Pushing Pot

The national attempt to make marijuana a legal substance on the same plain as alcohol is now a frenzy in the United States. Eight states that have passed initiatives to legalize non medical sales of pot, California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Maine, Colorado and Massachusetts. More states have measures on the ballot for their stoned voters to approve.  It probably reflects the change in social mores and folkways today, but I don't get it. Why would any adult want to legalize another intoxicant that says, "Go ahead, Kids. Smoke that joint?"

In my view kids are the main victims when making recreational drugs legal. Society sends the message that drug use is normal and a part of a mature adult's life. Sadly, the harm caused by drug use is rarely even debated anymore, from the endless number of lives lost to car accidents caused by drivers were were high at the time, to the physical, mental and emotional damage pot does to humans. But in this age, if something is trendy and endorsed by cultural favorites like celebrities, then drug use, even drug abuse is sanctioned.

Politicians are intimidated by the pot head drug legalization movement. They are no longer a weak minority. Sixty percent of Americans now believe that pot should be legal. Politicians now speak of the tax revenue marijuana brings to their voting districts or the crazy equivalence that "pot is no worse than alcohol" for the user. That politicians now openly support legalizing more recreational drugs and still get elected is a reflection of the new order in the world. Pot is highly addictive. In places like Holland, where pot has been legal for some time, social problems have increased dramatically. Too, pot is bad for mental health and even degrades brain structure and memory. It is even more toxic than smoking cigarettes, and heavy use of it correlates with failure in work and in life. Yet the hear no evil, see no evil money mentality predominates among pot supporters.

People who want to legalize and sell marijuana and politicians who want to tax it, mislead voters about pot's health consequences. But then, maybe too many of us are already too loaded to realize or care.