I had an interesting discussion with several young people who just happened to be hanging out at my house. Being Conspiracy Theorists, as most young people are to one extent or another, the topic turned to the legalization of marijuana.
These intelligent and curious teens argued that the only reason that the Federal Goverment hasn't legalized marijuana is "because there is no money to be made from it." Their theory is that legalization of the drug will not bring any income into our Federal coffers.
I, of course, disagreed. If marijuana were legalized to the extent that alcohol is legal (as these whippersnappers proposed), there is money to be made hand over fist: import tax, "sin" tax, sales tax, licensing tax, etc. What my young negotiators failed to realize was the financial loss that legalization of marijuana would incur. A loss that very definitely shadows any viable gain.
But that's beside the point.
What I realized during this very spirited and passionate discussion was that the debate over legalization of marijuana very aptly mirrors the social crisis that America currently faces: we legislate to accommodate people who have abdicated their claim to citizenship and call it "fair." We are now happily legislating the "blame someone else" culture.
I am not judging people who use marijuana, it is not my place to do so. I realize that my experience with the drug is limited to my wasted youth and to the effects on families that I am trying to overcome every day I drag myself out of bed and hit the streets for work. And frankly, I would happily trade legalization of marijuana for stricter interventions for methamphetamine manufacture, distribution, and use. But my argument to the young people engaged in the discussion was that promoting legalization of marijuana is tantamount to asking me to accommodate - even support! - a population which I know to be unmotivated, sluggish, unreliable, dangerously impaired, accepting and supportive of legal and social deviance, in denial of the effects that the drug has on their daily functioning, and, at this point, fundamentally criminal. Why should I, as a Citizen, accommodate a socially draining population by making their consistent and overwhelming drain on the resources of their communities LEGAL?
Of course, I received a roomful of blank stares in reply, for these spirited teens assumed that if marijuana were legalized, people would be responsible about using it. They assumed that drug-related crime would decrease (rather than increase) and that the impact on society would be lessened by controlling marijuana as a legal substance rather than as an illegal substance. We already know this is not the case, as alcohol use and abuse and abuse of legally-prescribed drugs are another significant drain on State and Federal resources. Bless their jailhouse-lawyering hearts, they failed to investigate the other side of the debate, the side which clearly outlines the fact that we have enough social problems with the drugs that ARE legal and adding another would be social suicide.
All in my humble opinion, of course.
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4 comments:
I read your post with much interest. I think it says something about you that they felt they could discuss the subject with you. Especially knowing what you do for a living. I can't argue with any of the points you made I can only nod my head in agreement.
I must admit that I have always been torn about the legalization of marijuana. Some quick thoughts;
The pros
Saves money and effort trying to stop it from coming into the country
It's a taxable commodity
Would clear out some of the jail space and save a lot of court time
Helps ease the suffering of several disease and medications
The cons
Easy to grow, so not all will be taxed. If growing it is illegal then we are back where we started
Stays in the system a long time, how will we know when someone is driving under the influence?
As you stated, it has an effect of apathy on an already unmotivated generation
Pot dealers will have to switch to peddling a more harmful illegal drug to make money.
I honestly don't think pot is any worse than alcohol but look how devastating alcohol can be. I really feel that if people want to sit around and do drugs all day let them. If they want to screw up their life what do I care? Crawl in a corner and puff away. The problem is we don't live in a vacuum. I don't want to support them through social programs like the ones you mentioned in this post. What about their children? Will these drug users be able to raise children responsibly on drugs? They can't now. Why would they be better at it if pot was legal?
So I'm going to have to say legalizing marijuana won't work and would hurt our society. In a perfect world it would work but then again in a perfect world why would we need to get high?
Righto.
Unfortunately, as we see on a daily basis with alcohol and other legal-drug-related crime, legalization of marijuana won't ease the jail-space crisis, nor will it clear out space in our Courts. Marijuana USE isn't illegal. Being in possession of the drug, selling the drug, being under the influence of the drug while driving, and transporting the drug over state and Federal lines IS. And being in possession of an amount under 28.5 grams (in California) is an INFRACTION with no custody time associated with it and only a $100 fine. In this sense, marijuana is already almost as legal as alcohol.
THe point is, nobody goes to jail or to prison for using marijuana or other drugs, including alcohol. They go to jail or to prison for committing crimes, usually to feed their drug habit. Or they go to prison for supplying, in one way or another, the drugs to others. They go to prison because they killed someone while driving under the influence. Legalizing the drug will not change this impact, not at all.
:-(
Sounds like you have some incipient libertarians there, Daughter!
LOL. They are just young and silly. It's fun to listen to them talk, though!
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