Long before cannabis was even considered for legalization, I recognized the double-standard at play.
This was before I even went to my first party, so I had never drank a beer or smoked a joint before. I saw people who did, especially my parents and their friends. One thing I learned early on was that when a group of men get together and drink, it’s best for me to steer clear of them. Alcohol seemed to always lead to raised voices and arguments. I saw people vomit and pass out more than once. On the other hand, when my mom and her friends smoked cannabis, none of those bad things happened. They would laugh and talk and play games while passing around a cannabis cigarette, and it seemed like a lot of fun. So it was perplexing to me why society condemned cannabis while celebrating alcohol. If anything alcohol should be banned, not cannabis, it just doesn’t make any sense! As soon as I was old enough to vote I started to vote for any cannabis legalization topic that came up on the ballot. It wasn’t because I wanted to smoke more cannabis, it was because this seemed like an unfair and unjust law. Later on I came to find out how the tobacco industry intentionally demonized cannabis and issued a smear campaign to turn the public against it. Cannabis is so much more helpful to society than tobacco ever has been, so the time has come for it to be 100% legal! Make alcohol and tobacco illegal if you must, but leave cannabis alone.