Treat Marijuana Like Alcohol -- Not

Treat Marijuana Like Alcohol – Not

 

Great political strides toward the legalization of marijuana have been made in the last few years, many of them using the slogan: “Tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol.”  But when viewed as a part of the broader picture, does this slogan do more harm than good?

While the slogan makes some sense, it has two defects, both related to the same flaw.  That flaw is that, except for being prohibited substances (alcohol historically and marijuana today) the two have almost nothing in common.  The differences between them leads to the flaws.

The first is that the user of the slogan may be saying “treat marijuana like alcohol”, many –or most – listeners hear “marijuana is like alcohol.  Since alcohol is far and away the most socially destructive drug, those who hear “marijuana is like alcohol” are reinforced in their long-held belief that marijuana is a demon drug that turns users in Reefer Madness” homicidal maniacs.

The second flaw leads from the same confusion.  No reason exists to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol.  While legalized marijuana will need some regulation and may be the source of some tax revenues, the reasonable basis for this regulation is quite different from that for alcohol.  Regulation of alcohol is based on its proven record as a socially dangerous drug.

The text of the slogan has been reasonable and politically effective in recent years, but that text is accompanied by both context and subtext, both of which are harmful.

The context within which the slogan is used is one of fear and false history.  Everyone under the age of seventy in America has been raised, educated, and acculturated in a society that loudly proclaims marijuana to be evil and destructive.  They have been taught from the cradle not to use “drugs” and that the merest taste of a “drug” will destroy them.  They accept as a matter of faith that marijuana is one of those destructive drugs and that it must be ruthlessly suppressed.

Operating within this context, the slogan, unsurprisingly, evokes the subtext that marijuana is like alcohol.  Most listeners when they hear the slogan think about marijuana in terms of
            -- thousands of acute overdose deaths each year,
            --tens of thousands of impaired driving deaths,
            --more than one hundred thousand deaths from drug-related illnesses,
            --daily newspapers full of domestic assaults and other violent crimes,
            --untold broken families and neglected children.
The fact that these horror stories spring from the misuse of alcohol and have nothing to do with marijuana does not matter because marijuana is like alcohol and therefore must have the same consequences.

The political fight is almost over: national polls show a majority favoring legalization of marijuana and overwhelming majorities for medical use; states are lining up to legalize, decriminalize, or approve medical use; even in Congress some discussion is taking place.  The betting is no longer on if it will happen, but on when.  The struggle now is to change the social milieu to one more open and accepting.  Normalization of marijuana is the next step.

But that step will need a new slogan – a slogan that more properly portrays both marijuana’s lack of danger and its social acceptability.  Good slogans, like the one being replaced, are often based on similes, so the problem is to find an exemplar that more closely parallels marijuana than alcohol does.  One psychoactive drug in common use may fill that role, although even it is more dangerous than marijuana.

Now is the time to roll out a new campaign slogan:

TAX AND REGULATE MARIJUANA LIKE CAFFEINE!