Seventy five years ago today, The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified repealing prohibition mandated by the Volstead Act and 18th Amendment. This noble experiment in social engineering caused far more harm than good ushering the golden days of organized crime where gangsters like Al Capone ran their campaigns of terror running their illegal alcohol market while literally blowing away their competition.
Are there lessons from history to be learned here?
You bet there are. There is no question about the war on drugs is a miserable failure. Every night in some cities in America, young men will be shot dead in gang warfare largely fueled by the illegal drug market. While law enforcement spends millions to attempt to eradicate unsuccessfully the marijuana trade, lives are ruined and families destroyed by addiction to cocaine, heroin, as well as other illegal drugs not to mention the abuse of legally prescribed drugs.
For decades, misinformation has been the official policy on marijuana alleging it is a gateway drug that once a user starts there, it’s just a matter of time before one goes on to bigger and more dangerous drugs. Well, don’t all those who consume alcohol consume milk previously? Hmm, maybe we need to crack down on milk. Let’s be real, once one smokes marijuana one quickly realizes all the hoopla that marijuana isn’t that horrible after all. Thus, if reefer isn’t so bad, maybe the other drugs aren’t either. It’s the laws against marijuana and inability to discuss the situation rationally that leads to the use of more potent and dangerous drugs!
There is one argument that is somewhat valid, folks don’t usually consume alcohol to get drunk. Even the most casual pot use is in search of that pleasurable “buzz.” However, that “buzz” might be little more than the calming effect of a nice mug of beer or glass of wine.
The bottom line is hard drug addiction remains one of our most nagging domestic problems and nothing, absolutely nothing, in the last fifty years has had any influence on reducing the problem. Meanwhile, the drug violence is so intense, there are urban areas through out the country whether in Baltimore, Newark, Philadelphia, Detroit, Compton, Miami, or even the nation’s capitol where entire neighborhoods are absolutely lawless where residents not caught up in the drug business are prisoners within their own homes.
It is time to legalize marijuana. Legalize it and allow it to be sold commercially while the production costs are so low, the government can put a huge tax on the substance that will not only provide major funding for drug treatment programs but can also help contribute to the general revenue without imposing any regressive taxes that take money out of the economy. Furthermore, border agents will be able to devote their jobs to more effect pursuits, and all drug treatment and enforcement efforts can be devoted to those drugs that absolutely destroy lives.
This does not suggest that marijuana is safe. It isn’t. One consuming marijuana is consuming some of the same ingredients that are harmful in cigarette smoke such as tar and carbon monoxide. Marijuana smoking also can cause elevated blood pressure and chronic use causes severe lethargy and other behavioral problems. These cannot be ignored. Likewise, like alcohol, marijuana is an intoxicant that can impair judgment and motor function where folks engaged in jobs of public safety or using dangerous equipment must abstain and probably be subject to routine testing.
Much more is needed to be known about the effects of marijuana, but enough is known that it is not the kind of danger that justifies the harsh legal restrictions against it. Any college kid who wants to blow a joint knows where to get one. It’s not like there would be a huge surge in marijuana use. There are communities in this country where marijuana laws are essentially ingnored or altered to permit for "medical" use.
Let’s look back to the horrors of the 1920’s and learn the lessons of the past. It’s time to cut out the hypocrisy and denial and do the right thing.
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