Legalize It ?

I’m Denny, and I’m an alcoholic. That’s how I introduce myself at A. A. meetings. I thought that might put some of my opinions in perspective. The fact that I am an addict precludes me from using pot. Nonetheless, I strongly believe this drug should be, once and for all, legalized, for everyone over the age of 21.

I was a young college student in the 60’s, when campus protest marches, ascribing to the legalization of weed were common, and large. Some 40 years later this hot issue rages on.

Perhaps the reader finds it odd that a recovering addict, currently in Palomar College’s Drug and Alcohol studies program would not only feel that pot should finally be made legal, but tell others about it.

I have done 40 years of my own personal research comparing the effects of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana on the human mind and body. My findings coincide with most health studies. Alcohol is a deadly killer. It kills body organs, and other people, when they collide with drinking drivers. It is also fatal to family relationships.

Cigarettes cause cancer. Need I say more.

Marijuana? Well, the only one of the three drugs that is illegal, has been found by myself, and many well respected doctors, to cause temporary stupidity in people who smoke the drug in large quantities.

Cigarettes and alcohol cause more death and destruction than any other two substances used in our society. Economics, tradition and addiction assure us that they will remain legal.

The upside of the legalization of marijuana is twofold. Economically, it could help our floundering economy. Sell it in stores, alongside cigarettes and alcohol. And, like the other two drugs, tax the heck out of it. Have farmers produce it under controlled conditions. Don’t farmers grow grapes, wheat, barley, and tobacco?

Here’s the best part. The legalization of the drug could take the sales out of the hands of criminals. Gangsters have plenty of other products to push on society.

My opinion is based on logic. I have nothing to gain from the legalization of marijuana. I cannot smoke grass again. It will lead me back to alcohol. Addiction works that way.

Is my plan too naive? Have I made a complex issue too simple? Has smoking so much marijuana made me stupid? I just hope that if that’s the case, I’m not too stupid to start smoking cigarettes again. Or, even worse, drive drunk.