We Need Not Legitimize, Glorify Self-Destructive Behavior By Kevin A. Sabet<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: this commentary is in response to the various US ballot initiatives for marijuana legalization at the state level this year (\u201cNovember Ballots Offer Wave of Marijuana Legalization\u201d). Mike Liszewski has offered acounter-perspective, in favor of legalization.<\/p>\n
Remember Big Tobacco? Say hello to Big Marijuana. That\u2019s what we\u2019re about to et if we continue to legalize marijuana here in the United States. Despite warnings from groups like the American Medical Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, and National School Nurses Association, legalization is all about the mighty dollar \u2014 the money to be made by big marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n
Legalization is a simplistic solution to an incredibly complex program. Indeed, we are ushering in a massive, profit-hungry industry, promoting addiction by commercializing and marketing the drug to our most vulnerable.<\/p>\n
In Colorado, which began retail marijuana sales on January 1, Big Marijuana has already begun to emerge. Pot purveyors are selling candies, \u201cring pots,\u201d cookies, and brownies. They are creating networks for investors and entrepreneurs in the marijuana industry, holding special \u201cshark tank\u201d fundraising sessions. A former Microsoft executive recently announced enthusiastically that he intends to create the \u201cStarbucks of marijuana,\u201d ultimately \u201cmint[ing] more millionaires than Microsoft.\u201d Another investor promises to become \u201cthe Philip Morris of marijuana.\u201d And now these various venture capitalists have come together to hire lobbying groups to advocate for marijuana businesses in countless state capitals and in Washington DC.<\/p>\n
The Big Marijuana playbook takes its cue from Big Tobacco: hire doctors to promote cigarettes as medicine, downplay harms, infiltrate political leadership, and target kids \u2014 since they will be your lifelong customers.<\/p>\n
Why should the establishment of another for-profit industry like alcohol and tobacco, that relies on addiction and heavy use, be cause for concern? First, legalizing marijuana would completely normalize use, especially among kids. And this is something we should care about: the marijuana our kids use today is five to six times stronger than what it was in the 1960s and \u201870s (resulting in addiction for one in every six 16 year olds who ever try it). New methods of ingestion such as butane hash oil vaporization (or \u201cdabbing\u201d) are responsible for a growing number of hospital visits and overdoses.<\/p>\n
Though it is true that a majority of those who use marijuana will not become addicted, a significant number of users will suffer a great deal of harm in the form of a IQ reduction, mental illness, poor learning outcomes, lung damage, car crashes, addiction, and emergency room admissions related to acute panic attacks and psychotic episodes.<\/p>\n
History suggests that the societal costs that accompany increased marijuana use will significantly outweigh any gains in tax revenue. Our experience with alcohol and tobacco shows that for every one dollar gained in taxes, 10 dollars are lost in social costs. In Colorado, tax revenue from the first six months of legal sales is falling well short of previous projections.<\/p>\n
We should reject any simplistic solutions that fit on a bumper sticker. Neither \u201clock em\u2019 up\u201d or \u201clegalize\u201d is an intelligent way to address such a complex issue. Let\u2019s focus on strategies that work \u2014 drug prevention, justice reform, drug-treatment courts, and smart policing practices \u2014 and implement smart approaches to marijuana. Kevin A. Sabet (@KevinSabet) holds a PhD from Oxford University and is the president and cofounder, with former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).<\/p>\n
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