Illinois won't go to pot...by going to pot

Seen a number of anti Illinois pot legalization letters in Chicago papers lately and not one favoring the inevitable: pot legalization in Illinois. The letters against channel the mindset of the folks who passed Prohibition in 1919 and decried its revocation in 1933. The anti pot folks miss so many points favoring legalization I ponder whether they were written under the influence.

Their major fallacy is the implication we'll be allowing something that currently doesn't exist: pot use. But 55 million Americans, including over two million in Illinois use pot with all the revenue going to the bad guys. And those two million Illinoisans enjoying weed can't be certain of its quality and potency, leading to problems similar to imbibing moonshine booze rather than legal hooch. From that standpoint alone, legal pot in Illinois will provide a twofor: less health problems for legal pot users and significant revenue transferred from the bad guys to the good guys. How better off health wise will legal pot users be than the illegal ones will be tough to quantify. But if Colorado, which realized $247 million in revenue last year with 38% of Illinois' population is a guide, Illinois stands to achieve upwards of half a billion a year.

That leads to another fallacy in the naysayers posts: legal pot will not solve Illinois' financial problems. That's a false argument because legalization is not intended to do that regardless of that cool half billion eventually flowing into our depleted treasury.

The 21st century Prohibitionists ignore one of the more subtle benefits of legal pot: de-mystification of pot use among teenagers. Back in the 60's I remember still the thrill of trying something that was 'illegal', when I puffed my first joint. This is borne out in Colorado where pot use among teenagers is down slightly rather than up since legalization four years ago.

The anti pot legalization folks should study the proposals from legislative leaders Heather Steans (Senate) and Kelly Cassidy (House) to understand how thoroughly they are learning from the 9 states and DC who have preceded Illinois with legal marijuana to craft a morally, medically and financially responsible pathway to end the second great Prohibition in American society.