Sensible Marijuana Policy in the Post-Prohibition Era
Universal legalization is inevitable, but we have to be smart about it
Everybody got everything that they need for Sunday? If not, here’s a checklist for your holiday preparations: pastel-colored dresses and shoes that buckle; bonnets; suits, dress shirts and ties; store-bought crosses; homemade crosses; plastic eggs; hard boiled eggs; egg dye; stuffed rabbits; chocolate rabbits; chocolate anything; jelly beans; marshmallow chicks; other candy; colorful baskets strewn with green tinsel; ham; lamb; poinsettias, lilies and other flowers.
Now, here’s a few more items for the list: bongs; vaporizers; hookahs; rolling papers; tobacco blunts; smoking pipes; metal screens; roach clips; grinders; lighters; air fresheners; munchies; music mixes featuring Bob Marley, Sublime, The Grateful Dead, Phish and other reggae and jam bands; edibles; (and, of course) cannabis.
Um, what?
Considering it’s one of the two most sacred holidays in Christianity, Easter sure seems to be scheduled arbitrarily. It’s always on Sunday, but it can come as early as March 22, meaning it can already be here by the second-to-last week of the month. But, it can also arrive as late as April 25, putting it in the last week of that month. Or, it can show up on any Sunday in between.
The holiday isn’t actually randomly scheduled, though. Christians believe that Jesus was crucified during the Jewish feast of Passover, which is tied to the lunar calendar (lunar months consist of 29.5 days). Early Christians celebrated Easter concurrently with Passover, until A.D. 325, when the Council of Nicaea—which was called to resolve doctrinal disagreements between different sects of Christians—established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox (March 21), thus cementing the broad timespan that it can fall within, as well as the holiday’s link to the lunar calendar.
Easter’s wide date range means that there are multiple other observances that it can coincide with. For instance, it can be on April 22 or Earth Day, as it was in 1984, for those who prefer a more secular and terrestrial focus to the day. Or, for those who revel in more sacrilegious scheduling, it can land on April 1—a.k.a. April Fool’s Day—as it did in 2018. Or, for the it’s-always-5-o’clock-somewhere-crowd, Easter can occur on March 24, as happened in 1940, which later became National Cocktail Day.
In 2025, Easter’s placement on the calendar caters to a different vice-based subculture, the it’s-always-4:20-somewhere set, i.e. marijuana users. For those unfamiliar with the reference, 4:20 p.m. is to cannabis consumption what 5 p.m. is to alcohol consumption. It’s designated as the universal time of day when those who partake, partake.
So, with Easter being on April 20, this year we have another one of those awkward “holiday” overlaps. Because, for decades, marijuana users have observed 4/20 as the internationally recognized day to celebrate their consumption-based pastime, along with the culture associated with it.
Now, some observant Christians may take offense to the application of the term “holiday” to a day that is designated to honor pot smoking and related activities. The word was originally used to refer to Christian religious feasts and festivals, originating from the combination of two Old English words: “hālig,” meaning “holy,” and “dæg,” meaning “day.” In 950 A.D., the first recorded instance of the words being joined into one word appeared. “Hāligdæg,” or “holy day,” would eventually evolve into “holiday” a couple centuries later.
Of course, it wasn’t just the word that evolved. Holidays themselves transformed too, both in terms of how they are celebrated and the kinds of days that are celebrated. Secular holidays were added to the calendar, and religious holidays became secularized (there is no story about a miraculous egg-laying rabbit in the Bible).
As the centuries passed, more and more observances were added to the calendar, many of them cultural in orientation. And thus, in the 1990s, a small group of Deadheads organized the first publicized 4/20 celebration, and a new tradition was born.
In that era, the custom was seen as much more transgressive, as, in the U.S. and elsewhere, remnants of the old, “Reefer Madness” mentality still held considerable sway. Anti-marijuana sentiment was so prevalent that then Gov. Bill Clinton felt the need to claim, in describing his own use of the substance during his university days, that he never inhaled.
But, times have changed. Recreational marijuana is now legal in almost half of U.S. states, and an overwhelming majority of states at least permit the use of medical marijuana. State governments have discovered that cannabis can be an abundant source of tax revenue. It’s not going anywhere.
In fact, it’s going to spread further. Governments must therefore reckon with this reality and institute marijuana-related reforms that are optimal for everyone who is affected by the issue, while minimizing potential harms.
But, no, one of those reforms isn’t stopping the possibility of Easter and 4/20 conflicting, as happened as recently as 2014 and will happen again in 2087 and 2098. Blame it on the moon.
Rational Marijuana Policy
The clear place to start here is with the instant removal of marijuana from the Drug Enforcement Administration's list of Schedule 1 drugs, which, according to the DEA, signifies that they have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” In October 2022, President Biden commissioned a federal review of the scheduling of marijuana, but, so far, its status remains intact (President Trump has sent mixed signals about his intentions concerning marijuana policy).
The notion that marijuana lacks any “accepted medical use” is verifiably untrue, as millions of people all over the country are treated with medical cannabis for a wide range of afflictions. It beggars belief that U.S. policy in this area is still based on so baseless of a claim.
But, what about the assertion that marijuana has a “high potential for abuse?” Johns Hopkins Medicine identifies a pair of conditions that constitute “abuse”: “substance use disorder,” or a “a pattern of use of a substance (drug) that causes significant problems or distress,” and “substance dependence,” defined as the “use of drugs or alcohol that continues even when significant problems related to their use have developed.” Problems that Johns Hopkins identifies as being linked to these conditions include recurrent absences from school and work; damaged familial relationships and friendships; social isolation; devoting a significant amount of time to procure, use and recover from the use of a substance; using the substance in hazardous circumstances (e.g. behind the wheel); increased tolerance for the substance that results in increased consumption; having withdrawal symptoms when not using it and ongoing use even after users become cognizant of the many ways in which it is seriously hurting themselves and those around them.
All these problems can be present in cannabis users. Social isolation and absences from work and school accompany the stoner stereotype, which is often accurate. Also, no marijuana users could plausibly deny that lots of time is involved in the process of using it–from obtaining it to partaking of it to recovering from it enough that they can manage their responsibilities undetected. And using it while driving is actually a pastime for some users. Further, users also go through physical effects over time that are commonly associated with harder drugs, such as acquiring an increased tolerance level and experiencing withdrawal symptoms upon cessation. And, while the notion that marijuana use can severely hurt lives and relationships is a bit histrionic, the point is that, like any cause, it produces effects. And some of these effects can damage people’s lives and relationships.
Thus, marijuana is both medically useful and carries a strong potential for abuse. In isolation, these facts would seem to recommend legalization solely for medical cannabis.
However, that suggestion ignores an overriding truth: at the street level, marijuana is already functionally legal in America. Twenty-four states plus Washington, D.C., have actually legalized, all since 2012. Another seven states have decriminalized. In other words, in almost two-thirds of the country, small-scale, recreational cannabis possession and use is either allowed by law or deemed no more serious than a motor vehicle violation.
The prevailing direction of American marijuana policy also impacts how rigidly existing marijuana laws are enforced. Police everywhere in America are much less likely to interfere with small-scale users. Schools don’t treat marijuana infractions as though the offending students are delinquents who need an intervention or referral to juvenile court anymore. And physicians make more relaxed diagnoses of qualifying conditions that make patients eligible to receive medical cannabis.
So, a national marijuana policy has to account for the fact that small-time marijuana possession and use is already almost universally legal. But, it can’t overlook the fact that marijuana fits all the medical criteria to be categorized as having a high risk for abuse either.
Of course, there are other substances that are universally legal, such as nicotine and alcohol, that also carry a high potential for abuse. Yet, the fact that other vices—even unhealthier ones—are lawful isn’t reason enough by itself to justify legalizing marijuana. So, where does this leave us?
National decriminalization transitioning to legalization
The train heading down the track toward universal legalization may have left the station long ago, but we can still manage its course until we’re prepared to reach that destination. There are steps to take and supports to establish before the U.S. is ready for full legalization.
First, as a two-year transitional measure, use and possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by those who are 21 and over should immediately be decriminalized nationwide. Any arrests that involve small-time marijuana offenses that are made during this interim period shouldn’t result in penalties, apart from a referral to social services.
Second, the decriminalization period should feature a national campaign that’s designed to provide straight-talk about marijuana, including the pros, cons and in-betweens. Negative factors that must be discussed include the demotivational properties and short-term memory problems connected to marijuana use, the financial cost of marijuana and all the accessories involved in using it and the fact that anyone driving under the influence of marijuana is, by definition, committing a DUI. Also, we have to talk about the link between long-term, heavy marijuana use and declining financial status.
Third, the decriminalization period would give states time to prepare for across-the-board legalization. The end of cannabis prohibition needs to be accompanied by the implementation of stiff penalties for illegal marijuana-related behaviors (e.g. distribution to minors). Police departments must be outfitted, if they aren’t already, with devices that can detect if a motorist is under the influence of marijuana, and departments will need time to train on and implement this technology. Social service agencies will have to prepare for an influx of new cases that will bring new challenges. And schools will have to devise new intervention strategies, as marijuana will become more readily accessible to juveniles once it’s universally legal for adults.
Portions of this post have been adapted from my book The Anti-Partisan Manifesto: How Parties and Partisanism Divide America and How to Shut Them Down. Buy the book here. For the time being, it is only available digitally. To read, download the Kindle app to your phone, your iPad or tablet, your Kindle device or your computer.
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