Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote on June 28 that the federal government's current approach to marijuana is now outdated, and somehow allows and prohibits marijuana consumption at the same time. This comment came up as a marijuana dispensary was denied tax breaks by the Supreme Court, while the tax breaks are available to most other businesses.

This view contrasts with President Biden, who stands against county-wide marijuana legalization, and has yet to follow through with his campaign promises to free all incarcerated pot-smokers.

Justice Thomas is correct in his assessment of federal policies on marijuana, and how the ambivalent approach to national marijuana use and production is outdated and unnecessary. All federal laws against marijuana should be lifted and all non-violent marijuana charges forgiven as soon as possible.

Since 1971 when the war on drugs was declared by Richard Nixon, who called drug abuse “public enemy number one,” the government’s plan to eliminate drugs was to criminalize them and intersect the source. The hope was that making drug sentencing strict would deter citizens from using them, and destroying the source would completely halt production.

It didn’t work. Regardless of any prohibitions or regulations, drugs and alcohol will always be consumed as they have for millennia. The only difference is the source and price. Even in extreme cases where critical drug ingredients are prohibited, drug supply does not falter. As one manufacturer gets shut down, more will move in, and there are consequences for this happening.

For example, when the US tried to regulate materials used to create crystal meth to stop drug production in the country, all that achieved was furthering the reach of Mexican drug cartels that could now supply for the market gap in meth.

Prohibition against marijuana leads to the main strain of the drug being the most potent one (usually the strain with much more THC than CBD), whereas if marijuana were to be fully legalized, the supply would be more varied, allowing for people to choose strains with more even levels of THC and CBD. If the substance is not as regulated, sellers will no longer need to only cultivate the strain that packs the most strength in the smallest amount, leading to safer options for consumers.

The United State’s approach to criminalizing marijuana fails to account for most minor cases, and this has been one of the causes of the war on drugs’ mass incarceration. As an example, if someone were to be caught owning both marijuana and a gun, that could result in a drug trafficking felony. In addition, with some states legalizing weed, legitimate marijuana dispensaries exist, and yet these companies need to resort to cash-based transactions or other workarounds just to exist without incurring a civil suit and still might end up in the red due to the law restricting them from deducting business expenses. Cash-based businesses are additionally far more prone to robberies and poor bookkeeping.

If marijuana is always going to be consumed by the American people regardless of either its legality or cost, then I see no reason for the industry not to be handled like legitimate businesses who settle disputes via legal action rather than violence like drug cartels. The ball has already started rolling on the full decriminalization of marijuana, so our outdated set of laws should be reworked.

By Noble Westbrook

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