DV Journal

(For an alternate viewpoint, see: “Point: Shapiro’s Pot-Friendly Budget Puts Cash Over Kids’ Health”)

I wrote my first editorial calling for the liberalization of marijuana laws in 2010. Since then, 40 states have allowed medical marijuana and 24 states, red and blue, have fully legalized the adult use of recreational marijuana. Currently, a clear majority of Americans, 54 percent, live in a state where they can buy and use cannabis as they wish.

Pennsylvania did pass my medical bill in 2016, but has not yet legalized recreational marijuana. However, 13 of Pennsylvania’s largest cities have decriminalized the use and possession of small amounts and no longer enforce prohibition, which amounts to a de facto legalization.

Further, every single state bordering Pennsylvania except West Virginia allows the sale of recreational marijuana. So, the large majority of people in Pennsylvania who don’t already qualify for medical marijuana live a short drive from a state where they can buy it freely and then bring it home to a city where they can use it without fear of punishment

All of this makes it clear that the structure of prohibition is shattered, and it will soon be a quaint and curious relic of the past. This is a profoundly good development. Using the criminal justice system to punish people who smoke a plant which makes them feel giddy has always been an insane policy.

Cannabis prohibition is not only irrational, but also cruel, heartless, destructive, and expensive. The decades of illegality saw tens of millions of people (over 300,000 per year on average) arrested and made criminals for using marijuana. Their lives were disrupted and, in many cases, permanently destroyed as they lost their jobs, their academic careers, and in some cases their freedom over a lifestyle choice.

The irony is that many of the anti-marijuana laws were passed by lawmakers who went out after the vote to drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes. But alcohol directly (not counting things like drunk driving or domestic violence) kills an average of 178,000 Americans per year. Cigarettes kill an average of 480,000 Americans per year, mostly in very gruesome ways. Cannabis? There is no lethal dose of cannabis. You cannot die from using it. The number of direct cannabis fatalities per year is zero. Yet, people are free to drink and puff the night away, while marijuana users are arrested and prosecuted.

The devastation prohibition has caused to individuals is not the only cost involved. As a nation, we’ve spent an average of about $3.6 billion per year enforcing marijuana laws. And such enforcement is not only expensive, it’s also racist. Black and White Americans use cannabis at about the same rate. Yet if you are Black, you are four times as likely to be arrested for it, and if arrested, five times as likely to be incarcerated.

Perhaps most tragic is the utter waste this policy has been. It simply doesn’t work. When I went to high school, it was easier to get marijuana than it was to get beer. That’s because beer was sold by legal, licensed businesses that didn’t want to lose that license for selling to those underage. The guy selling weed behind the bowling alley didn’t worry about that so much.

The rates of marijuana use tic up marginally and temporarily after legalization. Within two years, those rates usually revert to what they were prior to legalization. In other words, prohibition means spending billions and destroying lives with no actual reduction in use to show for it. It’s hard to imagine a more sad and wasteful policy.

Some argue that cannabis today is much stronger than it was in the 70s, so it’s more dangerous. Let’s put aside the fact that almost no cannabis was tested back then and thus we don’t actually know that. Stronger cannabis is an argument for legalization, not against it. If you drink alcohol, you drink differently depending on whether you are drinking beer or grain alcohol. Knowing the strength of what you are using, which is information the consumer is given in legal states, is important in controlling your intake.

Others argue that cannabis is a “gateway drug.” The data, however, shows that is simply not true. Only 4 percent of cannabis users go on to use harder drugs, a lower percentage than alcohol users. If you want to ban a substance for leading to addiction, death, and further substance abuse, then you really need to go back to the 1930s and bring back alcohol prohibition. Yet somehow, none of those who want to keep cannabis illegal are calling for that.

Marijuana is an intoxicant. That must be respected. There should be strict regulations regarding the age at which it may be used as well as things like driving, operating heavy machinery, etc. But the days when we enact irrational and pernicious policies after watching “Reefer Madness” are, and should be, over.

Will this be the year that Pennsylvania legalizes recreational marijuana?

Two state senators, a Democrat and a Republican, announced they are introducing legislation to legalize it in the Keystone State.

“We have a unique and singular opportunity to correct decades of mass incarceration, disproportionate enforcement against marginalized communities, the criminalization of personal choice, and the perpetuation of violence, which all materialized from the failed war on drugs,” said Sen. Sharif Street (D- Philadelphia). “Legalizing the adult use of cannabis will help us fully and equitably fund education, lower property taxes, and address various community needs throughout Pennsylvania.”

The legislation would grant licenses to sell marijuana to social and economic equity applicants while providing room for new and existing licensees to ensure demand in Pennsylvania was met. Also, it expunges non-violent marijuana convictions for medical marijuana patients and goes further to expunge all non-violent marijuana convictions.

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) said, “Legalized adult use of marijuana is supported by an overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians, and this legislation accomplishes that while also ensuring safety and social equity. With neighboring states New Jersey and New York implementing adult use, we have a duty to Pennsylvania taxpayers to legalize adult-use marijuana to avoid losing hundreds of millions of dollars of new tax revenue and thousands of new jobs.”

The bill sets the minimum marijuana consumption age at 21 years old and provides appropriate deterrence to keep marijuana out of the hands of anyone under 21. Additionally, law enforcement would be given the means to adjudicate driving under the influence and the authority to pursue and eradicate any illicit market. The legislation also bans any marketing directed toward children and sets workplace requirements regarding marijuana use for those operating in good faith.

During state budget hearings held in 2021, the Senate Appropriations Committee was told by the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office that legalized adult-use marijuana could generate $400 million to $1 billion in new tax revenue for the commonwealth, the senators said in a press release.

Daylin Leach, a former state senator for Montgomery and Delaware counties, said, “I actually introduced the first bill to legalize recreational marijuana in 2018 (SB 350). Getting rid of the pernicious arcane policy of prohibition is long overdue. But it’s important to get it right. I hope they’ve taken the time to fully understand the issue.”

“I’d rather they buy it legally. If they’re going to get it, they’re going to get it,” said Ed “Eddie Z” Zampitella, who owns a sober living club, The Last Stop, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.

If people buy illegal marijuana, it can be laced with fentanyl, which may be fatal, he noted. And also, they may go into bad neighborhoods to purchase the drug, where “they can get robbed or killed,” Zampitella said.

But Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub has a different perspective.

“This seems like pure rationalization for the government to make more money from a taxable vice. DUIs, and therefore DUI-related crashes, injuries, and deaths, will increase due to this legislation,” Weintraub said.

Street and Laughlin also touted the benefits to the state’s farmers. The legislation may also strengthen Pennsylvania’s robust agricultural industry by empowering farmers and craft growers across the state to grow marijuana in a manner that is safe and regulated, they said in a press release. Additionally, it would allow Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana patients to grow a limited number of cannabis plants at their homes for personal use to help ease the cost and accessibility burdens that still exist for medical marijuana.

The legalization effort comes as more studies raise questions about the impact of the widespread use of marijuana on mental health and brain development.

A study published in the medical journal Lancet last year found that high-potency cannabis is associated with a greater risk of psychosis and addiction. And a newly-released National Institutes of Health study showed young men with cannabis (marijuana) use disorder have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia.

“Previous studies indicate that rates of daily or near-daily cannabis use, cannabis use disorder, and new schizophrenia diagnoses are higher among men than women, and that early, frequent cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia,” the NIH reported.

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Several friends were milling about talking over sports and such when our conversation abruptly took a serious turn.

The catalyst for the change was the death certificate in my hand. The deceased was a friend’s 35-year-old former husband and the father of their 7-year-old daughter.

The document told his story: Time of death “Approx-0705,” Immediate Cause of Death “Adverse effect of drugs, ” Interval Between Onset and Death “A few minutes, ” Manner of Death “Accident.”

Odds are marijuana was the gateway drug to his 20-year addiction. Of the many addicts I have known, the majority will attest that marijuana was their first drug of choice.

To quote one young man about his first high, “ The feeling was incredible. All my social anxiety instantly went away.” His descent into addiction was driven by his pursuit of that first sensation.

The conversation then turned to the incongruity between the push to legalize marijuana and the so-called “ War on Drugs.”

It beggars belief that anyone the least bit acquainted with the insidious progression of drug addiction would ever call for the legalization of marijuana, the gateway drug to every more powerful and deadly drug on the market.

What sticks in my craw most is the unconscionable duplicity among certain politicians who attempt to have it both ways: Legalize marijuana for the tax revenue it offers while covering their tail by pouring millions of dollars into the largely symbolic (“We’re doing something!”) and astonishingly unproductive (no measures of efficacy) “War on Drugs.”

In his Feb. 16 Wall Street Journal column, “Super Bowl of Sin Taxes,” Daniel Henninger strikes a similar note.

His topic was sin taxes, specifically legalized gambling and legalized marijuana, and the windfall in tax revenues they generate to state and federal coffers. New Jersey, the U. S. sports-bet capital, took in $200 million in gambling tax revenue last year.

Sixty percent of Americans favor medical and recreational marijuana use. Recreational marijuana is now legal in 18 states and Washington D. C.

New York’s Sen. Chuck Schumer plans to introduce a federal legalization bill in April. It has a cannabis tax that starts at 10 percent and rises eventually to 25 percent.

Henninger writes that sin and sin taxes are now passé. Consequently, much of contemporary American government is now amoral.

“After decades of pretense from government about its good intentions, government doesn’t much care one way or the other anymore.”

“Any previous pro-social purpose, “he writes, “has been overwhelmed by the crude need to maximize revenue no matter the source, especially in open-spigot states such as New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.”

Echoing my annoyance he writes, “We are legalizing marijuana just as opioid addiction and overdoses from ‘recreational’ fentanyl skyrocket.

“In virtually all the legalizations of marijuana or gambling,” he continues, “the politicians include language about creating programs for prevention and rehabilitation. It’s boilerplate, a pro forma caveat that rarely delivers.”

Politicians don’t care that a 7-year-old girl lost her father to drug addiction so long as they get the one thing they want—a steady stream of tax revenue from both users and the commercial cannabis interests.

Deaths are simply an acceptable cost of doing business.

Henninger concludes, “When more people understand that the goal of governments today is to take rather than help, as they piously claim, perhaps we can have a sensible discussion about whom to tax and for what purposes.”

A discussion long past due.

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In recent years an increasing number of states, both red and blue, have legalized the sale, possession, and use of marijuana. This is good news, Prohibition has been one of the most pernicious domestic policies in all of American history. It is racist, cruel, heartless, expensive, irrational, and devastating to entire communities. Ending it is long overdue. However, while I am proud to have written and sponsored Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law (Act 16 of 2016), the recreational prohibition still endures, and every day it persists is an injustice.

First, it is important to understand the history of prohibition. A Pennsylvanian named Harry Anslinger was head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics during alcohol prohibition in the 1930s. When that ended, Mr. Anslinger needed a new justification to fund his department. He opportunistically seized on Cannabis and began a crusade to make it illegal. But he didn’t argue that pot was bad for you. Instead, he testified to congress that “Marijuana makes Black people think they are just as good as White people” and “Marijuana makes White women desire sexual relationships with Black men.”

Thus, a policy steeped in racism was born. Even though cannabis use is approximately the same among all races, if you are Black, you are four times more likely to be arrested on marijuana-related charges than if you are White, and once arrested, are five times more likely to be incarcerated. Every year 20,000-25,000 Pennsylvanians, largely people of color, are thrust into the vortex of the criminal justice system. This often prevents them from continuing their higher education or from getting a job, permanently altering the trajectory of their lives.

Compelling arguments in favor of prohibition are difficult to find.

Some argue that marijuana is bad for you. But even if cannabis is in some way unhealthy, it is not the role of our criminal justice system to force healthy choices on free individuals. Cigarettes kill over a thousand Americans per day in truly horrific ways. Yet cigarettes are legal in all 50 states.

Comparing marijuana to alcohol shows even more starkly how irrational our policy is. Alcohol directly kills 95,000 people per year. Marijuana has no lethal dose. Zero people die of cannabis poisoning or overdoses each year. Alcohol is physically addictive, to the point that withdrawing from alcohol addiction too quickly can itself be fatal. A person can develop a habitual dependency on marijuana. But nobody quitting it will have delirium tremors or die. People using alcohol are often violent and reckless, cannabis makes people relaxed and mellow. There are virtually no reports of domestic violence committed by people under the influence of marijuana. Yet not only is alcohol legal in Pennsylvania, but it is also actually sold and promoted by the state itself.

The ban on cannabis also causes crime far more serious and violent than simple possession of marijuana. Because prohibition prohibits a legitimate and regulated market, it forces those who use cannabis to support an underground black market. Such a market can’t be governed by the courts and police like other businesses are. Instead, it is, of necessity, governed by criminals, drug syndicates, and violence. Eliminating prohibition will (like with alcohol), over time, end this illicit market. But under current law, every dollar that isn’t going to a licensed, vetted, regulated entrepreneur, ultimately goes instead to a violent drug cartel.

Some falsely argue cannabis is a “gateway” to harder drugs. Sure, maybe a high percentage of heroin users previously used cannabis. But an even higher percentage of heroin users previously drank milk. The point is that looking at what a hard drug user previously did is in no way proof of causation. A better metric is to look at how many marijuana users go on to use heroin. That is approximately 3 percent. The same studies that show this also show that alcohol is a far more effective gateway drug than cannabis. Yet nobody is calling for the return of alcohol prohibition.

Certainly, there will be some people who use marijuana irresponsibly. They may choose to get high rather than go to work, or they may drive while under the influence. However, in the states that have legalized recreational marijuana, there is no evidence that the rates of DUI-related car accidents or injuries have increased.

Responsible marijuana users shouldn’t pay the price of the small percentage of people who are negligent. We don’t turn people who drink beer or wine with dinner at home into criminals because some people drive drunk. That would be unfair and nonsensical. Marijuana users should be treated the same.

Legalization would benefit society in numerous ways. We’d save hundreds of millions of dollars per year if we didn’t have to arrest, process, prosecute, incarcerate and monitor people for smoking a plant that makes them feel giddy. But the economic benefits don’t end there. Cannabis is currently a  $35 billion per year industry. With the right legal changes, that could, within 5 years, grow to be a $75 billion per year industry. This will create literally millions of new jobs. So rather than destroying people’s careers, we’ll be giving them opportunities.

The best argument for legalizing marijuana can be found in the states that have already done it. The sky has not fallen. The world has not ended. Instead, well-regulated grow houses, dispensaries, cannabis lounges, and delivery businesses are thriving. People are freer. The prison populations are being reduced and tax dollars are coming in, instead of pouring out. This is clearly the direction in which history is going. It is time for Pennsylvania to step into this brighter future and consign cannabis prohibition to the ash-heap of history, where it belongs.