Editorial: Burned Out
Police arrest more Americans per year on marijuana charges than they do for all violent crimes combined. But you probably won't see that on the nightly news. Marijuana "eradication" campaigns are flashy: local politicians shaking hands with law enforcement, crops burning in the background, cameras flashing; everyone high on the fumes of false righteousness. What these empty ceremonies attempt to conceal is the fact that America's marijuana laws are completely misguided, continue to fail and, ultimately, cause more harm than good.
Meigs and Gallia counties are no strangers to such eradication campaigns. Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann joined area law enforcement Monday as they spotted and destroyed patches of America's most lucrative cash crop.
Despite these and other ongoing efforts in the drug war, arrest rates have been consistent for well over a decade, as have usage rates. Simply stated, those who are going to smoke marijuana are going to smoke marijuana anyway, because they either do not realistically fear being caught or they do not agree ethically with prohibition. Billions of dollars are spent each year on this useless fight and billions more poured unnecessarily into an already-bloated jail system.
Would you rather fill cells with thousands of lowly potheads, or increase society's capacity and willingness to root-out thieves, rapists and murderers? The amount of time and money that we spend chasing the phantoms of the drug war makes this a very real and very urgent choice.
There is an argument that marijuana prohibition is simply a step on the ladder of peace and order; that marijuana use leads necessarily to harder drugs, crime and violence. This argument is unfounded. A government-funded national survey in 2001 found that 83 million Americans — nearly 30 percent of the population — willingly admit to having tried marijuana at some point in their lives. The American Medical Association reported that in 2000 only 3 percent of Americans had "serious drug problems." If marijuana really does have the voodoo-like power over rational humans that is so often talked about in elementary-school drug classes, wouldn't the number of hard-drug users be higher?
The violence associated with marijuana is a result of the drug trade and not the substance itself. It arises from our placing a valuable resource — mind-enhancing drugs have clearly been valuable to humans since the beginning of history — into the hands of the black market. Dealers cannot take disputes over drugs into the local municipal court. In the wilderness of organized crime, the social contract can not be upheld. In other words, might makes right: "If you steal my drugs or money, I will kill you." This is the only enforced contract that exists among cartels.
Furthermore, the risks of trafficking drugs and the labor-intensive process of cultivation add to its market value and consequently, its attractiveness to aspiring criminals. When alcohol was prohibited in the 1920s and early 1930s, organized crime boomed. Villains became rich while tax revenues fell and people drank bathtub hooch in dank cellars.
Mounting evidence from numerous sources, the government included, shows that marijuana is nowhere near as dangerous as once was thought, and that it is without a doubt no more dangerous than tobacco or alcohol. Cigarette smoking, poor diet and alcohol consumption remain the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. Marijuana, due to an extremely low toxicity, has never been documented as a cause of fatal overdose.
While alcohol lowers the inhibitions and often emboldens the user to act against better sense, marijuana tends to lower motivation, bring about a state of curious euphoria and perceived creativity and slightly lower one's problem-solving skills and short-term memory. How terrifying.
With cigarettes and alcohol leading to mass death and with our continued glorification of these highly addictive drugs, it is absolutely insane to continue pouring billions of dollars and hours into attempting the impossible task of stamping-out little ol' weed. A change is long overdue, yet we're still sitting slumped on our couches in a virtual stupor as our fellow citizens are being shackled and incarcerated because of a victimless crime. We must all be high.
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