149 Comments

I used to be involved in an Employee Assistance Program and was trained to assist employees find programs that could help them with addiction problems among other issues. What I have learned is that people have different reactions to different drugs. For example I have known alcoholics that fit the stereotypical trait of “one drink is not enough and two is too many”. There also have been incidents of people smoking weed and having psychotic or even a schizophrenic episode. This seems extremely rare but like many psychoactive substances some folks have a tolerance and some folks can have almost toxic reactions. I know this-alcohol kills many people each year including car accidents and alcohol related diseases. Alcohol is now being linked to certain cancers.

2So many states have legalized marijuana. It’s time for the federal government to legalize it and allow the banks access to billions of dollars in the cannabis market.

Expand full comment

Look people, especially you y- and z(ombie)-gener's, this is NOT brain surgery, or quantum mechanics, or some nuclear fusion equation meant to twist what's left of your brains . . . the fact is, using, buying, selling or possessing Marijuana, is a violation of EXISTING Federal law, period, paragraph! Yet our precious, uberly-expensive and totally inept Federal government (including the DOJ and FBI), have allowed countless states to blatantly violate the law, by making it legal within their states, just like the mindlessly moronic allowance of so-called "Sanctuary cities", all without a freaking ounce of enforcement! This, is precisely why your Federal government and your Federal tax dollars are a complete waste of your earnings, and you can thank the average Trump-hating, soy-milk-sipping, EV-driving, CRT-loving, fascist, schizophrenic, affluent, blue-haired, white, female, faculty-lounge, liberal, for getting us all here. Any questions?

Expand full comment

Weed is addictive, a gateway drug, it makes people totally complacent, paranoid, and incapable of non-deluded critical thought. Other than that, I don't see the big deal.

Expand full comment

Users cannot pass drug tests. Need drivers? Heavy equipment operators? Good luck. We had 12 recent applicants fail a drug test for a CDL required position in Eastern Oregon. Most do not even show up for the test. I wonder how much of low male employment in the 25-45 year age group is explained by Marijuana useage and their inability to pass a drug test.

Expand full comment

I'm late to this article so I'm sure my comment won't be read by anyone but I can't help myself. Any argument against weed legalization that doesn't even bother to mention alcohol and cigarettes deserves to be crumpled up and thrown in the trash. To just wholly ignore the context of other drugs that we have deemed acceptable is just absurd. Are the authors teetotalers? If not, why are they under the impression they should have the right to consume a drug that does vastly more damage to human beings than weed? What is the principle they're appealing to here? There is none. If weed is to be prohibited because of its harms there is absolutely zero logic defending the legality of alcohol and cigarettes. Barr and Walters don't even attempt to address this! I'm shocked the good folks at the Free Press described this piece as the "best case" for prohibition.

Expand full comment

"... A recent study found that marijuana use—whether through smoking, edibles, or vapes—is associated with a higher risk of heart attack and stroke..."

So is lack of exercise and eating an unhealthy diet. 76 year old healthy, fit, STEM & Healthcare educated Boomer here who is still working (part time) not for financial need:

My generation grew up with weed and most of us (including me) partook with gusto and we're doing just fine well into out 70s.

As a Libertarian I believe that ALL drugs should be decriminalized regardless of any potential for harm to the user, provided that clear prominent warnings are on the labels. People should be free to self-select out of the gene-pool.

Expand full comment

As a 50 year consumer of marijuana, I can assure you that today’s dispensary weed is not “high octane”. In fact, I accuse the industry of purposely breeding mediocre marijuana so that the customer is back for more, sooner.

Expand full comment

I spent a few years in Denver Probate court, dealing with mental health certifications. Denver was a magnet for people with severe mental illness from around the state, just as Colorado was a magnet for the mentally ill from around the country.

The reason was that Colorado pioneered legal weed, and a shocking number of people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder self-medicate with ultra-potent cannabis. In many cases, the psychotic break was linked to cannabis-use disorder. I'm not a scold or a prude, but this new strain scrambles susceptible brains, and they stay scrambled.

Expand full comment

Holy misinformation and fearmongering from two old school fuddy duds.

1) Stronger weed in a way is actually healthier, as the user doesn't need to smoke as much as hippies in the Woodstock era had to get the same effect, thereby reducing total smoke and carcinogen impact.

2) Marijuana has been used for thousands of years, what additional testing would they like done? Maybe the same amount as the recent vaccine?

3) The psychological disorders they describe by habitual "addicted" users has never been proven beyond correlation. It is disingenuous to not consider that people with psychological disorders which lead to self destructive tendencies would not also be the same people abusing drugs. Many homeless people are alcoholics, does a glass of wine lead to homelessness?

4) Notice they state "marijuana related ER visits", not any actual harm past temporary unpleasant symptoms. Mainly new users having panic attacks and going to hospitals.

5) The black market is due to something they fail to mention: while weed is legal at many state levels, it is still illegal federally. Legalizing it federally and allowing any farm to grow it under normal department of agriculture rules would help end the black market. Currently, no one can legally grow or ship product without fear of DEA interjection, even in legal states.

6) Dispensaries get robbed? See number 5, they are still selling a federally illegal product and therefor have to do all business in cash, or the DEA and IRS take that too.

Weed isn't a cure all, and definitely isn't part of a balanced diet, but it's a generally harmless recreational drug when used in moderation. In a country that has pushed pain pills on people to the point that it's created a full blown opiate epidemic while getting legal pharmaceutical companies rich, not to mention a culture of alcohol use which causes tens of thousands of deaths or more through addiction and accidents, weed isn't the real problem. The government is.

Expand full comment

Even before I read Katherine Mangu-Ward's rebuttal, the flaws in this column were so painfully obvious. Barr & Walters enjoy their cocktail parties but cannot justify (morally, constitutionally, or financially) the expenditure of millions of taxpayer dollars to prosecute, incarcerate and ruin the lives of people whose "crime" is that they prefer the dreamy creativeness of toking to the slobbering tipsiness of drinking. Either they should advocate that we outlaw alcohol and tobacco, or they should at least begin their statements with "I know I am a total hypocrite, but I believe...."

Expand full comment

zero facts. weed is not a gateway drug and most weed users are harmless. smoking it is just as stupid and more harmful than cigarettes yet cigarettes which have killed many more people and cost everyone [with a job] a lot more in higher insurance and health care costs is still legal and not even being considered to have its legal status changed. maybe the authors should get high and learn the facts. including the fact that they would not become addicted.

Expand full comment

To the commenters that cite “research” - I came to fully understand that during my pursuit of a degree, research to support either side of an argument is always available.

It is important to distinguish WHO is funding the research.

Expand full comment

Last year we stopped at riverside park in Cincinnati to let the kids enjoy the summer day. As I was following the kids through the maze I came across a young couple with two children. One child was in a stroller and the other was standing in front of their parents waiting for them to engage. The parents sat there smoking weed - not present.

Sure lots of stuff can make people checked out, but even Andrew knows that is mere smoke. Whatever benefit can be found is erased by that look on that child's face. That said everything.

Expand full comment

Young people are drinking less. Is the benefit of less drinking greater than the harm of using more weed? I did both in my youth. Now I rarely, but occasionally, still have a drink or once in awhile use an edible. Almost everything in life is about moderation. If you smoke weed all day you'll become a "burnout." If you use it occasionally it's unlikely to cause any issues.

Expand full comment

Todays' weed and alcohol are like comparing apples and oranges. Today's modern weed is WAY more addictive than your grandpa's weed. It causes brain damage in people under age 21... and that damage CANNOT be reversed. Legalizing it is doing irreparable harm to SO MANY kids. Also, the second smoke on unwilling children (and others) is unfair.

Expand full comment

"woman was convicted for involuntary manslaughter after fatally stabbing her boyfriend over a hundred times because of (according to her lawyers) “cannabis-induced psychosis.”

REALLY, you use this as evidence??? A defense attorneys argument in a capital murder case. I wouldnt consider this an objective nor scientific unbiased fact to base policy on.

I think Milton Friedman was correct; the harm caused by prohibition, far outweighs the problems caused by legalization. That is NOT to say we should not vigorously prosecute crime- and yes that includes shoplifting and vagrancy.

Expand full comment