Marijuana has always been consumed for many different reasons, but now the drug – especially in its medicinal form – has officially gone mainstream. Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana and some dispensaries have reported a 300 percent sales increase since Barack Obama was elected president. Yet as more marijuana clubs dot the landscape and pot transforms from taboo to acceptable, how will that affect young people? Will parents struggle to explain why pot is permissible in certain instances but not in others? Will kids do more drugs?
If the experience of Holland is any example, making cannabis available more widely, albeit for medical reasons, will likely have no impact or if it does change anything it may reduce use as counter-intuitive as this may seem.? We humans are hard to figure out sometimes...
It strikes me as humorous that we are making such a big deal about allowing a very safe drug to be made more available when the two most dangerous ones -- alcohol and nicotine -- are glamorously promoted, and lethal pharmaceuticals are a regular headline these days.
Wouldn't that be great if cannibis could be made more available, politicians could quietly cross their fingers that it would surplant use of alcohol and nicotine as well as more dangerous pharmaceuticals, and the net impact would be dramatically improved public health.? It may take a bold and science-led leader like Barack to approach such a thing...god knows most would rather posture than look at science's century of conclusions about cannabis -- never caused an overdose death, very minimal chance for dependence compared to all other drugs.? Society could improve health even more if we could avoid any distortion/glamorization/demonization of its true impact and then tax it and dedicate such revenues to educating people about it and making assistance readily available for people having any cannabis-related problems...
New millennium...new mistakes...
Next Argument
Biweekly updates on new debates and experts
Please check your email to confirm your subscription.
© 2008 Opposing Views, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Opposing Views, Inc. is not responsible for the content posted on this website. Please view full disclaimer under Terms
Expert Verified
