By Christopher Sung ‘17

The 50 United States are often times called the “laboratories of democracy.” Although this expression was meant to highlight the innovative structure of American government, it also points out an important fact that not all political experiments work and that many fail quite destructively. In the case of failure, it is often times hoped that any such dangerous experiment can be stopped at the state level of government before it can affect the entire nation. Today, state-by-state marijuana legalization is failing before our eyes—failing, particularly in states where legalization has been implemented most boldly. Despite this failure, marijuana legalization over the course of the past three years has been rapidly expanding, easily winning state referendums in what has become a dangerous trend.

In November 2012, Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana to any adult consumer. Proponents of legalization, backed by a couple million dollars and a brilliant campaign slogan, “Drug dealers don’t ask for ID,” carried the day with an implied promise: legalization would help keep marijuana away from minors. After all, in a recent study by researchers at Duke University, persistent use of marijuana among adolescents was found to reduce IQ scores by up to eight points. In one study by the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers found that between two identical twins, the twin who started using marijuana before age 17 was over three times more likely to commit suicide as an adult.

People in Colorado had good reason to worry about teen drug abuse. In 2000, Colorado voters had approved a short term experiment with medical marijuana. A complex series of government decisions that followed in the mid-2000s overthrew most restrictions on the dispensing of marijuana. As a result, between 2009 and 2012, the number of licensed dispensaries sky-rocketed past 500 and the number of medical cardholders jumped from roughly 1,000 to 108,000.

With so many medical cardholders walking around, it was inevitable that some individuals would re-sell their marijuana to underage users. According to a report by the Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Colorado teens, by 2012, were 50-percent more likely to abuse marijuana than their peers in the rest of the country.

Despite the inherent risk and mounting possibility of teen drug abuse, many people will still argue the libertarian logic of: “I’m a consenting adult, why can’t I do what I want?” And yet the best customers for marijuana are not even adults. In fact, the majority of adults who try marijuana quit by age 30. Adults in their twenties are less likely to smoke marijuana than high school students.

In addition, proponents of marijuana legalization often question why the law bans marijuana but not drugs such as alcohol or tobacco. The important difference is that alcohol and tobacco use is declining. Since 1980, consumption of alcohol has dropped almost 20 percent. One-third of Americans smoked tobacco in 1980; less than one-fifth smoke today.

As for the people, the real question should be focused not so much on the short-term effects of state-by-state marijuana legalization, but rather on the realistic long-term consequences. With potentially dangerous and serious risks to the future of our children, Americans should ask themselves whether or not marijuana legalization’s supposed benefits outweigh the substantial risks.