Editor's note: In this Future View, students discuss whether marijuana should be legal. Next week we'll ask: "The U.K. recently blocked Kanye West from entering the country to headline a festival on the basis that his 'presence would not be conducive to the public good.' Was this a violation of free speech? And when does an artist wear out his welcome?" Students should click here to submit opinions of fewer than 250 words by April 20. The best responses will be published Tuesday night.
Moral Reasoning Goes Up in Smoke
Using marijuana diminishes one's ability to reason clearly and make sound judgments -- a core human capacity. From an ethical standpoint, reason isn't only a biological function, it's what enables moral discernment, responsibility and self-governance. Many would say our ability to have a conscience is a gift from God. Impairing this faculty through habitual drug use shrinks human dignity and weakens the moral foundation of society.
When individuals voluntarily dull their reasoning, they become more susceptible to poor decisions that hurt not only themselves but their families and communities. The data reinforces this concern. According to research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana use is associated with impaired memory, attention and learning. Even more concerning, studies show that regular use, especially in younger people, can reduce IQ and long-term cognitive performance. If a substance measurably degrades the very capacity that allows people to think, choose wisely and act responsibly, its widespread legalization raises serious ethical and societal questions.
Ultimately, laws exist not only to protect freedom but to preserve the conditions that make freedom meaningful. Normalizing substances that impair reason risks eroding personal responsibility and moral accountability. If reason is a divine gift, then safeguarding it should be a priority, not something we compromise through legalization.
-- Tyson Flaig, Baylor University, information systems and management
Let's Be Honest
In 2024, 92% of the more than 204,000 marijuana-related arrests made in the U.S. were for simple possession. Yet daily marijuana use now outpaces daily alcohol consumption, a recent study found, with 17.7 million daily or near-daily users. Prohibition isn't stopping anyone.
But full legalization hasn't been a glowing success either. In states that legalized recreational marijuana, roughly 75% of the cannabis market remains illegal because high taxes and regulations push consumers toward cheaper black-market alternatives. Critics of this liberalization also point to real concerns about addiction, public health and the toll drug use takes on families and communities. Those concerns deserve serious attention, not a system that spends billions cycling low-level possession cases through police departments and courtrooms while doing nothing to reduce actual use.
Decriminalization offers a more practical path. Stop arresting users. Keep and strengthen penalties for dealers and trafficking networks. Pair that with real investment in drug education and prevention so that lighter penalties for possession don't become an open invitation. Strong families and strong schools shape habits and values more effectively than the threat of a criminal record ever will. The goal isn't to endorse marijuana use or to go soft on drug policy. It is to face the fact that the current approach is failing by every measurable standard and to build something more honest in its place.
-- Alfonso Tamez, Baylor University, finance and management
Something Stinks About Legalization
While the more libertarian-minded see marijuana use as a liberty to be protected, legalizing cannabis widely doesn't align with the common good.
There are certainly recognizable benefits to using cannabis in medical treatments, including for chronic pain, epilepsy and seizures. Its effectiveness has even led to the approval of marijuana-based drugs. But there is still a need for further research. And while evidence backs legalizing marijuana for certain medical treatments, there is no such reasonable basis for recreational use.
When I was growing up in Washington, one of the first states to legalize recreational use, the smell of marijuana was constant, even in residential areas. Its scent alone is inappropriate for the general public. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that about one-third of reported users have cannabis use disorder. Marijuana can also trigger mental-health issues -- most notably schizophrenia -- and problems with brain development. Supporters argue that legalization decreases black-market activity, reducing consumers' reliance on shady providers, creating a safer market while providing the government greater tax revenue and citizens greater freedom. But this is a mistaken view of reality.
The government's role is to enact and enforce laws that keep society safe and ordered, not to promote false senses of freedom that corrupt neighborhoods and individuals alike.
-- Simon Olech, Franciscan University of Steubenville, political science
The Safest Option
Marijuana carries a negative reputation. Many people associate it with harder drugs, fentanyl and even death. That's understandable, but banning marijuana doesn't eliminate its use -- it simply makes it less safe.
Marijuana prohibitions simply shift demand to black markets where there is no regulation or quality control. Products can be laced or contaminated, increasing the risk to users. According to the CDC, about 76% of drug overdose deaths in 2023 involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl, substances that are far more common in unregulated markets and unlikely to be tolerated in regulated marijuana facilities. That's nearly 80,000 lives lost -- a sobering figure that highlights the danger of pushing demand into illegal channels.
A more effective approach to curb the risks of marijuana is legalization with restrictions. People can overuse any substance. But while the black market is a relative free-for-all, regulating legal marijuana would allow for limits on access, safety standards and oversight. Society found a safe way to provide other products that carry risk, like pain medication. Why can't we do the same with marijuana? If the goal is to reduce harm, a regulated system is the more practical and responsible path.
-- Alexandra Konicki, Baylor University, finance and management
Marijuana Mad Max
There's a clear reason that marijuana shouldn't be legal: There is no reliable, simple way for police to test whether someone is currently high comparable to how they can rapidly test for drunkenness with a breathalyzer. That is a major public safety problem.
With alcohol, law enforcement has a tool that can quickly measure intoxication at the moment. With marijuana, that is much harder. A person can test positive for THC even if he used it hours or even days earlier, which doesn't clearly prove he was impaired while driving or working. But if marijuana is legal and more widely used, there will likely be more people driving under the influence. That leaves drivers and pedestrians at risk. Even if some argue it is less dangerous than other drugs, it still affects reaction time, focus, judgment and motivation.
If society cannot properly measure current impairment, then it becomes much harder to control the risks that come with use. Until there is a clear and dependable way to test present marijuana intoxication like there is for alcohol, it isn't responsible to legalize it. Public safety should come first.
-- Sean Kelly, University of Dayton, accounting and finance
Think of the Children -- and Young Adults
Marijuana legalization is often framed as a question of adult freedom. The more important question is what normalization does to people who aren't yet adults.
The research on marijuana exposure is appalling. THC targets the frontal lobe, one of the last regions of the brain to develop, leaving teenagers and young adults vulnerable. A Harvard researcher has found that nonusers consistently outperform users in attention, sustained attention and executive function. Research published in JAMA Psychiatry found that cannabis use in middle to late adolescence was associated with measurable thinning of the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that is responsible for planning and decision making, impulse control and sustained attention. Thinning happens over our lifetime with healthy maturation, but when it is accelerated by marijuana, it leaves long-lasting effects. The research showed a measurable decline in the performance of the prefrontal cortex between initial scans and five-year follow-ups.
Many people point to the statistics showing a decline in teenage use rates in states where marijuana is already legal; however, a brain doesn't stop developing at 18, and the data also shows concerning normalization among young people. The portion of 12th-graders who perceive risk with marijuana use has dropped from 58% in 2000 to 36% in 2024 according to research in the National Library for Medicine. Millions of teenagers are growing up treating a drug with real cognitive consequences as if it's no big deal.
Legality doesn't inherently mean safety. For a still-developing brain, the distance between the two is where the danger lies.
-- Koy Hancock, Baylor University, sales strategy in sports
This Is Your Economy on Drugs
The debate over legalizing marijuana is a classic short-term gain vs. long-term risk scenario. On one hand, the economic benefits are obvious: instant job creation and a massive influx of tax revenue. But if we look at history, economies that lean too heavily on "sin taxes" from addictive products usually run into social issues down the line. It's unlikely that cannabis will ever become a massive pillar of the U.S. gross domestic product; it's more of a specialized market than a national industrial shift.
Still, legalization could create a worrisome revenue funnel. There are a lot of parallels between weed legalization and online sports betting. Both industries are framed as "safer" because they're regulated—which is relatively true—but they both harvest discretionary income from a younger, more active consumer base—sometimes thanks to addiction—and would move it straight to entrenched interests at the top of the economy. Because it often takes quite a bit of money to get a license, the owners of betting apps or nationally legalized weed dispensaries would likely be wealthy investors or big corporations—not the communities most affected by the old laws.
For marijuana, legalization might result in a healthier product, but it doesn't make for a healthy economy.
-- Joshua Poe, University of Dayton, accounting and marketing
It's a Gateway Policy
When enough people break the law, should that law change or should enforcement improve? While the colossal quantity of marijuana use has fueled arguments for legalization, changing laws in response to mass noncompliance risks setting a precedent in which legality is determined not by principle but by popularity.
With marijuana now legal in 24 states, the case for complete legalization seems to be due to the sheer number of Americans who already use it recreationally. Marijuana has been legally limited in the U.S. in some capacity since the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937; however, the law doesn't match behavior. Legalization proponents usually frame it as acknowledging reality.
But letting the popularity of an activity determine its legality is a slippery slope. If states begin to legalize marijuana on that reason alone, the same argument could follow for legalizing other activities that would cause much greater detriment to civilization. Marijuana is already extremely detrimental; however, the drugs that could follow its path to a legal market are much worse.
Lawmakers in America should base their implementations on principles—not pressure.
-- Trey Stone,Baylor University,supply chain management