March 03, 2012
Article from The Advocate
The use of illegal, habit-forming drugs is a scourge on today’s society, to both users and nonusers. Some say legalization of marijuana would solve most of that problem. For those who say marijuana is not habit-forming, usage is not characterized as a one-time event for most of those who use. Something is attracting them. For those who say it does not have an effect on them, I ask why they use it. The effect of opiates is undeniably harmful and is beyond discussion and debate.
To establish my personal position, I have never used marijuana and don’t even know the smell. I have only seen it as it was being shown to a civic club by the local chief of police.
Legalization would set aside some problems being experienced, and some would remain. The potential benefits would be similar to those associated with the return to legalization of alcohol. The violence at the production and distribution level was greatly reduced, a means to oversee product quality and consistency by a bureaucracy was established, and there was something else to tax. Some violence may remain after marijuana legalization as the producers will not want to pay taxes because they don’t have to now, and it is an underground activity.
The use of marijuana causes impairment in driving, use of machinery and thought processes in general. Testing techniques of a pass-fail nature are in use and this would have to remain in the legal context for driving and for workplace screening. A fee for test materials might be necessary to test drivers. Meaningful, calibrated tests might be developed in the future. Smoking regulations would stay the same. The laws don’t refer to what substance is being smoked. Possession of loose marijuana would still be a problem, not because it is banned, but because it is not taxed. If you can’t prove it has been taxed, it hasn’t been.
Possessors will find that revenue enforcers are more zealous than those who confiscate something because it is banned. There’s money in those leaves. Professionally produced cigarettes could be assumed taxed just as today’s tobacco cigarettes are assumed to be taxed.
Inhaling anything that is being burned does some damage, at least temporarily. It does not matter whether it is tobacco, marijuana or corn silks. Carbon monoxide is a common denominator. Tars and other components of incomplete combustion will vary, depending on the substance. Temperature is harmful. Complete combustion would make the smoking safer, but the smoker does not get what he is seeking.
This is not meant to cover all issues, just those that can be more reasonably quantified. Legalization does not produce the utopia that some would like to imagine.
This approach is both irony and fact.
Allen Williams
retIred chemical engineer/stock trader
Baton Rouge
Article from The Advocate
