Let's all jump in our magic school bus and take a trip back to the Roaring '20s. It was the Jazz Age. Prohibition was in full effect and people got their social drink on in illegal speakeasies all across the nation. A massive network of bootleggers and gangsters was built to satisfy our thirst for the drink.
Lots of alcohol was smuggled in from Canada and other nations that didn't share a belief that drinking some hooch now and then was evil, but the markup that gangsters put on the stuff was difficult for most Americans to afford.
Enter bathtub gin, widely known as some of the nastiest tasting stuff out there. It was cheaper than the alternative, but it also wasn't exactly safe. It was often impure and dangerous, even having high levels of methanol, which is exceedingly poisonous.
Now we come back to today, and something similar is occurring.
Synthetic cannabis is causing a stir around the nation for its reportedly harmful side effects. Although packaging for the legal substance indicates that it is only to be used as incense, people are using it as an easy-to-get alternative to marijuana.
Some people who used the drug report that they feel their heart race, that they hear voices, or that they experience anxiety attacks after smoking. "Spice," as it is commonly known, was also blamed for some murders where the perpetrator had smoked it beforehand.
Seizures and heart attacks have even been reported in some cases, sometimes leading to death.
Now, Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing for a national ban on the substance. In a column he wrote for the New York Daily News, Schumer aptly described the rise of synthetic pot's use as an epidemic. From 2009 to 2012, calls to poison control centers for dangerous reactions went from 13 to 6,900, respectively.
With the amount of evidence out there on how dangerous this substance can be, it's a good measure to try to ban it nationally, but there needs to be a historical lens put on this issue.
Marijuana on the street is often already cheaper than the synthetic substitute. One of the main reasons spice is chosen over the natural pot is because synthetic weed easier to obtain. So, rather than get the safer, real substance, they choose the dangerous version that won't get them arrested.
Pretending like the prohibition on marijuana isn't like the prohibition on alcohol can't be sustained forever. Just like the '20s, the substitute is proving to be worse than the real thing. So lets take the model of alcohol prohibition and apply it to the marijuana prohibition.
Moonshine, spirits at home distilled essentially, is now illegal and the phenomenon of dangerously contaminated liquor is relatively uncommon. Even still, there's no need to look for it because the real stuff is legal, but regulated to prevent children from drinking.
Yes, make synthetic marijuana illegal, but follow that up by regulating marijuana just like alcohol is regulated. You must be 21 or over to use, you will be prosecuted for giving it to anyone underage, and tax it in order to pay for enforcement of the regulations.
Oh, and simultaneously relieve pressure on the so-called drug war, keep citizens who just wanted to get high out of prison, and create a completely new industry to stimulate economic growth, rather than stifle it.
