The recreational use of marijuana has been glamorized over the years by such on-screen duos as Cheech & Chong and Harold & Kumar, but is the drug everything that Hollywood makes it out to be? Then again, are we being hypocritical by allowing alcohol consumption but not cannabis usage? With passionate believers on both sides of the argument, it will be interesting to see what happens when the smoke clears.
The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 98 million Americans — 40 percent of the U.S. population age 12 or older — have used cannabis during their lives, and relatively few have suffered deleterious health effects because of their use. Criminalizing these millions of otherwise law-abiding Americans is expensive, engenders disrespect for the law, and alienates large numbers of the population — particularly young people.
A wiser and long-overdue national policy would tax and regulate cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol — with the drug’s sale and use restricted to specific markets and consumers. While such an alternative may not entirely eliminate the black market demand for pot, it would certainly be preferable to today’s blanket, though thoroughly ineffective, expensive, and impotent criminal prohibition.
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