It almost seemed like the early days of the Nixon administration, when this nation fired the first shots of the disastrous “War on Drugs.” A recent op-ed piece in The Sun (“The real dilemma of recreational marijuana”) unearthed a number of old anti-marijuana terrors straight out of
“Reefer Madness:” Marijuana is deadly! Marijuana is addictive! Marijuana is a “gateway” that leads to harder drugs! You can overdose on marijuana!
If all this sounds numbingly familiar, it is because we have been hearing it for some five decades. Deluding ourselves with such rationalizations, we filled our prisons to the bursting point with pot-possessors and pot-smokers. After billions of taxpayer dollars have gone up in smoke, the colossal futility and failure of this program is now almost universally acknowledged. You would have to turn over a pretty big rock nowadays to find anyone who still thinks the war on drugs is a good idea.
Any claims regarding the harmfulness of marijuana can be made with far more documented veracity for alcohol and tobacco. These are substances that truly are destructive and addictive and capable of destroying lives. But despite the tragic inability of many people to control their inner demons, we do not imprison free citizens of legal age for purchasing a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze.
There is currently a horrendous pandemic of abuse of opioids and painkillers in this country. No one seems to know how to stop it.
But is this the best tactic we can come up with – retaining the illegal status of marijuana?
We have no laws anywhere that have been more universally disregarded, ignored, and flipped off than those that criminalize marijuana. The illegal status of marijuana has never prevented anyone who wants to buy it from buying it, or stopped anyone who wants to smoke it from smoking it. But in our persistence in keeping it illegal, we perpetuate the classic definition of “insanity,” which is: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
We have tendencies and behavior problems that go far beyond opioids. Just look at us with our smartphones and other gadgets, our text messages and Facebook, our 32-ounce morning coffee and our Pokemon Go! The chickens have come home to roost. We have become the addicts that our consumer culture and perpetual advertising have conditioned us to be.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Anti-Marijuana Crowd Perpetuating Previous Failed Anti-Drug Programs
Author: J.F. Dacey
Contact: 978-458-7100
Photo Credit: Kevin J. Beaty
Website: Lowell Sun
