Marijuana Should Be Legalized in Canada

When Canadians hear the word cannabis, they don‘t associate it with images of junkies zonked out on the street corners, simply because marijuana‘s impact on society has not been disastrous. “There is very little evidence that smoking marijuana as a means of taking it represents a significant health risk. Although, cannabis has been smoked widely in Western countries for more than four decades, there have been no reported cases of lung cancer or emphysema attributed to marijuana,” states Lester Grinspoon, a medical doctor. Over 70% of Canadian’s approve of the decriminalization of marijuana. Legalizing marijuana, growing hemp, producing it’s products, supporting research and development into it’s many uses, cutting down the pollution and deforestation levels to well below Kyoto’s meager demand, I wouldn’t see why any Canadian would vote against it’s decriminalization. One acre of hemp produces the same amount of cellulose fiber as 4.1 acres of trees. This not only uses less land but takes a shorter growing time period, producing paper at one-quarter of the cost of wood pulp and creating less pollution. The legalization of marijuana would not only benefit the environment but the government and citizens as well. Most estimates say that the cannabis business in British Columbia alone is worth 24 billion dollars per year in street value, this is more than the forestry exports to the United States from British Columbia and is about two times the agricultural exports for the entire country. Think about how much more money the Canadian government would be making. Canada has roughly 600,000 citizens who have been indicted for using marijuana for personal use, and around 30,000 arrests are made each year. This number translates into roughly 500 million dollars for annual enforcement of drugs laws and 500 million dollars for legal fees. If you think that is a lot of money add 50,000 dollars a year to this, it adds up to roughly 1.5 billion dollars a year taken from the