Scott Sumner on cannabis legalization

Photo from Unsplash 

While cannabis legalization has been an ongoing trend in the United States, there has also been a backlash -- voters in Massachusetts apparently will be asked this fall whether to roll back legalization. 

So it caught my eye when Scott Sumner, one of my favorite Substack bloggers, argued in favor of legalization (some of this may be behind a paywall): 

"The partial legalization of pot has been a big success. We should embrace that success by doing further pot legalization in other states and at the federal level."

His piece (second item) begins, 

"I cannot prove this, but I strongly suspect that drug addiction in America is on the way down. Here are my claims; you tell me if I’m mistaken:

1. There is less alcoholism than in the past

2. Smoking is declining fairly dramatically

3. Opioid drug abuse is declining

4. Marijuana abuse is increasing

'Now I’d like you to consider two different social science hypotheses and tell me which one better fits the data:

1. Pot is a “gateway drug”, which leads to even more harmful forms of drug abuse.

2. Pot is a substitute for other types of drugs, and legalizing pot would tend to reduce other (more serious) forms of drug abuse."

He also writes, "Before pot was legalized, we were told that two things would happen. It was claimed that pot use among teenagers would increase. It was claimed that legalizing pot would lead to increased crime. Neither of those things happened."

There's more, but I don't want to quote too much behind the paywall.

Sumner's piece brings up something that's been bothering me. I keep reading scare stories about cannabis in outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, feeding the backlash.

Obviously, cannabis has its drawbacks from a health standpoint. But still (1) there is a difference between moderate use and being stoned 24-7, every day,  and (2) the anti-weed pieces never put the issue in perspective by discussing other substances, such as alcohol, which by itself kills about 178,000 people in the U.S. every year.