Persuasive speech - legalising marijuana

uses.HEALTHMarijuana provides relief from pain and  nausea of cancer and AIDS patients and other symptoms for many individuals who have not been treated successfully with conventional medications.  Even queen victoria used the resin extracts from hemp to eleviate her menstrual cramps.ECONOMYA regulated, legal market in marijuana would reduce marijuana sales and use among teenagers, as well as reduce their exposure to other drugs in the illegal market.Legalized marijuana would reduce the flow of money from a  country's economy to  criminal gangs. Marijuana's illegality makes foreign cultivation and smuggling  the herb extremely profitable, sending billions of dollars and euros  in an underground economy while diverting funds from productive economic development.HEALTH vs alcoPeople who support marijuana prohibition claim that marijuana is unhealthy and dangerous. They say we need to keep drugs illegal to protect our society from the addiction and disease that they cause. These arguments are not consistent with the fact that the two most deadly drugs in the world are legal. Alcohol and tobacco are far more addictive and harmful than marijuana; both produce cancer and can eventually lead to  death whereas in 10 000 years of use,no deaths have been caused due cannabis.THE MISPERCEPTIONThe dangers of marijuana use have been exaggerated for almost a century. Claims of marijuana's danger are based on old 20th century prejudices that originated in a time when science was uncertain how marijuana produced its characteristic effects. As In the early 20th century, yellow journalism had surfaced In United States  and depicted blacks and mexicans as frenzied beasts who would smoke marijuana, play devils music, and heap disrespect and violence. The false claims about marijuana were promoted using racism.Another unjust evaluation of the herb was presented to the public  by the 1974 - The Heath/Tulane Study where they forced monkeys to inhale hemp without any oxygen which eventually killed their braincells, but had nothing to do with hemp directly.This study became the foundation for the government and other special interest groups claiming that marijuana kills brain cells.But, since the cannabinoid receptor system was discovered in the late 1980s these hysterical concerns about marijuana's dangerousness have not been confirmed with modern research. Everyone agrees that marijuana, or any other drug use such as alcohol or tobacco use, is not for children. Nonetheless, adults have demonstrated over the last several decades that marijuana can be used moderately without harmful impacts to the individual or society.In conclusion,  If we want to have drug policies that are logical and effective, we need to legalize and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to the regulation of alcohol and tobacco.For years there has been a negative stigma attached to this plant, but that's exactly what it is, a plant, something that grows in the ground, and it is not inherantly evil like some people believe. It is the use or misuse of it that is good or bad, not the plant itself. I think that it is time we look past all that we have been told about the dangers of marijuana and see that it actually has legitimate medical uses and it's legalization would benefit our society and economy.