is absurd. Our country is so broke but we don't want to think and problem solve.  There is a reason, and it is not our well-being but the well-being of people threatened by it: OIL COMPANIES.  That's right hemp, just like corn can be used for fuel.  Hmmm a natural, renewable resource that's cheap to grow and manufacture, that can be used in its entirety, that would almost eliminate logging, that isn't food!? Sounds too good to be true?  It's not.  I feel God gave us everything we need to be self sufficient and obviously this place hasn't been too self reliable.

       Alcohol is in, marijuana is out.  I am not saying that is a bad thing but I think that it needs to be fair.  I would rather ride in the car with someone who has been smoking than someone who has been drinking and since we are on the topic, I think this is a very good argument against any of theirs.  I am not here to try and argue that we need to pass marijuana for more than just smoking but I am here to say that alcohol has ruined more families and lives than marijuana and I am here to say that it is a double standard.  Let us have our guns, our Bibles, and marijuana and let those who want to gain from it gain! There is no need to continue living under a rock.  We are in desperate times right now with our economy in the tank.  There are risks with every action but I would put my future on it that the reward with exploring the potential uses of marijuana is worth the risk. 

5 minute Youtube video on the hemp car and other applied uses of hemp.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8SEUVw3I-M