Legalize it, time to recognize it

How many times have you heard, “Dude, I got so high last weekend, I slept with this random chick, dismantled some mailboxes, passed out in front of my friend’s dorm and I don’t even remember how I got home?â€?

By COED Staff

Um, never. It’s much more likely you’ll hear: “Dude, I got so high last weekend, I watched “Half Bakedâ€? like 5 times in a row, ate my roommate’s chocolate cupcake and then slept for like 12 hours.â€? Why? Because people are way more likely to stare into space for hours when high, but cause public disturbances, kill people with their cars, and generally ruin their lives? That’s when people are drunk. Yet alcohol is legal, and pot is not, and labeled as a dangerous narcotic. Gross disparity? I think so.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating on alcohol, and pot when abused can be just as mentally addictive as almost anything else out there. But compared to alcohol pot doesn’t even come close in number of fatalities caused, not just to the user, but to those around him or her. The number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides per year ends up around 20,687. While I found pages upon pages about the dangers of pot, who is exposed to it, when, and how, I couldn’t find a single death statistic. The most dangerous thing about marijuana that I could surmise is that it can cause lung cancer, and leads to doing other drugs, but I’d be willing to bet that the most likely reason for that is because it’s currently, say it with me now: ILLEGAL.

Okay great, you all complained about the absurdities on this issue until you’ve run out of all your MJ, what’s different now? Well now the Supreme Court is in on the debate as well. Justice John Paul Stevens has taken a step back and pulled an “Umm, hello?â€? on the “war against drugsâ€?.

“Today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana, and of the majority of voters in each of the several States that tolerate medicinal uses of the product, lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs,” Stevens wrote in his dissent on a recent free-speech case. So basically, we all smoke it, we all vote for the legalization of it, but for fear or retribution, nobody talks about it.

Steven’s main argument is that we view pot today as they viewed alcohol during prohibition when he was in school. Back then the ban of alcohol lead to one of the most notorious crime circles in history, and today pot is wrapped up with so many other harmful drugs and dangerous people because of its status as an illegal narcotic.

It’s about time someone woke up and got the contact high. But really, I shouldn’t be surprised that it was Justice Stevens; his birthday is April 20^th. Eighty-seven and still hitting it; rock on John, rock on.