If you’re driving in certain areas of town and you catch the faint whiff of what can be described as skunk cabbage, it’s likely you’re in a state that has legalized the recreational use of marijuana.
There are now but four holdouts (Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, and Wyoming) where the use of cannabis or its byproducts remains completely illegal, even for medicinal use; on the other hand, a majority of states (26 in total) have now legalized both medicinal and recreational use. It’s a popular remedy for budgetary woes as states dream about cashing in on the hunger for pot.
While these states have legalized the drug, they contradict federal law, which makes Mary Jane a Schedule I substance, on par with heroin and LSD. However, the Trump administration has been weighing whether to downgrade marijuana to a Schedule III drug, likened to codeine or ketamine. A decision from the administration is expected by year’s end, perhaps giving stoners everywhere an early Christmas present.
As the Washington Examiner’s editorial board opines, “With Schedule 3 status for marijuana, corporate pushers could deduct normal business expenses, increasing profits, and secure loans from banks. That infusion of cash would go directly into advertising to hook millions more Americans on a substance that research conclusively shows makes us dumber, crazier, and more likely to die in traffic accidents.”
That last part is important, as anti-pot observers have seized on a convincing study from Ohio showing those who were killed in auto accidents had a significant incidence of THC, the chemical compound that is the main active ingredient in cannabis.
“Researchers from Wright State University analyzed driver autopsy results from car crashes in Montgomery County, Ohio, between January 2019 and September 2024,” explains The Wall Street Journal. “More than four in 10 tested positive for pot’s psychoactive ingredient THC, with an average level of 30.7 nanograms. That’s more than six times the level most states use to define impairment.” Nor was this a small sampling — over five years, the Dayton-area county had 246 deceased drivers tested. One key finding: the incidence did not change after pot became legal in Ohio in December 2023.
Perhaps the fact that President Trump has taken a go-slow approach to revising marijuana’s status after our Thomas Gallatin looked at the subject back in August means its status will remain unchanged. At the time, the president noted, “I’ve heard great things having to do with medical, and I’ve heard bad things having to do with just about everything else — but medical, and, you know, for pain and various things.”
And medicinal usage is one thing. Indeed, some swear marijuana is the one thing that alleviates their chronic pain, but that group, which mainly comes from the era when Cheech and Chong were a thing, isn’t as likely to overindulge to catch a serious buzz as younger smokers would. That heavy usage by Gen Z comes with a cost as well, as Dr. Matt Poling explains:
Marijuana use, however, is associated with more alcohol consumption, and marijuana users are five times more likely to become alcoholics. It has also been reported that up to 40% of marijuana users use daily, and up to 30% meet criteria for addiction — both far higher percentages than for drinkers. Using alcohol to excuse marijuana use or legalization is simply an exercise in lazy whataboutism.
Speaking of which, THC strongly induces suicidality, including in patients who were not originally depressed, and state legalization has led to sharp increases in youth suicides. Up to 30% of schizophrenia cases in young men are attributable to THC use now.
(Our Nate Jackson covered this fact a couple of years back as well.)
“Marijuana smoke is also causing the same type of cancers as tobacco smoke,” Poling continues, “while also dramatically increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes in younger users. Further, as the American College of Cardiology reports, THC has been shown to cause damage to major blood vessels regardless of the mechanism of ingestion.”
While states have been rushing to legalize marijuana due to what’s perceived as popular demand, or perhaps to shore up the youth vote, one can contend that what this author wrote almost four years ago still holds true: pot is like, bad, man.
