Won't Somebody Think of the Children!

Out of all the arguments to keep marijuana illegal none of them makes less sense than the “Think of the Children” argument. Senator Feinstein, from California, spoke to a crowd about proposition 19 on October 30^th 2010. This proposition would have allowed marijuana to be legally possessed and cultivated by people who are 21 and over in California. In her speech that day she said "The last thing we need to do is make it easier for drug dealers to increase their consumer base by pushing pot on young people…"

 STOP! First of all if marijuana was legalized it would put drug dealers who sell marijuana out of business. After all, if you could get marijuana from a licensed legitimate store like you can alcohol, then why would you risk buying it from some sketchy guy in an alley? I mean you don’t buy your beer from a drug dealer you buy it from a liquor store by someone who is licensed to do so. Second, how would kids get their hands on marijuana if you had to be 21 or older to possess it? It’s the drug dealers who are going to sell drugs to kids not the legitimate businessman. Just like today you can’t purchase alcohol from any establishment unless you are over 21, so anyone underage trying to buy booze at any of these establishments will be told to take a hike.

I know what some of you might be thinking right now. You’re thinking “Well Ryan, what about all the underage kids who manage to get their hands on alcohol. Ending prohibition didn’t keep that from happening.” While this is true let’s take a look at who supplies these young people with alcohol. I took a look at www.centurycouncil.org and on their website I found this statement “Research commissioned by The Century Council reveals that 65% of underage youth who drink obtain alcohol from family and friends. Equally important, only 7% of youth report that they obtained alcohol from retailers who failed to check for identification.” Yeah that’s right these kids don’t get it from some sketchy drug dealer out in the streets they get it from home. Only 7% get it from irresponsible and absent minded retailers and nothing on the website mentioned kids buying it from drug dealers. Is it so hard to imagine that if marijuana were legal that it would keep drug dealers from selling it to our youth? After all, the drug dealer doesn’t care if he sells his marijuana to our kids illegally, however; a legitimate retailer would. So why wouldn’t you want to make marijuana legal and take the drug dealer out of the equation all together?

It seems that senator Feinstein is misguided on her view of ending marijuana prohibition. The “Think of the Children” argument can be put to rest by simple reasoning. If marijuana was legal and sold in licensed establishments with similar restrictions as alcohol, then drug dealers who sell marijuana would be obsolete. Therefore there would be no drug dealers selling marijuana to our kids because they would be put out of business by legitimate establishments. It really is that simple and it is amazing that people still resort to “Think of the Children” for their argument against marijuana legalization. Because in reality people who fight for marijuana legalization are doing more to keep drug dealers from selling marijuana to our youth than those making the argument.