The topic of legalizing marijuana has been done to death. A superfluous number of freshmen have covered this topic over and over in a brave effort to be edgy, but there’s another side.

Sure, there are all the medical benefits and all the money the government could make off taxation. Weed-based drug cartels would cease to exist as the trade of marijuana is brought off the black market. Legalization would destroy an illegal economy and create a profitable one.

These are all good arguments, and it’s easy to prove that marijuana is less harmful than other drugs on the market; even most pharmaceuticals have negative side effects.

No one looking to smoke weed recreationally goes to the polls thinking about the economic benefits. They don’t vote to stop gang violence, and they don’t vote to give the government more money. They vote because they want to get high and because they like being high.

I have it on good authority that the legalization of weed also increases the quality. Growers in Colorado and Washington suddenly have increased freedoms; no longer do they cower in secrecy– those with licenses can grow weed openly, giving them even more opportunities to discuss methods and splice plants. Since they sell to the dispensaries as well as the general stoner public, this also increases the quality of medicinal weed.

Medicinal weed is highly abused anyway, and a pathetic cover up; all it takes is a single doctor who loves the green for the word of easy medicinal cards to get out.

I do not propose we march on D.C. with signs reading “LEGALIZE IT, JUST BECAUSE,” but I question a society where people are prohibited from harmless fun because of a cultural bias. Maybe the bureaucrats making these decisions need to put down their 100-proof whiskey, smoke a joint and lighten up.

To read the opposition, click here!