I imagine this is playing out much the same way prohibition
in the 20’s did; it’s just taking longer. They have been trying to make
marijuana legal for as long as I can remember (a really long time). The
arguments pro and con are considerable and rather transparent. Legalize it and
tax it and control it (and we can probably balance the national budget from the
revenue). Or we can continue to criminalize it and see many lives ruined by a
momentary weak judgment call. The article in the New York Times on October 11,
2012 by Timothy Egan entitled "Lawmen Against the Law" scratched the surface of one state’s proposal of this
issue. Oddly, he is covering the chief federal prosecutor of Washington State speaking
to a room full of police officers, and they agreed with him that marijuana should be
legalized. The point he makes about personal liberty is a strong one as far as
I am concerned. I have always believed if it harms no one, then it shouldn’t be
against the law. Now granted, there are those that will argue that smoking
marijuana does harm, but I don’t think it causes as much harm as drinking
alcohol. Personal choice should count for something.
There is also much to be said about the way legalization has
been handled in other states. Mr. Egan points out that in the states that have
legal marijuana laws, the “legal” dispensaries have replaced the drug cartels
and street gangs, and they don’t want to give up their lucrative business to
extensive government controls. I believe their lack of regulation is why there
is so much controversy about this. Alcohol was once thought of as the downfall
of “man” kind. In the early twentieth century women took to the streets and
proclaimed loudly “lips that touch liquor will never touch mine.” They managed
to change a law that started the rebellious “Roaring 20’s”, one of America's first
lost generations.
Marijuana is not new; in fact it’s been around for thousands
of years; longer than alcohol. Uses for it range from tea to
relieve nausea to making rope from the hemp. Marijuana should be treated the
same as alcohol with similar restrictions on age and public use.
It’s odd that
the generation that once sat in parks protesting (and getting high!!) is now
the “establishment.” I guess everything goes full circle. What really drives
home the whole idea of legalization is the statement Mr. Egan makes that over
30 million people in the United States smoked pot last year. That’s about 10%
of all the people in this country, and those are just the ones that admitted to
it.
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