A recent study of dead drivers in an Ohio county found that 42 percent were positive for THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana. Pot apologists quickly noted that THC can be detected for up to a month after use. But the national past 30-day marijuana use rate is only 16 percent, and these drivers had average THC levels 5 to 10 times the state legal limit.
Less attention was given to a global study released last week on life expectancy, which showed one notable exception to the broad improvements: Teens and young adults in western countries are dying at higher rates, driven largely by suicides and substance use. And that of course includes alcohol, but marijuana use is actually associated with more alcohol consumption.
Marijuana users are five times more likely to become alcoholics. Up to 40 percent of marijuana users use daily, and up to 30 percent 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.
There is another important difference between the two: Nearly every civilization in history has evolved with people using some form of alcohol. No civilization has ever experimented with the types of industrialized THC products that western countries are now recklessly legalizing, commercializing, and normalizing. We might pause and ask ourselves why zero Asian countries have done the same, and why China is so anxious to promote this weapon of cultural suicide here in the U.S. when it remains completely illegal there.
Speaking of which, THC strongly induces suicidality even in patients who were not depressed to begin with and state legalization has led to sharp increases in youth suicides. Up to 30 percent of schizophrenia cases in young men are attributable to THC and such users are now responsible for uncounted numbers of mass shootings. Like Robin Westman of Minneapolis who wrote “weed (messed) up my head” and “if I could stop vaping I could stop myself from doing this attack” in his manifesto.
Marijuana is also causing the same cancers as tobacco, dramatic increases in heart attacks and strokes and quadrupling diabetes rates in users. Ganja will not make America healthy again, let alone great.
Add to this the well-known adverse effects on educational achievement and motivation and the costs of the cannabis culture to government budgets are staggering. One study in Colorado conservatively estimated nearly 5 dollars in increased spending and lost revenue for every dollar collected in marijuana taxes—even at a 15 percent sales tax rate.
There is no conservative case for marijuana legalization. Even the libertarian case suffers from a serious flaw: Libertarianism only works when people are free to act in their own best interest, and by extension that of their family, community, and country. Chemicals like THC are designed to promote the opposite type of citizen. Libertarians should be the most opposed to the drug culture because it undermines the very premise of their ideology.
The utopian assumption that legalization would lead to a “safe and regulated” product and eliminate the black market has now gone zero for 24 in our marijuana-legal states. Many legal THC products are also more potent than even the now highly potent plant itself. The industry has defied regulation and the black markets are thriving everywhere. Legalizing marijuana to eliminate the black market is like giving your dog ticks to rid it of fleas. You just double the infestation.
The politically driven potential rescheduling of marijuana, initiated by the Biden administration, will only fuel this predatory industry with tax breaks and marketing privileges. Republicans should note that young male voters moved right last November even as Democrats were enticing them with more weed.
Charlie Kirk gave his generation more credit than some Republicans do. Despite the criticism, he stood up to the THC industry’s lies targeting them. Republicans will never outbid Democrats in the race to the drug culture bottom. Nor should they, as polls show public sentiment now turning against marijuana.
Kirk knew that minds can be changed but facts cannot. Principled conservatives should do more than eulogize Charlie. They should emulate him by standing up for truth, his generation, and America’s future.
Matt Poling is a physician, Medical Director of Citizens for a Safe and Health Texas and Faculty Advisor for Texas A&M Young Americans for Freedom.
