Let my people inhale!

By Jeff Lowe

What makes something wrong? Obviously, if someone purposely harms another person for some reason that isn’t justified, they are wrong. Stealing is wrong. Abuse, neglect and harassment are wrong. These are things that we as a society of somewhat like-minded people agree upon. So with this in mind, our government has laws against said acts of wrongdoing and enforces them against the wrongdoers. Along with these laws against things that are clearly wrong, our government sets laws against things that are not as clearly defined as wrong. Laws against things like speeding and drug use are supposed to be in place to prevent other crime and to prevent people from hurting themselves and others. But are all of these laws in the best interest of the people? Could it be that some of these laws are in place to control people and reinforce government’s opinion for government’s sake, not for the people’s sake? I think so, especially in the case of marijuana laws.

Those who oppose the legalization of marijuana can give you a list of negative side effects of the drug. This includes short-term and long-term memory loss and increased risk of lung cancer (www.familyeducation.com). They would also tell you that marijuana lessens a person’s ambition and leads to harder drugs. But the information about the physical risks of marijuana vary greatly, depending on the source.

Judge Francis Young, an administrative law judge with the Drug Enforcement Administration, once said, “Marijuana is the safest therapeutically active substance known to man . . . safer than many foods we commonly consume.” (www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org). A 2002 Time Magazine article stated, “Just 9 percent of those who have used the drug (marijuana) develop dependence. By comparison, 15 percent of drinkers become dependent on alcohol, 23 percent of heroin users get hooked, and a third of tobacco smokers become slaves to cigarettes.”

(www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org). Those opposed to marijuana probably won’t mention the far more serious health concerns of already legal and common-place drugs like alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol poisoning kills about 50,000 per year (www.norml.org). It seems strange that this less harmful drug is illegal in the same country that supports the consumption of alcohol.

The psychological effects of marijuana and its effect on society are also greatly misunderstood. According to recent federal government statistics, nearly 80 million Americans admit to having smoked marijuana (www.norml.org). With that many people trying marijuana, one would think that violent crime related to marijuana use would be astronomical in this country if the drug truly had dangerous psychological effects, but it does not. More than 700,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges last year, and more than 5 million Americans have been arrested in the past decade. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for simple possession, not trafficking or sale (www.norml.org). In a country where violent crime like rape and murder are prevalent, it seems to me like a huge waste of law enforcement resources to arrest that many people for having a small amount of pot.

On top of all of this is the fact that marijuana has medicinal uses. And although medical marijuana usage has been legalized on a state level in California, the Supreme Court recently ruled that the U.S. Justice Department, including the DEA, may prosecute state-authorized patients for violating the federal Controlled Substances Act (www.norml.org). Why is it so important for the feds to arrest patients who suffer from chronic illnesses? Do we really have our priorities straight?

It is time for America to decriminalize this mild drug. Other countries have decriminalized marijuana with no large-scale negative effects on their society. In fact, these countries have less crime than the United States by far. When will our government realize that crime is a product of things like poverty, stupidity and racism, not marijuana?