On November 6th, Massachusetts voters will consider a state-wide ballot initiative to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana. Under the proposed law, residents with qualifying medical conditions and a doctor’s prescription would be able to purchase marijuana legally, and approved providers would be able to grow and distribute marijuana legally. If Question 3 passes, Massachusetts will become the 18th state to “medicalize” marijuana.
Passions run high on this issue, with both supporters and opponents guilty of arguments that are misleading, or worse. But case for Question 3, despite its imperfections, is the more persuasive.
The crucial problem with Question 3 is that it addresses a half-measure, medicalization, rather than the real issue, legalization.
Marijuana prohibition makes no sense. Governments should not interfere with individual behavior except when this generates substantial “externalities,” meaning adverse impacts on others. Marijuana can produce externalities (e.g., traffic accidents), but this is not the whole story.
Many goods and activities generate external costs. Driving on the highway creates congestion and air pollution; smoking causes increased use of publicly funded health care and second-hand smoke; alcohol use contributes to traffic accidents and diminished workplace productivity. High-calorie foods and lack of exercise promote obesity and therefore elevated health-care costs.
Yet most societies do not outlaw any of these things, despite their significant externalities. Why? Because we recognize that the external costs of prohibition are even worse. Prohibition drives markets underground, generating violence, corruption, diminished quality control, infringements on civil liberties, and more. And it impedes the use of prohibited goods or activities by those who would use them responsibly, legal or not.
For most goods and activities, therefore, policy attempts to strike a balance; it punishes irresponsible use, as with DUI laws, but keeps other uses legal and above ground. That is the right policy for marijuana. Legalization would not eliminate all marijuana-related harms, but it avoids the harms from prohibition.
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