Three Arguments Against Cannabis Prohibition

Here are three arguments against cannabis prohibition. They are:

1. The argument against inexperience
2. The argument against negative bias
3. The argument against work impairment 

1. The argument against inexperience.
Most people alive today have not lived in a setting where cannabis is legal, freely available and extensively used. The few people who have experienced this live mostly in remote places within forests and communities where the usage of cannabis is so much a normal part of their culture that to live without it would be unimaginable. These people live peaceful, healthy and content lives in nature away from industrial alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical drugs. The people who talk about prohibiting cannabis are not sufficiently aware of the subject and do not have enough experience to be talking about it. The underlying reasons for their opposition is primarily because they are biased towards certain ways of life which they unnaturally fear will change with legalization. After a few years of legalization, when there is enough data and facts about the usage and harms of cannabis like there is about alcohol and tobacco, then the effects of cannabis can be debated against if necessary.To demand prohibition now is to base your arguments on hypothetical grounds and not on facts.


2. The argument against negative bias.
People talking about prohibiting cannabis and comparing its harms to that of tobacco and alcohol should remember that the argument is currently negatively biased against cannabis. Why this is so is because cannabis is prohibited currently whereas these other drugs are freely available legally. The playing field should be made level i.e. cannabis should be as freely available as alcohol and tobacco.  Let people be free to chose the means of recreation that they want.Adding cannabis to the mix will not make things worse but may offer a less harmful alternative especially when it is widely recognized among experts that alcohol and tobacco are much more dangerous than cannabis not to forget prescription medicine. One thing to remember is that the person asking for legalization is not doing so because he or she wants to forcibly shove it down your throat but because he or she wants an alternative for himself or herself to what is legally available and accessible currently. Just like alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs, if you want it you should be able to have it. If you don't want it nobody can force you to have it. The playing field should be level.


3. The argument against work impairment.
One of the arguments that I recently heard against legalization of cannabis goes like this - imagine if surgeons and drivers started using it, would you trust yourself in their hands? This argument is one more illogical fear-mongering attempt at trying to sound logical in the continuing illogical fight against cannabis legalization. Many of the top surgeons, drivers, pilots, sports-persons, judges, lawyers, construction workers, military and police personnel across the world are using cannabis today. Many of these people will tell you if you made the environment less hostile that this cannabis is a key reason why they are able to stay on top of their game. The problem here is not that the usage of cannabis is bad as a lot of stereotypical and unaware thinking these days goes, but the problem is that because of its illegality the sources of cannabis may be suspect. The users may at some point source adulterated cannabis which may then put their lives and the lives of people that they are trying to work with at risk. Due to the inaccessibility of good quality legal cannabis, the user may also at some point decide on using a much more dangerous substitute such as methamphetamine, non-prescription pharmaceutical drugs, heroin or alcohol which will then increase the risk of work impairment manifold putting the user's and others lives at risk. What needs to be understood is that people all over the world are going to continue using the herb because they know it is a good thing. Providing these people access to good quality cannabis and reducing the risk of dangerous substitution with other harmful drugs is one of the key aspects that legalization of cannabis is about.

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