- Marijuana is a benign substance. Unlike alcohol, cigarettes, and caffeine, marijuana has never caused a single death. Marijuana should not result in a lifetime criminal record. Students should not be ineligible for financial aid and children should not be taken from their parents over a marijuana conviction.
- Marijuana prohibition is a waste of money. The State of Washington spends one hundred million dollars annually to arrest, prosecute and jail 12,000 people a year for non-violent, victim-less “crimes” related to marijuana. That's taxpayer money that could be saved -- or spent on education, health programs, teen drug treatment programs, etc.
- Just like alcohol prohibition, prohibition of marijuana empowers violent organized crime. Instead of allowing small business owners and farmers to grow and sell marijuana and industrial hemp, the government has granted a monopoly to criminals who will maim, kill, and sell drugs to children in the name of profit.
- Medical marijuana patients are not protected by current law. Voters in Washington overwhelmingly approved our medical marijuana law in 1998. But patients are still being arrested, prosecuted and sometimes even jailed for using doctor authorized medicine. The only way to really protect patients is to make their medicine legal.
- Hemp is an eco-friendly, profitable crop for Washington's farmers. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of hemp can be grown locally instead of imported. Industrial uses include cooking and fuel oils, fabric, paint, paper, construction materials and environmentally-safe plastics. Hemp Seed is nutritious and contains more essential fatty acids than most other food sources. Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber on a sustainable basis and grows well without herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides.
from: 5 Reasons To Sign - A flyer produced by Troy Barber for the upcoming petition drive.
Sensible Washington
3161 Elliott Avenue, Suite 340
Seattle, WA 98121
www.sensiblewashington.org
