Should the U.S. Legalize Marijuana?

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It's telling that the author utilizes the vague and ultimately meaningless phrase "recent studies" when referring to the laundry-list of alleged health hazards posed by cannabis. Notably, however, he provides no actual references to said studies. Perhaps they're so "recent," they've yet to be published.

A more likely explanation for the author's dearth of supporting data is that scientists[1] and government-sponsored commissions[2] have consistently determined that marijuana poses less risks to health than the use of alcohol or tobacco, and that it's relative risks to the user do not warrant its continued criminal prohibition -- a policy that has led to the arrest of more than 10 million US citizens since 1990, yet has had little-to-no impact on discouraging marijuana use.

In fact, almost all drugs – including those that are legal – pose greater threats to individual health and/or society than does marijuana. According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 46,000 people die each year from alcohol-induced deaths (not including motor vehicle fatalities where alcohol impairment was a contributing factor), such as overdose and cirrhosis. Similarly, more than 440,000 premature deaths annually are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is non-toxic and cannot cause death by overdose. In a large-scale population study of marijuana use and mortality published in the American Journal of Public Health, marijuana use, even long-term, showed no causal effect on mortality.[3]

After an exhaustive, federally commissioned study by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999 examining all of marijuana’s potential health risks, authors concluded that aside from the minor risks associated with smoking -- risks that can be mitigated or eliminated by utilizing alternate methods of drug delivery such as vaporization[4] -- "adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range tolerated for other medications.”[5] The IOM further added, “There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use.”[6]

This is why numerous federally commissioned reports have endorsed marijuana’s relative safety compared to other drugs, and have recommended its decriminalization or legalization.[7] Virtually all of these commissions have concluded that the criminal classification of cannabis is disproportionate in relation both to its inherent harmfulness, and to the harmfulness of other substances. In short, by far the greatest danger to health posed by the use of marijuana stems from a criminal arrest and/or conviction.

See Citations Below.