The Cannabis Debate...

Over the weekend, a rather lengthy profile of President Obama was featured in the current issue and on the website of the New Yorker magazine. Within that interview, the President weighed in on the marijuana debate which read in part:

“As has been well-documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol...It’s not something I encourage, and I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy.” 

People's reactions regarding his comments have run the gamut from people agreeing with his statements to people thinking that he said that we should all become cannibals in order to get more protein into our diets. Seeing as it's been on my mind today, I thought I'd give my two cents worth on the marijuana debate.

There are a couple laws in this country that I have always believed should be abolished: one is the criminalization of prostitution and two, the illegality of cannabis. I won't get into my reasoning for why I think prostitution should be legal as there are too many Puritanical people out there to have a rational debate. Besides, George Carlin explains the prostitution issue better than I ever could. But I will say that I think marijuana should be decriminalized.

Do I have "reefer madness"? No, I don't smoke - not even when I was going through chemotherapy and a toke or two would have helped with the nausea. Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of partaking of weed in the past, but it's not something that I have any desire to do anymore. I never really liked it to begin with and it was sheer peer pressure that got me doing the little amount that I did. Therefore, I'm not someone who wants it legalized for their own usage.

No, I just don't understand why it's illegal. Marijuana is a naturally growing plant and making something that is natural illegal is unnatural. No matter what some opponents say, marijuana is not and has never been a "gateway" drug. Also, if it were to be legalized, there wouldn't suddenly be an uptick of people smoking pot, just because it's legal. Those smokers will smoke it no matter what; same for the non-smokers (think: tobacco). Marijuana is not a lethal drug and is safer than alcohol (that's where Obama got it wrong - it's safer not as safe as alcohol). Generally the worse thing that happens to someone getting high is the munchies. That's got to be good for the economy. Speaking of the economy, the government would make a fortune off of the taxation of marijuana and would lead to some relief from an already overburdened criminal system.  

The list of reasons to legalize pot is pretty endless. Colorado and Washington have made the leap into the future in the marijuana debate and it's time that the rest of the country joins them.  But as I said, it's just my two cents worth...