How We Shouldn’t “Legalize It”
As a teetotaler when it comes to weed who is generally receptive to the libertarian view that the government shouldn’t waste its time going after “victimless” crimes, I think I’d be a lot more enthusiastic about the legalization of marijuana if I didn’t HATE cigarette smoking so much. I really, really despise it.
As a kid, I have many memories of being stuck in a room with one or more adults who were smoking and forced to endure their second hand smoke, having to deal with itchy, watery eyes, sore throat, shallow breathing, nausea, etc. just because some careless adults wanted to indulge one of their vices. My sensitivity to cigarette smoke to continued into my twenties, often putting me in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between spending time with peers who are making me sick or come across as a self-righteous jerk (and occasionally listen to rants about civil rights or the exaggerated dangers of second-hand smoke).
Even now, in California where it’s sometimes easier to spot a Republican than a smoker, I can’t walk my dogs down the sidewalk without one of them eating one of the dozens of cigarette butts carelessly thrown on the ground. Every time I fruitlessly try to pull a cigarette butt out of my dogs’ throats or clean up said butts when they’re vomited on my floor, I’m furious at the anonymous assholes who would throw their trash on the ground and reminded how this “victimless” habit often has a much greater effect on others than many smokers are willing to admit.
Which brings me back to pot. If we’re talking about legalizing smoking marijuana, count me out. I don’t want to think about children having to spend half their childhoods high because their parents are smoking inside. I don’t want to walk through the den of smokers who crowd outside restaurant doors and have my clothes smell like weed for the rest of the night. And I don’t want to have to worry about whether or not I need to get my dog’s stomach pumped because some idiot threw a roach on the ground.
There are plenty of ways to get high through THC, but I’m absolutely opposed to legalizing smoking marijuana if it means anybody other than the consenting adults in question is affected (which, practically speaking, would be incredibly difficult). Pot brownies, pills, or whatever other methods exist to privately enjoy weed, I’m completely in favor of, but if it’s an all or nothing situation and legalization includes smoking, I’m siding with the prohibitionists.
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Perhaps give it the same status as alcohol? Lots of places ban public consumption of alcohol. This would curtail the butts in the streets and the smoky crowds outside buildings.
I think your “absolutely” and “anybody” are unrealistic. I could similarly suggest that you not be allowed to walk your dog in public, because some careless schmucks let their pooches poop on soccer fields and bike paths. Same logic, right?
Also, marijuana is far less toxic than tobacco, so perhaps you would not need to worry about pumping your dog’s stomach.
Comment by dr2chase — April 6, 2009 @ 11:26 am
there are other costs to be considered. take a look at Mexico, and wonder how pointless the drug traffic + trade would be if this was legalized. people die from more than smoke, even if it is the thoughtless smoke of someone else.
Comment by timothy — April 6, 2009 @ 10:07 pm
He would just have to buy WAY more dog food!
Comment by Doobie — April 6, 2009 @ 11:08 pm
Well, I agree about people who don’t clean up after their dogs, but I see A LOT more cigarette butts on the ground than dog poops. Additionally, the big difference between cigarette butts and roaches is that people don’t tend to smoke weed with filters. So while it may take quite a few cigarette butts to add up to enough tobacco to induce nicotine toxicity in a dog, single discarded joint is likely to have enough marijuana left over to get a small dog VERY high.
I agree with timothy in terms of the drug war, but there are ways to legalize (or at least decriminalize) pot that doesn’t affect other people negatively. From what I’ve heard about “cannabis clubs”, there are dozens of ways to get your THC fix that don’t end up creating smoke.
Comment by greg — April 7, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
It seems to me that what you’re most worried about, regarding pot, are externalities that negatively affect you from other people’s behavior. I feel the same way about drinking. I hate that people go out to bars, drink, and get in cars and drive home. There are laws designed to mitigate the outward effects of people’s drinking (laws against driving while drunk and public intoxication). There also could be laws designed to prevent you from having to suffer from others’ marijuana smoking.
It just seems ridiculous to half-legalize something.
Comment by Earnest — April 8, 2009 @ 11:14 am
In terms of “half-legalization”, is it even possible or practical to legalize smoking in such a way that it never affects other people? Once someone exhales, there’s no telling how far smoke can spread. I’ve been in situations in which there’s a strong pot odor on the sidewalk because someone walked by a few minutes earlier that was smoking or in apartment buildings that stunk because neighbors were smoking. Is it even realistic to think that regulations on how far smokers would need to be from children and non-consenting adults would actually be effective?
Comment by greg — April 8, 2009 @ 11:33 am
The problem with our current laws is not that we regulate marijuana, it’s that we are draconian about it. We put high school and college kids and moms and dads in jail for having an ounce of weed, and we spend millions to do it, and their punishment far exceeds the cost (especially when they get raped in prison by the truly violent prisoners there, a reality that is more than just a joke from Half-Baked).
I say, okay, legalize all pot, but make regulations about where it can be smoked. Drop a joint on the street, $300 fine. No smoking in stadiums, public buildings, office buildings, or near schools – $500 fine. Make it illegal to sell to minors. Make it illegal to advertise on TV. But recognize that our current system is jacked and actually promotes the early release of truly violent offenders who could do far more damage to our kids and our dogs than some Phish fan.
As for the kids whose parents smoke weed around them, I would say that’s a straw man to promote prohibition because A, that’s already covered under child abuse statutes, or should be, and B, parents careless enough to do that around their kids sadly are already doing it despite its illegality. I’ve seen my quasi brother-in-law doing it numerous times and it sucks.
And as for dogs, well, my dog this weekend literally puked in my car while we were on a road trip–and when I was throwing it away, I realized that what he was choking on was a USED TAMPON that he had eaten! Dogs will eat anything, including other dogs’ feces, but I wouldn’t say people should make tampons or dogs illegal, even though tampons on the street could have killed my dog, and dog feces could give my kids heartworms if they step in it (and on my block, dog doo-doo clearly outnumbers cigarette butts on the street). We just can’t afford to make everything illegal that could possibly be dropped in the street or get caught in the breeze. But we can and should make it a misdemeanor punishable by a stiff fine to misuse it in ways that could hurt others.
Comment by orangehairboy — April 8, 2009 @ 1:51 pm
I don’t think the smoking around children thing is a strawman at all. It’s perfectly legal to smoke around children. Some states are trying to pass laws that restrict smoking around children, but it’s not a foregone conclusion by any means that child welfare laws prohibit adults from smoking around kids. I agree with you generally in regards to marijuana legalization (especially in relation to the drug war), but I do think that the nature of smoking does add a layer of complexity to the issue.
Momentarily putting aside the evils of draconian drug laws, I think the individual right to indulge in marijuana should be weighed against an individual’s right to not be subjected to smoke.
Your tampon story is truly horrifying.
Comment by greg — April 8, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
I just don’t see that marijuana butts, or marijuana smoke, are uniquely horrifying. Any “vintage” car on the road, any 2-stroke hedge trimmer, spews piles more noxious gasses than any pot smoker would generate in a lifetime. Regulate it like alcohol (and we might regulate that a bit more carefully, too), and that ought to be good enough.
Comment by dr2chase — April 8, 2009 @ 5:16 pm
I never thought I’d see the day when a conservative disagrees (or rather, disagreed…he’s now dead) with Greg about this issue:
http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley200406291207.asp
Comment by Doobie — April 8, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
I agree with you, though, that if people must consume pot, that smoking it is a really daft way to do it. I mean, there may be exceptions–I’ve heard that glaucoma victims sometimes prefer to smoke it because it’s easier to get exactly the right amount in that format. But in general, for all other health reasons, plus common courtesy, plus even on the level of just being classy, it seems smoking pot should be passe by now. When marijuana clubs offer pure THC in a spray bottle, why would you mess up your lungs doing it the old-fashioned way?
Comment by orangehairboy — April 8, 2009 @ 11:52 pm