Legalizing Marijuana

One major difference between Libertarians and Republicans is the difference in opinion on whether or not to legalize marijuana.  Let me first start out by saying that I have never tried marijuana, nor any other illegal drug.  My mom worked for a hospital in the chemical dependency department so I knew I had no chance of getting away with it.  But I knew many people that habitually smoked marijuana in high school and college. 

The media has done a great job of confusing us on what we should be focusing on.  I don’t think the question is whether or not we should legalize marijuana; the question we should be focusing on is whether or not it is the government’s role to tell me what I can put into my own body.  Our founding fathers believed the government should be as small as possible, believing in personal responsibility.  The founders didn’t write the constitution with the intent of having the government taking on the role of parenting.

In my opinion the founders wrote the constitution with one specific goal, that the federal government exists to protect the rights and freedoms of the American people…period.  So when the legislature writes laws, we need to start asking ourselves if the specific law being created is designed to protect our liberties.  It seems to be a pretty tough case to make that banning the use of marijuana is needed to protect freedom.  You’re probably thinking, “if laws should only be created to protect the individual rights and freedoms of the American people, then most of the federal laws written shouldn’t even exist.”  I would say you are right.  A common argument people make is that traffic laws wouldn’t exist if we were to take this approach.  Here is where I disagree.  Traffic laws are state laws, which mean the people of that state have a say in how the traffic laws are enforced.  So if you don’t like the 65 mile an hour speed limit in CA, you can vote with your feet and move to Texas where on the open roads the speed limit is 80 mph.  The state that has more stringent laws will lose more and more people to other states; this in turn would cause CA to reconsider how strict their laws are.  But if you have the federal government creating laws, there is no way to move to another place to get around it, unless you have dual citizenship. 

Prop 19 was recently voted down in the state of CA.  This would have legalized marijuana for recreational use.  While I disagree with the outcome, I do like the fact that the people got to vote on it.  What I don’t like is the federal government already has passed a law that makes it illegal to use marijuana.  So even if Prop 19 passed, it still would be against federal law to smoke marijuana in CA.  If you understand the 10^th amendment it is clear that the federal government has no constitutional right to tell CA they can’t legalize marijuana.  The constitution was shredded a long time ago in D.C.  But what bothers me is that if we think the constitution is outdated and we should no longer be bound by it (which I disagree with that), then let’s have that argument.  Let’s not pretend we are upholding the constitution, when every politician knows they don’t even take a second look at it after swearing before taking office to uphold it.

I know a lot of people disagree with my stance on legalizing marijuana.  And you know what, 2 years ago I would have thought there is no way I could ever support legalizing it.  But in my last few years of studying history and politics, I have realized how corrupt, self centered, arrogant, and manipulative politicians can be.  I have come to realize we must keep government as small as possible to minimize the effects these corrupt people have on the United States.  They will literally sell their soul to make sure they pay back those who donated to their campaigns in order to get even more donations for their next campaign. 

I know there is a possibility that there could be some deaths related to people who were under the influence of marijuana and killed someone in a car crash.  But freedom isn’t free.  Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, “those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  The TSA doing unreasonable searches on innocent people looking to board an airplane start to come to mind also when thinking about this quote. 

Let’s look at some of the benefits of legalizing marijuana.  For one, drug cartels get an incredible amount of cash flow growing and distributing marijuana in the black market.  If we legalize marijuana, it would be equivalent to repealing prohibition which is widely believed to be the reason organized crime no longer exists.  You could no longer purchase marijuana from your buddy down the street who got it from the local drug dealer; it would force everyone to buy it out in the open.  You would have to show your ID to prove you are over 18 or 21 (depending on state law) in order to purchase it.  The price for marijuana would come down dramatically. 

States would also benefit because there would be an incredible amount of tax revenue from the regulation of marijuana.  CA especially could use the additional tax revenue to help fund Sea Otter research and all the other bogus programs we like to fund in this ridiculous state. 

I know people consider marijuana to be a gateway drug, and they are probably right.  But if we give the government the power to control what we can put in our bodies, we open up the door for them to make it illegal to put other substances in our body.  We all know that there is no way we have enough money to fund government controlled healthcare.  Some sort of rationing is going to have to take place; there just isn’t enough money to go around.  Mark my words, government is going to make it either a crime, or create a large tax on sugar to try and raise the money to fund healthcare.  We can’t allow government to continue to make additional power grabs to take more control over our lives.  It must stop now.  We must reverse these ridiculous laws that might save a few lives, but sacrifice the principles that we were founded on.  When it comes to erring, we must error on the side of freedom.