In a sign that there might be hope for hopeless blue parts of the country, Oregon recriminalized possessing small amounts of hard drugs in early April. Oregonians had decriminalized small amounts of heroin and meth in 2020, hoping to — as NBC wrote — “quell a deepening addiction and overdose crisis.”
Strangely enough … letting people have more drugs leads to drugs problems!
This is the reason I’m generally against decriminalization of drugs when Democrats suggest it. Republicans are capable of drawing a line and saying, “This far, but no further” — like when then-President Donald Trump talked about this issue — whereas so-called progressives are not. The nascent Peter Pan-ism of the post-Clintonian left has led to policies informed less by the question “what is best for our country?” than the question “what can we get away with today?”
Indeed, the Democratic Party has long since abandoned serious leadership because they all want to be Amy Poehler’s “Cool Mom” in Mean Girls.
So it came as no surprise when President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union last month, that he was “directing [his] Cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana, and expunging thousands of convictions for mere possession, because no one should be jailed for using or possessing marijuana!”
This is the kind of thing that the libertarian wing of the GOP is happy to agree to, but the rest of us are skeptical. On the one hand, it seems baleful to send someone to jail for marijuana. On the other hand, as Oregonians proved with their disastrous 2020 law, legalization of minor drugs seems to be the gateway for legalizing horrible drugs.
Following the SOTU, Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (whom we mostly aren’t fans of) and other Republicans urged the Biden Administration that “Any effort to reschedule marijuana must be based on proven facts and scientific evidence—not the favored policy of a particular administration—and account for our treaty obligations.” That is to say, the Senators want to know if the Administration consulted key counterdrug partners on shared commitments regarding drug enforcement.
One imagines that the goal is to avoid another Brittney Griner-type situation, or conflicts with a country like Singapore, where police are empowered to perform extra-judicial executions if someone brings drugs into the crime-free Lion City. Western liberals love to cluck their tongues at Singapore’s criminal justice policies; Singaporeans cluck back how crime- and car accident-free their island is.
Mass acceptance of marijuana use is leading to predictable outcomes here at home. In Canada, it’s been found that driving while stoned can be even more dangerous than driving drunk. Documented marijuana-related traffic accidents that required ER visits rose almost 500% in the True North from 2010 to 2021.
So rather than sending marijuana smokers to jail, Canada is sending innocent accident victims to the hospital. Got it.
The fact that the Biden Administration waited until now to announce their decriminalization plan show’s it’s clearly an election-year ploy. They’re trying to trick Millennials and Zoomers into voting for four more years of ruinous policies by dangling marijuana in front of them: Democrats want young Americans to sell their birthright for a mess of pot.
If we’re to use betting markets to try to predict the future, it is more likely than not that Democrats will reclassify marijuana.
That’s according to the prediction markets at Polymarket, which gives reclassification about a 52 percent chance. The site uses blockchain-based technology to get immediate feedback on candidates and issues by offering betting lines and allowing traders to generate odds. Basically, it’s like sports betting on March Madness, but with the future of America. (When Biden made his SOTU announcement, Polymarket traders put the likelihood as high as 80 percent).
Whether it happens this year or another, legalization seems likely to happen eventually. Only about 11% of Americans think all marijuana should be illegal, even medicinal. But this bodes ill for the future. Again, on the one hand, while it can be seen as excessive to send someone to jail for something as minor as marijuana, increasing public acceptance for indulgence is a sign of social decay. As Sir John Glubb wrote in his prophetic Fate of Empires 50 years ago:
“A community of selfish and idle people declines, internal quarrels develop in the division of its dwindling wealth, and pessimism follows, which some of them endeavour to drown in sensuality or frivolity.”
“Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
Being a traditionalist means you have to say things that are unpopular now but get to say “I told you so” later. Just so it’s on record: letting people have more drugs leads to the problems associated with drugs.
Jared Whitley is an award-winning columnist and D.C. politico, having worked in the U.S. Senate, White House and defense industry. He has an MBA from Hult Business School in Dubai.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.