'Let's not stop at marijuana legalization'

These days, it seems like everyone is talking in earnest about marijuana legalization, once dismissed as little more than a Cheech and Chong pipe dream. Indeed, a new poll reveals that 53 percent of Americans now support ending marijuana prohibition...

Yet, I'm alarmed that the above-mentioned poll showing majority support for marijuana legalization also found that fewer than one in 10 people agree that it's time to end the prohibition of other drugs.

This no doubt makes sense to some readers at first glance, since more people are familiar with marijuana than other drugs like cocaine, heroin or meth. However, even a cursory study of our drug war policies will reveal that legalizing pot but not other drugs will leave huge social harms unresolved.

Legalizing marijuana only will not:

- Stop gangs from selling other drugs to our kids (since illegal drug dealers rarely check for ID);

- Stop drug dealers from brutally murdering rival traffickers for the purpose of controlling the remaining criminal market for other drugs;

- Stop drug dealers from firing on cops charged with fighting the senseless war on other illicit drugs;

- Stop drug dealers from killing kids caught in crossfire and drive-by shootings;

- Stop overdose deaths of drug users who refrain from calling 911 out of fear of legal repercussions;

- Reduce the spread of infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis, since marijuana users don’t inject their drug like heroin users (who sometimes share dirty needles and syringes because prohibition makes it hard to secure clean ones);

- Stop the bloody cartel battles in Mexico that are rapidly expanding over the border into the U.S;

- Stop the Taliban from raking in massive profits from illegal opium cultivation in Afghanistan.

Of course, none of this means that our rapidly growing marijuana legalization movement should slow down.

And this is coming from the former police chief who had to step down in the wake of the WTO protests/riots in Seattle. Thanks to Tom Angell at LEAP for tagging this for us.