Eric Wikman's First Article on Marijuana, 1995
Prohibition and Marijuana: History Does Repeat
Marijuana prohibition has been in effect since 1937, with trends that closely resemble those of alcohol prohibition-meaning an increase in crime, distrust, and dissension. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to stop Americans from using it, then it has failed, just like the other prohibition failed to make America a "dry" country. It is important to go back and look at the factors leading to marijuana prohibition-especially the stages of exaggeration, silence, and the imposition of severe penalties-before looking at the effects of prohibition during the last half-century.
Let me first point out that I am not an advocate of marijuana, and will not argue that marijuana is harmless. Research shows that marijuana damages short term memory, distorts perceptions, impairs judgment and complex motor skills, alters heart rates, and has the potential to trigger severe anxiety, paranoia, and lethargy (Shalala, 1995, p.10). Yet I also feel its effects are in many ways less harmful than those of alcohol and tobacco-for instance, alcohol's potential to cause cirrhosis and tobacco's links to lung cancer and heart disease. Both are considered carcinogenic. In addition, alcohol is cited as a factor in half of this country's highway fatalities, half of all arrests made for any criminal charge-including homicides-and one-fourth of all suicides. In 1972 the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse estimated the social costs of America's alcohol habit to be $15 billion a year (p.15); it has steadily increased since then.
Three-part attack on marijuana
When comparing tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, there is strong evidence that marijuana has the least addictive power (Schlosser, 1994, p.41). However, this does not hide the fact that all three can have a strong impact on an individual. As with all drugs, they are capable of disrupting home life, affecting job performance, and causing withdrawal from society. In my opinion, all drugs share this power on equal terms because of the emotional problems of the people who use them; no single drug has more potential for harm than any other in terms of social impacts.
While hemp has been grown in America since 1611 (Grinspoon, 1971, p.11), the practice of smoking marijuana did not become widespread until the 1920's-a period of strong drug intolerance during the "great social experiment" of alcohol prohibition. Marijuana use was highest among people who also used opiates, primarily recent immigrants. In the 1930's, the common belief that immigrants were inhumane and violent included a strong belief that
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