Columnist David Brooks writes in “Weed: Been There. Done That.”,
“So, like the vast majority of people who try drugs, we aged out. We left marijuana behind. I don’t have any problem with somebody who gets high from time to time, but I guess, on the whole, I think being stoned is not a particularly uplifting form of pleasure and should be discouraged more than encouraged.
We now have a couple states — Colorado and Washington — that have gone into the business of effectively encouraging drug use. By making weed legal, they are creating a situation in which the price will drop substantially. One RAND study suggests that prices could plummet by up to 90 percent, before taxes and such. As prices drop and legal fears go away, usage is bound to increase. This is simple economics, and it is confirmed by much research. Colorado and Washington, in other words, are producing more users.
The people who debate these policy changes usually cite the health risks users would face or the tax revenues the state might realize. Many people these days shy away from talk about the moral status of drug use because that would imply that one sort of life you might choose is better than another sort of life”
WATCHDOG: Brooks talks nonsense in several regards:
1) We know of no one recommending that youths have access to marijuana earlier than it is lawful for them to imbibed alcoholic beverages. Of course marijuana as well as alcohol and cigarettes are especially bad for children and youths during their development stages.
2) California has long had a virtual legalization of marijuana in the guise of medical marijuana. A trip to doctors can provide a certificate for the purchase at numerous dispensaries spread throughout the metropolitan areas and state. We are unaware of any significant drop in price. There has been no apparent bad impact on crime or public health.
3) Brooks treats marijuana smoking in isolation, as though it is not usually substituted for other drugs, the martini or scotch we suspect with which Brooks probably indulges. Any comparison between people driving when drinking or driving when smoking pot would show that the former is far more dangerous. Alcohol tends to contribute to aggressiveness; marijuana relaxes people.
4) Yes marijuana will produce some ‘dead heads.’ But alcohol produces alcoholics, with their equally or worse impact on society. We suspect the overuse of any type of drug, legal or illegal, is a symptom of an underlying problem, not usually the cause.
