We can’t pretend like we don’t have a pot problem here at WS. Our administrators, our fine Student Resource Officer and our Substance Abuse Counselor agree that actions need to be taken in order to help prevent this problem from increasing.

However, I ask the administration, angry parents and the federal government to explain this problem.

I would say that at least 65 percent of the people opposed to marijuana legalization drink their fair share of alcohol regularly.  However, alcohol is much worse for your body, your mind and your relationships than bong rips are. We ended alcohol prohibition only to enter into marijuana prohibition, something that has yet to be overcome.

If marijuana were to be legalized, it could greatly help stimulate our economy through consumption taxes.

Another obvious fact is that our prisons and detention facilities are far overcrowded compared to the rest of the world. With marijuana legalized, a fair-sized percentage of inmates would not have to be locked up, due to the decriminalization of their actions.

Keeping “Mary Jane” illegal obviously isn’t stopping people from smoking it. Not only do students here at WS smoke, but so do countless teenagers in Fairfax County and the rest of the United States, along with their parents, their parents’ co-workers, athletes, and actors we idolize. Countless amounts of people continue to smoke pot despite its illegal status, and they continue to support the fight for its legalization.

The biggest problem with the never-ending attempt at a stoner revolution is that the arguments are not presented in the right manner.

Apart from some legitimate organizations, such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), most of the pro legalization websites are mere hippie blogs. The internet is the most important promotion tool out there. Psychedelic website layouts with pictures of the good old days when you could split a spliff with a cop are not good platforms to stand on when trying to convince people to push to legalize the drug they keep finding in their kids sock drawer.

Pot legalization is a very hotly debated topic right now, and legalization supporters must all start arguing efficiently and intelligently.

Big government who wanted to control the American Dream decided smoking pot is bad; once Americans started having extra money to spend recreationally, they cracked down.

I imagine their thought process went something like, “Hey, we’re not making any money off this stuff. Let’s make it illegal!”

Now, counterculture has made ganja smoking a lifestyle and it’s evolved into something that people view negatively. All of this could be changed with the simple assimilation of cultures.

The time has come to mix American culture with American counterculture so we can create a more happy, more just, and less in debt country.