cannabisnews.com: Legalize It! Legalize It! Posted by CN Staff on September 30, 2003 at 10:47:26 PT By Kenneth Norris, Staff Writer Source: Vanguard The question of marijuana legalization raises many issues that affect each of us in some way. My purpose herein is to explore some of the moral, cultural, legal and economic issues related to marijuana legalization.Most Americans agree that drug abuse is immoral because it distorts perception, impairs judgment and can jeopardize one's health. As a Christian, I agree that drug abuse is wrong and stupid and sets a bad example. However, these criticisms apply equally to alcoholism, which shares the exact same faults while remaining legal. Alcohol, tobacco and obesity each kill tens of thousands of people, yet there is not a single documented case of a marijuana overdose. The drug trade affects our culture by destroying individuals, families and communities. However, the harms caused by the drug trade stem from its prohibition. The suppression of any market creates a black market that increases the profitability of trade in the prohibited product. Naturally, people tend to be protective of their profits and their livelihoods. Participants in legal markets settle their disagreements in court, but traders in black markets cannot risk exposing their illegal activities in civil suits, so many of them use violence to settle disputes. The solution to the problem of violence stemming from Prohibition (1920 - 1933) was to legalize and regulate alcohol, which lowered its profitability and increased the monitoring of its distribution through licensure. Although alcohol continued to destroy lives and relationships, the violence around the trade in alcohol diminished greatly.It seems reasonable to believe that regulating marijuana could produce results similar to those of the legal trade in alcohol and tobacco. Local governments could issue licenses to businesses so authorities may monitor the distribution of marijuana as they do with alcohol. Furthermore, citizens could petition licensing boards and zoning commissions to prevent marijuana distributors from setting up shop in a particular neighborhood. It is unlikely that one could negotiate a similar agreement with an illegal drug dealer.Many concerned Americans oppose marijuana legalization because they believe it would send the message that drug use is socially acceptable. Their argument reflects the legitimate concern that the legalization of marijuana implies the acceptance of its use. However, most of us can agree that there are acts we consider immoral but do not wish to make illegal. For example, few people approve of marital infidelity or gluttony, but even fewer would want to incarcerate anyone for these misdeeds.I honestly feel that we send a bigger mixed message to our children by placing our faith in so many pills to solve our problems. We live in the most medicated society on the planet. We tend not to follow the directions printed on the prescription bottles, we store unused pills in our medicine cabinets to self-medicate at will or to give them away so friends and family members can self-medicate. Moreover, we have a pill for nearly every desire, from hair restoration to weight loss. Why wouldn't our youth think they could find happiness in a drug?The advertisements of pharmaceutical companies are pervasive on television and in magazines, although only a licensed physician can prescribe them. Pharmaceutical companies know the dirty truth about the American health system: too many doctors tend to prescribe requested name-brand drugs just to appease demanding patients. Most of us lack the specialized knowledge to make an informed decision about prescription drugs, but we do not care as long as we can pop the pills that make us happy.Americans already pay the highest per capita medical expenses in the world, and the trend of larger employee contributions for medical benefits only exacerbates the concern that legalizing marijuana could increase our health care costs. However, the economic costs of alcohol abuse, tobacco usage and obesity vastly exceed the cost of treating marijuana users. Furthermore, the legality of marijuana usage does not affect whether insurance companies can continue to refuse coverage of employees who have had accidents while testing positive for drugs in their systems. Consequently, there is no reason to believe that insurance premiums would increase merely from marijuana legalization. Taxation of legalized marijuana can raise revenue to expand drug education and rehabilitation programs, which are far more cost-effective than incarceration. The United States already has the largest prison population (about 2 million inmates) and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, but a whopping 55.5 percent of the prison population serves time for nonviolent drug offenses! That figures out to about 1.11 million offenders, each costing taxpayers about $25,000 annually. That is $27.75 billion each year we spend keeping them locked up, but does not include the other costs of law enforcement for the "war on drugs."Wouldn't it be nice to have billions of dollars to spend on programs that keep our youth off drugs voluntarily and still have more than enough money left to rehabilitate everyone whom our wrongheaded policies have let down?Note: USA student thinks the costs of marijuana prohibition outweigh the benefits. Source: Vanguard, The (AL Edu)Author: Kenneth Norris, Staff WriterPublished: September 29, 2003 Copyright: 2003 USA VanguardWebsite: http://www.usavanguard.com/Contact: vanlandingham usavanguard.comRelated Articles:Pot Debate is Pointless, Boring and Unending http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17436.shtml Marijuana Debate Gets Heatedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16115.shtmlDEA, 'High Times' Go Head To Head in Debate http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16103.shtmlLegal or Not? Great Marijuana Debate http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15760.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by Rev Jonathan Adler on September 30, 2003 at 22:17:19 PT: Tell It Like It Is! Duh! Mean 'Da Dope! That's right on target. There is NO RATIONAL REASON to make consumption of God's Greatest Herb illegal or wrong in ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM! It is truly a gift and anyone who feels it is bad or wrong is chemically imbalanced. Cannabis Deficiency Syndrome is real. I hope the world realizes soon. Peace from Paradise. Aloha. Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute [ Post Comment ] Post Comment