Comedian Joe Rogan makes a really important point here–just because a substance (or food, or activity) can be abused by some people does not mean we need to rid all free-thinking adults from having access to it. Most good things in life can be abused or overused, but outlawing them completely is not the answer. In the words of Richard Neville (who we previously wrote about): “Is marijuana addictive? Yes, in the sense that most of the really pleasant things in life are worth endlessly repeating.”
Plenty of people eat too much ice cream, drink too much Diet Coke, watch too much TV, or spend too much time at their desks. But nobody is (or should be) calling to outlaw ice cream or Diet Coke or television or working more than ten hours a day. And there are good reasons for that, with the most important being that we all ought to be able to choose such things for ourselves.
So again, it is merely stigma that keeps marijuana illegal. Though the DEA may act as though cannabis has a high potential for abuse by classifying it as a Schedule I drug, what is really true is that marijuana does NOT have a higher likelihood for abuse than many other things that are simply pleasurable like grilled cheeseburgers.
We should not prohibit it any longer. It’s a freedom issue. Do you agree?
