You may have thought „I hate those kids” when you saw a group smoking marijuana in a park or walked past a car that had its windows rolled down. You might not be sure about the legalization of marijuana in North America.
Statistics reveal that 20% of Canadians are planning to experiment with marijuana, and another 17% will continue using marijuana regularly. The term „regularly” may mean different things for each person, but the majority of people believe that once per week is „regular”. This is pretty normal.
What happens when legalization takes hold?
If you’re worried about the impact of legalizing marijuana on your town or city, you should consider the fact that almost 20% of people already use it. The place hasn’t fallen apart around you. Many US states have legalized marijuana and the place hasn’t collapsed. You can’t smell it every time you walk down the strip in Las Vegas – not all the time anyway – and you can’t find it on every street corner, either.
Legalizing marijuana would be similar to legalizing alcohol. It may seem strange to light up cannabis oil in the backyard at first but it’s likely to be one of the few places you will see this on a daily basis. In many places you cannot walk the streets with an open alcoholic drink. It’s all about perspective.
What is the worst that could happen?
You might look at the impact of legalizing marijuana on your city with the same distance and ignorance that Mr. Wilson did when he looked at Dennis The Menace. Instead of writing off the boy in his neighborhood as trouble, Mr. Wilson could have gained a lot by being curious. Like we can learn much from those who choose to use marijuana in order to ease their pain and anxiety or manage their post-traumatic disorder (PTSD). Although medical marijuana can be found in places where cheap bongs are sold, that doesn’t make it recreational or bad. Why would the half of humanity be wrong when millions of people are enjoying something that’s found in nature?
What If We Are Wrong
Before you look at the legalization as a doomsday scenario, remember that it could actually have an opposite effect. We all anticipate that, with more availability, more people would smoke or use marijuana. Alcohol is also widely available and not everyone drinks it. Sure, some people abuse it – frequently. Most people are able to function and continue their lives despite the taunting calls of alcohol sold in beer shops and wineries around the globe. How about those people working in liquor shops? It’s obvious that they are always drunk! That’s obviously not the case. Why do we view these changes in such a negative light?
It’s human nature to question change. Why do these things have to occur? Why can’t the world just remain as it is? Henry Ford was quoted many times as saying that had he given the people what they desired, he would’ve built a better horse. It’s possible that there are positive aspects to legalizing marijuana, but we haven’t been able to grasp them yet. This is something you should consider the next time that you complain about those kids who are smoking pot at the end.
