Jim E. Smallwood: Who will pay for the pain, misery, injuries legal marijuana will cause?
Now it begins. With the passing of Proposition 64, The Adult Use of Marijuana Act, we have opened Pandora’s Box;. I predict that the long-term effect of this act will only be to the detriment of the state. No matter how high marijuana is taxed, the taxes will never cover the deaths, shattered lives and public-health costs that will incur.
I admit there are some benefits from the use of marijuana to help the sick but, just like alcohol, the benefits will be greatly outweighed by the cost to society. I can just hear it now, “Please officer, I did not mean to kill/maim those people but I was drunk.” Soon, we can add to it, “Please officer, I did not mean to kill/maim those people but I was stoned.”
The words “drunk” and “stoned” are just semantics; in the end, not only the guilty but the innocent will suffer – and all for what?
Jim E. Smallwood, Modesto
This story was originally published May 22, 2017 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Jim E. Smallwood: Who will pay for the pain, misery, injuries legal marijuana will cause?."