HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Stossel: Legal Weed So Far

Views:762
@ReasonVids

Dire warnings about legal marijuana have not come to pass.

---------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
---------

Ten states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized pot for adults.

In several states, it's been legal now for five years. How has it worked out?

John Stossel visited legal weed stores in California and talked with people on the street.

Almost unanimously, people said that legalization has worked well.

"See any disasters? Seems pretty alright to me," one man told Stossel.

One woman added: "There's a dispensary around the corner from my house and it's actually probably cleaned up the corner."

"Why would it clean up the corner?" Stossel asked.

"They have a lot of security ... they really paid attention to who's on the sidewalk, who's interacting with their customers. They're actually pretty much a class act."

But Paul Chabot, a drug warrior who served in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, disagrees. Years ago, he told Stossel that legalization would create all kinds of problems. He hasn't changed his mind.

Chabot tells Stossel that "Colorado youth have an 85% higher marijuana use rate than the rest of the country."

But Stossel pointed out that a New England Journal of Medicine study says that teen use actually dropped slightly after legalization.

On the other hand, data on marijuana-linked traffic fatalities is mixed.

Chabot tells Stossel that "pot driving fatalities in Colorado are up 151%." But that statistic is misleading because many of those people may not have been high while driving. The 151% includes anyone who tests positive for marijuana after an accident, even though traces of marijuana stay in a person's system for weeks. A more stringent measure that more reliably predicts whether someone was high at the time of an accident indicates cannabis-related accidents are up 84 percent.

That's still an increase. But the total numbers are low—just 35 accidents in 2017. More study is needed.

Marijuana is not harmless, but Stossel notes that the drug war usually does more harm than the drug itself. Banning marijuana drives sales into a black market, where criminals make the profit. Driving sales underground also deprives consumers of the quality and safety testing now provided by competitive legal markets. It doesn't stop teenagers from using the drug. A study before legalization found that teens said marijuana was easier to buy than alcohol. A black market leads dealers to sell in schools and may even increase marijuana's use.

America once tried banning alcohol. That, like the drug war, created organized crime, and much more violence.

"Prohibition hasn't worked," Stossel tells Chabot.

"Just because something doesn't work doesn't mean that we end it ... doesn't mean we quit," Chabot replies.

"At some point when it's doing more harm than good, shouldn't we quit?" Stossel responds.

"No, because then we give up. And that's not American," Chabot tells him.

But more and more, Americans are giving up on the drug war. New Jersey and New York plan to legalize marijuana soon. Stossel says that's a good thing.

"Adults should have the right to make their own decisions about what to put in their own bodies." he says.

The views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel; his independent production company, Stossel Productions; and the people he interviews. The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of Reason.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
cannabis
,
weed
,
marijuana
,
legalization
,
legislation
,
dispensary
,
colorado
    Thumbnail for Assault Weapon Bans Are All About Appearance4:54
    Assault Weapon Bans Are All About Appearance
    ReasonVids
    910 views
    Thumbnail for Immigration March at the DNC2:53
    Immigration March at the DNC
    ReasonVids
    787 views
    Thumbnail for Good Reasons to Continue on Living0:15
    Good Reasons to Continue on Living
    bestofvoatxyz
    1166 views
    Thumbnail for Reason-Rupe Poll: Americans Like Their Banks Better Than The Gov't.3:04
    Reason-Rupe Poll: Americans Like Their Banks Better Than The Gov't.
    ReasonVids
    893 views
    Thumbnail for The Endangered Species Act Didn't Save the Alligator7:17
    The Endangered Species Act Didn't Save the Alligator
    ReasonVids
    896 views
    Thumbnail for Joe Biden Tells A Reporter American Voters “Don’t Deserve” To Know His Position On Packing The Supreme Court0:45
    Joe Biden Tells A Reporter American Voters “Don’t Deserve” To Know His Position On Packing The Supreme Court
    bestofpoal
    1385 views
    Thumbnail for Why Popp Married His Ex | Grunt Speak Highlights4:13
    Why Popp Married His Ex | Grunt Speak Highlights
    Terrence Popp
    1295 views
    Thumbnail for Bad mom gets two pecks for doing a poor job.0:12
    Bad mom gets two pecks for doing a poor job.
    bestofupgoat
    468 views
    Thumbnail for Libertarian Party Candidate Gary Johnson on Voting Libertarian For One Election5:38
    Libertarian Party Candidate Gary Johnson on Voting Libertarian For One Election
    ReasonVids
    836 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Does Silicon Valley manipulate users?5:18
    Stossel: Does Silicon Valley manipulate users?
    ReasonVids
    944 views
    Thumbnail for no matter where I go I feel the pain with or without you 0:27
    no matter where I go I feel the pain with or without you
    bestofupgoat
    440 views
    Thumbnail for Margaret Sanger Was Anti-Abortion!?!? Peter Bagge on Planned Parenthood, Eugenics, and "Woman Rebel"6:22
    Margaret Sanger Was Anti-Abortion!?!? Peter Bagge on Planned Parenthood, Eugenics, and "Woman Rebel"
    ReasonVids
    856 views
    Thumbnail for LSD Microdosing: The New Silicon Valley Productivity Hack6:29
    LSD Microdosing: The New Silicon Valley Productivity Hack
    ReasonVids
    940 views
    Thumbnail for Reason Mag: Sex in Arab World, Drug Courts, Real Jackie Robinson3:52
    Reason Mag: Sex in Arab World, Drug Courts, Real Jackie Robinson
    ReasonVids
    987 views
    Thumbnail for Tucker talks about new Ministry of Truth17:16
    Tucker talks about new Ministry of Truth
    bestofvoatxyz
    774 views
    Thumbnail for Alcohol Prohibition Was a Dress Rehearsal for the War on Drugs12:43
    Alcohol Prohibition Was a Dress Rehearsal for the War on Drugs
    ReasonVids
    892 views
    Thumbnail for Remy: Straight Outta Homeroom1:37
    Remy: Straight Outta Homeroom
    ReasonVids
    913 views
    Thumbnail for Is There Still a Legal Case Against Obamacare? Q&A w Pacific Legal Fdtn's Timothy Sandefur3:58
    Is There Still a Legal Case Against Obamacare? Q&A w Pacific Legal Fdtn's Timothy Sandefur
    ReasonVids
    949 views
    Thumbnail for Complacency and Comfort Are Killing Masculinity | Live From The Lair20:02
    Complacency and Comfort Are Killing Masculinity | Live From The Lair
    Terrence Popp
    336 views
    Thumbnail for School Choice and the Middle Class: Q&A with Matthew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute1:34
    School Choice and the Middle Class: Q&A with Matthew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute
    ReasonVids
    847 views
    Thumbnail for 12 Years to Disaster? How Climate Activists Distort the Evidence13:23
    12 Years to Disaster? How Climate Activists Distort the Evidence
    ReasonVids
    897 views
    Thumbnail for Republican Debate Cocktails1:29
    Republican Debate Cocktails
    ReasonVids
    879 views
    Thumbnail for The Future of School Choice58:26
    The Future of School Choice
    ReasonVids
    889 views
    Thumbnail for Remy: April Fool's!2:00
    Remy: April Fool's!
    ReasonVids
    883 views
    Thumbnail for Cody Wilson: Happiness is a 3-D Printed Gun27:51
    Cody Wilson: Happiness is a 3-D Printed Gun
    ReasonVids
    900 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
cannabis
,
weed
,
marijuana
,
legalization
,
legislation
,
dispensary
,
colorado
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle