Saunders’ column overstates support to legalize cannabis
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Debra Saunders’ recent column about the legalization of marijuana deserves some corrections (“Changes in House leadership may ease path for legal cannabis,” The Herald, Dec. 12).
First, she overstated the public support for legalization. Last month, decisive majorities in three states voted against ballot measures to legalize marijuana.
Marijuana was initially embraced in blue states, like California, but has a less certain path forward in the rest of the country. Pundits should not assume legalization has vast bipartisan support. Emerson College polls show that when questions about marijuana policy ask both about legalization and decriminalization, which wouldn’t legalize sales, most people do not choose the former.
Saunders also asserted that the lack of legislative progress is more representative of a generational divide than a political divide, arguing that older officeholders are out of touch with their younger constituents. Given that North Dakota and South Dakota have the fifth and 14th youngest median ages, respectively, she might have expected legalization to be popular there. Yet both states, along with Arkansas, rejected legalization in November.
Importantly, her column failed to grapple with the reasons legalization is opposed by a bipartisan majority of federal lawmakers. Legalization is associated with higher rates of use, concerningly among minors and pregnant women. The impairment that subsequently follows this use is associated with more traffic fatalities, mental illness like psychosis, and workplace accidents. Legalization also comes short of displacing the illicit market, and any tax dollars that are generated are offset 4-to-1 by associated costs and adverse outcomes. The legalization of marijuana will add an additional burden to our health system.
Legalization is being pushed by a profit-driven industry, and columnists like Saunders should not carry water for them. While she provided favorable coverage of the panel event sponsored by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation, she opted not to disclose that this is a front group for Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco, which have invested billions into the marijuana industry. Legalization is not about bettering public health or safety; it is about creating a new addiction-for-profit industry.
Keven Sabet
Smart Approaches to Marijuana
Alexandria, Va.
