MARIJUANA SHOULD BE QUASI-LEGAL

We need to change the illegal status of marijuana.

Today, a record 50 percent of Americans believe marijuana should be
legalized, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, a fact emphasized
by our Surgeon General 50 years ago. There has yet to be reported a
fatal case of acute marijuana overdose. Perhaps the worst thing you
can say about pot is that it may bring on symptoms of schizophrenia
before they would have appeared otherwise.

Rather than totally legalize marijuana, we should create a new
category of things neither legal nor illegal. Call them quasi-legal.

Alcohol was illegal from 1920 to 1933 because it was increasingly
abused, but its prohibition was unenforceable and its availability
from criminal sources provided enormous revenue to criminal gangs.
Alcohol remained legal for medical treatment during Prohibition. It is
clear that most prescriptions for it were not entirely motivated by
medical need. These prescriptions remained popular for a decade or so
after Prohibition - pharmacists wrapped the product in brown paper and
the customer did not have to be seen by his peers to be buying booze.

A similar phenomenon is taking place today with medical marijuana. But
this is not a long-term solution anymore than it was for alcohol if
only because of unfair pressure on physicians.

Making marijuana "quasi-legal" would mean that it could not be
advertised, but users would not be prosecuted. Other drugs that should
be on this list include cigarettes, alcohol, and caffeine. (There is
not much serious harm from the use of caffeine, but it is habit
forming. Mountain Dew now "contains more caffeine" without even
mentioning the quantities. So-called power drinks, promoted to enhance
athletic performance, contain egregious amounts of caffeine, again
with the quantity unspecified.) We might also consider other items for
the "quasi-legal" category, such as gambling.

And if we were ever to get serious about reducing the consumption of
unnecessary fossil fuel, we'd put jet skis, snowmobiles and all-
terrain vehicles in this category, too.

Meanwhile, we urgently need a new approach to the "Drug War." It
supplies criminal elements with enormous revenues, creating a
corrupting influence on society comparable to bootlegging during
Prohibition.

Spending obscene amounts of money jailing nonviolent addicts (as
opposed to drug dealers) is not a public health measure. These moneys
would better be spent on treatment of addictions.

Some of those jailed for long periods for simple possession of
marijuana could actually be good citizens or even good parents, if
they were not in jail. (Note: Marijuana does not foster violence in
users as does alcohol.) So let's end the futile criminalization of
marijuana use.

Let's recognize that the American public opposes it.

And let's consider sensible ways to categorize the drugs and products
that may not be good for us but that we'd be foolish to outlaw.