Those who wish to perpetuate marijuana prohibition desperately try and mischaracterize state-level marijuana regulation as a policy failure (“Pa. politicians’ pot push won’t be the boon they claim,” July 24, TribLIVE).
Reality does not support this claim. Public support for legalization has never been higher. Further, none of the 23 states that have enacted adult-use legalization have repealed their laws. That’s because these policies are working as intended and they are preferable to prohibition.
Adolescent cannabis use has not risen in parallel with legalization, as many critics feared would happen. According to a new CDC report, the percentage of high-schoolers who have tried marijuana fell 30% between 2011 and 2021.
Another study, published in an imprint of the Journal of the American Medical Association, dismissed concerns that state-level legalization is adversely impacting mental health. Its authors “did not observe a statistically significant association of state cannabis policy level with overall rates of psychosis-related diagnoses or prescribed antipsychotics.” Yet another study, published this month in Health Economics, reported that mental health treatment admissions have significantly declined in states that have enacted marijuana legalization.
This is not to imply that cannabis is harmless or that it cannot be misused. However, marijuana’s risks are best mitigated by regulation and public education, and they are only exacerbated by criminalization and stigmatization.
Paul Armentano
Washington, D.C.
The writer is deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.