Why “THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN” argument doesn’t Justify Cannabis Prohibition

Why “THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN” argument doesn’t Justify Cannabis Prohibition

Over the years I have grilled my fair share of anti-cannabis proponents on why they don’t support legal cannabis. Personally, if you don’t smoke cannabis that is more than okay with me, however, it stops being ‘okay’ the moment you wish to ban others from doing so.

Thus, in my quest to understand the mind of the prohibitionist I frequently engage in discussions over the legality of cannabis and the justification for prohibition. Of course there are two types of prohibitionists in this world;

The Prohibitionist Who Profits
The Prohibitionist Who Doesn’t Profit

You see, it’s easy to understand the mind of the first category of prohibitionist. Let’s take Jeff Sessions as an example. He’s literally the human representation of prohibition today. With his Raegan-esque approach to the drug war and his outdated rhetoric, Sessions represents all that is wrong with progressive drug policy in our society.

PRISON SYSTEM

However, seeing that Sessions has financial ties to several privately owned prisons it becomes much clearer as to why he is such a staunch opponent to legalizing cannabis. With someone getting arrested for pot every 40 odd seconds in the US, stopping one of the main ‘revenue streams’ of your prison business would be…well…bad business.

However, when we talk about the second category of prohibitionist; their reasoning becomes murkier. Why would someone who doesn’t directly benefit from prohibition continue to support the idea despite the staggering evidence against the efficacy of thus said policy?

Prohibitionist Reasoning 101

As mentioned, over the years I have had the pleasure to dig deep into the mind of many prohibitionists to understand their fear of legalization. After you go through the, “It’s bad for you” or “It kills brain cells”, you start getting to the baseline of their reasoning.

Firstly, if you notice that most prohibitionist always talk about “potential risks”. There is no factual data to support their arguments. It’s either “crime will rise” or “people will get into more car accidents” or something along those lines.

However, the one argument that has endured throughout 80 years of marijuana prohibition is, “We have to think about the children!”

The idea goes as follows:

If we were to legalize marijuana for adult use, kids will be more inclined to use it themselves because they will reduce perceived danger of the plant due to a policy change.

This string of hypotheticals has been the core of the prohibitionist rhetoric from the very beginning because after all, who wants to harm children?

The Problem with the “Children” Argument

Prohibitionists love to cling to this argument because denying the argument is almost akin to saying “I hate children” and therefore gets a “pass” for most people.

Of course, when we talk about the legalization of cannabis for recreational use we’re not considering children. We’re considering adults who have legal consent to introduce in their bodies whichever foreign substance they so desire. This is known as being “sovereign over your own body”.

If you weren’t sovereign over your own body you would be slave. In this specific case a slave to the state.

Now, as a society we have many things available for adults which aren’t legally available for children. There is a set driving age, drinking age and even a legally sanctioned age for having sex. Is it so ludicrous to think that we can’t have other things with similar restrictions on children?

In fact, while children are technically the “future” of society, they will only render real value to society once they are adults. Kids don’t work, they don’t pay taxes and they have limited responsibilities. Kids aren’t drafted into wars and kids don’t make laws…those are all adult activities.

If you want to keep marijuana illegal because of the “kiddies”, then we should outlaw automobiles, alcohol, cigarettes and all prescription drugs because of the “potential” that children might use it or perceive a lower “risk profile” on any given topic.

As adults, we should have free reign in our decisions about our own bodies.

CANNABIS EDUCATION

Instead of Prohibition…Education!

Here’s a novel idea, how about we teach kids about the dangers out in the “wild-wild world?” The thing is, we cannot have a 100% safe society. Life is hostile and every breath we take might be our last. This is reality.

The illusion of safety would like you to believe that by “outlawing” something we make things “safer”, however as in the case of the war on drugs, the opposite is true. The more we prohibit, the easier it is to get your hands on it.

So instead of trying to hide reality from our children, shouldn’t we begin to educate them about potential harms, responsible use and guide them as they grow up? Isn’t that the responsibility of a parent?

I’m all for protecting children, however, I don’t think I should abide by the same restrictions as they do. After all, if I get busted I can go to jail for a long time, but if a kid gets busted then they can have their records expunged at age 18.

So since legally we aren’t seen the same…why should we have to follow the same restrictions in terms of consumption as them…specifically in relation to cannabis?

Why "Think About the Children" Doesn't Justify Marijuana Prohibition