Mary J. Day

Okay, readers.

Today is 4/20, and, as many of you know, it is the day when potheads around the country toke it up in public protests.  The end goal is to get pot legalized in the USA.

I have never touched weed.  Sure, everybody and their mother was toking up in my high school's bathrooms, but I never got involved with the stuff.  It just seemed stupid to me.

Just because I never saw the need to get high does not mean I think other people should not be able to enjoy cannabis.  As far as I know, cannabis has anti-inflammatory and anti-Alzheimer's properties.  Additionally, pot is known to reduce stress and relieve pain.  

On the other hand, there could be bad news for pot-smokers.  According to some researchers, smoking pot hurts an individual's short-term memory.  Furthermore, regular consumption of pot may cause some cancers.

The important thing to note is that the science on pot is not quite settled.  What we do know, however, is that weed does not automatically turn people into mindless zombies or vicious criminals.

Although we may never know all the pros and cons of cannabis, that does not mean we should keep it illegal.

In reality, we Americans have much bigger problems to deal with than some stupid debate over a quasi-benign drug; unfortunately, some of the money our government uses to fund the War on Drugs undoubtedly goes to the prevention of pot production.

That is stupid.  In any introductory economics course, students learn the basic principles of supply and demand.  Essentially, if people demand a good, someone will supply it.

It would be nice if our leaders understood this principle and applied it to their decision-making in terms of the War on Drugs.  There is a huge demand for pot (a similar argument can be made for all drugs), and, despite our government's best efforts, pot will always find its way to its demanders.  Our government's War on Drugs is only wasting our money, driving up the prices of the drugs, and costing the government in lost tax revenue.

If our officials would stop wasting tax dollars on this silly prohibition effort, the government would have more money to put towards fixing America's education system, cutting down the public debt, and fixing America's infrastructure.  These are worthwhile investments.  Trying to enforce anti-pot laws is not.

So, US government, please just legalize pot already so we can all move on with our lives.  Thanks.