For decades, even before this 40-year war on drugs began in 1971, prohibitionists have held fast to the mantra that marijuana is a gateway drug. What's never included with this proclamation is the caveat about how easy it is to obtain marijuana. Also missing is the honesty that comes with acknowledging that the prohibition on marijuana is the leading cause of marijuana being so readily available and accessible to teens and young children.
From 2002 through 2008, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Center for Health Statistics compiled reams of data gleaned from household interviews regarding drug use in this country. Their survey included only the civilian, non-institutionalized population. Their findings should surprise no one.
According to their research, 1% of children aged 12-13 have smoked marijuana. By age 15 these numbers leap to a numbing 5.7%. By age 17 that number more than doubles to 12.7%.
Still years away from being able to legally purchase alcohol, why have so many of our children tried marijuana? How do they know where or how to buy it, or even use it for that matter? The answer is simple: local drug dealers.
Operating illegally, some prefer the shadows while others deal in plain sight. These dealers of illicit drugs are in our schools, our churches, and our neighborhoods. Some are armed with handguns, while others are the high school class president. Some have local gang affiliations and some are the girls who babysit our children on Saturday nights. No matter their background, they all have something in common: They have no policy requiring them to ask your child for his or her identification. In these circles, cash is king, and the age of their buyer is irrelevant.
From the statistics cited above, it's easy to conclude that while our 12-year-olds might not know very much about marijuana or how to obtain it, by age 15 all bets are off. These statistics don't include any other drug use, which suggests that for many drug users, particularly the youngest among them, marijuana is the first drug tried. When a person chooses to try other drugs after using marijuana, what are we to make of the assertions of the prohibitionists that marijuana is a gateway drug?
On the surface it may feel like it's hard to offer up a sound and reasonable rebuttal. After all, for many it is true that the use of other drugs—casually or otherwise—started with one drug, marijuana. However, when we consider that marijuana has been illegal in the United States for the past 74 years, we're forced to consider the role prohibition plays in drug use among children and teens.
We've seen this scenario played out in the past. The 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act established alcohol prohibition in the United States that lasted that lasted 13 years—from 1920 to 1933. It was eventually repealed by the 21st Amendment. The prohibition, however, did nothing to quell the desire for alcohol, which led to organized criminals taking control of the then-illegal alcohol.
Like today's drug cartels, the crime syndicates that operated during prohibition made billions of dollars, killed people with impunity, and in many cities had politicians, judges, and police officers on their payroll. Alcohol was serious business for criminals then, and marijuana is serious business for criminals today.
Fast-forward to 2011 and there is no organized crime syndicates involved in the alcohol industry. Why should there be? A person of age today is free to make alcohol purchases from any number of outlets, many state sanctioned.
Ending federal restrictions on the cultivation, distribution, and use of marijuana in favor of letting each individual state make its own decisions about marijuana would have the same effect that ending the alcohol prohibition did, namely dismantling the criminal element.
It should be noted, however, that this is not the same as legalizing marijuana across the board. No state would be obliged to make any changes to its existing drug laws. However, those states that will inevitably choose to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol will set into motion several positive changes for their state.
Gone will be the exorbitant profits enjoyed by drug dealers. These profits are used to purchase other drugs, weapons, and frequently human trafficking rings. Gone also will be the violence often associated with the drug cartels. When a product like marijuana can freely be purchased in any location licensed by the proper authorities, the black market necessarily dries up. Retailers will also seek proper identification when making sales to anyone even suspected of being underage, a policy not currently endorsed by drug dealers.
It's time to make real policy changes in America. It's time to seriously think about our children and admit that prohibition has created a violent, dangerous monster that preys on them. Ending the war on marijuana, and thereby crippling dangerous drug cartels and their armed street soldiers, is policy we can all support because it does protect our children.
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