11 Ridiculous Things People Say about Legalizing Medical Marijuana

11. People Will Get Addicted! Among the things you’re likely to hear about the possibility of legalizing pot for medical treatment purposes is that it carries an inherent risk of creating dependency in the user. The problem with this claim, hence its ridiculousness, is that no study has yet proven THC to be a physically addictive substance. On top of that, the medical marijuana user probably has more to worry about—like, oh, chronic illness—than becoming addicted.

10. People Won’t Want to Work! So, let me get this straight: I use medically prescribed marijuana to relieve my Gout pain so that I can actually do my job, and now I am not going to want to do my job any more. Gotcha.

9. It Will Lead To Treating Everyday Ailments With Pot Those who feel threatened by possible legalization like to walk the slippery slope of believing that using marijuana to treat illnesses like AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and chronic pain will soon lead to people saying they need to “smoke up” to treat their cough or cure acne. Give us a break! If that’s the case, then we hope they never find themselves in need of it. A very slippery slope indeed.

8. It Can Cure Many Diseases! Bob Jones, 24, was diagnosed with AIDS several years ago. Upon learning of this diagnosis, he began smoking marijuana on a daily basis. When he was retested 10 years later, they could not find any traces of the virus in his system. Bob, like many others, was certain that the THC and other compounds in the marijuana must have an immune boosting property that helped his body fight against invaders. Indeed, many medical marijuana proponents are convinced that marijuana possesses properties that do in fact reduce the viral load and even inhibit its reproduction. But it could just be the AZT cocktail.

7. It Could Help So Many More People! Many feel that legalizing will broaden the reach of its benefits and facilitate access to those who need it. And plenty of scientific evidence suggests that marijuana can help certain patients, like those living with a debilitating condition, manage their symptoms, thus making life a little more bearable. It’s been prescribed as a treatment for an extremely wide variety of conditions like sleeping disorders, aches and pains, and eating disorders. On the other hand, the effects of marijuana on humans’ health are still largely unknown. Further studies are needed. So, before you self diagnose and rush off to the nearest dispensary, consult your physician, who can suggest a course of treatment that is appropriate for your condition and can discuss possible risks.

6. It Will Be Overprescribed Current laws in states like California and Colorado contain a loophole that technically allows doctors to prescribe marijuana for debilitating diseases along with "other conditions.” It’s the last part that’s causing some concern that just about anyone with a hangnail would qualify for a prescription, which would lead to dispensaries popping up like, pardon the pun, weeds. No doubt there is risk of a “pill mill” takeover, and there's a chance some doctors would prescribe the drug in ways not intended. And of course there's a chance some doctors will be motivated to overprescribe medical marijuana for financial gain. Still, there are ways to manage those risks. Roundup®, for starters.

5. It’s Natural! This one is possibly the most ridiculous. Pop culture, especially in recent years, tells us that things that are natural are somehow a) better for us, and b) harmless. Like those appeals to ancient wisdom that we find so attractive, this plays on our naïve beliefs that nature is the cure all, and that, accordingly, marijuana is nature’s cure. While parts of this statement are indeed true, we can’t forget that cyanide and botulism are also natural.

4. It Has Fewer Side Effects Than Traditional Medications Inherent in taking any medication is the risk of experiencing side effects. This includes both traditional medications and medical marijuana. Sorry.

3. People Will Get Medical Prescriptions But Use It Recreationally Granny getting high in her rocker. It’s as ridiculous an image as there is. But it’s also one of the more common arguments against medical legalization—that people will abuse their prescriptions, or they’ll seek prescriptions for “non-illnesses” just so they can get high. It’s ridiculous because it’s completely unfounded. While there may be a fair number of people who do abuse the privilege, there will be just as many who don’t.

2. It’s “The Man,” Man! Big Pharma conspiracy theorists and government haters love this one. Not to say that at least some corruption doesn’t exist at every level of power among the institutions of the world, but the notion that corporations and government are somehow out to get us at the very worst, or at the very least are not interested in the health and safety of the people they depend on for their very existence, is just ridiculous.

1. It Is Harmful to Your Health Probably one of the strongest objections to legal medical pot, the argument that ingesting the substance will cause more harm than the condition it was meant to treat is somewhat justified. After all, studies have conclusively shown the harmful effects of smoking. Similar to this is the argument that alcohol is known to be harmful to your health, yet it’s legal. Everyone knows that smoking and consuming large quantities of alcohol are bad for you. But then again, so are lots of things. Like cancer, or loss of appetite, or blindness, or chronic pain, or….