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Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use. We can, and should, continue to discourage the use of marijuana, but this can be done without defining the smoker as a criminal." - President Jimmy Carter: August 2, 1977
There is an economic theory which predicts that the prohibition of mutually beneficial exchanges is doomed to failure. The truth of that theory was realized during the 1920-1933 alcohol prohibition in the United States. The measure, also known as "the Noble Experiment," was enacted to reduce crime, solve social problems, and improve the health of America. Noble as its goal was, the 13-year experiment succeeded primarily in making worse the very problems it attempted to solve. Otherwise back-alley thugs likes Al Capone monopolized the inevitable black market and violently ruled the streets with virtual impunity. Bootleggers and rum runners kept individual drinkers as well as speakeasy establishments stocked with illegal booze. Moonshine was produced by amateurs who adhered to no standards, and often resulted in products that could harm or kill the consumer.
If we don't learn from other people's mistakes, we're doomed to repeat them. Just as alcohol prohibition gave us Al Capone, today's drug prohibition gave us Pablo Escobar. Instead of rum runners, today we have drug gangs. But the good news is, it's never too late to correct a mistake. Here are some fundamental points toward that end:
Criminal Laws Have Little Effect On Marijuana Use
Prohibition doesn't deter the use of marijuana and legalization doesn't encourage it. The Netherlands, Liverpool, and nine U.S. states have seen essentially the same results.
"In sum, just as removing or decreasing criminal penalties does not appear to increase marijuana use, adding or increasing penalties does not appear to decrease use."
Marijuana Prohibition Has Not Curtailed Marijuana Use by Adolescents
"In the first rigorous study comparing marijuana use in the Netherlands and the United States, researchers have found no evidence that decriminalization of marijuana leads to increased drug use. The results suggest that drug policies may have less impact on marijuana use than is currently thought."
Study compares drug policies
Marijuana is a Gateway Drug Because it is Prohibited
Under prohibition, marijuana smokers are driven to the criminal underground to obtain it. Places where they are far more likely to encounter hard drugs. There is no inherent property in marijuana that makes its users want to try any other drug. The correlation between marijuana use and hard drugs is a product of prohibition, not marijuana. The National Academy of Sciences summed it up best:
"There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."
"Instead, the legal status of marijuana makes it a gateway drug."
Executive Summary | Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base | Institute of Medicine Chapter 3: First, Do No Harm: Consequences of Marijuana Use and Abuse | Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base | Institute of Medicine
We Must Choose Between a Black Market and a Regulated Market
Neither legalization nor prohibition will ever completely eradicate marijuana use. People will always be willing to smoke it, and people will always be willing to sell it to those people. Now this is not to say that marijuana use should be legal simply because it's going to happen anyway, that would be absurd. Rather, since the market is inevitable (and quite large), we have to make a choice between a black market and a regulated market. And the choice is not hard when one considers the devistating effects of a black market compared to the minimal inherent consequences of smoking marijuana.
Legalization Will Allow Marijuana to be Regulated and Taxed
Much of our concern about how to deal with the drug problem should be focused on preventing kids from getting them. Yet today, high school kids consistently say marijuana is easier to get than beer. Thugs on the street aren't easily held accountable for selling to minors. Legalization would allow it to be produced and sold only by licenced, reputable establishments who are bound by law to uphold certain standards.
Regulated marijuana is also less harmful to the health. It's not likely to have been laced with cocaine, or doused in gasoline or hidden in a box of laundry detergent to mask the scent from drug dogs.
A recent study called marijuana the "top U.S. cash crop", exceeding the combined value of corn and wheat. The tax revenue generated by a regulated market would fund programs that are more beneficial to society than throwing pot heads in jail, such as better education about the negative effects of drugs and more funding for police to fight violent crime.
Legalize Does Not Mean Glamorize
If marijuana is legalized, its use should be discouraged at the federal and social levels, and should only be allowed in a select few places. Intoxicated persons should be held fully accountable for any crime they commit. In short, all the laws that currently pertain to alcohol, but without the social glamor that alcohol has.
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