Tennessee intoduced a Bill to Legalize Marijuana

Tennessee wants to Legalize marijuana. A bill introduced to legislators in Nashville aims to do. Under the Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act, people with certain medical conditions could pick up pot with a prescription at their local pharmacy.

The bill specifies which medical conditions would qualify someone for marijuana use, how pharmacies would sell it and how producers and distributors would be licensed.

The ideal of legalizing Marijuana could help to end the Drug War, and eliminate a large portion of the prison population. 6 to 10 are incarcerated for marijuana related offenses alone.

Since 1990, nearly 5.9 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, a greater number than the entire populations of Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming combined. In 2000, state and local law enforcement arrested 734,498 people for marijuana violations. This is an increase of 800 percent since 1980, and is the highest ever recorded by the FBI.

The overwhelming majority of those charged with marijuana violations in 2000-- 646,042 Americans (88 %) -- were for simple possession. The remaining 12% (88,456 Americans) were for "sale/manufacture", an FBI category which includes marijuana grown for personal use or purely medical purposes. These new FBI statistics indicate that one marijuana smoker is arrested every 45 seconds in America. Taken together, the total number of marijuana arrests for 2000 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Like most Americans who drink, the people who smoke marijuana should also pay taxes for the weed that they smoke. The Added incentive of the additional tax revenue that could be given to each state is unbelievable. It could be just what the United States need to be in the black for a change!

Please understand that Marijuana does not cause serious health problems like those caused by tobacco or alcohol (e.g., strong addiction, cancer, heart problems, birth defects, emphysema, liver damage, etc.). Death from a marijuana overdose is impossible. In all of world history, there has never been a single human death attributed to a health problem caused by marijuana. Legalize marijuana and life would be better for most people. Why keep fighting the inevitable?

The time is now since the bill was introduced to the state house and senate last month. It has yet to go before a committee vote. Medical marijuana is currently legal in 14 states. I think that Tennessee should be number 15!

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