by Teri Ong
This week I was approached by a man who wanted me to sign a petition promoting the legalization of marijuana. When he asked me to sign, I said in a clear voice, “I have lived in a neighborhood plagued by the problems of drug abuse too long to want to encourage more of it.”
He quickly replied, “People are going to do what they are going to do anyway. The government might as well have the tax income from it.”
I said, “That is a terrible way for our government to make money!” We could easily find ourselves with another moral conundrum similar to the one states are facing now having their health care income stream in part funded by cigarette taxes. They need the money, but is it really right to officially promote something known to be deadly?
The Wall Street Journal recently published a report that pegged the medical cost to society of each alcoholic drink at $1.90. If we do eventually get a government-run single payer health care system, the American government would have to tax every alcoholic drink $1.90 just to break even! And that doesn’t take into account the many other social costs like lost productivity and wages, property destruction, domestic violence, wrongful deaths, birth defects and learning disabilities from fetal alcohol syndrome etc., associated with alcohol abuse.
So do we really think that the costs associated with marijuana use (which will lead to a demand for stronger and more dangerous chemicals) will be less than the attendant costs of alcohol? Are we going to tax cannabis lolly pops and brownies at a rate of $2-$3 per high so the “government” can break even on this kind of drug use?
Who will develop the curb-side tests for law enforcement so they can make a Mary Jane DUI or DWAI stick in court? Will there be “open baggie” laws for use in the car? Will people who commit violent or insensible acts while under weedy influence be allowed to plead temporary insanity?
My son, who is presently in a police training program, just had a class on drug law enforcement. He was told that the marijuana that is currently used is up to ten times stronger than the marijuana that was smoked in the 1960’s and 70’s. The leaves are cut together with the flowers, which are much more potent. This gives new meaning to the term “flower children.”
In the last month, a family in our county was jailed for beating a person they accused of trying to steal the “medical marijuana” they were growing in their fields. Are we so naive as a society that we think the drug cartels will go away if we legalize drugs in some form or fashion? The violence and exploitation will simply shift to some other vice. There will always be blood money to be had at someone else’s expense. No societal good will come of continually trying to move the legal boundaries ever outward past the edges of moral decency and sensibility.
Numerous journalists who have ventured through Zuccotti Park to see the Occupy Wall Street protestors have commented on the filth, squaller, and yes, prevalent drug use. We have only begun to understand the meaning of “dependent class” if we legalize and thus encourage the consumption of a steady supply of “stone soup,” whether it is taxed or not.
Teri Ong is a minister’s wife, teacher, and long time resident of downtown Greeley.
