In Which I Write About The War On Drugs Again

I don’t like to be serious here, you know, ever. But forgive me for a second while I pontificate.

Let’s get the event out of the way: Saturday at 4, a group will meet at Broad and South for a march to Headhouse Square to protest the criminalization of marijuana. Yes, I’m writing about drug legalization again. But it’s in the guise of an event preview, so, really, I’m doing two annoying things: Getting serious about drugs and previewing an event I have an interest in. Hooray!

Thing is, though, marijuana should be legal. It’s a drug that has never killed anyone — it’s impossible to overdose — is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco and, uh, a drug many American citizens enjoy recreationally. You can die from drinking too much alcohol. You can die from taking too many Aspirin. But you can’t die from smoking (or eating, or whatever) marijuana. People with extreme pain can ease it by smoking marijuana. People on drugs that make it hard to eat can regain their appetite by smoking marijuana. (Uh, duh.) But the federal government continues to rely on faulty science to prevent people from getting the relief they need.

But, actually, the government did approve of marijuana. Thirty-five years ago a Nixon commission on drugs recommended marijuana be legalized. Nixon shelved the report.

Is marijuana a “safe” drug? No. No drugs are. But, to lock people up for smoking weed? To arrest 16.5 million people for marijuana-related charges? To spend $20 billion attacking a plant people enjoy using simply because Mexicans smoked it when they immigrated to the United States?

Pardon me if my arguments aren’t very strong. But, to me, it seems like a no-brainer. Save money! Make tax money! Allow dying people to feel better! What, exactly, is the issue here? It’s not like making marijuana illegal makes it any harder to get.

Anyway, since I’m apparently incapable of making a decent argument, I asked Derek Rosenzweig, co-chair of the Philadelphia chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a few questions about marijuana legalization and the Global Cannabis March on Saturday. And by “asked a few questions,” I mean “asked a few softballs.” Hey, I already told you how I feel about this.

More »