Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, the founders of CNN, Morgan Freeman, Michael Phelps and many other influential and successful people have one thing in common. That's right, everyone has tried marijuana at least once in their life. I don't understand why marijuana is illegal when it is considered as safe or safer than alcohol and tobacco. However, these substances are legal. Marijuana is considered a Schedule I drug. These are drugs that are believed to have no currently accepted medical use and have a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous of all drugs in the schedule of drugs with potentially serious psychological or physical dependence. Now, what I don't understand is, if this is true, then why have there been reports of marijuana curing or minimizing the severity of many diseases? Marijuana has more medical uses than anything else. If all this is true, then why did the government make it illegal? Before 1937 cannabis was perfectly legal and until 1883 it was the largest agricultural crop in the world. The first cannabis law ordered farmers to grow hemp, the most useful and durable fiber on the planet. Hemp is 100% eco-friendly and is most effective at making rope, paper, and clothing, as well as around 30,000 other products. The pharmaceutical company understood how much of a threat it would be. To eliminate the competition, Randolph Hearst began an anti-cannabis propaganda movement. He said that blacks and Hispanics were the ones who smoked it and went around raping white women. He also said that after one joint you would kill your brother, among other ridiculous statements. Back then people were more racist and therefore accepted such statements as true. Subsequently, the 'Marijuana Tax Act' ... middle of paper ... abis was passed in the United States, which allows certified "Coffee Shops" to sell it in small quantities. The country sees drug use and crime rates significantly lower than most other nations. Their government, with resounding success, declared cannabis to be an accepted part of society and this approach. In a world where 2.5 million people die every year from alcohol and 5 million from tobacco, do we really need another legal drug? Many people would say no, but when the data shows that no one has ever died from it, that you can't overdose on it, that it doesn't kill brain cells or cause cancer, that it has myriad medical benefits, and that it doesn't contributes to violent behavior, it is quite clear that the real dangers of cannabis are those imposed by its prohibition. I think that, to put it mildly, serious consideration of legislative reform is long overdue. Thank you.