For too long, the national conversation regarding marijuana has been conducted with marijuana users on the defensive. We defend against misinformation, radical social conservatism, and a level of government intrusion into our private lives that is inconsistent with a free society.

In recent years, medical marijuana proponents, and a majority of voters, have done a great deal to protect the right of the chronically ill to obtain one of the oldest medicines on Earth (Even Queen Victoria medicated with cannabis). Still others continue a fight for the religious freedom to use their sacramental herb the way Roman Catholics use wine. As someone who is concerned with human suffering and values civil liberties, I admire the work and progress of these groups. On Marijuana, however, is not intended as a defense of marijuana use. It is, instead, a critique of prohibition. There are no valid reasons for prohibiting the socially responsible use of marijuana by adults.

In a free society, things must be made illegal. Thus, the onus is not on the marijuana user to explain why marijuana should be allowed. Prohibitionists have the burden of proof here. But ever since the original justifications for marijuana prohibition were proven baseless, and subsequent justifications were similarly discredited, the burden of proof seems to have shifted to marijuana users. Instead of abandoning prohibition decades ago when we discovered the truth, we are now expected to justify why we should be granted the freedom to use marijuana.

That is not the way a free society creates public policy.

We shouldn’t have to beg for the freedom to use marijuana any more than we should have to justify smoking a cigarette or taking an aspirin.

On Marijuana is for those who support the right to the responsible use of marijuana by adults. Whether you use marijuana to treat a chronic illness, pursue a spiritual path, or simply to relax, there is no justification for a small minority to strip you of that freedom.

If America is to be authentic to its founding, then we must respect that the government does not have the legitimate authority to prohibit our use of marijuana. One day we must have an approach to marijuana that respects freedom and is socially responsible.  If we want to control it at all, the solution must be to regulate and tax marijuana.

The facts are on our side. It is only a matter of time.

michael
michael@onmarijuana.com