WHY IS MARIJUANA STILL ILLEGAL?

The recent arrest of Al Gore's son in Laguna Niguel for the
possession of marijuana and various prescription pills provides the
opportunity to ask an important question: Why the heck is marijuana illegal?

I can drive to dozens of nearby stores and buy enough booze to drink
myself to death in one night. Or I can buy enough cigarettes to wreck
my health and cut decades off my life.

These deadly substances, which by some estimates kill hundreds of
thousands of people annually, are perfectly legal.

However, get caught with even a small amount of marijuana, and your
life could be turned upside down. You could lose your property, your
job, and end up behind bars.

This is nuts. By all medical evidence, marijuana is far safer than
alcohol and tobacco. No one ever died from a marijuana overdose. It's
physically impossible. Booze and tobacco are far more likely to cause
dependency. And cancer risks from smoking marijuana are virtually nil.

As the prestigious Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal
government, said in a 1999 report commissioned by the federal drug
czar's office: "Epidemiological data indicate that in the general
population marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality."

Still, every year, around 700,000 people are arrested for marijuana
offenses - almost all for simple possession. Local, state and federal
governments spend over $7 billion annually fighting marijuana,
according to Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard.

All that suffering, all that use of precious law enforcement
resources, just to keep people from smoking a plant less harmful than
alcohol or cigarettes? Wouldn't we be a lot better off using those
resources to fight real crime: violence against people and their
property? By the way, forget the old canard that marijuana leads
users to commit crimes. There's no scientific backing for it.

And forget, too, the "gateway drug" theory - the notion that
marijuana use leads to harder drugs. That's just bunk, according to
the IOM and other researchers.

Would legalizing pot increase use? Again, the IOM: "There is little
evidence that decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily leads to
a substantial increase in marijuana use." Even if it did, it might
actually be better if heavy smokers or boozers switched to less-harmful pot.

All these arguments are important, but they're not the core issue.
Bottom line, it's all about freedom. In a free society, adults should
be free to do as they choose with their own lives, as long as they
don't harm others. Hang-gliding, motorcycle riding, bungee jumping,
eating fast food, neglecting exercise ... adults engage in lots of
risky behavior. I may not approve, but it's your life, and your
sacred right to choose.

By the same logic, a free person should certainly be able to grow and
ingest a common plant.

Please note I'm not talking about driving under the influence of
marijuana. That should be a crime, as it is now with alcohol. Ditto
committing other crimes while under the influence. Ditto sale to
minors. But these acts are illegal for alcohol, too. Still, we don't
outlaw alcohol because some misuse it.

Marijuana was legal in America right up to the mid-1930s, when a
lurid, racist propaganda campaign of claptrap and lies conned
Congress into outlawing it. The ban didn't make sense then, and it
makes even less sense today.