Marijuana prohibition makes no sense
Ian Bezek
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Opinion
While I always enjoy Cheba Hut's parties, 4/20 is hard to celebrate while hundreds of thousands of innocent people are locked in jails across America for mere marijuana possession.
It is absolutely asinine to continue to ruin people's lives by banning a virtually harmless drug.
I, personally, have never used marijuana and have no intentions of trying it -- caffeine is my drug of choice -- but I deeply empathize with my fellow students who are fined, lose their student aid, and even end up in jail for innocently having fun.
I say innocently because our government's own experts have found marijuana to be less harmful than alcohol. In all five aspects of the drugs they ranked -- including the amount of intoxication caused, the severity of withdrawal symptoms, and the amount of dependence a drug created -- alcohol was more harmful than marijuana. Nicotine was also found to be far more harmful than marijuana by these researchers.
Even caffeine, a drug that no one is trying to outlaw, causes more withdrawal symptoms and creates a higher level of dependency in its users than marijuana.
Marijuana smoking is no more dangerous than tobacco smoking, and the government's unending claims that marijuana is a so-called "gateway drug" have largely been disproved.
As it is impossible to overdose on marijuana, no one has died from its direct usage, unlike alcohol, which causes deadly blood poisoning along with spates of violent crime and vehicle crashes.
The prohibition of marijuana is bad enough, but once you consider how vindictively marijuana users are treated by the justice system, it gets even worse. For a so-called crime with no victims and no harm to the public at large, a fine would seem to be the most appropriate form of punishment.
Instead, we throw hundreds of thousands of marijuana users into prison. Considering that it costs upwards of $20,000 a year to keep a person in prison, this is an outrageous waste of our taxpayer money.
It is absolutely asinine to continue to ruin people's lives by banning a virtually harmless drug.
I, personally, have never used marijuana and have no intentions of trying it -- caffeine is my drug of choice -- but I deeply empathize with my fellow students who are fined, lose their student aid, and even end up in jail for innocently having fun.
I say innocently because our government's own experts have found marijuana to be less harmful than alcohol. In all five aspects of the drugs they ranked -- including the amount of intoxication caused, the severity of withdrawal symptoms, and the amount of dependence a drug created -- alcohol was more harmful than marijuana. Nicotine was also found to be far more harmful than marijuana by these researchers.
Even caffeine, a drug that no one is trying to outlaw, causes more withdrawal symptoms and creates a higher level of dependency in its users than marijuana.
Marijuana smoking is no more dangerous than tobacco smoking, and the government's unending claims that marijuana is a so-called "gateway drug" have largely been disproved.
As it is impossible to overdose on marijuana, no one has died from its direct usage, unlike alcohol, which causes deadly blood poisoning along with spates of violent crime and vehicle crashes.
The prohibition of marijuana is bad enough, but once you consider how vindictively marijuana users are treated by the justice system, it gets even worse. For a so-called crime with no victims and no harm to the public at large, a fine would seem to be the most appropriate form of punishment.
Instead, we throw hundreds of thousands of marijuana users into prison. Considering that it costs upwards of $20,000 a year to keep a person in prison, this is an outrageous waste of our taxpayer money.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Jon Gettel
posted 4/21/08 @ 7:33 PM MST
Ian,
Your article is well written and describes accurate information on marijuana.
I hope many people read the article. 75 years of prohibition and lies told by various anti-drug organizations have sullied marijuana's image. (Continued…)
vincent larocca
posted 4/22/08 @ 7:48 PM MST
WOW..... nice to see an article like this get some international attention. BRAVO !
www.petertrial.com
Bdygard
Craig Hawley
posted 4/22/08 @ 9:24 PM MST
Right on Ian. I am sparking up a bowl of OG Kush right now in your honor.
Great article.
Anyone ever watch the Movie Reefer Madness. That is the BS I grew up with. (Continued…)
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