So Let’s Ban Marijuana

So Let’s Ban Marijuana

Thirty-three states have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Ten states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana (eleven if you count Illinois, where legalization takes effect on January 1 of next year). At least twenty states and more than fifty localities in a dozen states have either fully or partially decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Yet:

The federal government still considers the growing, distributing, buying, selling, possessing, or smoking of marijuana to be a violation of federal law.
The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801) with “a high potential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,” and “a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision.”
Marijuana arrests are still rising in the United States. There is now an average of one marijuana bust roughly every 48 seconds. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR), there were 659,700 marijuana arrests in 2017, 599,282 of which were just for marijuana possession.
The billions and billions of dollars that the federal government is spending every year to wage war on marijuana users is ludicrous—especially considering what Americans are dying of every year.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a total of 2,813,503 Americans died in 2017 (the latest year for which figures are available).

Heart disease killed 647,457 people.
Cancer killed 599,108 people.
Accidents killed 169,936 people.
Chronic lower respiratory diseases killed 160,201 people.
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases) killed 146,383 people.
Alzheimer’s disease killed 121,404 people.
Diabetes killed 83,564 people.
Influenza and Pneumonia killed 55,672 people.
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis killed 50,633 people.
Intentional self-harm (suicide) killed 47,173 people.
Unintentional falls killed 36,338 people.
Motor vehicle traffic accidents killed 40,231 people.
Unintentional poisoning deaths killed 64,795 people.
Firearms killed 39,773 people.
So let’s ban marijuana, which, according to the federal government’s own Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), no one has ever overdosed from using.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were a total of 5,147 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2017 (the latest year for which figures are available).

Falls killed 887 workers.
Transportation incidents killed 2,077 workers.
Cranes killed 33 workers.
Confined spaces killed 166 workers.
Contact with objects and equipment killed 695 workers.
Unintentional overdoses due to nonmedical use of drugs or alcohol killed 272 workers.
Fires and explosions killed 123 workers.
Guns killed 351 workers.
Knives and sharp objects killed 47 workers.
There were 91 roofers killed at work.
There were 258 farmers and ranchers killed at work.
There were 30 refuse collectors killed at work.
There were 112 miners and oil and gas extractors killed at work.
There were 258 farmers and ranchers killed at work.
There were 59 aircraft pilots and flight engineers killed at work.
There were 41 fishermen killed at work.
There were 14 iron and steel workers killed at work.
There were 26 power-line installers and repairers killed at work.
There were 244 goundskeepers killed at work.
There were 55 loggers killed at work.
So let’s ban marijuana, which, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), no one has ever died from using.

According to the CDC:

Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States.
Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
So let’s ban marijuana and keep tobacco—one of the deadliest substances known to man—legal.
According to the CDC:

Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) each year in the United States from 2006 – 2010, shortening the lives of those who died by an average of 30 years.
Excessive drinking was responsible for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults aged 20-64 years.
So let’s ban marijuana and allow people to buy and consume as much alcohol as they can, even if it will kill them.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), 6,227 pedestrians were killed on U.S. roads in 2018.

So let’s ban marijuana and spend billions to enforce the ban instead of investing in making it safer for pedestrians to cross the street.

The war on marijuana is not only ludicrous, it is unreasonable, irrational, and illogical.
By Laurence M. Vance