Legalize it: A Sober Argument for Marijuana

Government's decision to restrict the possession, use and sale of marijuana is an obvious breach of personal liberties, and as do all regulative commercial policies, effects a market distortion which Adam Smith's invisible hand of capitalism would inevitably bitch-slap across the face.

Beyond the apparent libertarian arguments, however, lies another set of equally compelling reasons why cannabis laws are just another example of extraneous, and ultimately adverse, government interference.


1. Thugs Profit From Pot's Illicit Status. Again, this is an argument that would make Adam Smith proud. Demand for weed is high enough that many consumers are willing to risk the legal consequences of smoking. Because of this, laws restricting marijuana use have no deterrent effect, they merely alter the specifics of the production and sales processes. Market corruptions like these always inflict unsavory results. In this case, every genre of scumbag from the drug lord to the local gangster is allowed to prosper at the expense of qualified and competent individuals who could easily reinvent the market as a profitable industry (if it weren't for that whole legalization thing...) This transaction venue is ridiculous as well as unnecessary and leads to our second truth...

2. Marijuana's Illegality Inspires the Use of More Harmful Drugs. We've all heard that marijuana is a gateway drug. Although this trite statement is accurate, the details of its accuracy would shock most of those who deploy it as an argument for maintaining the current laws. In fact, it is the drug's status as illegal that encourages one to step further into the abyss of habitual recreational drug use.

Inherently, marijuana does not serve as a "gateway drug". For every 100 pot smokers in the United States, only one does cocaine. Additionally, labeling the drug as such confuses causality for correlation. Obviously an individual with a worldview/belief system/penchant for risky behavior or other unlisted impetus for smoking pot would be more likely to manifest these operative characteristics than a non-smoker.

Therefore, the only factor encouraging marijuana users to... um... expand their horizons is the shady marketplace environment created by the oppressive laws against the substance as the dealers are far more likely than most non-dealers to encourage additional mind-altering excursions.

3. Legalizing Weed Will Reduce Crime. Opponents of legalization will claim that marijuana leads to crime, but that crime is directly related the substance's ill advised prohibition. Legalizing 4.20 would make the drug far more accessible thus lowering the price and scarcity, and erasing the necessity of criminal activity for its acquisition.

Additionally, a police force burdened with unsolved murders and rapes has absolutely no business expending resources in attempts to address illegal activity which can only be classified by such via the existence of unjustly restrictive laws, especially when the sale and use of marijuana is a personal choice which per se inflicts no harm on others.

Finally, the thugs who profit from the drug's illegality would be unable to finance their gangster operations, and would obviously see the error of their ways and become healthy, productive member of society. Most, in fact, would employ their expertise of the drug by working at pharmacies or other venues which specialize in the legal sale of marijuana.

A final argument will address the preposterous assertion that weed use decreases motivation and erodes ability. I wrote this high. Just Kidding. But I really don't think it does.