Marijuana: Still a "Threat to Our People"?

Reading the recent report by Ryan Grim, "Kristof Asks Readers: Should US Legalize Drugs?" I instantly thought of what President Reagan told his advisers in his first NSC meeting as President of the United States. According to the recently declassified NSC meeting minutes, published on www.thereaganfiles.com, Reagan said:

"This drug problem has been on my mind. We are only now learning of the harmful effects of marijuana, frequently from those people who once favored its use. Drugs are a threat to our people. Once we have made progress in improving the Jamaican economy, we should make termination of the drug trade as our quid pro quo."

Yes, "drugs" are a threat, as Reagan said, but classifying "marijuana" into the category of drugs that are "a threat to our people" doesn't feel right.

Marijuana is a gateway drug, so say the opponents of legalizing pot: once people start using marijuana, they are more likely to start using harder drugs, like cocaine, ecstasy, and so on. I don't buy that argument. If we as a society really want to go to the source and stop the "gateway" drugs, we need to start with alcohol and cigarettes.

Some will argue that I'm making an unfair comparison -- alcohol or cigarettes to marijuana -- but I don't think so. Someone drunk from excessive alcohol, and for some people I know that means just one drink, walking and talking is a challenge, let alone getting behind the wheel of a car. Smoking cigarettes, of course, does not impair one's motor skills like alcohol, but that does not mean that cigarettes aren't a drug -- people smoke for the enjoyment of smoking (and because they are addicted) despite the fact that smoking kills. We all know the statistics on smokers and cancer, and the impact these numbers are having on our health care system.

In fact, talking about alcohol versus marijuana use with law enforcement people I know, they all agreed that drinking and driving is a much more dangerous threat on the road than someone who is driving and high. These law enforcement people pointed out that people who drink and drive are much more aggressive drivers than those who smoke marijuana and drive, and are therefore much more likely to cause car accidents.

On a side note, I have friends, highly educated with MBAs and PhDs, who smoke regularly, and in fact say that they do some of their best work after smoking marijuana. I know these friends to be good people who are working to improve society, like finding a cure for cancer. I understand that people like that are the exception, but that doesn't mean these well-functioning "pot-heads" shouldn't also have their say in the debate.

A clinical psychologist friend of mine reminded me that marijuana is also a downer and that people tend to get depressed after its use. Thus, they tend to use and smoke more just to get back to that state of not being depressed, often resulting in a dangerous self-perpetuating cycle where they smoke in order to simply not feel depressed. I don't know.

But, personal experience, and by that I mean traveling in Europe, and in particular Holland (oh how I love Amsterdam!!), where smoking marijuana is permissible though technically illegal, and Switzerland, where selling is legal but smoking is not (makes no sense to me, so please correct me if I'm wrong here), both countries have low crimes rates and are fantastic places to live. Amsterdam is somewhat of an exception in that parts of the city, like its famous red light district, are places I would not want to be after dark for safety reasons, but like I said, that is the exception, and, at the end of the day, I'd rather be in the worst parts of Switzerland or Holland than in the worst parts of New York, Los Angeles or just about any major city in the United States.

As President Reagan said, "drugs are a threat to our people," but that threat is not from marijuana. Even if it is not time to go forward with legalizing marijuana, the moment has arrived where we need to stop thinking of marijuana as the "threat to our people" that President Reagan once preached, and that many still argue.

Comments

[James Boyd 1]

It never was a threat.

[scottportraits]

This seems to have become a very important issue to many American citizens. There are many seriously ill people who are going without a medicine that could help them immensely. Yet the FDA, DEA, and AMA keep insisting it has no medical value.
If 'smoking' it is the real issue, then please let's develop new delivery systems like inhalers, nasal sprays, trans-dermal patches, liquid gel caps, extracts, tinctures, and the like. Then, scientists and doctors can really start studying it seriously without special interests and big government interfering with their hypocritical biases and 19th century puritanical morality.
Let's also not forget that marijuana laws have provided police and law enforcement for almost a century a sound pretext to persecute and victimize many youngsters and adults from low-income minority communities. They get to start an arrest jacket; get fingerprints, DNA, photographs, handwriting samples, and all the stats including address, employer, friends, and family. The pot-smoker is now 'in the system' and they can routinely and sedulously try to get that first, second, or third strike with such a tool.
I always thought the law should be a shield to protect the weak, the poor, the sickly, and those who cannot protect and defend themselves. It should NOT be a weapon, like it has been used here in the case of cannabis.
It's time for change. Let's turn the law back into a shield and stop using it as a weapon against minorities and the disenfranchised.

[Jason Saltoun-Ebin - Huffpost Blogger]

In case anyone is interested, I was just sent this a Congressional Research Service Report on Medical Marijuana laws. The report was completed in March but apparently just released. The report is found on the Federation of American Scientists website, at: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/06/crs_state_secrets.html

Look towards the bottom of the page:
"Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies," March 31, 2009.

[TomSawyer]

lets legalize it! it will significantly help everyone's quality of life, regardless of the specifics of a policy debate!

[jsoutofbiblepgs]

e) It is time to go forward with legalizing marijuana. And all drugs. Again, empirical data is our friend. The data will show that countries that have liberal drug laws have lower rates of use. Look at Portugal – they legalized drugs (not just MJ) in 2001 and drug use has declined while more people are in rehab and getting help – not scared of being imprisoned for a behavior that is in reality a symptom of a deeper underlying physiological or psychological problem.

I hear on the news how Mexico is completely f’ed because of the drug trade. If the U.S. were to legalize drugs, so much drug-related violent crime would be eliminated overnight – the drug lords would be put out of business. Is legalizing drugs going to solve all our problems? No, but it will make a huge dent. Not to mention save the dozens of billions of futile dollars the government spends each year – money that we now so desperately need.

I’ll be retiring now so I can go smoke a bowl and wake up for my 8am final in neurobiology! I’m going to get an A.

[jerzygrl]

Amen!!! Hope you got that A, Doc!!! ; )

[Bucket-Of-Love]

Many marijuana smokers who light up know of the anti-depressant effect of the drug -- it's a primary reason for its use. One day science will offer proof of pot's anti-depressant effect.

The number of cases of depression among the population, according to studies, is significant. And that is only for those that admit to it and/or seek treatment. One study puts anti-depressant drugs as the largest subscribed class of drugs in the US. The side-effects of many of these drugs is also significant. One Swedish study shows that in suicides among women, 52% were on anti-depressant medications. These points and more can be readily confirmed by a Google search.

From the above I conclude that depression is 1) not well understood; 2) will remain misunderstood; 3) not well treated; 4) complicated by stigma; 5) a boon to the pharmaceutical industry.

Marijuana is characteristically misunderstood, scapegoated to mask lack of understanding and knowledge about treatment of depression, and politicized. Those who want to use it are not dissuaded from its use whatsoever by the laws in place, thus making the laws arbitrary and outdated. The cases of reckless and violent behavior due to alcohol far outstrip such behavior caused by the use of marijuana.

The argument against marijuana is a red herring and is politically driven.

Furthermore, hemp as a food and industrial crop is a no-brainer, yet remains an opportunity lost.

[BWK]

"A clinical psychologist friend of mine reminded me that marijuana is also a downer and that people tend to get depressed after its use. Thus, they tend to use and smoke more just to get back to that state of not being depressed, often resulting in a dangerous self-perpetuating cycle where they smoke in order to simply not feel depressed. I don't know."

It is more likely that depressed people self medicate with Cannabis than Cannabis is causing the depression. After all they get better after using Cannabis don't they ? I wonder if depressed people will get depressed if they stop using Pharmaceutical drugs to treat depression ? and if so does that also mean the the pharmaceutical drugs are causing the depression ?

[todd432]

Legalize!

[soccermom]

This article is simply unfounded speculation and random contradictory ideas--well educated people smoke pot but that is the minority, Amsterdam is safe--except for some areas, driving while smoking pot is just fine--pot causes a cycle of depression--alcohol and cigarettes are more gateway drugs than pot-- How does the author know these things? He's talked to a few people, not named, and traveled in Europe, and this is not a coherent argument about whether or not marijuana is harmful. Please do some research on both sides and try again.

[anrole]

I think you need to re-read the article. The argument is coherent enough in saying that marijuana is not a threat to the people of the United States. I'm assuming by your tone, though,that you have some cognitive dissonance towards arguments that shy away from reefer madness.

Let me ask you, do you honestly think your child will gain less exposure to marijuana under the current system where drug dealers control the industry versus a legalized and regulated one in which licensed storefronts control it? Drug dealers don't ask for I.D ma'am.

[SinfullySublime]

"I understand that people like that are the exception ..."

For all we know, "people like that" are the rule.

[TequilaMockingbird]

The ideas presented are based on research that has already been done.. a cursory google will provide you with reams of information ..

Stop pretending as if these were new radical ideas about marijuana.. It has been proven beyond speculation that Marijuana is quite the healthful natural substance for a myriad of ills and if one happens to enjoy something so beneficial wouldn't it be a bit malicious to penalize that..? Seems a bit ridiculous to say it is fine to smoke but only if your life is threatened and You Better Not Enjoy It!!

It is the ills of prohibition which have given Marijuana a bad reputation by associating it with harder drugs simply by it's very illegality.. Of course if one is forced to visit a drug dealer for Marijuana it certainly increases the chances to be sold on another avenue of profit by the Dealer.. See Big Pharma for the best drug dealing model EVER!!

Does it really take a term paper or a genius to figure that out?

[jway]

After *seventy* years of prohibition there are currently an estimated 15 million regular marijuana users in this country. The prohibition has **failed** to curb marijuana use. We've given it plenty of time to prove itself and it has failed. End it.

For all the billions we pay into it every year it doesn't improve our lives in any way. We are no better off than if we'd allowed bars to sell marijuana under the same laws as alcohol.

What the prohibition does do is divert $7 billion to the Mexican drug cartels every year. They protect this income with violence, killing more than 6,000 people last year and another 2,600 so far this year. This is outrageous! People are dying for no reason.

Save a life, end the cartel killings. Tell your legislators to legalize the production and sale of marijuana to adults!!

[JoeTHePipecleaner]

Well stated my good Sir! Prohibition v2.0 has been nothing short of an abysmal failure. Billions spent since 1971 and all we have to show for it are skyrocketing incarceration rates and an increasing amount of harder drugs on the streets more accesible to our youth than regulated alcohol. Ignorance is the Gateway to a dysfunctional life.

[ChiefMojoRisin]

Try reading Jack Herer's book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes." He's done 33 years worth of research and interviews and compiled it all in a nice, easy to read format.
He even offers half of his book, free to read, online.
Check it out at jackherer.com
It will motivate you to get involved!
Don't buy. Grow your own! Peace!