For the first time since 1911, starting today, marijuana is legal for everyone in Massachusetts! Well, everyone over 21, that is. Question 4, like every successful marijuana legalization initiative in the country, set the purchase and possession age to 21, with the idea of treating marijuana similarly to alcohol.
While I think adults should be able to make their own decisions and would prefer both ages to be set at 18, I at least appreciate the consistency of giving marijuana the same age requirement since the alcohol age isn’t changing any time soon. But on Boston Herald Radio, Senate President Stan Rosenberg surprisingly floated the idea of raising the marijuana age to 25. Beyond violating the clear will of voters, this would just be bad policy.
Not every voter knows every detail of every ballot question. They’re complicated, and people are busy. But an age requirement of 21 was one of the major themes of the Yes on 4 campaign: WBUR, Suffolk University, and Western New England University all mentioned the age requirement in their polling questions. It was in the first sentence in the official voter guide. The group pushing for it was even called the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is pretty much saying it should be reserved for those 21 and older. The 54% of voters who approved of Question 4 definitely knew that it was about legalizing marijuana for people 21 and up.
Even if violating the will of voters didn’t matter (and it does), raising the marijuana age requirement to 25 would just be bad policy. The most common argument made in favor is that your brain doesn’t finish developing until you’re about 25, but the practical effect would be to push 21-25-year-old marijuana consumers to buy it on the black market – and that potentially moldy, pesticide-ridden pot isn’t doing their brains any favors. In addition to pushing them into the black market, it would also steer them towards drinking instead, and alcohol isn’t good for developing brains either (and is probably far worse).
Marijuana is safer than alcohol, and the people of Massachusetts realize that.The voters made it abundantly clear that they want marijuana treated like alcohol, so any changes proposed in the legislature should be viewed through that lens. And through that lens, Rosenberg’s proposal should be rejected.
…if marijuana is obviously safer than alcohol (and I’m not convinced it is from what I have seen), why in the world the former has been illegal and the later legal? Part of my hesitation about all this is I simply cannot fathom that we got this so backwards for so long! Age is always going to be a bit arbitrary anyway. Is someone 21 years and one day really so much more physically developed or mature than one who is 20 years, 364 days? Whatever age you set, those younger will try, often successfully, to get their hands on it. I’m not saying don’t have an age limit and I don’t have a better idea, but this whole line of don’t worry it’s just for 21+ always had me thinking, yeah right, and people under 21 never drink either, right?
Harry Anslinger and his racist exercise in empire-building. After he lost the FBI directorship to another megalomaniac, he seized on marijuana as his ticket to power. He mounted a massive campaign of FUD that used the specter of pot-addled black people destroying society. The antidrug industry has continued his efforts to the present day.
You’ve been told all this before. I can only conclude that you cover your eyes whenever you’re presented a link to evidence that doesn’t support your dislike for people having fun.
1. It’s perfectly reasonable to have different ages for different decisions. We (fed, state, local) have different ages for alcohol, buying tobacco, buying e-cigs, driving, driving at night, renting a car, consenting to sex, having sex with someone consenting, buy a gun, own a gun, conceal a gun, vote, be tried as an adult, and so on and so forth. B
There is no single age that flips young people to adults. It’s reasonable that using pot might be a different age than smoking, drinking, etc. I’m not arguing for a particular age, merely arguing that there’s no single age of consent now, pot would be no different in that regard.
2. The kids who drink underage aren’t buying from whiskey made in stills or gin in bathtubs. My sense is that underage pot smokers will get it second hand from the legal market most of the time — it will be the easiest and most reliable. Older brother, etc.
Hard to tell since you did a top level comment rather than a reply. I for one wasn’t arguing for a single minor-adult threshold and I don’t believe the diarist was either.