We’ve heard all the anti-pot propaganda, about how it’s worse than heroin, and destroys the lives and families of anyone who touches a single joint. It’s time for all that to end. Marijuana can help make us happier, smarter, healthier, and just a better race of people overall.
1. It can stop seizures
A young girl named Charlotte had been suffering from Dravet Syndrome, which causes uncontrollable seizures, since she was five months old. By the time she was five, she had over 300 seizures a week. The oil from a low-THC marijuana strain, taken daily, was enough to stop virtually all the seizures. The strain has since been named Charlotte’s Web in her honor.
2. It’s steering kids away from alcohol and cigarettes
In 2011, The National Institute of Drug Abuse concluded that more and more kids were smoking marijuana, but fewer and fewer were drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco, two habits that are many times worse, both health and addiction-wise. The kids actually know this and actively choose pot over booze and tobacco because pot is healthier.
3. Legalizing (and taxing) it could help save the economy
Right now, the US spends roughly $7.7 billion a year on enforcing the marijuana ban. Leading economists believe that, by legalizing and regulating the plant, not only would that money be saved, but taxing it would pull in at least $6 billion more per year. So at a minimum, legal marijuana would pump $14 million into the economy every year, with more coming in all the time as more and more people decide to try the now-legal drug they’d been hearing so much about.
4. It has been shown to stop cancer
Several months ago, LA Councilman Bill Rosendahl became the first sitting politician to admit to smoking marijuana while in office. He has a serious form of cancer, and smoking pot has caused the cancer to go into remission. He can now sit without pain and walk without assistance, and attributes it all to medical marijuana.
5. “The munchies” saved the life of an autistic boy
Source: medicalcannabisjournal.net
Joey Perez, at ten years old, weighed only 43 pounds, due to severe autism that caused him to be incredibly aggressive and to never want to eat. As a last-ditch effort, his mother baked some marijuana into a brownie, which he fortunately ate. Mere hours later, he was significantly calmer, and even requested food that he had never tried before. He is now at a healthy weight, and off the majority of his medications, all because he eats a marijuana brownie once every few days.
6. It’s causing us to be safer on the road
A recent study published in the Journal of Law and Economics shows that, despite the idea of driving while high not being the smartest idea, states that have legalized the drug have actually reported 8-11% fewer traffic accidents than states that still outlaw it. No one is sure exactly why, which simply means more states need to legalize it so we can study its effect on driving even more.
7. It has an annual death rate of zero
Anti-pot activists love to paint pot as the worst drug on the planet, citing addiction, psychosis, and murderous intent. if that’s true, then why does literally nobody die from it? Unlike alcohol and tobacco, which kill hundreds of thousands of people per year, marijuana has been linked to precisely zero deaths in the 10,000+ years it has been grown, cultivated, and smoked. In addition, multiple studies have shown that marijuana smokers live just as long as non-smokers, so it doesn’t even really affect people long-term.
8. It’s been proven to treat glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness
In addition to helping control cancer and seizures, marijuana has been shown multiple times over to help control glaucoma, a catch-all term for several forms of eye disease that can cause blindness. While pot is not a cure for this (or for any disease, really), it can help to control your glaucoma, help you see (and live) comfortably, and put off expensive surgery.
9. It might prevent Alzheimers
It looks as if Alzheimer’s, one of the worst diseases around, can be added to the list of ailments that marijuana can prevent or at least treat. Several recent studies have shown that THC and certain cannabinoids (chemicals and ingredients inside marijuana) are quite good at breaking up and blocking clusters of plaque and bad proteins that are known signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
10. It can ease the painful side effects of chemotherapy
Seven-year-old Mykayla Comstock has cancer, and undergoes chemotherapy for it. She had been dealing with all of the nausea and pain that chemo typically brings to the table, until her mom started giving her one 1-gram capsule of marijuana oil once a day. That has helped take away her pain, reduce her other prescriptions, increase her happiness and appetite, and bring her back to her pre-cancer high energy levels.
11. It could protect us against superbacteria, including the flesh-eating kind
Bacteria is one thing, but what about superbacteria, the ultra-powerful (and sometimes flesh-eating) kind that most antibiotics cannot prepare for? Well, studies are now showing that the cannabinoids found in marijuana can actively fight against these bacterial strains that otherwise have no effective enemy. In short, getting high may literally save your skin.
12. Veterans are using it to combat PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is one of the worst parts about being a soldier, as terrifying memories and guilt-ridden flashbacks can haunt a veteran to the grave. More and more soldiers, however, are discovering the benefits of marijuana. Smoking has been shown to not only reduce the physical pain veterans suffered during combat, but it also helps to calm their brain, overcoming the mental and emotional anguish that is a result of the horrible things they’ve seen during wartime.
13. It can make you a better parent
Despite the stereotype that pot-smoking parents can barely pay attention to their kids, let alone take care of them, a group of California women called the “Marijuana Moms” are proving that pot can actually help your parenting skills. They say that smoking every day has helped them and their family by increasing creativity (which helps when teaching your child about life,) taking your mind off of your worries and allowing you to focus on your child, and overall increasing happiness, which any child will sense and positively bounce off of.
14. It can help control and regulate blood sugar
If you’re diabetic, or at risk of diabetes, then perhaps marijuana would help you, too. A recent study published by the American Journal Of Medicine says that the average pot smoker is thinner than the average non-smoker, and their blood sugar is better regulated. Since being overweight and having low blood sugar are two of the biggest signs of diabetes, pot may keep this dreaded disease away as well.
15. It might help prevent suicides
The Institute for the Study of Labor released a large study in January 2012 that showed a 5% drop in suicide rates in US states that had legalized medical marijuana. Meanwhile, states that had kept it criminalized saw suicides rates climb. Sick, disabled, and depressed people suddenly having legal access to something that takes their pain away and makes them feel good, and not killing themselves as a result, is something too awesome to ignore.
16. Legally growing it would help the environment
The current methods people sue to illegally grow marijuana release tons of unhealthy toxins into the air, and indoor farms are responsible for 1% of US electricity (roughly $5 billion worth). Legalizing it would allow for pot to be grown by professionals in safe, healthy environments, and would also save tons of wasted electricity and water.
17. It can help treat fibromyalgia
Of all the diseases that result in constant aches and pains, few are as bad as fibromyalgia, mainly because there is no cure and only about 35% of those who have it find any sort of relief. For those people, marijuana might be the answer. Pot’s painkilling abilities certainly dont cure fibromyalgia, but they sure can help make day-to-day life easier for those who suffer from it.
18. It would create (legal) jobs
WeGrow is a company that specializes in hydroponic supplies — everything you need to grow legal weed, their stores have it. Each franchise creates about 75 legitimate jobs, ones that likely would have remained in the shadows, profitable only to shady dealers, had old laws remained on the books.
19. It would allow the prison system to focus completely on actual criminals
The amount of people in state and federal prison for marijuana offenses is roughly 40,000. That’s not a huge number but the money it costs to keep them imprisoned, not to mention the money spent both prosecuting and defending them. All in all, punishing people for pot costs US taxpayers over a billion dollars every year — money that can and should go towards keeping legitimate criminals and offenders locked up.
20. Criminalization is based on racism and profiteering
Pot was legal for thousands of years, up until the early 1900’s. Racist politicians of the time were threatened by Mexican immigrants entering the US and taking jobs from white people (sound familiar?). In response, they invented stories of marijuana (something many Mexicans enjoyed) turning people into violent murderous psychopaths. This made it easy for them to ban the drug outright, a mistake that is only now starting to be undone.
Marijuana is truly a miracle drug. Let’s hope that soon we can overcome the propaganda and start reaping its benefits as a society.
20 Amazing Things Marijuana Could Do For The World If We Legalized It Today