GRIM REEFER ISN'T SO SCARY

Marijuana Isn't Part Of The Drug Culture, And We Should Decriminalize It

Events in Ottawa clearly indicate the Canadian Parliament will soon
decriminalize the use of marijuana. When this happens, the recreational use
of marijuana will remain illegal but will not result in the user having a
criminal record. That is, being caught consuming marijuana will soon be
like getting a speeding ticket - an act that clearly breaks the law but
does not result in a criminal record.

Many people will be worried by this move because they believe marijuana is
a drug, part of the drug culture, and decriminalizing it might mean we are
giving in to the drug culture.

But is marijuana part of the drug culture? Is it a drug in the sense that
heroin is a drug?

Well, a substance like marijuana, which is not itself damaging to health or
character, should be considered part of the drug culture only if it leads
to the use of those destructive drugs that will either damage a person's
health or lead to an unhealthy life style. Is marijuana such a substance?

Does not lead to hard drugs

Surprisingly - and I say "surprisingly" because I believed otherwise for a
long time - marijuana does not lead to the use of hard drugs, the ones that
damage body and mind. Marijuana is not a gateway drug, and this is based on
reliable research.

Marijuana does share many of the qualities of hard drugs: it produces a
high, it is illegal, it is widely disapproved of, and it has the image of
being part of the drug culture. You would expect such a drug to be damaging
to health or mind, or to entice people who enjoy it to try hard drugs. We
think of those who smoke marijuana as drug users.

But numerous studies have shown marijuana users are no more likely to pass
on to hard drugs than anyone else. The fact that someone smokes weed is not
going to predispose them to use the hard, or dangerous, drugs. It just
doesn't affect people like that.

But this is less surprising when you remember there are other drugs that
give you a high but do not lead to the use of drugs such as cocaine.

Alcohol and tobacco are the prime examples of such non-gateway drugs. Both
are addictive, and both give a light high (like marijuana), but neither is
a gateway drug to hard drugs. The fact that someone is smoking or drinking
is surely not an indication they are significantly more likely to be on
cocaine during the next year than anyone else who does not smoke or drink.
Well, marijuana is like tobacco and alcohol in this regard - except that,
unlike them, it is not physically addictive.

For this reason we should reasonably prefer marijuana - that is, fear it
less than alcohol or tobacco. In other words, marijuana does not belong in
our idea of the drug culture.

I think that makes a difference.

So there are two key ideas here: first, that marijuana is not a dangerous
substance; second, it is not part of the drug culture - no more than
alcohol or tobacco are. In fact, of course, it should be seen as less
threatening than either.

So the concerns we have as we approach decriminalization may not be
justified. Decriminalizing this substance does not represent our giving in
to the myriad evils of the drug culture. It won't make it more likely that
our children will become members of a dangerous sub-culture, or that they
will become sick. What decriminalization really means is that our children
are less likely to come into conflict with the law, and we shall achieve
this without putting them at risk from drug culture or criminal culture.

No evidence of increase

But won't decriminalizing the smoking of marijuana make its use more
prevalent? Well, in countries where marijuana has been decriminalized there
has been no evidence of an increase in its use.

But laying aside these fears - and of course I don't know whether
decriminalizing in our particular society would increase its use - there
are still very good reasons for not trying to stop marijuana by keeping its
use criminal. The arguments for keeping the law out of it in this case are
the same as those that led us to reject Prohibition.

So, marijuana is really not part of the drug culture. It belongs in the
same category as alcohol and tobacco, as a safe recreational substance when
used in moderation.

We should get on with decriminalizing. On balance, if you do see any
problem with marijuana, you should probably view decriminalizing as a
modest improvement in the situation.