It would be nice to see more elected officials taking a stand on this issue. It is silly to me that marijuana is illegal while alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs are legal. Our society is very forgiving about alcohol use and very unforgiving about marijuana usage. I find it annoying when I listen to my coworkers discuss how much they drank the night before or plan to go out and drink and think nothing of it. I don't drink and would much rather smoke, but I currently do not as I am looking for a good job, better than the one I have, and most jobs of this sort will drug test me so I choose not to indulge and avoid hassles. However I would love to be able to go home and just get high while I watch TV or play some computer games but if I mention this I could lose my current job. It annoys me to know that society would look down on me and it could actually harm me economically as well as socially for doing essentially the same thing, using a substance for personal enjoyment.
If prescription drugs are being abused, then perhaps society should criminalize them more and reschedule these drugs like marijuana? I mean if marijuana has no medicinal value, as the DEA scheduling suggests, then what is the point of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Caffeine? These are all drugs that are abused daily by many people and society knows this. There is no real medical usage for caffeine. People use it to treat headaches, but couldn't Tylenol do the same thing? And what about alcohol? I can't see the medical usage there other than for sterilization, but I am sure bleach and other chemicals could do the same thing without the risk of people getting drunk or high on a substance. And I've not heard any doctors recommend taking up smoking tobacco to treat an ailment or for your health. My theory is that if we are going to wage a war on drugs, then lets do it. People are getting drunk or high on hand sanitizer, bath salts, whip cream cans, spray paint, and tobacco. These things should be treated just the same as marijuana if society is truly concerned about the social ills of drugs.
I have said many times that it was not marijuana which was a gateway drug for me. I believe it to be coffee and caffeine. I used to spend countless hours at all night restaurants with friends who smoked cirarettes and drank coffee. I would drink my share of coffee and then one night I decided to try smoking cigarettes, and from there it became much easier to justify trying marijuana. If I am smoking one plant, then why not try another? But I don't think the government or the DEA or many will see the logic in looking at these drugs this way and we will continue turning a blind eye towards those ills while ignoring our own hypocrisy.