Besides the obvious fact that we need to decriminalize possession altogether, I propose the legalization and government-controlled sale of Marijuana. Putting people away for smoking one of the most natural and harmless drugs on the market should be a punishable offense!

“But you don’t get it! Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but it leads to harder drugs!”

Because Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) has already articulated a well played response to the gateway drug theory (using an analogy of milk being a gateway to bourbon), I won’t go into that here. Today I’m going to assume that Marijuana actually does lead to harder drugs and I firmly believe this is the direct result of its status as a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971).

Marijuana is safe to use and is near impossible to overdose on (you’d need to smoke well over your own weight to even come close). The effects of this drug wear off after only a few hours, at most, and have no long term side effects. Because of this, it has become one of the most commonly used illegal drugs and the one many people start with. No matter what the status of Marijuana under the law, it will remain this way.

Now, let’s look at what a person needs to do in order to purchase their supply of Marijuana. They have one of two options, they can either grow it themselves or buy it from a dealer. The former is difficult to do and has a lot of risks to it, the latter being the more likely option. Buying from a dealer can be a tricky and sometimes dangerous business. When one buys from a dealer they don’t know, they have no idea how safe the transaction is going to be, or if their drug will be laced with something shady.

The thing about dealers, as you may know, is that they often don’t sell one particular drug. Many dealers are in the business with many different options for their clients. Though Marijuana is a profitable business in its own right, there are many other drugs that can yield faster monetary gain for a dealer (cocaine, heroin, amphetamines). Because of this, it’s not rare to find a dealer who is willing to push harder substances onto the client. Remove the dealer from the equation and you remove the harder substances.

Now, let’s assume at this point that people are still going to go out of their way to move onto harder drugs, why could this be? Well, one need only look in the direction of the Misuse of Drugs Act for an answer.

By the very fact that it exists, the Act is telling people that drugs in categories A, B and C are dangerous. The government is telling you that these drugs are so harmful to your personal well being and those around you, that they need to carry fines and jail time with them for possession and use.

But wait a second. Here we have a young teenager, let’s call him Tommy, who has just tried Marijuana for the first time in his buddy’s garage. Tommy’s first experience with the drug wasn’t necessarily as pleasant as he had hoped (all that damn dry mouth and paranoia), but he came out completely unharmed and un-addicted. Maybe he’ll try the drug again sometime and even learn to ignoring the annoying parts, but the important thing here is that he came out unharmed.

“But wait”, Tommy thinks, “if the government has classified Marijuana as such a dangerous and addictive drug, why should I be worried about trying Cocaine or Speed? I mean, Marijuana sure didn’t mess me up like they said it would. Maybe I’ll try them once and see for myself what happens.”

I can say these things with the utmost of conviction, for I have first hand experience. Yes, I tried Marijuana long before I ever touched a pill or put anything up my nose and I used the same arguments to rationalize the progression. It’s far too easy to move on to harder drugs when the dealer’s pushing them onto you and you’re not sure you can believe what you’ve been told about their dangers due to the “boy who cried wolf” effect of the Marijuana laws. The dealers, in some cases, were even doctors prescribing perfectly legal drugs that have had much worse effects on my mind and body than weed has ever had.

Enough is enough. Weed is one of the safest drugs available and has been used for thousands of years to relieve stress, pain and many other debilitating effects. The legal drugs we have for these problems are far worse to our health than Weed will ever be. It’s time we put the old ways of thinking to rest and realize illegalization has caused more harm than good.