Libertarians Need to Rethink Support for Drug Legalization
The one thing people tend to miss in their comparison of THC (that’s really what we’re arguing about here not the Hemp plant since Hemp plants (especially males) can be grown that contain very little THC for commercial uses) to Alcohol is that we have reliable tests for sobriety that can even be performed at a traffic stop for one but not the other. Urine tests and even blood tests are not accurate enough to determine sobriety for THC, any pot smoker knows it takes 30 days for THC to leave your system, and since THC is fat soluble it can remain in the body and be released into the blood stream long after actual use.
Its much easier to pass as “sober” when high on THC than drunk on alcohol. Without an accurate way to determine sobriety on site THC cannot be legalized, until then I will continue to oppose its legalization. People also neglect to take into account that legalization will lead to increased use (no more fear of job related drug testing) which will result in more traffic deaths due to impaired drivers. Employers can still test however due to the 30 day window most tests will be useless. Most other drugs have a very short period of time that they remain in your system (barring hair tests) and thus are useful in making hiring decisions, positive tests for THC would have to be ignored due to the length of time you can test positive after use.
That legalization would end the drug trade and the need for enforcement is also a fallacy, the rising costs of cigarettes due to taxation has lead to more black market sales and “bootlegging” of cigarettes. Same thing will occur with THC based products, probably worse as many of the methods for circumventing government regulation already exist. Add “local growers” who import seeds from the Netherlands and then sell a “gourmet” product under the table to select clientele and nothing much changes. In addition, just because you remove one item from the list you’ve still got a host of others that still require resources for enforcement, prisons for law breakers, etc.
Legalization is not the panacea many here have made it out to be. With that you also will have to increase social programs to deal with the addicts, law enforcement for the associated ills, medical cost/programs to deal with resultant medical issues, etc.
I’ve seen what heroin, LSD, crack, pot, ecstasy, cocaine, PCP, and meth do to people and was lucky enough not end up like them despite my own recreational use of several in that list. It’s not pretty.
