Apr 27, 2014 4 min read

Likely, America will see the complete legalization of marijuana in the next 20 years. Maybe even sooner.

Perception on the issue is changing fast, and it feels almost unstoppable. It starts with medical marijuana legalization: in a 2013 study of Pennsylvanians, 82 percent are in favor of allowing adults to use marijuana with a doctor’s prescription.

Yet, for those who actually could benefit, medically, from marijuana’s legalization right now, the move toward legalization is far too slow.

Here in Pennsylvania, medical marijuana legislation is on the table. The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act has bipartisan support and was drafted by Democrat Sen. Daylin Leach and Republican Sen. Mike Folmer.

Sen. Folmer found out the benefits of medical marijuana for himself when he met parents of children who suffer from epilepsy. For some children, the cannabis compound, taken in non-hallucinogenic oil or pill form from a certain strain of marijuana, mitigated their symptoms, and with very few side effects.

The Epilepsy Foundation and the Pennsylvania State Nursing Association both favor legalizing medical cannabis.

However, Gov. Tom Corbett says he will veto any marijuana legalization bill that reaches his desk. In fact, he maintains that even if his own grandson suffered from the same epileptic condition that has parents and legislators pushing for legalization, he would still veto it.

His reason?

Legalizing it is a job for the federal government, not state government. In effect, he washed his hands of the issue. He even managed to make a pot-related dig at the expense of President Obama: “We all know [Obama] has admitted to smoking pot in the past. He’s had the opportunity to go and tell the FDA, try and direct them to [legalize marijuana],” he said.

Corbett’s insult — and one can only take it as such — shows that marijuana’s stigma lingers. His rhetorical move here is to undermine Obama by referencing his past marijuana use.

Corbett, and others who oppose marijuana legalization, are holding on to outdated ideas of what it is and what it does.

Marijuana is a plant with a reputation. Its image has been shaped by decades of propaganda, starting with the 1960s and the backlash against the hippie counter-culture, and continuing today with the image of the unwashed, unemployed couch-surfer with a bong in his lap.

Drug education classes in my middle and high school in the 90s did not discuss the hierarchy of drugs and their effects.

Every drug was equally dangerous. Pot was just as bad as heroin, according to this curriculum. It was a devil lurking just outside our door, and we were to be constantly on guard against its poisonous influence.

This seriously distorts the picture of what marijuana is and what it does, to the detriment of those who need it.

Let me offer a parallel.

Once, fat was considered a national bogeyman. We assumed a link between dietary fat and fat on the body, and thus began a decades-long crusade against dietary fat. Low-fat dairy products hit the shelves, and carbohydrates, the heart-friendly alternative, became the foundation of our diets.

Now, 30 years later, we’re learning that fat isn’t so bad after all, and in fact, the carbohydrates that we were supposed to load our bellies with — particularly simple carbs like white flour -turned to sugar and made us heavier, sicker, and more diabetic than fat ever could.

Now our perception of fat as bad is changing, though the base compound of triglycerides, triesters of glycol and fatty acids remains exactly the same.

It’s much the same with pot. Its make-up is what it’s always been, all the way through Free Love and Just Say No to today.

And this fact remains: on the danger scale for chemicals we put into our bodies — for pain management, for self-medication of mental problems, for recreation, and even stuff we take in accidentally, like air pollution and secondhand smoke -marijuana barely ranks.

Unlike alcohol, smoking, prescription drugs, and even Tylenol, marijuana does not kill people. And while the claim that marijuana isn’t addictive is not strictly true, when someone quits marijuana cold turkey, the withdrawal symptoms are comparatively mild and in some cases nonexistent. They don’t even touch the physical affects of an alcoholic giving up booze, or a pill addict tossing their bottles. When you add in the benefits of medical marijuana, it seems like a no-brainer.

It’s time for perception to catch up with reality.

Jessica Vozel is originally from Perryopolis and, after attending graduate school and teaching in Ohio, now works as a freelance journalist and copywriter in the Pittsburgh area.