Should Marijuana be legalized

The Arguments for and against the Legalization of Marijuana
• Issue Identification
Today, more than half of the states have already legalized marijuana in some form for various purposes and several more are slated to follow suit this year (see Figure 1 below). The reasons for this trend are multiple, but include fundamental changes in social attitudes about marijuana, the recognition that the federal government’s so-called “war on drugs” has been an abject failure, and the realization on the part of state lawmakers that marijuana sales can provide an enormous boon to state coffers in the form of additional excise taxes and a reduction in the costs that are associated with more serious substance abuse practices.
Figure 1. Status of marijuana laws by state: as of January 2020
Source: https://disa.com/map-of-marijuana-legality-by-state
• Position Statement
At first blush, the push for the nationwide legalization of marijuana at the federal level would appear to be a “no-brainer” given the recent trends across the country, but there are some factors that are involved that must be taken into account when formulating an opinion about this issue. For example, in states where marijuana has been legalized for medical and recreational use, cultivators are using innovative technologies to concentrate the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to unprecedented levels, meaning that casual users may experience more intense effects than they expected (Domestic cannabis suppression, 2020). In addition, as discussed further below in the position statement section below, the use of marijuana is also believed to cause some other physical and mental side effects, some of which may be severe, but most of the scientific research into cannabis was largely stopped for the past 84 years for the reasons discussed below.
• Evolution of the Controversy
For many Americans, marijuana has either always been illegal or always been legal for most of their lives, meaning the pace of the evolution of the controversy over whether marijuana should be legalized has accelerated over the past 2 decades or become moot. In reality, though, the origins of the controversy date to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. While physicians in the United States continued to prescribe cannabis products for various disorders into the 1940s, increasing reports about Mexican immigrants bringing marijuana across the border and committing violent crimes in their drug-induced states resulted in a nationwide racially motivated “reefer madness” reaction that resulted in views about the drug changing to the point where marijuana use was against state and federal laws as well as the prevailing social views about its use (McAllister, 2019). In addition, in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act further solidified the country’s moral stance against the use of marijuana for any purpose, including for medical applications with rare exceptions during an especially turbulent period in the nation’s history (St. John & Vanessa, 2019).
Today, though, the question as to whether marijuana should be legalized has already been answered in the affirmative by a growing number of states, and it is reasonable to posit that the drug will be decriminalized at the federal level in the foreseeable future. For instance, according to Janda, Berry and Goldman (2017), “Smoking marijuana has become fairly commonplace in the United States. Roughly half of all American adults say they have tried smoking pot. Not coincidentally, the percentage of people who believe marijuana should be fully legalized has gone up, and now more than half of the public favors this position” (p. 26).
Consequently, the real question being asked by advocates of legalized marijuana in the United States at this point in time is, “What took so long?!” Indeed, during the 84-year period since the enactment of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, virtually all scientific research into the potential medical benefits and commercial applications of cannabis has been placed on hold, and millions of Americans and their family members have had their lives devastated due to criminal charges – in many cases felonies -- stemming from nothing more than possessing pot. One of the more positive concomitants in the relaxation of marijuana laws across the country has been the ex post facto eradication of criminal charges for simple marijuana possession in states where the drug has been legalized, meaning offenders will no longer have a criminal record for a practice that is now legal.
Besides the enormous amount of tax revenues that are being generated on legal marijuana sales across the country, there have been a number of other compelling benefits that have been realized through the legalization of marijuana including most especially a reduction in drunk driving (Reduced fatalities for third consecutive year, 2020) and opioid overdose fatalities (Overdose death rates, 2020). Moreover, in sharp contrast to some other intoxicants such as alcohol, the effects of marijuana are comparatively mild and highly transient in their effects, meaning that consumers can essentially continue with their normal lives while using this drug on a daily basis.
Notwithstanding the relative safety of marijuana compared to other drugs (i.e., there has never been a fatality associated with marijuana usage), though, it is also important to consider the positions of opponents of marijuana legalization. For example, according to Paluszek (2020), “Marijuana is now legal in more states than ever before, with medical marijuana proving an essential tool to relieve symptoms caused by chemotherapy and AIDS, or for those in chronic pain. But it's important to note that smoking marijuana doesn't come without risks, particularly if you do it every day” (para. 2).
• Critique
Opponents of marijuana legalization argue that making any potentially harmful substance more easily available will encourage additional substance abusing behaviors, and marijuana in particular has been charged with being a so-called “gateway drug” that invariably leads to the abuse of stronger, more harmful drugs. Likewise, although additional research is needed, some of the suspected side effects of daily marijuana use include: 1) impaired senses and behavioral changes; 2) increased risk of respiratory disease due to inhaled smoke; 3) development of marijuana use disorder; 4) increased risk of heart disorders; and 5) functional and structural changes in the brain (Paluszek, 2020).
Although the precise incidence and severity of the adverse side effects that are caused by marijuana usage remains unclear at this time, there are health consequences that are associated with many types of legal human activities, including the use of alcohol, tobacco and even fast-food burgers. This harsh reality means that adult consumers in the United States have the responsibility – and the right -- to judge whether the use of marijuana is appropriate for them and their personal needs or not rather than having the U.S. federal government mandate what is best for them based on some spurious and outdated moral code that was racist in origins when it was developed.
• Conclusion
The research showed that a new type of “reefer madness” is sweeping the nation today in the form of increasing numbers of states legalizing marijuana for medical and/or recreational use due to the relaxation in social views towards this drug as well as the recognition on the part of taxing authorities that cannabis is a golden opportunity to enrich states’ coffers. While the research also showed that there are some legitimate arguments against legalizing marijuana, the numerous benefits that have already been achieved by states where the drug has been legalized more than offset any of these downsides. In the final analysis, the day will soon come when marijuana is sold openly in convenience and liquor stores like beer and tobacco, and billboards proclaiming the quality of one brand of marijuana over others will likewise become commonplace on the American landscape. In the final analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that Americans in the 22nd century will likely look back at the nation’s experiment with legislating yet another type of morality with its arcane laws against marijuana being tantamount to its failure with Prohibition, and will have a hearty chuckle while taking a toke at the neighborhood pub over the country’s collective stupidity in allowing the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 to exert such powerful control over the quality of their lives for nearly a century.
• References
Domestic cannabis suppression, 2020). U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved from https://www.dea.gov/domestic-cannabis-suppression-eradication-program.
Janda, K., Berry, J. M. & Goldman, J. (2017). The challenge of democracy: American government in global politics, 14th ed. New York: Wadsworth/Cengage.
McAllister, W. B. (2019, Spring). Harry Aslinger saves the world: National security imperatives and the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act. The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, 33(1), 37-41.
Overdose death rates. (2020). National Institutes on Drug Abuse. Retrieved from https://www. drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates.
Paluszek, E. (2020, January 2). Side effects of smoking marijuana every day according to science. Yahoo! Life. Retrieved from https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/side-effects-smoking-marijuana-every-205845314.html.
Reduced fatalities for third consecutive year. (2020, May 5). Reduced fatalities for third consecutive year. U. S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved from https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/early-estimates-traffic-fatalities-2019.
St. John, V. J. & Lewis, V. (2019, January 1). "Vilify them night after night": Anti-Black drug policies, mass incarceration, and pathways forward. Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, 20, 18.
The history of prohibition of marijuana in the United States. (2020). Leafly. Retrieved from https://www.leafly.com/learn/legalization/marijuana-illegal-history.