As the discussion of marijuana being legalized has joined the political table because of President Biden working to fulfill a campaign promise, it’s important to pay attention to state decisions as well – here’s why.
Over the past decade, each year has seen a handful of states making significant changes to their marijuana legality code. Most progress from fully criminalized to legal medical use, sometimes with limited THC content, to fully legalized, and at some point also decriminalized.
So far Alaska and Washington have gone straight to fully legal through a single piece of legislation, with others transitioning at varying rates. Currently, South Carolina is one of the fifteen states left that continue to forbid marijuana and THC possession or use for any reason, but is one of the twelve that allows CBD products.
But why do state decisions matter if President Biden is going to change the law at the federal level? The main problem with that is the fact that technically, he can’t.
While the President has the power of their office to give weight to their persuasion of state representatives, that is only sometimes enough to tip the legal scales. The closest thing they can come to changing the law is an executive order, which has the power to impose fines or imprisonment for violating it.
However unlike most other types of law, an executive order doesn’t require a two-thirds vote to repeal it. Instead, any future President has the ability to throw it out, sometimes using an entirely separate order. So even though President Biden could write an executive order legalizing marijuana, the rather undiplomatic approach would, in theory, only last till one of the next few elections.
Even though 70% of the states have partially legalized marijuana, that’s not enough to guarantee legislation being passed – not to mention the fact that less than half of those thirty-five have chosen to fully legalize it.
Despite marijuana and alcohol producing comparable levels of impairment, out of the two marijuana has significantly more potential health benefits. People with stress related issues, like hypertension and general anxiety disorder, are frequently noted to have significant positive results from both CBD and THC use. There have also been cases of it helping to treat various neurological conditions, notably Parkinson’s disease.
Considering the limited negative effects of marijuana, it seems strange that it should be illegal when compared to the significantly worse results from pharmaceutical drug abuse. After numerous opioid epidemics, the fact that very few pharmaceutical drugs have been illegalized directly points to drug companies having a hand in drug-related law.
Legalizing marijuana has also had a result in those states that would not come to mind for most – it puts dealers out of business. Having an organized method of growing it and quality assurances, not to mention the price inflations involved with an illegal product, dispensaries can outpace and undercut unapproved growers.
So although President Biden is making moves to have marijuana legalized, those who support it should express so to their representatives. The arguments for it continuing to be illegal are flimsy compared to the impacts that the criminal charges have on peoples’ lives.
