This was an opinion piece from "Reuters" that can be found here.
It argued that since the recreational use of marijuana is occurring whether legal or not, that rather than pay to enforce the ban on it and propagate the criminalization of the business that we should tax it and use the funds for both school construction and the regulation of its use.
First of all, I thought there were several fallacious and egregious points made in the article, but even if the article had been sound, I strongly disagree with the legalization of marijuana.
I am opposed to marijuana morally, but that is not the main reason I disagree with its legalization.
Firstly, lets take a trip back to elementary school. Does the term "gateway drug" ring a bell to anyone? No, marijuana doesn't have any direct negative medical ramifications other than those shared by traditional tobacco smoking; however, it does lead to drugs that do. It's not marijuana that is the problem - the problem is all the other drugs. If marijuana is legalized that inevitably leads to an increased availability and an increased consumption. With the increased consumption of marijuana comes an increased market for other drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, heroine, and other extremely self-destructive drugs because of marijuana's role in piquing curiosity and wetting an endorphin-based appetite. So, if you increase the market for recreational marijuana, you increase the market for other drugs. Simple. No, not all users of marijuana will partake of these other illicit substances, but if you simply look at the population of hard drug users, out of all the increase in the marijuana usage population you will have a drastic increase in controlled substance abuse. The two categories are not mutually exclusive in any sense of the term.
Secondly, the idea that you will be able to regulate a drug that you have legalized that is already extremely difficult to regulate when illegal is fallacious. And to base that regulation off of taxes derived from the sales of that drug? How do you propose to legalize the presence of marijuana in households that contain the same children that you are spending marijuana-based prevention funds on and expect those funds to work? To elaborate, let me pose an example. If you never want to drink alcohol, where is a bad place to spend your time? A bar. So, if you are trying to prevent marijuana use in children, where is a bad place to legalize marijuana? The home.
Thirdly, the legalization of marijuana will eventually lead to the legalization of other, harder drugs. To begin this point I must address a common view. A lot of people think that much of the appeal of marijuana comes from the fact that it is illegal and that once legal the consumption of marijuana will wane. This may be true, but the appetite to partake in an illegal substance won't wane with it. If it is true that the appeal of marijuana lies in its unobtainable, illegal image, then the same is true for other things that are unobtainable and illegal, so as soon as marijuana becomes legal, its image becomes displaced. Soon, other drugs assume the role and the same debate we are having now ensues. Sure the debate will take longer because of the more immediate and direct detriments of harder drugs, but eventually, since every one is doing the drug anyway and it is becoming more and more expensive to enforce the regulation and since it makes so much more "pragmatic" sense to legalize it, the drug will become legal. And the next. And the next. I promise you that, although it sounds ridiculous now, after 50 years (or less) of these debates, the debate will be every bit as legitimate as the debate for the legalization of marijuana is now. Conclusion: it won't stop with the legalization of marijuana. Even if people are using marijuana right now in face of the illegalizations, let their sense of defiance be satisfied by the use of a drug that, like I said earlier, won't have any direct negative medical ramifications. If they go into deeper drugs, well, we told them so, and there will be much less of them than if marijuana was legalized.
Fourthly, the ramifications of a society with a high market for hard drugs (and there will be one; see my first argument) will be drastic. There will be very significant repercussions if the market for drugs is raised. It will extend into economics, education, ethics, the moral structuring of our nation, and the stratification of classes. If you think things like the glass ceiling, minimum wage, and education exclusion are stratifying America, wait until drugs are legalized. It will be a heavy hitter in the low classes especially. Those classes are where the markets for heavy drugs are already most prevalent, and as soon as it is even more available, cheap, and commonplace, class mobility will drop into the metaphorical hole. You think the incentive for an inner city child with working class parents or a single mom to go to college is already rare or even nonexistent? Wait until they are raised in a home with drugs. And if you think legalizing it will make it more cheaper, well you'd be right on. And so will the consumption. So will the overdoses. So will the domestic prevalence increase. So will the waste increase. Employment and income (and, as a result, national revenues) will drop. High school dropout rates will increase. Education will become more exclusive if it doesn't become outright oligarchical (and privatized. Don't forget privatized.) I don't mean to be delving into ad hominem arguments, but I don't think they are actually all that ad hominem.
I'm sure there are arguments that I am forgetting. If I remember them I will post them in the comments. Ultimately, the legalization of marijuana isn't about personal rights. It's about that, although it is expensive to enforce the current regulatory laws and the illegalization of marijuana, it is much more expensive in the long run and much much less sensible and pragmatic on so many fronts to legalize marijuana. I appreciate any comments or questions below.
Totally agree, some people don't think of the real consequences and effects of legalizing marijuana. I like the points you've made. It sound appealing to our traditional yearn for "more liberty" but its social implications have significant damaging effects.
ReplyDeleteI especially agree your first and second point and would like to further it by saying, with in increase of drug use that comes with the legalization of marijuana, there much more little children will be exposed to drugs. I lived in Indiana for most my life, where marijuana use is more prevalent than in Utah. Estimably, half of my friends in Indiana have at least tried marijuana (thats not because I hung around that crowd). And the ones that have seen marijuana when they were little, coming from their parents who have used it, had no way to avoid it, and likely became users themselves. Having marijuana in the home influences a child significantly, and it almost becomes less of a choice for the child to participate in the use of marijuana, but more of a forced societal way of living starting from when they are very little. And with each using parent influencing their children, and their children influencing their children, the chances of engaging in harmful behaviors increases exponentially. Legalization of marijuana not only will stimulate harmful behaviors but also have a negative effect over the pursuit of education, and as you know, education is directly related to not only success for an individual but also the success of our nation economically.