Petition http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/national_vote_on_legalization_of_cannabis

Theresa Anthony (RIP), a 29 year old african-american woman who was serving 2 and a half weeks of prison in Houston was pronounced dead inside Harris County Jail Facility sometime in March 2008. Theresa was serving time for minor posession of marijuana (meaning under a ounce of marijuana). Now this doesn't seem very important, but remember Obama was a habitual marijuana user back in his day. Now what if Obama would have had to serve jail time for minor possesion, he would have never made office, and possibly would end up with a bad job. What I'm trying to say is these innocent people we are sending to prison for marijuana posession could be something great. I can list many people who used to use marijuana when they were younger and still may use marijuana that have influenced the world in great ways I.E. Bill Gates. For all we know, Theresa Anthony could have been the next Bill Gates, but got derailed by a nearly harmless all organic plant. For those of you who think Bill Gates is a rare case here are some other famous american figures that grew and habitually used marijuana we have Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Lyndon Johnson, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (if you didn't figure it out, they were all presidents of the United States of America, the country where marijuana is now illegal).

On to a new point, the only reason marijuana is illegal is because during the prohibition of alcohol, a politician whose support came from big alcohol companies decided to say that marijuana causes people to be stupid and violent, and scared the United States away from it just so he could get more support and funding from alcohol companies. Marijuana was then criminalized around the same time alcohol was made legal. Alcohol and tobacco companies are now the only thing hold the legalization of marijuana back. Alcohol and Tobacco companies fund those stupid commercials where they put somebody in a situation that most likely would occur after consuming alcohol, and saying they did this while they were high. That just is completely false. If you have ever heard that marijuana is the so called "gateway drug", meaning it causes you to do other drugs, it is proven that alcohol has a greater chance of leading someone to trying illicit drugs than marijuana.

There are people suffering from conditions that are treatable through the many forms of Cannabinoid/Tetrahydrocannabinol consumption . Some of these people are cancer patients who grow their own marijuana inside there house with a doctors approval. Some are members of a club that they can buy various forms of medical marijuana. The DEA doesn't care how or why you get marijuana, if you have marijuana YOUR A CRIMINAL (in the DEA's eyes). 66 year old cancer patient Carter Singleton was convicted of felony cultivation of cannabis and is facing prison most likely for the rest of his life. Singleton wasn't a drug dealer or a psychotic addict, he was a 66 year old guy that had an illness that marijuana could help. There are countless other cases of people only cultivating marijuana to help, and end up getting felony charges. Here is a link to prove it http://www.canorml.org/news/fedmmjcases.html.

My final point is, that it costs $9 billion of tax money to pay for the DEA's failed attempt to get marijuana off the streets. The legalization of Marijuana will not only boost our economy, it will help the DEA focus on busting down on drugs that can actually hurt people, such as meth, crack, and heroine. Also we could regulate and tax marijuana and potential earnings would be upwards of $10 billion.

My final words are, Marijuana is an organic substance, that is impossible to overdose on, it is slightly mind altering but not as mind altering as alcohol, and has no little to no harm. The faster we act upon legalization more lives will be saved, more people will have the proper medicine they need, the streets will be cleaner, and more tax money will be spent on better things. And for those of you who want to support this immediately until i finish my petitions is visit http://NORML.com.

PS people who say its bad for your lungs, there are alternative methods of consumption besides smoking, from food to lip balm, or even the vaporization of the active ingredients without combustion (meaning there is no smoke, just vapor).

Just because I do support the reform of marijuana laws does necessarily mean i use  or have used Marijuana.

For those of you who read this, thank you and please put this into consideration.

And anyone who decides to repost this, go ahead but please credit it to Keegan Salankey, because i am the petition holder.

I post this article with condolences to Theresa Anthony's family.