Recently I took a trip to southern California and I encountered a revolutionary idea. The idea of recreational marijuana being legalized nationwide.
As I walked down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the unmistakable smell of weed filled my nose. As is customary, I looked around quickly to see if my nose was correct. I was surprised to find a man walking around with a blunt hanging proudly from his lips. The man made eye contact with me and completely disregarded my surprise. Despite his nonchalance, the encounter sparked a discussion within me. There was this man, walking around, proudly smoking marijuana and continuing in the public eye under the influence. Just how much danger was I in for being in such close quarters with him? Should I have worried about if he had a weapon? Should I thank my lucky stars because I encountered someone who was high and survived?
The truth is that the laws regarding the illegality of/danger of marijuana are antiquated. Many will argue that being intoxicated by alcohol and being intoxicated with weed are completely different. Freakonomics.com actually produced a podcast in April of 2014 describing the effects of marijuana vs the effects of alcohol on others vs the user. David Nutt, "a former Drug Czar" and British Psychiatrist, and his colleagues constructed a "harm score" graph that ranks drugs based on their harm to others and their harm to others. The description below the graph describes and explains how the numbers are found.
As you can see, both alcohol and tobacco are ranked above cannabis. The blue section of the bar graph refers to the harm to users (which can range from physical harm to lost sleep and lowered productivity) and the red section of the bar graph refers to harm to others (ranging from lowered productivity to bodily harm). Alcohol's 72 to cannabis' 20 shows the distinct difference in the "danger" of cannabis; as does tobacco's rating of 26 to cannabis' 20.
Alcohol is proven to be substantially more dangerous to the user's health than cannabis. Alcohol use can lead to death by alcohol overdoses, brain damages, a higher risk for a number of cancers, alcohol is much more addictive due to potentially fatal physical withdrawal symptoms, and alcohol has been shown to increase risk-taking behavior according to Salon.com.
All of these stats about alcohol's deteriorating side effects and yet it is still legal? But the drug that doesn't threaten your life is still illegal in 46 states?
Despite the health differences, marijuana arrests account for 8.2 million of nationwide arrests between 2001 and 2010, according to the ACLU. Each arrest costs around 2,000 dollars, according to this New York City drug policy(4). If you would like the math, that costs taxpayers $16.4 million. This money was wasted on arrests that could have been made on child molesters, murderers, thieves, etc. This was time that was wasted on people who possessed less than 2 ounces of weed.
The fact is that America is wasting manpower, money, time, and effort on tracking down those who possess weed instead of investing those resources in a place that matters. Weed should be at least decriminalized as an attempt to move forward as a society.
