ABQJournal Online » Marijuana Review Is Warranted
By Dick Minzner / Albuquerque lawyer on Mon, Oct 29, 2012
There is no doubt that a professional football career shortens a player’s life expectancy appreciably. Even if life is not shortened, serious injuries frequently impair the quality of life after football. More than two thousand former players are suing the National Football League over brain injuries they allegedly suffered while playing.
These players voluntarily played football, which they probably loved, earned more money than they could have earned elsewhere and must have understood there were risks of injury. A common reaction to the suit among the public and commentators seems to be that the players made their choices and should accept the results of these choices.
An alternative common observation is that players deserve compensation if they received inadequate medical treatment or information from team doctors, and there should be better treatment and information available in the future. Nobody, however, responds by advocating the outlawing of football, even though serious injuries are inevitable.
Most Americans accept that in a free society adults can choose to do things that endanger their health, even if they seem unwise to others. Professional football is not the only, or most extreme, example.
Less visible but more tragic are the deaths of over four thousand motorcyclists per year and the serious injuries to many times that number. In boxing and other combat sports the purpose of the activity is to cause disabling injury. In college and high school sports and in unorganized sports and activities, injuries are common, some with long-lasting effects.
It is widely understood that alcohol and tobacco are proven killers and that some fast food diets can be unhealthy. We accept the decisions of adults (including, in some cases, parents of underage children) to decide whether to assume all of these risks.
There is, however, a notable exception. We spend tens of billions of public dollars annually to prevent Americans from choosing to consume marijuana and other drugs. This effort has many negative social consequences. Incarceration of criminals takes money from other needs such as education and health care. Law enforcement is diverted from other efforts. The judicial system becomes overcrowded.
Very profitable activities go untaxed, benefitting criminals at the expense of honest citizens. Our prohibition policy enriches criminal organizations and corrupts law enforcement in this country and others.
Further, marijuana prohibition has proven ineffective. Probably most adults and many high school students, if so inclined, could readily obtain marijuana in spite of its illegal status.
We should have a public discussion about whether the health risks of marijuana are clearly greater than those of alcohol, cigarettes, motorcycles, boxing and football. If not, then at least as to this drug, perhaps adults should have a choice, even if they make an unwise decision.
Are there reasons that potential marijuana purchasers in a free society should be denied the same freedom of choice to risk their health that cigarette smokers, alcohol consumers, motorcyclists, boxers and football players have?
Marijuana prohibition is, in essence, a large, ineffective government program with very substantial costs in terms of dollars, freedom and the empowerment of criminals. In an era of lean public budgets, it diverts resources that could be made available for other purposes.
Any other public program with a similar record would face substantial political opposition from both liberals and conservatives. It is time for a re-examination of our policy.
Dick Minzner is a Democratic former member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. He also was a Cabinet secretary for the Department of Taxation and Revenue.