Parents for Pot: Part II

Continued from Part I. 
Replacing Binge-Drinking
Doctors regularly debate how dangerous marijuana actually is. Some argue THC, the active stimulant in marijuana, evolved with man and became natural to our bodies — they claim anti-marijuana doctors engage in “psychopharmacological McCarthyism” when focusing on side effects other than obvious respiratory issues caused by smoking it. These anti-marijuana doctors claim marijuana causes brain damage related to depression, neurosis, and insomnia. Whatever stance you take, one fact can be accepted: marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol or Tylenol, and probably safer. While it’s best to keep all mind-altering substances away from kids, marijuana might be the least harmful drug.
Some parents do not care how safe marijuana is, as it remains a drug; however, many activists point out kids could use marijuana instead of booze. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, talked about the choices parents make in an interview with the HPR: “Outside of abstinence, would parents rather their kids use marijuana or binge drink alcohol? Most parents can remember these choices, and they consider this quandary and they acknowledge readily that they’d rather kids occasionally using marijuana based on the pharmacology.” St. Pierre went on to describe why, explaining marijuana makes kids hungry and sleepy, while alcohol can cause fatal decisions. Tens of thousands of people die every year due to alcohol poisoning; just under a thousand pass away annually due to Tylenol; but never in recorded history has there been a marijuana overdose.
Safer Use
Right now, smokers often buy marijuana without knowing exactly what it contains; it could be one of the many strains of cannabis, synthetic THC, or cannabis mixed with other drugs. On the other hand, medical marijuana dispensaries let clients pick precise strengths, strains, flavors, and form. Similar to how laws determine the strengths at which alcohol and tobacco are sold, regulation could keep marijuana use controlled. With hundreds of strains of cannabis, it’s important for informed consumers to know what they are smoking; 80% of drug-related deaths result from impurities.
Marijuana does not present any plausible risk of overdose, but it increases one’s risk of coronaries and some ailments. Though inebriated people are welcome in the ER for treatment, some under the influence of marijuana refuse to seek treatment for fear of repercussions. Legalization can therefore turn a criminal issue into a medical one; if high school or college kids are worried about potential side effects but have done nothing illegal, they might be more inclined to visit health services to receive treatment. Colleges that have implemented amnesty policies for those who willingly turn themselves in for alcohol treatment have seen significant reductions in serious alcohol-related issues, and doing the same through legalization of marijuana could allow for treatment of drug-induced issues on a national scale.
Further, doctors know a decent amount about marijuana but are constantly looking to discover more in hopes of allowing even safer use. One obstacle in conducting research is their inability to obtain the drug. While other countries have conducted some studies, the only way for American researchers to secure marijuana legally is through the Drug Enforcement Agency. Dr. Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies told the HPR about his ongoing 11-year legal battle to acquire the drug for research. The group, working alongside Amherst’s Lyle Cracker, applied to the DEA and has faced continuous stalling. The DEA has generally only approved studies that promote its own political agenda (i.e., marijuana should not be legalized), and therefore researchers have made limited progress on medical treatments for those who use marijuana recreationally.
The “Cool” Factor
“If you tell a child she can’t have a cookie, she’ll want a cookie.” It’s a simple, time-tested idea. History supports this assertion: during prohibition, alcohol usage rose significantly, especially among children. This occurred in spite of decreasing alcohol use among all demographics in the years leading into prohibition — saying no simply made the problem worse. Though many anti-marijuana advocates predict legalization would increase marijuana use, outside observers, including Harvard professor Jeff Miron, have given statistical analysis arguing overall use would decrease in the long run. Claims that legalization would cause a short period of heavy use have not been refuted, but similar claims regarding ending prohibition did not come true.
To draw another parallel to the Prohibition Era, concerned mothers were the leaders in the fight for prohibition. And according to Daniel Okrent’s “Last Call,” their changing opinion on how best to keep their kids safe precipitated the final push towards ending prohibition — after which, of course, alcohol use started to decrease once again. If the same holds true for marijuana, it could go from being “cool” to just being.
Preventing Worse Drugs
Many anti-legalization proponents counter all this research and historical evidence with a reasonable theory: marijuana is a gateway drug, leading users to experiment and become dependent on cocaine, heroin, and more harmful drugs as they continuously search for a better high. As logical and anecdotal as this argument is, studies have debunked it entirely. Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project told the HPR that the gateway drug theory has “been disproven by every scientist that’s looked at it in the last ten years. Anything can be a gateway. Prohibition is the real gateway itself — going to dealers exposes you to other drugs you otherwise wouldn’t come across.” A University of Michigan study confirmed that for every 102 people who use marijuana, only one will use hard drugs; it determined the actual gateway drug to be alcohol, while other groups have identified tobacco. Thus, Fox has a point — if marijuana were legalized, and treated like other recreational drugs, there could be a greater barrier between mild and potent drugs.
Use, Not Abuse
The crux of the parent’s argument for legalization focuses on controlling abuse, not use. While it was once argued attempting to prevent use would prevent abuse, empirical evidence has shown use is itself unpreventable. Rather, convincing kids to use responsibly or not at all can be a better means of controlling the true problem. Not only has the War on Drugs pulled resources that otherwise could be used to actually alleviate drug problems, but the government has also been limited in the scope of what it can do. With marijuana effectively decriminalized (meaning illegal, but not enforced) in large parts of the country, the laws do little at the moment but prevent responsible behaviors for users and non-users alike. Thus, actions to reduce the downsides of marijuana often do not happen. Parents for a long time have rightly not wanted their kids to use drugs and have consequently supported efforts to prevent use. New information, however, has revealed more nuisances. Those who are worried about drug use, and not merely opposed to it on moral grounds, have more arguments than ever that the solution to the drug problem might be a paradox: legalize drugs to make society safer.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons