To Legalize or Not to Legalize, That is the Question

For the past nine years, bills have been proposed to legalize marijuana in Rhode Island. To date, none of those bills have passed. In 2019 lawmakers will go yet another round on the question. In this article, RIC faculty experts weigh in.

“Though I’m for legalizing marijuana, the public health risks are concerning,” said Professor of Sociology Jill Harrison, “particularly, the effects of cannabis on the developing brain of teenage and college-age users.” She cited numerous research studies, including a 2018 Canadian study published in “The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Researchers followed almost 4,000 teen marijuana and alcohol users for four years. Participants began the study at age 13 and agreed to provide annual reports of how frequently they used marijuana and alcohol. They also took computer-based cognitive tests that measured recall memory, perceptual reasoning, inhibition and short-term memory. The study concluded that marijuana was more damaging on long-term cognition than alcohol and that even after the teens reported that they had stopped using marijuana, their cognition did not improve. 

Other studies Harrison referenced found early and persistent cannabis users had an average decline in IQ of eight points and are 60 percent less likely to graduate from high school or college than those who never use.

One of the problems, Harrison said, is that teenagers don’t perceive marijuana to be as harmful as tobacco or alcohol. In fact, in Rhode Island, teenagers have one of the highest marijuana usage rates in the nation, according to “A Public Health Impact Report of Marijuana in Rhode Island.” “In 2013 Rhode Island had the third highest past-month use of marijuana among children 12 to 17 years old across the nation,” the report said, and in 2014, “44 percent of Rhode Island’s estimated 50,000 young adults (age 18 to 25) reported using marijuana.”

Though numerous studies describe the health and safety risks of cannabis use, justice issues support a change in the laws. Of particular concern are the hundreds of thousands of arrests being made around the country and the issue of racial discrimination in policing marijuana use. 

“Currently in high schools across Rhode Island, possession or being under the influence of illicit drugs accounts for more than 400 out-of-school suspensions,” stated “A Public Health Impact Report of Marijuana in Rhode Island,” yet there were racial disparities in school suspension rates. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, “Students of color and students with disabilities remain disproportionately removed from school and propelled down the school-to-prison pipeline.”

These racial disparities are disturbing to Associate Professor of Sociology Mikaila Arthur. “Despite the fact that blacks and whites use marijuana at similar rates,” she said, “there are significant racial disparities in arrest rates for possession of marijuana in this country. Legalization would reduce the over-criminalization of black communities.”

Arthur cited the successful drug decriminalization policy in Portugal. “Though it is still illegal to sell drugs in Portugal, drug users are not criminally charged or typically even fined for possession of personal-use amounts,” she said.

“Criminalization produces collateral consequences, including incarceration and the accompanying damage to families, children, communities and careers. Legalizing the use of marijuana would end those collateral consequences,” Arthur stated.

“Ideally,” she said, “decriminalization would be accompanied by amnesty for those who are still serving sentences in prison or who are on probation or on parole for marijuana use and the expungement of arrest and conviction records. These records continue to impact an individual’s ability to obtain employment, live in public housing and even receive access to federal financial aid for college.”

Last year California joined Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Oregon in expunging criminal convictions for some cannabis-related offenses such as possession and cultivation.

As prohibition falls in states across the country, the states left standing are not unlike Shakespeare’s Hamlet left pondering, to legalize or not to legalize, aware that either choice might have far-reaching, devastating consequences.