Medical Marijuana Prohibition: Really, Really Bad Reasons

On page five of the August 14, 2006, Newsweek, The Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) lists “4 Really Bad Reasons Why Parents Don’t Talk To Their Kids About Drugs”. These four reasons are truly bad reasons, but not for the rationale articulated by PDFA.

According to PDFA, the number one “bad reason” parents do not talk to their children about drugs is: “Your kids would never do drugs.” The assumption here is that there are smug parents out there who believe that they have adequately addressed the issue of drugs with their children. Perhaps these confident parents managed, somehow, to instill good habits in their children such that they are too busy to experiment with illicit substances.

PDFA claims that it is impossible to believe that a child would not do drugs. They say: “Oh, come on. High school kids are exposed to drugs every day.” Whoa, isn’t this an argument against drug prohibition, what PDFA stands for? I mean, if “[e]ven grade school kids are at risk,” then isn’t it about time to admit the current strategy does not work? How much worse could it get? According to PDFA, right now, at this moment, there is not a single child in this entire country safe from drugs.

If you think that the number one “bad reason” was scary, then solemnly prepare yourself for the shock of number two: “It’s hypocritical [to not talk about drugs with your kids] because you did some drugs when you were a kid, and you’re okay.” I guess the argument here is that, given reason number one, every kid who is exposed to drugs abuses them, and since parents were once kids, they therefore were once drug abusers and may feel “hypocritical” telling their children to not do what they, presumably eagerly, did themselves.

To be clear, PDFA is boldly proclaiming the Bush doctrine: hypocrisy. As a young man, President George W. Bush used marijuana for fun, not for relief from a serious illness. Philosophically, one might think this would lead the Bush Administration to re-think the prohibition of marijuana; however, philosophy is not a trait of this administration. This is why PDFA, an arm of the Bush Administration, spends millions of tax dollars to propagandize and criminalize behavior its commander-in-chief is guilty of committing himself. Through their lens, “What you did back then doesn’t matter.” What matters is “staying the course,” whatever the course.

The course holds that drugs are everywhere; everywhere there are drug abusers. There is no distinction between drug use and drug abuse as far as the course is concerned. And do not kid yourself thinking that drug abuse can be stopped, just echo the mantra: “pot,” “crack,” “ecstasy,” “meth,” or “whatever you did as a kid” is bad. Don’t think; just do (as you’re told). Just say no, whether it works or not; just say it!

The number three “bad reason” parents do not talk to their kids about drugs is that “Talking to your kids doesn’t do any good.” Implicit here is the idea that the American people have given up on speech. How could PDFA assume that a parent could ever doubt that discussion with their children matters? Sure it is possible for evidence to be ignored and, in that sense, monologues are less effective than discourse—a lesson that PDFA would do well to learn—however, I doubt there is any parent in America seriously finished with any and all familial conversation.

To give PDFA some credit, this faction at least encourages would-be frustrated, muted parents to continue to strive (hope) for discussion with their children about an important topic. Of course, what PDFA gives with one hand, it takes away with the other since: “Kids whose parents get involved with them are [only] 50% less likely to do drugs.” Unresolved, naturally, is what to do with the other 50%. Probably society must write them off, given PDFA’s previous reasoning that calls for all of these kids to exist in a doomed environment laden with drugs (reason #1) and drug use, i.e., abuse (reason #2). Maybe parents are right to be skeptical here, because in such an environment, what good would discussion of the inevitable really accomplish?

PDFA flies past this problematic impasse and simply offers its last reason that parents do not talk to their kids about drugs as if there were no inconsistency in its logic. Bad reason number four: “Your kids know more about drugs than you do.” Ha! The Aristophanic problem, where children rule their parents, is ironically brought out here by PDFA. But what to do? Burn the house down? Sadly, no. Instead, PDFA suggests going to a “drug free” website to “find out what you need to know” like “how to talk to the little you-know-whats.”

Did the Bush Administration—the one so worried about children, and stem cells—just degrade the nation’s youth? Wow. According to PDFA, the nation’s children are “little you-know whats.” I can only assume that whatever PDFA means to imply with this phrase, it is not flattering to children. The Constitution’s promise to “posterity” seems lost here. Amazingly, PDFA tells people to view children with contempt. The kind of family this leads to is the Orwellian nightmare where families spy on each other and report only to the Party, not at all to themselves (they cannot be trusted).

Contrarily and in reality, children are not out of control or incapable of good judgment. The Federal government is out of control and incapable of good judgment when it comes to drugs. The facts show that prohibition does not work. History shows that prohibition does not work. Yet we “stay the course,” no matter where the course leads—the powers that be, after all, became "powers that be" while on this course, so why would they change it? Prohibition will not end so long as the People are content with a government that puts children in danger of drugs, drug abuse, and inhuman totalitarianism.

Someday, I suspect, children will live in a world with drug-abuse free schools and neighborhoods. When that happens, it will only be because prohibition finally came to a much too delayed end. I do not know when this day will come, but I believe it will come sometime because too many people know the truth about drug prohibition. When drug prohibition ends the children will look back at history and ask themselves: Why were they so stupid? Those will be some smart “little you-know-whats.”


Kenneth Michael White is an attorney and the author of “The Beginning of Today: The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937” and “Buck” (both by PublishAmerica 2004). Visit www.thebeginningoftoday.com for more information.