Friday, January 3, 2014

Marcus Misses the Mark on Marijuana

Among the list of journalists now admitting they've smoked pot is Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, who also joins the ranks of hypocrites who nonetheless don't think it should be legal.

In Marcus's post-legalization column on the subject, she admits:

I have done my share of inhaling, though back in the age of bell-bottoms and polyester. Next time I’m in Colorado, I expect, I’ll check out some Bubba Kush. Why not? They used to warn about pot being a gateway drug, but the only gateway I’m apt to be heading through at this stage is the one to Lipitor. 

Yet she continues, "Still, widespread legalization is a bad idea, if an inevitable development" and goes on to quote chapter and verse from government propaganda straight from the ONDCP.

She writes:

I’m not arguing that marijuana is riskier than other, already legal substances, namely alcohol and tobacco. Indeed, pot is less addictive; an occasional joint strikes me as no worse than an occasional drink. If you had a choice of which of the three substances to ban, tobacco would have to top the list. Unlike pot and alcohol, tobacco has no socially redeeming value; used properly, it is a killer.

Yet she concludes: "On balance, society will not be better off with another legal mind-altering substance. In particular, our kids will not be better off with another legal mind-altering substance."

Oh, for heaven's sake. That old argument? Nothing about freedom to choose the less harmful substance? As though prohibition is working to keep teens away from pot.

Marcus, a Harvard law graduate from Philadelphia, is supposedly a liberal Democrat and has two teenage daughters. Write to Marcus at ruthmarcus@washpost.com

P.S. Colbert took on Marcus and David Brooks on his first show of 2014. Favorite line: "I applaud Marcus and Brooks for taking a stand against legalizing the pot they smoked."

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This is what I just wrote to her:
If you had been caught when you smoked cannabis when young, especially if you had more melanin in your skin, you would neither be lawyer nor columnist. You would probably be moving stock in WalMart for $10.00 an hour and trying to figure out how to feed your kids with food stamps that you have to take a urinalysis to get. Drug convictions close a lot of doors to a lot of people, and just because you managed to evade the consequences of your criminal behavior, there are many who are not so lucky. Do you wish to continue to inflict of them the penalty you escaped simply for using a beneficial herb that cures so many illnesses.

Also, it might interest you to know that orally ingested cannabis helped me to lose 65 pounds and move my BMI from 'obese' to 'normal'.

Very Truly Yours,

Ron and Claudia said...

I just sent an email to Ms. Ruth Marcus. As a nurse practitioner and mother I am thrilled to see legalization coming for more states than just Colorado and Washington. The Drug War has taken away too many futures. It is clear that mainstream tokers don't go to jail. Our prisons are full of black and brown inmates who don't have the resources to avoid incarceration. On release - no job, no scholarship or financial aid. The Drug War keeps too many people employed and the drug that fuels this insanity is marijuana - safer than any other legal drug and less addictive than coffee.