It is time for a clear-headed discussion on legalizing marijuana for recreational use in New York State.
Which is to say that it is time to legalize weed here.
This is a position supported nationally by Republicans, Democrats and independents and the fact that New York State has not done so yet shows how far we have fallen from legislative leadership in this country. Not to mention common sense.
The opposition to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which effectively banned marijuana use nationally, was led by New York City Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia.
LaGuardia went so far as to create a commission led by the New York Academy of Medicine that contradicted claims made by the U.S. Treasury Department that smoking marijuana causes insanity, damages physical and mental health, assists in criminal behavior, and is a “gateway” drug to more dangerous drugs.
The head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry J. Anslinger, led the campaign for the tax, saying marijuana use was being promoted by “degenerate Hollywood.”
The evidence overwhelmingly said then and says now otherwise.
While there may be some addiction and dependence issues with marijuana, they pale in comparison with alcohol, tobacco and now opioids, which killed 64,000 people in 2016.
The “gateway” for heroin use can now be found in your drug cabinet and the dealers often wear suits and white lab coats. They have seemingly done everything they can to promote the use of opioids but manufacturing pills in the shape of the Flintstones.
Studies show that more than 75 percent of heroin users began with prescription drugs.
We also know that alcohol too can exact a high social cost, but as far as banning alcohol all we can say is been there done that.
But imagine for a moment an attempt to block alcohol sales today. Restaurant and wine and liquor lobbies would blast the measure as anti-social and harmful to the economy. And you know what, they would be right.
This is not to say there are no ill effects of marijuana, just that they can be handled much more easily than alcohol, tobacco, opioids or even fast foods, which have contributed mightily to an epidemic of obesity and diabetes.
On the other hand, marijuana has been shown to have a number of medicinal uses, including treatment of pain, glaucoma and the effects of cancer treatments.
Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form, including New York.
Seven states and the District of Columbia already permit recreational use of marijuana and four other states — California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada — all passed measures in November legalizing recreational marijuana.
California’s Proposition 64 measure allows adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants in their homes.
Sounds like a plan to us.
But have the states that legalized marijuana descended into a dystopian future?
No. In fact, they are actually doing well.
Farms and dispensaries have sprouted across states in which marijuana has been legalized, filling many previously vacant storefronts — a benefit many landlords in our area can well appreciate.
It has also been very profitable to the states.
Recreational weed sales in Colorado, which has about a fourth the population of New York, have generated more than a half billion dollars in revenue since legalization in 2014.
This is no small thing for New York.
With Republicans in Congress about to pass a tax bill that will cost New Yorkers billions of a dollars a year, the state is going to need to find new revenue sources.
It will also need to cut expenses and redirect where they are needed.
Nationally, there were 858,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to FBI figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives. If that is not madness, we don’t know what is.
“Even worse,” as The New York Times pointed out in 2014, “the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.”
The arguments for criminalizing marijuana were bogus in 1937 and they are bogus now. Polls show 62 percent of New Yorkers in favor of legalization for people 21 and over and only 28 percent against.
Stop the madness. And legalize marijuana.
