Some congressmen and health advocacy groups have been trying for years to put cigarettes under the control of the Food and Drug Administration. Today their wish came true. President Obama signed legislation that places the regulation of tobacco under the auspices of the FDA and gives that agency the ability to put tougher restrictions on both the manufacturing and advertising of cigarettes. Among his reasons for signing the bill, Obama cited the need to ensure that the tobacco industry does not market its products to minors and that it more fully discloses the harmful effects of cigarettes. He pointed to the fact that most smokers, including him, started smoking as teenagers and sees the bill as a further step toward prevention. An adult's access to cigarettes will remain unaffected and legal.
The signing of this bill into law is a logical step. Tobacco is a drug, so the FDA should be able to regulate it as they do any other legal drug. We have a right to know how much nicotine is in cigarettes, what other additives they contain, and what all the possible side effects are. Tobacco should not be available or made attractive to minors. Smoking should be prohibited where its harmful and annoying effects might infringe on another individual. Smoking should, of course, also remain legal. A person should be entitled to put whatever nasty substances she likes into her own body so long as it isn't a direct threat to the health of another. Serious problems would result from banning such substances, anyway, as we learned from the prohibition of alchohol in the 1920's.
The fact that the FDA can now regulate tobacco makes sense, but it puts even greater emphasis on this question: Why is marijuana illegal?
This question came up recently in California during the wrangling between Congress and Governor Schwarzenegger over the ongoing budget disaster. The Democrats draft a budget. Schwartzenegger vetoes it, refusing to consider any new taxes (a ridiculous situation best left for another discussion). Anyway, assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill back in February that called for the state to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana. What a great idea! Marijuana is already the biggest cash crop in our state, and in 1996 voters made it legal in California for medical purposes although the federal law still technically prohibits this. Why don't we just decriminalize it outright and impose heavy taxes? The revenue could go a long way toward helping California and other states with their budget crises. Besides that, think of all the money our criminal justice system could save. Furthermore, legalizing marijuana and putting it under FDA scrutiny would allow for more societal controls over it than it currently has as an illegal substance.
President Obama was posed with this very question during a virtual town hall meeting back in March. The most popular question asked by voters was whether legalization of marijuana could help to improve the economic climate and job creation. The president disappointingly swept the topic under the rug saying only that he didn't think it was a "good strategy for growing the economy." He never said why, but I assume it has something to do with not wanting to condone the smoking of marijuana. This is the reason most often given by those who oppose its legalization.
There are a number of reasons not to condone marijuana use, especially for young people. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and organ function. The smoke from a marijuana cigarette can potentially damage the lungs in the same way tobacco smoke can. However, in practice there is a big difference between tobacco and marijuana use. While tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year, several studies have shown that smoking marijuana does not kill people. This is probably because marijuana smokers smoke far fewer cigarettes than tobacco smokers. Are there deaths occurring due to accidents caused after marijuana use? Possibly, but most of these accidents involve the additional use of heavier drugs that are more likely to have caused the accident. The number is negligible compared to the amount of accidents attributed to alcohol, that other legal drug.
In addition, marijuana has been shown to be beneficial in some ways that tobacco has not. It has been shown to ease the pain of cancer patients and counter the affects of nausea caused by chemotherapy.
So there are a lot more reasons to avoid condoning cigarette use and the over-use of alcohol. Both of these are drugs are dangerous, and many of us have personal experience with the harm they can cause. Both of these substances are also legal, taxed, and subject to surgeon general warnings. Cigarettes are now under FDA regulation. Should these be banned? Certainly not, but once again that nagging question about that other weed surfaces.
And just in case you think I advocate the legality of marijuana for personal reasons, I will say that I have never touched the stuff and am unlikely to, legal or not, since I detest the very smell of it.
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