Marijuana is Safer…

Had an excellent discussion with my SDR (Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll) class yesterday about the book Marijuana is Safer, which was their assigned reading for the week.  For those of you unfamiliar with the book, the authors pose a great question “Marijuana is safer, so why are we driving people to drink?”

The authors lay out a fantastic, logical and “smart on crime” discussion about the legalization of marijuana.  An objective research based comparison of alcohol and marijuana reveals marijuana to be a significantly safer intoxicant and yet nearly every message in our society tells us that alcohol consumption is acceptable while marijuana is not.

Last semester I was having a discussion with an Intro Soc student, Marie, about my SDR course when another student overheard us.  Her visceral reaction was the same as many Americans:  of course marijuana should not be legal.  However, when pressed for reasons why she couldn’t seem to get past the knee jerk reaction that “drugs are bad.”  I encouraged her to read up on the subject because it was pretty likely that most of what she knew about marijuana was wrong.

I started yesterday’s class by asking what my class thought of the book.  One of the first reactions was “if this is true and policy makers know this to be true, then why isn’t marijuana legal?”  This turned out to be a great jumping off point for a nearly two hour well educated discussion.   At the end I asked them how many of them thought marijuana should be legalized and the overwhelming majority thought it should.  What happened next was revealing.

I asked “what are you going to do about it?”   Some seemed distinterested in taking action themselves while others immediately began discussing what it takes to get a referdum on the ballot here in MA.  I drew some parallels to their newly found knowledge and uncertainty about what they could do to politicians who have the same information but fail to act upon it.

Now, grant them some leniency as they are freshman in college and for many of them it is the first time someone has asked them what THEY can do, but nonetheless, it reflects a general attitude in our society where many don’t think about what they can do to enact change in society.

All evidence points to the fact that we are at a tipping point in society with regard to the legalization of marijuana.  Polls indicating every increasing public support of both medical marijuana and outright legalization. California is currently debating legislation to regulate and tax cannabis. Despite empirical evidence of marijuana’s relative safety, despite public support for legalization, our legislators and policy makers may be failing to act because we as citizen fails to make our opinions know.  So take a moment and whether you agree with me or not let your representatives know where you stand on this issue or whatever issue about which you feel passionate.