Now Might be the Time

An interesting quotation caught my eye today.  I had an assignment to read Common Sense by Thomas Paine in my American Revolution class.  The quotation was “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”  Thomas Paine was talking about rule by a king and parliament thousands of miles away.  I am talking about laws governing marijuana.  For many decades this country has seen marijuana laws as not being wrong.  This long period of passive acceptance has entrenched a policy that when thought about rationally would never be in place.  Lack of conscious thought on the matter has prevented marijuana from even being a discussion among the population at large.  If a public discussion of the laws governing marijuana were to take place, it is my belief that the public would wake up to the reality of this harmless plant. 

There is no doubt that this country and the world face more grave concerns than the legality of weed.  I am not some pothead writing a complaint about laws I think are unfair.  I am a concerned citizen who sees in marijuana the potential to solve some of the problems we currently face.  America is at a unique point in history where we face more problems, both domestically and internationally, than ever before.  We have to deal with a weakened global economy as well as serious problems within our own economy.  We have to deal complex foreign policy issues like Israel and difficult security issues at home such as unsecure borders and potential terrorist cells within our borders.  Most people would say that at a time like this a discussion about marijuana is unimportant.  I say that legalization has never made more sense.

One issue in which marijuana legalization would be a huge help is in medicine.  The New York Times wrote on Monday that healthcare could rise to as much as 25% of the country’s GDP by 2025.  That number is astonishing.  The I first thought of it was the country will be spending a quarter of its entire income on not dying.  Currently we are between 12 and 15% of our GDP every year going to healthcare.  It is my belief that wholesale healthcare reform is very much needed.  With that said, marijuana is one way to easily lower the healthcare costs.  Marijuana is as versatile as any medicine out there treating every from AIDS to anorexia.  Some people know that they need medical marijuana already.  Others have no idea how marijuana could be used in place of other treatments.  This seems like a no brainer to me.  We should at least open up the topic for debate among medical professionals.  Discussion will not hurt but the debate could be the first step towards long-term healthcare reform.