Do you think marijuana laws are outdated?

Close your eyes. When I say "death of a drug user," what image comes to mind? Most likely, it is an image of a young adult wasted on some kind of illegal drug use such as meth, cocaine, or heroin.  Your image would be partially wrong. Slightly more Americans die every day from legal drug abuse than illegal.  But by far, tobacco is the number one killer.  Take a look: 

Annual American Deaths from:

• Tobacco - 400,000
• Alcohol - 100,000
• All Legal Drugs - 20,000
• All Illegal Drugs - 15,000
• Caffeine - 2,000
• Aspirin - 500
• Marijuana - 0

Were you surprised?  Not one death from smoking too much weed.  In fact, it's actually impossible to overdose on marijuana.  Yet an American is busted every 37 seconds in the U.S. for pot, the least offensive recreational drug out there.  Does anyone else see this as an injustice in the land of the free?   

Our legal system is still based on the ideology that if we stop the pot-smoker, we have saved a life wasted on drug abuse. Marijuana can be smoked responsibly in the same way someone drinks a couple glasses of wine at dinner or has a beer while watching a football game.  Instead, we criminalize the pot smoker.  Are we locking up everyone that drinks alcohol? Smokes cigarettes? Drinks a few too many cups of coffee every morning?  No.  Common sense prevails. But there is no common sense regarding pot usage. 

When it comes to marijuana, we have allowed the government to fill our heads with years of outdated, unproven, and even flat-out wrong data regarding marijuana usage.  Anyone that reads any medical or scientific data on marijuana today knows that it even has medicinal value, specifically for those with chronic pain.     

Should marijuana be a controlled substance?  Absolutely!  It isn't totally harmless.  It is a drug.  It shouldn't be in the hands of children and no one should drive intoxicated while under the influence of any drugs, including pot.  But just as adults choose to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes legally as controlled substances, so should the marijuana smoker.  Certainly no one should go to jail just because they are in possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. 

If you have come to the conclusion that I am a pothead, you would be mistaken.  I have never smoked pot even once.  But I have experienced first-hand the injustices that smoking marijuana has caused my son, more specifically this past year.  Because we live in the state of Georgia, marijuana usage is not recognized even for medicinal purposes.  

To learn more about marijuana, its history, current laws, and the newest medical usage, visit the website for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, norml.com, especially if your state is considering a vote for legalizing marijuana.  Be an informed voter!