I Don't Buy the Argument Against Marijuana Legalization

The fight begins in earnest over whether to legalize cannabis begins. January 25, 2015 The following article was posted to the Indianapolis Star News,  Don’t fall for marijuana legalization. It was written by Dr. Dick Huber, a retired doctor of Greenwood, Indiana.

Notice how they try to make it look Evil?

Dr. Huber has spoken to the Indiana legislature before on the topic of marijuana. He testified before the Indiana Senate Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee July 28th, 2011. Several times he mentioned the idea of "gateway drugs", and that the brain of a person is not fully developed until the age of 25. He says pretty much the same thing in the Star article. He mentioned that a user of cannabis is more likely to move on to cocaine. I believe he is misguided.

Firstly, cigarettes and alcohol are far more damaging to society than marijuana.  Cigarettes are normally the first drug a person is exposed to, and is the real gateway. As for people moving on to cocaine, the reason this happens is because the user of marijuana is exposed to black market drug dealers, who never ask for I.D., and they are the ones who expose people to cocaine. In other words, if marijuana were legal, people would buy the product from shops who do check for I.D. and do not push cocaine. Furthermore, all this going on about the concern for a persons welfare before the age of 25 is smoke and mirrors. If there were real concern, we would not be putting guns into the hands of persons under the age of 25 and sending them off to fight in wars overseas. Nor would we allow them to vote, or to drive, because their brains haven't fully developed. Having marijuana listed as a scheduled I narcotic doesn't help matters for the young people in our society. When we have such a comparatively harmless drug as marijuana listed besides meth, and heroin the young people may get the idea after using marijuana that meth and such are not so harmful, then decide to dive into that quagmire. Dr. Huber's testimony is flawed, and grounded in the same old reefer madness hype we all know is not true.

I would advise any person of reason view this testimony by Dr. Jon Gettman. He is an Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. Dr. Jon Gettman is also testifying before the Indiana Senate Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee July 28th, 2011. He presents a logical argument, filled with real data and statistics. He presents a valid argument for the legalization of marijuana. He mentioned a seizure of $500,000 worth of marijuana from a California man during a traffic stop in Indiana. He went on to say that every time the media mentions the value of marijuana seized that people are motivated to get into this lucrative trade. I had never thought of it in those terms before, but that sounds logical to me.

I'm not going to go over every single point he makes in this write up. He speaks longer, and makes a heck of a lot more sense that Dr. Huber's weak testimony. So I'll just provide you the links, then you can hear and make up your own mind.

IN Sen. Marijuana Study Committee 2011: Dr. Jon GettmanPart 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

I believe that the legalization of marijuana is the prudent thing to do for Indiana, and the entire nation. The arguments against legalization have time after time been proven to be unwarranted and illogical.