Anyone with half a brain knows some medical marijuana patients lie to get marijuana, but just how many and its implications are less clear.
Medical Marijuana has commonly been referred to as a front for complete legalization. To that claim I say, “so what?” During alcohol prohibition many people received access to “medicinal” alcohol from their doctors. While not entirely honest, it was safer than drinking the backwoods moonshine that was the primary alternative. Not everyone agrees. Even some supporters of legalization think that disingenuous medicinal marijuana hurts the cause. Seeing the actions of a legal marijuana marketplace changes the people’s perceptions of the dangers of marijuana.
In California, there are over two hundred thousand people with medical marijuana cards. Surely not every one of those persons has it legitimately. Joe Rogan, the host of Fear Factor, has a medical marijuana card and seems perfectly healthy to me. When medical marijuana was introduced in California, the majority of people who applied for cards were HIV and AIDS victims. Over time, the demographics have evolved to where now the three largest groups are: 31% with back pain, 16% have sleep problems, and 13% suffer from anxiety or depression. These are all conditions that make finding “fakers” difficult. Four out of five did report trying other medications before trying medical marijuana, but one can not know if people lied there as well. An indicator that they may have is that three in five of those patients did admit to using marijuana recreationally prior to it being prescribed.
To all of this I say again, “so what?” If people are using medical marijuana as a means to get high for fun of it, who is that really hurting? Some ardent supporters of legalization have argued that abuse of the medical marijuana system will backfire on the movement. They argue that if we talk about AIDS and Cancer, but what people see are stoners there will be public backlash. In my opinion, this argument rests on the assumption that marijuana has somewhere lower to go in public opinion. If we restrict marijuana to only a handful, its current perception as a dangerous Schedule 1 drug will never change.
Like it or not, there is only one thing that changes Washington minds, money. Having as large a medical marijuana community as possible increases the money in the system. Only with a thriving medicinal economy can enough money be generated to pursue the goal of legalization. Lobbying for Proposition 19 in California took a lot of cash, and the medical marijuana industry generates that. Simply seeing a legal marijuana economy is beneficial. The government tries to tie the violence associated with prohibition to marijuana itself. By having a functioning, safe, and legal economy to use as an example, the claim that marijuana is dangerous becomes hard to sustain. Medical marijuana is a foot in the door to legalization and anyone who tells you otherwise is kidding themselves.
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