Only after these three legal substances is marijuana listed. Also, marijuana ranked last in producing tolerance and withdrawal effects against the same 5 controlled substances. According to Denis Pietro, M.D., " the amount of smoked marijuana required to reach lethality is on the order of one to two thousand cigarettes." Over 1,000 people in the U.S.A. die every year from our most common non-prescription drug: aspirin. Since the times of Ancient Egypt and China, marijuana has been used as a medicine. Not one case has been reported of a strictly marijuana overdose to the point of death. Admittedly, coupled with other dangerous drugs, marijuana can in fact be dangerous. Yet DEA Judge Francis L. Young says, after hearing two years of evidence, "Marijuana is the safest therapeutically active drug known to man safer than many foods we commonly consume." (DEA Judge Francis Young, pg. 2).
Furthermore, a lot of money that is spent on drug enforcement and building prisons for offenders. Also, if marijuana was legal, a tax similar to the one placed upon alcohol after its prohibition ended would bring in millions. As of May 2002, 25% of Americans regularly use, and those are only those who would admit to it. This equals a bit over 62 million people. If each of these people paid a 25-cent tax on their pot, assuming they bought one package per day, the profit to the government would be $5,657,500,000 per year. The national debt is, on November 16, 2002, $6,273,282,463,524 (www.national debt.usa.com). This debt could be paid off in two years, and the government would still have tons of money left over. Obviously, this taxation program would be immensely profitable. Moreover, 10 billion dollars is spent yearly on the government's "War on Drugs". Marijuana represents half of the drug arrests in the US, and 30% of prisoners in prisons nationwide. 62% of prisoners are in for drug-related incidents.
