Legalise cannabis now: it’s lost its stigma
SO. What do you American kids think about cannabis?
As states increasingly adopt laws allowing medical marijuana, fewer teens see occasional marijuana use as harmful, the largest national survey of youth drug use has found. Nearly 80% of high school seniors don’t consider occasional marijuana use harmful — the highest rate since 1983 — and one in 15 smoke nearly every day, according to the annual survey of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders made public Wednesday.
More than one in five high school seniors said they smoked marijuana in the month before the survey, and 36% smoked marijuana during the previous year, according to Monitoring the Future survey of 45,449 students from 395 public and private schools. After four straight years of increasing marijuana use among teens, annual use among 10th and 12th graders stabilized and use by eighth graders declined slightly since 2010.
Cannabis is not benign. There are dangers in taking it. But it’s prescribed as a medicine. The drug has lost its stigma. It’s acceptable to smoke it. So. It must be fine to smoke it every day. Right?
All this pussyfooting around sends out a mixed message. Marijuana should be legalised in much the same way as dread tobacco and booze are? Young teens know alcohol and cigarettes can be damaging. The youth can be educated. Illegality just makes weed- less harmful than tobacco – cool.
Stop the nonsense. Legalise cannabis.
Photo: In this Dec. 6, 2012 photo, Allister Adams smokes marijuana just after midnight at the Space Needle in Seattle. People in Washington decided that marijuana, long derided as a dangerous drug that could lead to more harmful addictions, wasn’t so bad after all. Initiative 502, legalizing pot for adults, was easily approved in November.
Posted: 29th, December 2012 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
