First, it would seem necessary to establish strict legal parameters around the drug’s use if it were to be legalized. These should be outlined around current alcohol laws, with the possible exception of alcohol’s legality in people who are twenty one or older. Driving under the influence of marijuana, referred to by some states as “drugged driving,” should also be considered a violation of the law because performing such actions can easily present a threat to the safety of the public. The drug does impair judgment, so it seems that safety precautions would be legally necessary for the marijuana’s safe use.
“NPR came up with a hypothetical scenario and asked experts to play along, commenting on their imagined outcomes,” John Burnett spoke in an NPR segment, entitled What If Marijuana Were Legal? Possible Outcomes. “The scenario: Marijuana has been legal for two years throughout the U. S. It is treated, in the eyes of the law, similar to alcohol. It is taxed and regulated, and users must be 21 or older. Pot smokers can buy it by the gram at licensed dispensaries. Predictably, the law change would make some people very happy — and others deeply concerned.
” But it seems that some of the fears people have about marijuana’s legalization could be answered by fitting it into legal parameters similar to those concerning the regulation of alcohol abuse. It should be illegal to drive while high on marijuana, and some field sobriety test could be implemented to determine if someone is too high to be driving. Drugged driving should be regarded as a similar offense to drunk driving. And there should be an age limit, which restricts people who are too young from using the drug.
Perhaps 18 or 21 would work for that. The operation of machinery should also be legally discouraged in some way, as operating machinery while under the influence of marijuana can be just as dangerous as performing those activities while drunk. Gateway Drug Status. Is This a Myth? Another variable concerning the legalization of marijuana is the issue of whether or not it will prove to be a gateway drug. This is not a legal issue, but one that parents and people who are concerned for the welfare of the nation’s youth should be concerned about.
It is not legal in nature because there is not direct connection between using marijuana and therefore, subsequently using other, more dangerous drugs. For instance, law enforcement cannot make it illegal for people to inhabit certain buildings because the area has a high rate of drug use. And even more basic, eating spaghetti would not be made illegal even if it was proven that people who often eat spaghetti resort to using cocaine, as that is a choice of spaghetti eaters, not a direct requirement.
So this issue only concerns people’s opinions about marijuana legalization. Marijuana will prove to be a gateway drug for some people, but it will not for others. Although some people will naturally like the high they get from smoking the drug, and may subsequently pursue harsher drugs, most marijuana users only use that illegal drug, because they like its particular effects, and feel there is nothing that should be criminal about smoking it.
If legalized, people should only be educated more about the addictiveness and dangers of other drugs, and it should be widely explained that other drugs are not legal because they are potentially damaging, unlike marijuana. And lastly, marijuana’s status as a gateway drug depends entirely on the life choices of its users. They have to choose to use other drugs. And people who will fall into other drugs after experiencing the high of marijuana have likely already done so, as legal parameters are hardly enough to deter drug use.