The election is finally over and it is time to become critical about what had happened. I am not going to talk about the presidential election. We are hearing quite enough about that one and I do not need to beat a dead horse. But there is a few propositions in some states that I pray never pass, especially with the disaster in Colorado. Those are the marijuana legalization measures.

Three states, this election, have legalized weed. They are California, Nevada and Massachusetts. Every time I see a state passing a law that legalizes weed, I just shake my head. I believe that this will just lead our country further down the wrong path. I have heard all the arguments and find them all to be very flawed. Let us go over some of those arguments and then let me throw my arguments out there.

Argument 1: Alcohol is worse than weed.

I hate this argument. Just because something out there is worse does not mean it is good. Because heroin is worse than cocaine, should we legalize cocaine? How about heroin is not as bad as bath salts, shall we legalize heroin. See the issue? Alcohol is bad. We know that. And we did try to outlaw it (remember prohibition?) but it became so ingrained into our society, crime grew around it. I am afraid we will find weed is bad too but it will become too much a part of society to make illegal again when we realize our mistake in the future.

Argument 2: Think of the money we will make taxing it.

This is a very short sighted argument. Yes, initially, pot will bring in a lot of tax money. But, as the drug becomes more part of society, we will see other issues that will require tax money because other needs will actually rise. These include health care (drugs do cause health issues), drug treatment (pot is addictive and those who deny it are fooling themselves or are age fifteen), unemployment, welfare and food stamps (habitual pot smokers, for some reason, have issues holding a job). If there are any questions as to what can happen to a state with legal recreational weed, just look at what is happening in Colorado or the country of Amsterdam.

Argument 3: Legalization will lessen the black market and crime.

This is a misdirected statement. Since it will not be illegal to smoke weed and it will be readily available, this will eliminate possession (unless under the age of 18) and the small time drug dealing. But eliminating crime by making the crime legal is not a way to correct behavior. I am sure if we legalized drunk driving, crime would go down too. But, though drug related crime may go down a bit (and I mean a little bit), residual crime resulting from drug use may go up (including theft, assault, impaired driving, etc.). Also, drug cartels are not going to go away because marijuana is legal. Especially since illegal drugs are not taxed and will be cheaper. Cigarettes still have a market in the black market because of the high taxes placed on them.

Reasons to keep marijuana illegal are many. First and foremost, marijuana is a gateway drug. There are no questions about it. I know this through experience. I have seen many children start with drinking, move to marijuana and continue on to the harder drugs (meth, heroine and cocaine). Families are torn apart over all drugs (including mine) and, if I had my way, I would ban alcohol too (but we tried that already and it did not work out). Though there is the argument that marijuana will be kept out of the hands of children, we know, through statistics, that it was not happening when the drug was illegal (though use by high school teens has fallen slightly). Thirty-two percent of teens have used marijuana by the age of 17 (https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/high-school-youth-trends). Alcohol, which is legal, is over fifty percent for teens. It is naive to believe marijuana use is not going to go up among teens when it is legal.

Marijuana is also just flat out bad for you. The carcinogens rival that of cigarettes. The smoke contains more nicotine (addiction) than cigarettes and the smoke burns hotter than cigarettes (lung and esophagus problems). Other problems also include mental problems. Hallucinations, depression, anxiety and paranoia are some of the long term mental and emotional effects long term marijuana smoking can cause (https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana). In teens, whose minds do not fully mature till ages 21 to 25, marijuana can actually disable proper brain development. This can cause learning problems and bad judgement as well as the issues listed above.

But the big question is where does legalization stop? What will be next? Cocaine, heroin, meth, bath salts? Wouldn’t these drugs have the same arguments for legalization that marijuana has? Have we not learned that science and statistics can be twisted in a way to make anything look beneficial for society?

I have seen what drug problems can cause, both within my family and with those close to me. I know the pain it causes families and the hard roads that have to be taken by the person experiencing the issues. Though I understand that there are good things that can be achieved by marijuana (especially for cancer patients and other terminally ill people), the distribution should be strictly controlled and not made legal for recreational consumption. The risks far outweigh the benefits and the ability to revert from legalization will be almost impossible as we have seen with prohibition.

Photos courtesy of:
drugabuse.gov
leafy.com
AP Photo
BuiltLean.com
Collectiveevolution.com
Forbes.com
MedicalDaily.com