War on the War on Drugs

When I started writing this column a little more than a year ago, I thought medical marijuana was a thinly veiled cover for folks who wanted to legalize the substance. Not that I opposed the notion, nor did I doubt that marijuana has medical value — I've seen it stop nausea in people who couldn't keep any food down and I've seen people who were wasting away get an appetite. But I saw the overall marijuana drama as something of an amusing middle-class cause that really didn't mean much in the big picture. I also saw an explosion of marijuana-related storefronts around town and thought there was money to be made.

My perspective has changed over the past year. Yes, there are profiteers and people who just want to get high among the medical marijuana fold, but I believe the vast majority of people working in the field are sincere. Even if their ultimate goal is legalization, they see that at least protecting people who are sick and need the medicine is a sincere and effective step. 

Even further, I now believe that ending marijuana prohibition has the potential to make so many positive changes in the United States that legalization can't wait. Here's why:

The War on Drugs is lost

The War on Drugs is an utter and farcical failure. It was doomed from the start because it was developed counter to the scientific evidence available at the time and was conceived of as a political tool against President Richard Nixon's enemies. Since it kicked off in 1972, the country has spent $1 trillion on this failed policy, 37 million people have been arrested for drugs (10 million for marijuana) yet more people use drugs than ever before, illegal drugs are readily available in practically every community, most of the violence associated with drugs is due to their illegality, and foreign drug cartels routinely bring illegal drugs across our national borders in amounts that police are incapable of slowing down. When it comes to the War on Drugs we're flushing money down the toilet. 

Marijuana is safe medicine

And if you doubt that people are sick and need medication, look at the $300 billion a year (according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism) we spend on pharmaceutical drugs. The pharmaceutical industry is among the nation's most profitable. On the way to those profits in 2010, according to statistics from the Food and Drug Administration, there were 82,774 deaths and 471,291 serious outcomes (i.e. death, hospitalization, life-threatening, disability, congenital anomaly) were attributed to prescription drug mistakes. In comparison, there has never been a reported marijuana overdose death. Not only is it safe, but the most common side effect is you get a bit of euphoria. OK, you can get dry throat too, but that beats the long list of negative side effects listed for most medications on TV commercials.

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