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heres an essay I wrote for law class. Its not the best essay but i think it gets my point across fairly effectively and it needs some work as its not perfectly structured but here it is...  
 
 
A historical analysis and fresh look at this topic.  
 
By Josh  
 
Marijuana is a plant that grows wild in many tropical areas around the world. It had been used by mankind for thousands of years, as far back as 8000BCE. Its used for many purposes such as paper, rope clothing, medicine, psychotherapy, and as a clean alternative fuel. Today it is illegal to possess or grow this plant. If one is caught doing so they can be charged and sent to prison. If we take a closer look at the history of marijuana we can see why it was made illegal in the first place.  
 
The first model T Ford's were powered by hemp ethanol. It was a clean renewable energy but oil companies soon rose to power after marijuana and its affiliates were eventually made illegal. The threat cannabis posed to oil companies is only one reason marijuana was made illegal. The fact that marijuana was such a versatile resource was what made its legal status today. The government realized that anybody could grow cannabis and the taxes made off of it would not compare to the taxes that would be made off other industrial goods. If cannabis was the main resource many industries would be threatened, such as the timber industry and pharmaceutical industries. Its versatility would soon be its downfall. The African Americans and Mexican citizens of the US were the main users of cannabis as a recreational substance. The government as many would imagine was not exactly corruption free, if they could find an easy way to incarcerate African Americans or Mexicans they would do it. As slavery was abolished, arresting citizens and gaining a source of free labor was the only semi legitimate way to increase profits for higher class European descent citizens. It was a simple way to arrest those who used or farmed cannabis as many people were at the time.  
 
Many people are misinformed about cannabis by the government .The dangers are exaggerated tenfold and people trust the government so they believe what they are saying is true. The simple fact of the matter is that marijuana is actually the least harmful recreational substance known to man. Today there are many myths about marijuana most of which are not true.  
 
The scientific experiments done in the 60's funded by the government are biased and flawed. Funded by the government in an effort to justify their making it illegal, when experiments have found proven benefits the United States government were quick to shut them down. The government still uses these experiments as examples to scare citizens from using it. They would say things such as marijuana kills brain cells, marijuana will make you go into a killing frenzy and even things as bizarre as marijuana will make you go into a eating frenzy eating so much food that you will die. These were all proven wrong eventually and Yes people were actually told this, sadly enough they believed what they were saying.  
 
Another myth is the notion marijuana is a gateway drug, in fact this is not true, to say this is to say sugar is a gateway drug leading to cocaine and milk leads to beer. The fact that marijuana is illegal is a major factor in the use iof harder drugs. many users are exposed to hard drugs, going to dealers houses being exposed to these dangerous drugs that are actually harmful. They are already breaking the law and what they are told about marijuana they discovered was not true so why would the things they said about hard drugs be ture as well? The government as a source of information on this topic has lost its credibility. If it were legalized this would not happen and it would be naïve not to say that even less people would use hard drugs making the drug war more of a winnable one.  
 
Marijuana does not kill brain cells as there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that it does this, the studies that back up this evidence were done back in the 60's and was on mice not humans. Even the mice's brain cells weren't killed: the structure was merely temporarily changed whilst being exposed to THC. How could cannabis have its psychological attributes if it did not change the structure of the brain.  
 
THC short for tetrahydrocannabinol is the active ingredient in marijuana which gives users a broadened experience of the mind. New scientific studies have shown that THC can actually reduce a cigarette smokers chance of getting lung cancer because it inhibits the growth of cancer cell and is also shown to reduce ones chance for getting Alzheimer's disease because it reduces the plaque in the brain. It has shown to help AIDS and cancer patients with pain and depression. Marijuana can greatly reduce epileptic seizures for those suffering from the condition and can be used to treat pain as it relaxes the muscles. It can be used to treat depression and help those suffering from insomnia. Many users agree that it has medicinal benefits but according to the United states government it has quote "No medicinal properties and a high potential for abuse." But we look at the scheduling of cocaine and heroin the description says it has medicinal properties.  
 
Many sources conclude that the benefits of marijuana actually outweigh the minute dangers. Of course it is a fact that smoking anything will do damage to the lungs, but that is the choice of the user. Some research has shown that the amount of tar in one marijuana cigarette is equal to 4 tobacco cigarettes. I don't resent that fact but on the other hand you're not smoking 10 joints in a day compared to a cigarette smoker smoking tobacco. Another fact is if your concerned about your respiratory health is that you don't have to smoke marijuana, it can taken orally just like any food, this way there is no damage to the lungs.  
 
Marijuana is not physically addicting like cigarettes or alcohol. Some individuals have the notion that because of its legality it must be addicting like other drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Anybody who is a user of marijuana know that it's easy to stop and unlike cigarette smokers if they really want to quit they can quit.  
 
If we were to imagine a world today where marijuana was never made illegal, chances are things would be a lot different. Forrests wouldn't be cut down at the rate they are at today and natural habitats wouldn't be destroyed at such an astonishing rate. The US government spends 700 million dollars a year on the war on marijuana alone and thousands of citizens are arrested every day. Today there are more than 200,000 American citizens spending time behind bars for mere possession of cannabis. This alone is reason enough to the least decriminalize it. If we take a look at how overcrowded prisons are and the taxpayers dollars that are being spent on keeping these people in prison one would come to the conclusion that it would be an economically and socially viable option to free all that prison space for the real criminals and save out taxpaying dollars for things more important such as healthcare. The marijuana industry in British Columbia alone is estimated at 7 Billion dollars. If we were to take advantage of this fact by legalizing and taxing cannabis, the government could spend billions more on healthcare and education. Instead industries and corporations are keeping the pressure on governments to keep it illegal and governments waste millions of taxpayers' dollars on the war on marijuana. Not only is it costing taxpayers money but the emotional and social damages caused by incarceration are long lasting and sometimes permanent, ruining families and literally threatening the freedom of individuals who play a part in society. Hardworking citizens with families getting thrown behind bars for a plant that's been around longer than mankind, to me does not reflect the values of Canadian society or humanity as a whole. I can even go as far to say that this goes against the Bible. The Bible says that we as mankind have the right to use all the herbs or plants god has given to us.  
 
"And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more." - Ezekiel 34:29  
 
"And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. "(Genesis 1:12)  
 
Now we take a look at the right we have as Canadians to have freedom of religion. Now this freedom is being taken away whenever one is being arrested for possessing a plant that god has placed here.  
 
Whenever a police officer is charging a cannabis user he is basically wasting our taxpayer's dollars. What else could he have been doing with that time? If we could take back all the lost time police agencies spend on tracking down and charging users I would definitely have to say a lot more real criminals that actually pose a threat to society would be behind bars instead of peace loving cannabis users.  
 
 
REFERENCES www.thebenefitsofmarijuana.com/benefits  
 
coedmagazine.com/2010/09/.../10-major-health-benefits-of-marijuana  
 
www.medicalmarijuanacure.com/benefits-of-marijuana  
 
http://eap.mcgill.ca/CPH_3.htm