Negative Effects of Marijuana Legalization?

Kyle Schuh— America’s war on drugs has been destroying lives and hurting families around the world for decades now, with nothing to show for it but billions in debt, private prisons packed full of nonviolent drug “offenders,” an emerging police state, and for what?

People who use drugs are being unjustly discriminated against for their morally subjective actions by a government that is determined to control our lives right down to what we put in our bodies. So we can all agree that the situation right now is anything but desirable, but would legalization be the great liberation we imagine or could it be something much worse?

As I’ve said before the demon will be in the details when it comes to legalization. But what should we be wary of when supporting legalization bills? First of all, there is the question of a tax or “sin” tax on our weed.

Why are we so eager to pay a tax on this plant, when for years we’ve paid the overinflated prices caused by prohibition? Or what of the corporations? Do we really want factory rolled doobies with god-knows-what chemicals added?

And then there’s companies like Monsanto. It scares me to imagine what could happen to our tree of life if companies like Monsanto got the rights to genetically modify this plant simply because of some fine print we overlooked in the final hours before legalization.

There’s also the question of licensing; who gets to smoke it? Who gets to grow it? How much? If strict licensing is required then this really won’t be legalization; it will just be exchanging an old set of shackles or a new set. Or we might not be allowed to grow our own still, or may only be able to possess absurdly small amounts.

In addition, I am concerned by programs that aim to “Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol” because I believe this creates a false association with alcohol only furthering the confusion of the facts when it comes to drugs and alcohol, after all, anyone who has tried both weed and alcohol will know that both are extremely different states of mind with very different results on the individual.

I’m just saying that we should be wary of the bills we’re agreeing to before signing them; we must watch for bills that are falsely touted as promoting “full legalization.”

***Kyle Schuh is a contributing writer to GRANTJKIDNEY.com***

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