Marijuana
Legalization
Organization

Alcohol

• Alcohol causes a wide variety of health problems.
  • According to the University of Michigan Health System report "Alcohol: Effects on Health", alcohol contributes to numerous health problems including gastritis, pancreatitis, ulcers, liver cancer, cirrhosis, and other liver diseases.
  • According to researched published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 275 No. 1, January 3, 1996), alcohol abuse increases the risk of developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

• Alcohol abuse increases cancer risk.
  • "Alcohol May Raise Breast Cancer Risk" - from cbsnews.com.
  • "Considerable evidence suggests a connection between heavy alcohol consumption and increased risk for cancer" - from the National Institutes of Health "Alcohol Alert."

• Alcohol abuse kills over 100,000 Americans every year.
  See "By the Numbers: Deaths Caused by Alcohol" from Scientific American magazine (December 1996), and "Magnitude of Alcohol-Related Mortality and Morbidity Among U.S. College Students Ages 18-24" from the Harvard School of Public Health.

• Alcohol prohibition failed miserably. Marijuana prohibition is failing for the same reasons.
  For an economic analysis of why prohibition doesn't work, see Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure, by Auburn Economics professor Mark Thornton.

Tobacco

• Nicotine, the active chemical in tobacco, is highly addictive.
  See "The Health Consequences of Smoking: Nicotine Addiction" from the U.S. Surgeon General (1988).

• Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world, responsible for roughly 5 million deaths each year.
  See the "Tobacco Free Initiative" from the World Health Organization (WHO)

• Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States.
  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fact sheet on "Cigarette Smoking-Related Mortality", more than 400,000 Americans die from cigarette smoking each year.

• Despite the known health risks of tobacco use, cigarettes are legally available throughout the United States and can be purchased at gas stations, convenience stores, and supermarkets for less than $5 per pack.