Straight Talk and Facts: Responding to illDefined
We’ll be dropping Part 2 of “Considering Marijuana” real soon, but here’s a formal response to illDefined’s rebuttal (read it here) to my original article. Part 1, Round 3 ding ding ding.
Alright Mr. illDefined, I’m going to call out your reasoning and lack of statistics.
Your first argument against pot, if I’m reading this correctly, is that you believe that the legalization of marijuana would lead to a tremendous increase in marijuana use in the United States. You seem to base this thought on a perception that Europeans are more responsible with their alcohol use. In reference to marijuana’s potential legalization, you say, “Rather, much in the way that Americans binge drink while Europeans sip a beer or two after work, it is more than likely that Americans would go all out with their newfound freedom.” This is an interesting thought, but it would be helped out if you could back it up with some legitimate statistics. A study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, which was published in June, 2009, concluded that “Europeans drink almost twice the world average, at 21.5 units a week, while the average US citizen consumes 18 units”. Two units of alcohol is defined as “equivalent to a pint of mild beer or a large glass of wine”. That must put a new perspective on your belief that “Europeans sip a beer or two after work”.
If you’re concerned with Americans going crazy with the legalization of marijuana, I point back to the Netherlands, and specifically Amsterdam. A survey conducted by the Centre for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam found only two to three percent of Dutch over the age of 12 used marijuana each month. A similar survey conducted by the U.S. in 1996 concluded that 5% of Americans use marijuana monthly. A drug’s legality and its use are not directly related. And as we’ve seen in terms of alcohol, Americans are not as pro-alcohol as Europeans. Would legalizing marijuana mean a jump in marijuana use? There is no convincing data to support this claim.
I’m also confused with your comment that there’s nothing inherently wrong with getting high, but “there’s a time and a place for that.” What does this mean? If there’s a time and a place to get high, when is that time? Also, I don’t understand your statement, “no one is saying ‘don’t smoke’ they’re saying don’t posses/sell”. How can people smoke marijuana without possessing it?
Your argument about federal aid is relatively convincing. However, I take issue with how the discussion of federal aid relates to the larger topic of “productivity”. What is productivity? How do we measure it? Gross Domestic Product? I admit that these are not easy questions to answer. You present anecdotal evidence of your college aged friends as not using marijuana for any purpose other than to get high. First, I don’t see how “just getting high” is any different than “just getting drunk.” Drunkeness certainly is not productive, but we are not hearing public outcry of alcohol’s legality. Second, as I just mentioned, you use anecdotal evidence as the basis for your argument that marijuana stunts productivity. How many important cultural figures, politicians, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. have smoked marijuana and led active, “productive”, and fulfilling lives. Richard Branson, Michael Phelps, Barack Obama. All have toked. Of course, this is also anecdotal evidence, but its no less compelling than yours.
Moving on to the international scene, how would legalizing marijuana “make cocaine more attractive”? If people are just concerned with getting high, why wouldn’t they get high on a legal drug rather than risk the criminal consequences of an illegal one (cocaine). Also, 60%-70% of Mexican drug cartel money comes from marijuana sales to the U.S. If you take away this stream of income, while legalizing marijuana and regulating its cultivation, sale and use in the United States, you wouldn’t bankrupt the cartels, but they would not be nearly as powerful or well-armed. Legalizing marijuana will not end the Drug War, but it will be a move towards crippling the cartels.
Finally, I don’t think that the legalization of marijuana would “solve all our problems”. I only suggest that, from a social justice perspective, it would save the lives of Mexicans caught up in the drug war and help, if ever so slightly, to ameliorate the racist criminal justice system in this country. Obviously, as you point out, some police will remain racist, but legalizing marijuana would release over ten-thousand Americans from jail.
I have not delved into the other parts of the “Considering Marijuana” debate as of yet, so there will be ample time to continue the debate.
Here are the sources I used:
“Europeans Top Alcohol Death Rates.” Local Government Chronicle.
http://www.lgcplus.com/news/europe-heads-alcohol-death- Accessed August 5, 2009.
Media Awareness Project. “Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than U.S.”.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n279.a07.html/all Accessed August 5, 2009.
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