Colorado’s ethical roots overgrown with weed

Legalising marijuana sale for recreational use makes financial sense for the US state, but the message it sends out to the youth is dangerous

Colorado’s lawmakers give grist to the mill of those who question America’s much- touted values. On January 1, the state legalised the sale of marijuana for recreational use, never mind that the federal government has spent billions on its war against drugs since the 1970s when president Richard Nixon launched his anti- drug campaign. By the late 1980s, 64 per cent of Americans polled viewed substance abuse as their nation’s biggest problem. Soon afterwards, drug- related arrests increased by 126 per cent.

In mid- 2011, a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy criticised the war on drugs as a failure and promoting the legalisation of drug use, which would save billions on “enforcement and incarceration” and fill US coffers to the tune of $ 41.3 billion ( Dh151.9 billion) annually. However, the Federal government has no appetite to loosen the leash on cannabis- related substances. Colorado is going rogue and there is little the Barack Obama administration can do about it. Indeed, Washington is set to follow suit later this year, while other states are considering taking a similar path.

Certainly, Colorado is poised to reap huge rewards. One study suggests the state government could be $ 10 billion richer by 2018 due to a 25 per cent sales and excise taxes on each sale. Companies that grow marijuana and industries that manufacture related processing equipment — until now used for medical purposes — have witnessed their share prices leap several- fold overnight.

At the end of their first day in business, cannabis stores around Denver alone netted more than $ 1 million. Critics have complained that many products, especially edibles with enticing names like “Coffee and Cream” and “Chocolate Brownies”, are wrapped to resemble sweets and so are bound to hold an allure for young children. There are also marijuana- infused lozenges, drinks, balms and massage oils available as spin- offs. Several of those pot stores also sell caps and drug paraphernalia branded with their name and logo, enabling customers to serve as walking advertisements. There is no doubt that the state will be better off financially, but at what price? What kind of a message does this step send to young people? Smoking may be bad for your health but puffing on weed is approved so as to feed the state with filthy lucre?

The pro- marijuana brigade likes to cite studies indicating the drug’s anti- spasmodic, analgesic and antiemetic effects, thus alleviating the suffering of people with chronic or terminal illnesses. Yet, in 2011, the American Society of Addiction Medicine published a white paper urging an end to marijuana use as medication due to the dangers of cannabis and the lack of clinical research supporting its medical use.

Poor outcomes

Other marijuana cheerleaders claim the substance is relatively benign and non- addictive, an assertion countered by California’s Spencer Recovery Centres. Addiction is a disease and like any disease, tears away at the mind and body of the sufferer. On the job, workers who smoke pot often miss more work, have more accidents”. Other downsides include diminishing self- confidence, physical dependence, anxiety, irritability, isolation, depression and sleeping difficulties. The majority of those claims are supported by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse which says “marijuana users themselves report poor outcomes on a variety of life satisfaction and achievement measures”.

A recent scientific study highlighted by the indicates teenage cannabis use “really does pave the way to heroin addiction in later life” because such “exposure in adolescence primes the system to crave the chemical stimulation of hard drugs”. Colorado’s children who see their parents or teachers merrily puffing will be conditioned to view marijuana as harmless or even beneficial, which could doom an entire generation to underachievement or worse. To add insult to injury, the state says it will ear- mark the first $ 40 million of its illgotten gains to build or improve schools.

Seems Colorado has decided to live now, pay later. A surge in tourism is anticipated; some travel companies are offering marijuana tours while hotels are expected to look the other way if guests light- up in smoking rooms.

As of now, the companies and stores profiting from recreational cannabis will be forced to keep their profits in their mattresses as banks are not authorised to accept drug money. Colorado must also ensure that cannabis is not carried across its border to states where it is still deemed illegal or fall into the hands of the under- 21s and individual growers do not exceed their permitted quota of plants.

Something smells bad, other than the smoke from a drug the international community considers to be harmful. If Colorado embraces fame — or, rather, notoriety — as the ‘ Hashish Capital of the World’, attracting low- life from every corner of the globe, it will not escape a societal day of reckoning.

gulfnews. com