I found the Spanish had a healthier attitude toward alcohol and drugs than Americans do. Rather than preaching against these things, they understood that they could be enjoyed regularly in moderation., even by young people. Despite my early connection to marijuana, I've never been addicted to it, and in fact, I haven't had a joint since 1985. Personally, I don't see the point in smoking weed, but that's just me; that's not intended to be a judgment against anyone else. Marijuana Doesn't Bother Me To be honest, I know a lot of friends and family members who smoke marijuana. (They know who they are, so I won't mention their names.) I don't really care if they smoke it. It doesn't bother me. No one I know is addicted to marijuana, but I do know plenty of people who are addicted to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. I might as well come clean and tell you the whole truth. I believe the drug laws need to be completely reformed. I would decriminalize the possession of all drugs. By decriminalize, I mean I would make such possession charges misdemeanors instead of felonies. Rather than spend the government's limited resources on incarcerating drug users, I would provide counseling and treatment for those who are addicted. I would also reduce penalties or decriminalize the sale and distribution of minor amounts of drugs, and I would focus government interdiction and enforcement efforts on the major drug dealers and suppliers rather than on the small nickel and dime suppliers. Government Ad Campaign Distorts Reality Lastly, I would completely legalize marijuana. If alcohol and tobacco are legal, there's no reason that marijuana shouldn't be legal as well. But the government wants you to believe otherwise. That's why I'm so disturbed by a new federal government ad campaign that claims marijuana can "distort reality." In truth, it's the ad campaign that distorts reality. In one of these ads, two teenage boys are shown smoking weed in what looks like a father's home office. One boy picks up a handgun and shows it off. Thinking the gun is not loaded, he pulls the trigger and a shot is fired at the other boy. The ad ends with the message that marijuana can distort reality. But is marijuana really at fault here? First, should parents leave loaded guns in their homes? The ad doesn't explore that issue, and it's not surprising considering the Bush Administration supports gun owners uncritically. Second, is marijuana any more likely than alcohol to create such a distorted reality? No, it's not, and alcohol is far more accessible than pot. In another ad, teenagers at a concert are shown going into a bathroom filled with smoke. A few moments later, undercover police race in and bust the weed-smoking teens in the bathroom stall. Again we are told that marijuana can distort reality, but what exactly is the reality that's being distorted here? The teenagers already know that marijuana is illegal, so it's not like they suddenly forgot once they started smoking. They knew it when they first lit up, but that obviously didn't deter them. Nor will this ridiculous ad campaign. Marijuana Is Not As Bad As They Say Much like Nancy Reagan's infamous "just say no" to drugs campaign in the 1980s, this campaign simply wastes taxpayers' dollars on an implausible pipe dream. The campaign won't work because young people won't take it seriously. They know better than the policymakers that marijuana is not the dangerous drug the government wants them to believe it is. "By overstating marijuana's potential harm, our policy-makers and law enforcement community undermine their credibility, and their ability to effectively educate the public of the legitimate harms associated with more dangerous drugs," says Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). First, marijuana poses no greater health threat than tobacco or alcohol. Almost all drugs -- including those that are legal -- pose greater health threats than marijuana does, according to NORML. They cite statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that 440,000 people die each year from tobacco smoking and 46,000 people die each year from alcohol-induced deaths (not including drunk driving fatalities), yet virtually no one dies from marijuana use. Why, then, are alcohol and tobacco legal and marijuana illegal? Surely it doesn't hurt that the alcohol and tobacco industries spend billions of dollars in Washington to protect their interests. Second, marijuana is not nearly as addictive as tobacco or alcohol. According to a 1999 report, "Millions of Americans have tried marijuana, but most are not regular users." The report says that less than 10 percent of marijuana users ever exhibit symptoms of dependence, but 15 percent of alcohol users, 17 percent of cocaine users, and 32 percent of cigarette smokers exhibit symptoms of drug dependence. Marijuana As A Gateway Drug Perhaps the best argument against marijuana is not really an argument against marijuana, per se. Instead, it's an argument that marijuana use serves as a "gateway" or entry point into other drugs. That's a legitimate concern, but NORML has a response to that as well. First, they say, only a small minority of marijuana users go on to use other drugs. Based on my experience with friends who use marijuana, I would tend to agree. Second, NORML says that the answer to the problem of marijuana as a gateway drug is to legalize marijuana, which would separate simple weed smokers from the hard core users of more serious drugs on the criminal black market. I'm not sure I agree with NORML's conclusion that legalizing marijuana will discourage people from trying other drugs, but it's seems plausible. Nevertheless, I do agree that marijuana is much less threatening to public health and safety than alcohol and tobacco are. That's enough for me to question the government's obsession with this particular drug. When I started looking into this issue earlier this week, I discovered that Spain does, in fact, allow people to consume marijuana. So do several other European countries. So it turns out I wasn't breaking the law after all. That's fine for me, but not for the more than 700,000 Americans arrested on marijuana charges every year. Eighty-eight percent of these arrests are for "simple possession only, not marijuana cultivation or sale," according to NORML. 
There is a solution. We can decriminalize marijuana possession in this country just as it is in other countries. And we can draw boundaries, as we do with tobacco and alcohol, between adult behavior and juvenile behavior. We don't have to celebrate marijuana use, but we needn't vilify it either. If we really want young people to stop smoking weed, then we need to talk to them honestly without the empty platitudes and self-righteous lies that characterize the government's latest ad campaign. You can check out the rest of Keith's blog by clicking the following link.
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