REAL NEWS FOR REAL PEOPLE! ARE YOU A FAKE?!

Driven by the Drug War, the U.S. prison population is six to ten times as high as most Western European nations. The United States is a close second only to Russia in its rate of incarceration per 100,000 people. In 2000, more than 734,000 people were arrested in this country for marijuana-related offenses alone.

As has been the case throughout the 1990s, 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.

Once all the facts are known, it becomes clear that America's marijuana laws need reform. This issue must be openly debated using only the facts. Groundless claims, meaningless statistics, and exaggerated scare stories that have been peddled by politicians and prohibitionists for the last 60 years must be rejected.

ANNUAL AMERICAN DEATHS CAUSED BY DRUGS
TOBACCO ........................ 400,000
ALCOHOL ........................ 100,000
ALL LEGAL DRUGS .............20,000
ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ..........15,000
CAFFEINE .........................2,000
ASPIRIN ...........................500
MARIJUANA ...................... 0
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~~SOME COOL FACT's ABOUT MARIJUANA~~
1. Cannabis was first cultivated in China around 4000 B.C.
2. The original drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper.
3. One acre of hemp will produce as much paper as four acres of trees.
4. Hemp seed is nature's perfect food. The oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acidsand the lowest percentage of saturated fats.
5. In 1937, the marijuana Tax Stamp prohibited the use, sale and cultivation of hemp/marijuana in the United States.
6. Five years later, during World War II, The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the film, "Hemp For Victory," which encouraged American farmers to grow hemp for the war effort.
7. In 1989, the DEA's own administrative law judge concluded that "marijuana is one of the safest, therapeutically active substances known to man."
8. Cannabis can be used as a medicine to treat nausea, pain and muscle spasms. It alleviates symptoms of glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, migraines and other debilitating ailments.
9.Thirty-five states have passed legislation permitting medical use of marijuana.