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Show Far VRMIONRffe=MMMZLIDICW ZIONS:MMIMilfeteI01C BEZDJ IAN According to The Washington Post, seven out of 10 Washington D.C. voters expressed their endorsement for the legalization of marijuana in November. Bowser responded to this overwhelming majority, announcing that the city government would legalize marijuana for recreational use. The passing of Initiative 71 was met with serious contempt by Republicans in Congress, who threatened to jail Bowser for using federal funds to permit a Schedule I drug. President Obama was quick to rectify the situation by diminishing the validity of Republicans' threats. Obama added the word "Federal" to his budgetary plan, which allows state and city governments to legally create individual marijuana legalization and regulation plans. These localized plans, established in states such as Washington and Colorado, have proven to be successful. According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, marijuana taxation produced an average of $5.7 million each month in the year 2014. Bowser has designed a very reasonable and efficient plan similar to that of Colorado, in which there are laws and restrictions placed on the amount of marijuana that is deemed legal, the age at which citizens can purchase marijuana and the amount of marijuana citizens can grow in their homes. The jurisdiction over marijuana is even stricter than that over alcohol — marijuana can only be consumed on private property, and there will be no public areas for marijuana consumption. In addition, individuals who are caught smoking or selling marijuana in public will face ontrary to popular belief, marijuana is extremely bad for you. I cannot count the number of times I have heard a pothead friend explain to felMALORIE low smokers or non-smokers that, "Dude, marijuana is natural! It's a plant. It isn't bad for you at all:' I hate to break it to them and anyone else reading, but ust because something is natural doesn't mean it's safe. Tobacco is a plant and also one of the most popular and most dangerous products in the world. Marijuana and tobacco have similar effects on the human body. That smoke you are inhaling is doing much more than just giving you a temporary high. According to the American Lung Association, marijuana smoke — similar to tobacco smoke — contains many chemicals known to cause cancer (33, to be exact). These chemicals fill up the lungs and cause internal irritation. Because marijuana joints are unfiltered, they deposit four times as much tar as cigarettes and can cause additional respira- C 10 { THECHRONY I NEWS JAHN OPINION 'ORTS jail time and fines, while businesses that allow patrons to use marijuana on their property will have their business licenses and certificates of occupancy revoked. The taboos surrounding marijuana come from a time period when science and politics were not advanced and the adverse effects of drugs were not substantiated. Lachenmeier and Rehm's study compared margin of exposure — the ratio between the amount of a substance that is legal and the amount usually consumed — for different drugs to determine their degree of destruction on the human body. When the MOE of marijuana is compared with that of alcohol, the detrimental effects of marijuana are negligible. The MOE for alcohol is dangerously close to one, meaning humans consistently drink the amount of alcohol that toxicologists have deemed lethal, while marijuana is the reverse — humans typically ingest one-hundredth of the lethal dose. At this point in American politics and science, almost every argument against marijuana can be countered with facts. Marijuana is not dangerous to humans, and marijuana does not cause an increase in crime. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Data, after the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, the overall crime rate dropped 10.1 percent, while the rate of violent crime dropped 5.2 percent. If cannabis is not significantly detrimental to the human body, it does not have any correlation with increased crime rates and it could reduce the national debt, then what is there to argue about? tory problems, such as "coughing ... phlegm production ... wheezing, bronchitis and great risk of lung infection:' Smoking marijuana can also lead to lung collapse. Many argue that it should be their choice to smoke marijuana; however, that decision does not just impact the person who decides to smoke a joint every once and a while. Marijuana can also negatively affect the brain. According to the ALA, "Marijuana ... impairs short-term memory and motor coordination; slows reaction time; alters mood, judgment and decision-making; and in some people can cause severe anxiety or loss of touch with reality. Because of these effects, marijuana use more than doubles a driver's risk of being in an accident:' Marijuana, while illegal, is already easily accessible. Legalizing the substance would only increase its availability and subject even more people to its dangers. Alcohol, while obviously a different substance than marijuana, is the perfect example of legal products causing harm. Close to 16,000 people are killed in accidents involving alcohol every year. Imagine the increase in accidents that would be seen if marijuana was made legal. Something else I've been told about marijuana is that it isn't addictive. Marijuana is a drug. All drugs can be addictive, especially THURSDAY, MAR( twatior.co-wviTheCTuto-ny MDIVIII Dim AT: From MFAI:reCkvioakvilit1FRI magine: the flavors of Ben & Jerry's KATIE ice cream blended with the refreshing taste of ... marijuana? In a recent interview, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the masterminds behind Ben & Jerry's ice cream, supported the idea of adding marijuana to their list of ingredients in states where cannabis has been legalized. To those of you shaking your heads — don't be so quick to judge. In the last days of February, it seemed as though many were backing the Vermont-based entrepreneurs. On Feb. 25, Washington D.C. mayor Muriel E. Bowser furthered her ardent pro-legalization efforts by passing Initiative 71, a bypass that decriminalizes cannabis for recreational use. Just five days later, German scientists Dirk W. Lachenmeier and Jurgen Rehm published a major study on the realistic dangers of different drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. According to a study published in Scientific Report, marijuana is 114 times less dangerous than alcohol. Studies that emphasize the benign nature of marijuana, as well as the economic potential the drug has, have made it impossible for both federal and state governments to ignore the legitimacy of legalizing cannabis for recreational use. c Follow us on Twitter! letters@chronicle.utah.edu those that alter the user's state of mind. Marijuana gives the user feelings of pleasure while smoking it and for a short period of time afterwards.Your brain already naturally generates chemicals that serve the purpose of calming you down and giving you pleasure. If you are putting marijuana into your system, your body will recognize it as an alternative source of these chemicals. Acting to conserve energy, your brain will automatically stop producing these natural chemicals on its own, causing you to be unable to relax without marijuana. This creates a sense of unhappiness when not using the drug and is one of the many reasons for addiction. Only four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska — have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. While the legalization of the drug in these states may make it seem benign, legalization does not prove, support or give any reason to believe marijuana is harmless. If anything, the reason for legalization of this product is solely about money — and when dealing with money, when has anyone ever cared about the well-being of the individual? Tobacco and alcoholproducts generate high revenues, but they also cause great harm to people around the world every day. Marijuana seems poised to do the same — which state will be next? letters@chronicle.utah.edu GOOGLE LOOKS TO DETHRONE APPLE oogle is more than just a massive tech company that dominates the world of Internet searches. Google has been slowly but surely expanding its influence past mobile searches and into just about every mobile device we use. From telling us where to go to powering our favorite Android devices, Google has cornered the market on the information superhighway. Google has been incredibly shrewd in its strategies to expand its reach. Their game plan started with incorporating its search engine and mapping genius into smartphone operating systems, creating the mobile platform Android. Android has since proven to be the only thing standing between Apple and its goal of world dominance. Yet Google is not satisfied with trying to match Apple on the mobile platform and in recent years has expanded to be not just what powers a search engine but also the provider of the network behind our mobile devices. Google's Internet service, Google Fiber, has launched in markets such as Provo, Kansas City and Atlanta, and there are rumors that Salt Lake City may join the ranks. Google is attempting to break up the Internet provider market long dominated by companies like Comcast that generally offer poor customer service and spotty Internet speeds at often outrageous prices. Google Fiber threatens to upend their business model by offering a choice of faster speeds and lower prices. However, Google is not stopping at just entering the Internet-provider game. Recent moves suggest Google is taking aim at being an actual mobile service provider. It G is rumored that Google has struck deals with Sprint and T-Mobile to become a MVNO, which means it would be a Google-branded mobile provider that would piggyback off Sprint and T-Mobile's cellular network. Rumors suggest that a customer would be able to buy a Google-branded phone that would have the capability to connect to either Sprint or T-Mobile's network, depending on whatever signal is strongest. While that alone would be big news, it is also suggestive of a larger motive. By choosing to partner with Sprint and T-Mobile as an MVNO, Google has chosen two mobile carriers that are not only a distant third and fourth place behind cellular juggernauts Verizon and AT&T but are both struggling financially and have foreign ownership. Despite T-Mobile's recent subscriber resurgence, the company has been bleeding revenue, and its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has made it obvious they are looking to sell T-Mobile. Sprint has also been struggling to gain and keep subscribers and loses revenue on a quarterly basis, leading its Japanese-owned parent company Softbank to question whether Sprint is capable of competing in the current marketplace. All of this adds intrigue to Google's decision to partner with the two companies. If the response to Google's foray into the cellular business is favorable, it would make sense that they would look into buying both Sprint and T-Mobile. It's likely that the FCC would be willing to approve an American-owned company buying Sprint and T-Mobile, especially if their financial struggles continue. A Googlebranded conglomeration of Sprint and T-Mobile customers and infrastructure would create a credible challenger to Verizon and AT&T and shake up the mobile industry. It would be another giant step forward in Google's attempt to dethrone Apple and become the one mobile company to rule them all. letters@chronicle.utah.edu he University of Utah's Independent Student Voice Since 1890 "'Daily Utah Chronicle INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING JOEL KINNAMAN COMMON AND ED' HARRIS TUESDAY, MARCH 10 AT 7:00 P.M. Please stop by Daily Utah Chronicle ROOM 321 - OLPIN UNION TO RECEIVE YOUR COMPLIMENTARY SCREENING PASS! THIS FILM IS RATED R FOR STRONG VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE INCLUDING SEXUAL REFERENCES AND SOME DRUG USE. Please note: Passes are limited and will be awarded randomly. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle. IN THEATERS MARCH 13 Runallnightmovie.com f /RunAllNightMovie #RunAllNight 11 |