Gotta Make it to Monday...

So, last night, I went and saw Tim Hawkins live. (This was my cousin Brent's Christmas present to me.) And it was hysterical. He points out all the strange things we do in church, makes fun of the Baptist's seeming allergy to alcohol, laughs at people who have only been married for 6 months ("Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games. You're gonna die!") etc. It was a blast, and I'm grateful to my cousin for the Christmas present

But before that, it was an interesting, long, exhausting weekend; in which I got somewhere around 15 hours of sleep from Thursday-Sunday. I was at the Youth and Government state conference down in Austin, where we set up a mock government for two days. It was a truly enjoyable experience, but there was one troubling issue. (Actually more than that, but this is one specific one that's a major issue right now.)

Legalizing marijuana. I have heard all kinds of arguments on both sides of this issue, and indeed, I've been on both sides of this issue at different points in my life; but here is where I stand, and where, Lord willing, I will continue to stand. I am not condemning those who disagree with me, because I've disagreed with my position at times; but I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong, and here is why.

When someone says that we should legalize marijuana, there is typically a standard set of arguments that they use:

1. If we legalize it, we can tax it

2. We'll put the cartels out of business

3. It's not really harmful to people anyway.

1. If we legalize it, we can tax it.

This is absolutely correct. If the government is so desperate for cash that it is willing to take the proceeds it gets from drug money, then yes, they can legalize it, and get the tax money. It is my personal belief that money gotten this way is cursed, and if you think I'm wrong, I would encourage you to take a look at the lives (and deaths) of people who make their livings this way.

2. We'll put the cartels out of business.

I want to put the cartels out of business as bad as anybody. I want them to get their life-ruining products out of my country, but legalizing marijuana is not the way to do it, and here is why.

1.Cartels don't mind killing people. This is common knowledge. If you don't believe me, go live in Colombia for a few days, and talk to me if you get back.

2.Cartels have people, including hitmen, working for them, in the United States. This is a common-sense business move for them, and the Star-Telegram even did an article a few years ago when we caught and convicted some of them.

So, it stands to reason that cartels wouldn't mind killing off their legal competitors, they would stay in business, and we would have been accessories to the murder of our own citizens. Not only would they still be in business, we would be giving them a legal sideline that they could use to launder their money. If we're looking to put the cartels out of business, (I am) legalizing their product is the worst thing we can do.

3. It's not harmful anyway.

This is where it gets a little dicey. Is it harmful in the same way that cocaine and heroine are harmful? No. But to say it's not harmful is not, in fact the case.

In The Cross and the Switchblade, David Wilkerson lays out the dangers of drugs, and gives a special nod to marijuana, specifically because it appears to not be harmful. Here are the dangers of marijuana.

It is 100% accurate to say that marijuana is not physically addictive. However, there is a thing called mental addiction, which is highly present in weed. (http://www.addict-help.com/marijuana.asp, also see: The Cross and the Switchblade)

Okay, you say, it's mentally addictive just like alcohol, and alcohol is legal, so why shouldn't weed be legal?

We tried to illegalize alcohol back in the 1930s, and it's commonly understood that that was a failure. The reason for that was this: something that people have been doing legally for almost as long as we've been around was now suddenly illegal. Marijuana has never been legal, and thus the use of it is down (I'll get to the use of it being down, give me a second.) If we legalize marijuana, and then see the common problems with it, we'll never be able to reverse course.

Marijuana is also a gateway drug (Cross and the Switchblade, pp. 189-191). And when the cartels are running the legal marijuana operation in Texas, how hard will it be for the guy behind the counter to say "Hey, if you want a real hit, *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* give this stuff a try."?

Now, back to the part about "people only do pot because it's illegal, and illegal is cool." Most people point to Prohibition. See my previous argument for that. If a mentally addictive product that has never been legal before suddenly comes on the market, with cartel drug money behind it, common sense dictates that the kids who were too scared to do it previously will now see it as okay, and the kids who did it because it was cool back then will have to find a new drug, graduating to coke or heroin, or something else that is much more dangerous than pot.

Again, I am not condemning anyone who is for the legalization of marijuana. But you never hear the arguments against legalizing it, only the ones for it. So, I just wanted to get the arguments against this weed out there. I hope this has been helpful to all of you

God Bless America.