Kevin Drum over at Mother Jones has done something rarely seen in today’s media; he’s produced a fairly unbiased report on the pros and cons of marijuana prohibition. In the The Patriot’s Guide to Legalization, Mr. Drum comes to a very uninspiring conclusion for the smokers out there (weren’t they already?). He suggests that many of the facts presented by both sides of the issue are rarely complete or thought through very well- and then goes on to make his own admittedly ambiguous statements about softening the law. Sympathetic yes, but not exactly giving the potheads of the world a lot to cheer about.. It was sort of nice reading a fair and balanced article on the subject even though I don’t necessarily agree with his conclusions, or maybe leaning is a better word.
This is why when it comes to the legalization of pot I base my opinions on the established facts of how unsuccessfully we deal with the already legalized and accepted drugs- not a bunch of “known facts”. Considering the social problems caused by alcohol, cigarettes, and yes prescription drugs- I too see no “good” reasons to promote marijuana.
Click “Read more” to continue…
I’ve gone below the fold with this part of the post so that I could quote a rather lengthy piece from the article, something to really think about when it comes to the issue of legalization.
The commercialization of pot and its consequences:
Still, there would be a cost. For one thing, a much higher increase isn’t out of the question if companies like Philip Morris or R.J. Reynolds set their finest minds on the promotion of dope. And much of the increase would likely come among the heaviest users. “One person smoking eight joints a day is worth more to the industry than fifty people each smoking a joint a week,” says Mark Kleiman, a drug policy expert at UCLA. “If the cannabis industry were to expand greatly, it couldn’t do so by increasing the number of casual users. It would have to create and maintain more chronic zonkers.” And that’s a problem. Chronic use can lead to dependence and even long-term cognitive impairment. Heavy cannabis users are more likely to be in auto accidents. There have been scattered reports of respiratory and fetal development problems.
The tobacco companies are so successful at marketing that they convince a large segment of our population everyday that lighting up the equivalent of a smelly, teeth staining, asbestos stick is somehow a good idea.
With this in mind, in the world of legalized pot I see the Marlboro man- except now he’s a hacking pot bellied couch monkey digging through the cushions on roach patrol.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
The greater than 20,000,000 American citizens who have been arrested, prosecuted, incarcerated, probated and loaded down with crimial records that will impact their career decisions for the rest of their lives? What do they deserve this for? Being “potential” pot-bellied couch monkeys? If that’s the case, the 34% of our population that is obese should be locked up as well.
No good reason to legalize? How about the cartels and their black market warfare? How about the Mexicans being sent across the border to grow marijuana in our national parks? How about their families who are being held hostage by drug lords? How about the tens of thousands of people shot, stabbed, tortured and decapitated over trafficking routes?
How about the teens who have to deal with these people to get marijuana? You think the black market cares how old their buyers are? Do you think they would refrain from pushing harder, more addictive drugs to our kids? There will never be a 100% successful way of keeping marijuana out of the hands of our children, but we have proven that a strictly regulated system of age verification and metered distribution can be very successful at limiting teens access to alcohol and tobacco. Many teens joke about how much easier pot is to get than beer.
I don’t know if you are an alcoholic, but I assume you at least have a close association with alcoholism and its treatment. Do us all a favor, foocus on your recovery and the 12 traditions – stay out of political debate.
they “deserve” exactly what they got. I don’t like paying taxes, but I am smart enough to know what will happen if I don’t pay them.
What makes you think criminals and the countries that enable them, that are willing and able to steal, murder, and traffic any kind of illegal drugs are going to change their ways just because one of many illegal avenues becomes less lucrative?
And as far as the teens getting marijuana having to deal with unsavory types- what a bunch of bunk. Kids are always going to press the limits- and along your line of reasoning on being exposed to harsher drugs- what is to stop kids from seeking out harder drugs since smoking pot will be accepted and no longer be seen as rebellious or exciting?
Lay off the weed buddy- if the “Discovering Alcoholic” name didn’t tip you off maybe you need to get your head out of the haze. I can understand why you would wish the twelve traditions applied to me since your idea of a debate is including only those that agree with your opinions!
Why would he search for roaches when the store down the road legally sells marijuana at a price cheaper than anything you could find on the street?
And here’s a really good reason for allowing marijuana to be legally produced and sold to adults – there are THREE THOUSAND people alive today who will be tortured, murdered and dismembered before Christmas by the drug cartels in order to protect their marijuana profits from the U.S.
The ONLY thing that can save their lives is by allowing legal stores to compete with the cartels, with after-tax prices set too low for the cartels to match. This will instantly strip them of their customers, eliminate their profits, and end their reason and ability to continue committing these brutal and horrific murders.
If you insist on floating such superficial reasoning then I’ll do the same.
What if they get desperate and start killing even more people?
What if they develop even more heinous drugs, easier to smuggle, very addictive, and much more profitable (therefore increasing the violence)?
If you want to legalize pot because you like getting high- at least have the cajones to admit it. Just please stop couching your arguments in these altruistic fantasies.
First of all I don’t use marijuana. I’m a parent of two young children and I don’t use any drugs or break the law in any way whatsoever. Please don’t jump to conclusions or apply staid stereotypes to people who seek to protect their families by forcing drug dealers and cartel cells out of our cities.
Now your point of “what if they get desperate and start killing even more people” is very valid. But the problem with them doing that is that it won’t bring them any money. Even if they tried they’d quickly see that they were burning through even more money and resources without generating a single penny in return. As the establishment of legal, low-cost competition had just stripped them of two thirds of their incomes they’re not going to be able to continue paying for hits that don’t generate them an income.
And as far as developing even worse drugs, well they already have those but they can’t sell more of them than what the market demands, and since, in the words of the ONDCP, “marijuana, not heroin or cocaine, is the “bread and butter,” “the center of gravity” for Mexican drug cartels” they simply won’t be able to generate from them anything like the billions they receive right now from marijuana sales.
It is marijuana that made them so incredibly powerful and it is marijuana which is also therefore their Achilles’ heel. Take marijuana away from them and we’ll decimate them. They’ll still have heroin, coke and meth but they’ll have lost two thirds of their incomes and with it the ability to corrupt their government, police and army, and their ability to kill whomever and wherever they please.
There are THREE THOUSAND people alive right now who will be tortured, murdered and beheaded before Christmas, and the ONLY way to save them is by licensing reputable businesses to compete against the cartels with after-tax prices set too low for the cartels to match.
Drug dealers are criminals- just because you legalize pot they are not going to suddenly straighten out and fly right. They are much more likely to find new sources of income or increase their other nefarious operations such as human trafficking, illegal gambling, extortion and murder as well as other drug lines than to become John Q Citizen.
The end of prohibition didn’t end organized crime in America- it just channeled it in a new direction. The rule of law and dedicated enforcement (woefully missing in Mexico) is what brought down organized crime and that is the thing that will save your three thousand people.
And my apologies for stereotyping you as a pothead, you must feel a lot better now that I now correctly label you as a concerned parent that wants to make sure all the kids know that smoking marijuana is a fully acceptable practice condoned by responsible adults and the government. I wonder what they will do from now on to act rebellious- will it be snowcapping the contents of their Target brand bong or lacing daddy’s blunts? Just tell them to watch out for that neighborhood unemployed cartel goon, he may try kidnapping to earn an extra buck!
So your argument is let’s do nothing because it might make things worse? What kind of a plan is that?!! Let’s let them sell weed to our kids because they might do something worse if we stop them, and let’s let them continue murdering thousands of people every year because at least that’s better than what they could be doing.
Sorry buddy, that’s a bit spineless for me.
The marijuana prohibition has been in place for SEVENTY YEARS, exactly when is “the rule of law and dedicated enforcement” actually planning to end the cartel murders and get the drug dealers out of our neighborhoods? If they’re so able to end these murders then why have they waited seventy years to make their move? Maybe it’s because they can’t.
There are currently 15 million regular marijuana users in this country, and another 100 million people (a third of this country) acknowledge that they obtained and consumed marijuana at some time during the prohibition. With numbers like these it doesn’t look like your “rule of law and dedicated enforcement” is actually achieving anything at all!
Our law enforcement officers are people, not superman. Encouraging an endless stream of violent criminals into our neighborhoods by driving up the price of a product with unrelenting demand and removing all competition to them, and then expecting them to be able to somehow magically catch all the drug dealers and cartel men is fanciful! The cartels have over 100,000 foot soldiers and every day new people join them and new criminals decide to take up weed selling coz it looks like a fast way to make money.
This isn’t a limited number of individuals that you lock away and the problem’s solved, this is a never ending stream of scum pointed straight at our neighborhoods by a policy incapable of doing anything more than lock away the most obvious and most stupid of them! And clarify this, how does eliminating drug dealers and forcing all marijuana sales to be carded and allowed only to adults actually encourage kids to use the stuff? Wouldn’t they have to, you know.. be able to buy the stuff before they’re able to use it? Just wondering how that works?
Actually you never asked me about how I think we should approach the problem. I have spoken quite often on this site about my views of how we should fight this problem.
In Hawkish on the War on Drugs:
That question about how does carding and age limits encourage kids to smoke drugs, well look no further than the example of alcohol for your answer there.
We don’t need to legalize any drugs in order to concentrate on education, public perception, and treatment- yes we can fight the war on drugs better but it also starts at home. Overall I think we should attack the problem is by treating it just like smoking- see Substance Abuse Fight: Dinosaurs, Airplanes, and the Vestigial Ashtray:
No, it’s parent like you that are spineless… saying that the problem is too big- we should just give up. Setting a great example for your kids aren’t you?
see below for full quotes.
With such heated debate I must give my 2 cents worth –
Actually you never asked me about how I think we should approach the problem. I have spoken quite often on this site about my views of how we should fight this problem.
In Hawkish on the War on Drugs:
That question about how does carding and age limits encourage kids to smoke drugs, well look no further than the example of alcohol for your answer there.
We don’t need to legalize any drugs in order to concentrate on education, public perception, and treatment- yes we can fight the war on drugs better but it also starts at home. Overall I think we should attack the problem is by treating it just like smoking- see Substance Abuse Fight: Dinosaurs, Airplanes, and the Vestigial Ashtray:
No, it’s parent like you that are spineless… saying that the problem is too big- we should just give up. Setting a great example for your kids aren’t you?