Editorial: Marijuana policies should be reconsidered

In some parts of the country, public concern regarding “reefer madness” might be coming to a close.

On Nov. 6, Washington and Colorado became the first states to pass laws legalizing recreational cannabis use in addition to their existing laws allowing medical usage for a range of conditions.

According to an article by Reuters, personal possession of up to an ounce of cannabis will become legal for those over the age of 21, and these states will permit the substance to be sold and taxed at state stores. Washington has maintained a ban on citizens growing marijuana plants, but in Colorado, cultivation of up to six plants per person is now allowed.

Following the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado — and keeping in mind that 13 U.S. states allow medical marijuana use — it might be time to re-examine state and federal marijuana criminalization history and laws.

While the fearful dialogue regarding pot has negatively influenced the societal acceptance of marijuana in America for as long as any of us can remember, cannabis extract was sold as a medicine in the U.S. in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and it has been used in many cultures and societies for medicinal and spiritual purposes since the third century B.C.

The production and consumption of marijuana was largely acceptable in the U.S. before World War I. While there were several reasons to make marijuana use illegal — for example, to prevent general addiction after some Americans became addicted to morphine in over-the-counter medications — racial motivations also significantly influenced the issue.

The popularity of recreational marijuana use among immigrants from Mexico and a body of “research” from the early 1900s that linked social problems to use of the drug, played a primary role in illegalization of the substance by lawmakers who were concerned about moral degradation.

We believe that it’s time to re-evaluate such racist, misguided motivations and seriously consider their place in public policy in 2012.

Modern research suggests that there are much greater public health problems than cannabis use — for example, alcohol abuse — because cannabis toxicity is nearly impossible for humans. Additionally, the claim that marijuana is a “gateway drug” is widely disputed.

Of course, there are other outdated laws on the books that were developed because of prejudice or fear. While the ban on men who have had sexual contact with other men donating blood was meant to protect people from contracting HIV or Hepatitis B, improved testing methods for the virus in blood have minimized that concern. We hope that updated research on these topics will lead to better and more rational laws.

We applaud Washington and Colorado for leading the way in what will hopefully develop into federal and statewide reconsideration of policies that are based on 100-year-old fears of societal degradation and addiction. It’s time to apply a modern understanding when examining drug policies in the United States.