National Weed Day: marijuana legalization debate
April 20 (4/20) is the annual counterculture holiday “National Weed Day,†which is expected to spark celebrations at locations around the country, including the University of Colorado-Boulder where attendance is expected to reach more than 10,000.
Former Presidential candidate Ron Paul supported the decriminalization of marijuana, Michael Phelps was caught smoking a bong, Barack Obama fielded a question about marijuana legalization at the first White House town hall meeting, and the former Miss New Jersey recently stepped forward to voice her support for legalizing medical marijuana.
People on both sides of the debate tend to be very passionate about their cause.
On the other side of the debate are people who believe that marijuana should remain a criminal offense because of the dangers of drug use, the potential for addiction, the research suggesting that marijuana might be a gateway drug to more potent and dangerous drugs, the concern that today’s marijuana is far more potent than what people were using back in the 1960s, and the belief that personal freedoms must sometimes be sacrificed for the greater common good.
The Teachings do not tell us that the best way to handle intoxicants is for leaders to simply make them illegal and take the choice away from the people.
