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Marijuana Legalization:
 

A Bad Idea
 Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, with nearly 17 million

Americans age 12 and older reporting past‐month use, and 374,000 people entering an emergency

room annually with a primary marijuana problem.1 The downward trend in youth marijuana use

during the late 1990s has ended. According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health,

past‐month marijuana use among 12‐ to 17‐year‐olds climbed 9 percent from 2008 (6.7%) to 2009

(7.3%), as shown in figure 1.2

Not surprisingly, this increase

coincides with a softening of youth

attitudes about the risks of

marijuana (figure 1). Among 12‐ to

17‐year‐olds, the perception of

great risk in smoking marijuana

once a month declined from 2008

(33.9%) to 2009 (30.7%).3

Recently, there have been

increasing efforts to legalize

marijuana. The Obama

Administration has consistently

reiterated its firm opposition to any

form of drug legalization. Together

with Federal partners and state and local officials, the Office of National Drug Control Policy is

working to reduce the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs through development of strategies

that fully integrate the principles of prevention, treatment, recovery, and effective supply

reduction efforts. Proposals such as legalization that would promote marijuana use are

inconsistent with this public health and safety approach.

In the highly charged debate over legalization, many troubling misperceptions have gained

currency. It is critical these false assumptions be addressed and clarified using the best evidence

available. A careful examination of the facts leads to the following conclusions about the dangers

of marijuana use and the likely consequences of legalization:

8.2 7.9 7.6

6.8 6.7 6.7 6.7

7.3

32.4

34.9 35.0 34.0 34.7 34.5 33.9

30.7

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Percent Reporting Great Risk

Percent Reporting Past Month Use

% Using Marijuana in the Past Month

% Reporting Great Risk in Smoking Marijuana Once a Month

Figure 1

Current Use and Perceived Risk of Marijuana Use

Among Youth, 2002 ‐ 2009

Significantly higher than

in 2006 and 2008 but

lower than in 2002

9/2010

Source: SAMHSA, 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (September 2010). 

Significantly lower

than in 2002 2008

Persons Aged 12 to 17

ONDCP seeks to foster healthy individuals and safe communities by effectively

leading the Nation’s effort to reduce drug use and its consequences.

October 2010 
                     

                   

         

     

 

           

                                     

                   

   

                     

             

                         

         

                             

                   

         

                                     

         

       

           

         

           

         

         

       

         

         

             

         

         

         

                     

                 

                                                   

             

                           

                           

                           

                           

                                 

               

                           

                       

                         

Marijuana use is harmful and should be discouraged

 Marijuana use is associated with dependence, respiratory and mental illness, poor motor

performance, and impaired cognitive and immune system functioning, among other

negative effects.4

 Marijuana intoxication can cause distorted perceptions, difficulty in thinking and problem

solving, and problems with learning and memory.5

 Studies have shown an association between chronic marijuana use and increased rates of

anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and schizophrenia.6

 Other research has shown marijuana smoke to contain carcinogens and to be an irritant to

the lungs. Marijuana smoke, in fact, contains 50‐70 percent more carcinogenic

hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke.7

Legalization would lower price, thereby increasing use

 A recent report from the RAND Corporation, “Altered State,” discusses how legalization

would cause the price of Figure 2

marijuana to plummet, triggering Current Use of Major Substances in

increases in use of the drug.8 the General Population, 2009

	 Illegality helps keep prices higher. Past Month Use (Ages 12 or Older)

And because drug use is sensitive

to price, especially among young

people, higher prices help keep

use rates relatively low.9

 Use of the legal substances

alcohol and tobacco far outpaces

the use of marijuana (figure 2), a

Percent Reporting Past Month Use60

51.9

50

40

30

20

10

strong indication that laws reduce 0

the availability and acceptability of Source: SAMHSA, 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (September 2010). substances. 10/2010

	 Our experience with even tightly
 

regulated prescription drugs, such as Oxycontin, shows that legalizing drugs widens
 

availability and misuse, even when controls are in place.
 

Tax revenue would be offset by higher social costs

 The costs to society of alcohol and tobacco – substances that are legal and taxed – are

much greater than the revenue they generate.

 Federal excise taxes collected on alcohol in 2007 totaled around $9 billion; states collected

around $5.5 billion. Combined, these amounts are less than 10 percent of the estimated

$185 billion in alcohol‐related costs to health care, criminal justice, and the workplace in

lost productivity.10

 Tobacco does not yield net revenue when taxed. Each year, Americans spend more than

$200 billion on the social costs of smoking, but only about $25 billion is collected in taxes.11

Legalization would further burden the criminal justice system

 Legalizing marijuana would increase use of the drug and, consequently, the harm it causes,

thus adding to the burden on the criminal justice system. Arrests for alcohol‐related

crimes, such as violations of liquor laws, public drunkenness, and driving under the

6.6

23.3

Marijuana Cigarettes Alcohol

ONDCP seeks to foster healthy individuals and safe communities by effectively

leading the Nation’s effort to reduce drug use and its consequences.

October 2010 
                     

                   

                     

           

                                 

                             

                         

                           

                   

                   

                           

                       

                 

                           

                           

                     

       

 

                       

                 

                       

                                               

                                             

                                                 

                                         

                                           

                                       

                                       

                                         

                                         

                                           

                                             

                                   

                                     

   

                                             

   

                                           

         

                                       

                       

                                           

                                     

                                       

                                         

         

                           

                                         

                   

     

                     

                         

                               

                                       

                       

influence, totaled nearly 2.7 million in 2008. Marijuana‐possession arrests under current

laws in 2008 totaled around 750,000.12

	 Most people whose only crime is marijuana possession do not go to prison. A survey by the

Bureau of Justice Statistics showed that 0.7% of all state inmates were behind bars for

marijuana possession only (with many of them pleading down from more serious crimes).13

Other independent research has shown that the risk of arrest for each “joint,” or marijuana

cigarette, smoked is about 1 arrest for every 12,000 joints.14

Legalization would do little, if anything, to curb drug violence

	 Marijuana accounts for only a portion of the proceeds gained by criminal organizations that

profit from drug distribution, human trafficking, and other crimes, so legalizing marijuana

would not deter these groups from continuing to operate.

	 Under the most commonly proposed legalization regime – one that imposes high taxes on

marijuana – violent drug cartels would simply undercut legal prices to keep their market

share. With increased demand for marijuana resulting from legalization, these groups

would likely grow stronger.

1 SAMHSA, 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (September 2010).

Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), SAMHSA, 2010. Found at https://dawninfo.samhsa.gov/ 2 SAMHSA, 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (September 2010). 3 SAMHSA, 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (September 2010). 4 See Moore, B.A., et al, Respiratory effects of marijuana and tobacco use in a U.S. sample, Journal of General Internal Medicine 20(1):33‐37, 2005.

Also see Tashkin, D.P., Smoked marijuana as a cause of lung injury, Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease 63(2):93‐100, 2005. Other evidence on the

effect of marijuana on lung function and the respiratory system, and the link with mental illness, can be found in expert reviews offered by Hall

W.D, and Pacula, R.L. (2003), Cannabis use and dependence: Public health and public policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press., and Room,

R., Fischer, B., Hall, W., Lenton, S., and Reuter, P. (2009), Cannabis Policy: Moving beyond stalemate, The Global Cannabis Commission Report, the

Beckley Foundation. Room et al. write, “Cannabis use and psychotic symptoms are associated in general population surveys and the relationship

persists after adjusting for confounders. The best evidence that these associations may be causal comes from longitudinal studies of large

representative cohorts.” Further, on page 26, they write: “...animal studies suggest that high doses of cannabis extracts and of THC impair

immune functioning.” Also see Degenhardt, L. & Hall, W. (2006), Is cannabis a contributory cause of psychosis? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 51:

556‐565. A major study examining young people and, importantly, a subset of sibling pairs was released in February 2010 and concluded that

marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood. See McGrath, J., et al. (2010), Association between

cannabis use and psychosis‐related outcomes using sibling pair analysis in a cohort of young adults, Archives of General Psychiatry. 5 Pope HG, Gruber AJ, Hudson JI, Huestis MA, Yurgelun‐Todd D. Neuropsychological performance in long‐term cannabis users. Arch Gen Psychiatry

58(10):909–915, 2001. 6 Moore TH, Zammit S, Lingford‐Hughes A, et al. Cannabis use and risk of psychotic or affective mental health outcomes: A systematic review. Lancet

370(9584):319–328, 2007. 7 Hoffman, D.; Brunnemann, K.D.; Gori, G.B.; and Wynder, E.E.L. On the carcinogenicity of marijuana smoke. In: V.C. Runeckles, ed., Recent Advances

in Phytochemistry. New York: Plenum, 1975. 8 Beau Kilmer, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Robert J. MacCoun, Peter H. Reuter, Altered State? Assessing How Marijuana

Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets, RAND, 2010. 9 For example, see: Williams, J., Pacula, R., Chaloupka, F., and Wechsler, H. (2004), “Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among College Students: Economic

Complements or Substitutes?” Health Economics 13(9): 825‐843.; Pacula R., Ringel, J., Suttorp, M. and Truong, K. (2008), An Examination of the

Nature and Cost of Marijuana Treatment Episodes. RAND Working Paper presented at the American Society for Health Economics Annual Meeting,

Durham, NC, June 2008. Jacobson, M. (2004), “Baby Booms and Drug Busts: Trends in Youth Drug Use in the United States, 1975‐2000,” Quarterly

Journal of Economics 119(4): 1481‐1512. 10 See http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=399. Also Harwood, H. (2000), Updating Estimates of the Economic Costs of

Alcohol Abuse in the United States: Estimates, Update Methods and Data. Report prepared for the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol

Abuse.

11 State estimates found at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/weekinreview/31saul.html?em; Federal estimates found at

https://www.policyarchive.org/bitstream/handle/10207/3314/RS20343_20020110.pdf; Also see

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0072.pdf; Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, see “Smoking‐caused costs,” on p.2. 12 Federal Bureau of Investigation (2008) Uniform Crime Reports, Washington, DC. Available at: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm 13 “Substance Abuse and Treatment, State and Federal Prisoners, 1997.” BJS Special Report, January 1999, NCJ 172871.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/satsfp97.pdf 14 Beau Kilmer, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Robert J. MacCoun, Peter H. Reuter, Altered State? Assessing How Marijuana

Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets, RAND, 2010.

ONDCP seeks to foster healthy individuals and safe communities by effectively

leading the Nation’s effort to reduce drug use and its consequences.

October 2010 
                     

                   

Office of National Drug Control Policy 

www.WhiteHouseDrugPolicy.gov 

www.TheAntiDrug.com 

www.AboveTheInfluence.com 

ONDCP seeks to foster healthy individuals and safe communities by effectively

leading the Nation’s effort to reduce drug use and its consequences.

October 2010