If cannabis is globally accepted as safer than alcohol and tobacco, why is it that cannabis users are criminals and alcohol and tobacco users are not? Is it because the policy is based in prejudice?
An objective look across society reveals hypocrisy in almost every direction. 
“Cannabis causes psychosis” is one of the most popular catch phrases of the prohibitionists. Well so what? I don’t agree with the statement but that doesn’t matter. The implication that cannabis should be prohibited because of the danger of psychosis just doesn’t make sense. As a society we feed our kids Ritalin in greater numbers every year. One side effect of Ritalin is psychosis, yet Ritalin prescription rates have skyrocketed. Surely the doctors making the prescriptions are aware of the side effects. Clearly psychosis is not something we as a society are too worried about.
So why is the psychosis argument so popular among those opposed to cannabis legalisation? Simple, it makes people feel justified in their prejudice.
The word ‘prejudice’ is most often used to refer to preconceived, usually unfavorable, judgments toward people or a person because of personal characteristics. Society is prejudiced against cannabis users. Prejudice leads to discrimination.
Discrimination is the prejudicial and/or distinguishing treatment of an individual based on their actual or perceived membership in a certain group or category, “in a way that is worse than the way people are usually treated.” It involves how the group is perceived, influencing the individual’s actual behavior towards the group or the group leader, restricting members of one group from opportunities or privileges that are available to another group, leading to the exclusion of the individual or entities based on logical or irrational decision making.
Cannabis users are denied all sorts of opportunities in society based solely on the contents of their urine. Many cannabis users don’t even attempt to participate in activities where urine testing is prevalent and certainly don’t seek employment in many fields because of the discriminatory policies and prerequisite urine testing. Once convicted in the criminal justice system a whole new range of restrictions kick in to oppress the cannabis user further.
The prejudice and discrimination against cannabis users is not enough for some people. They want the prejudice and discrimination enforced and cannabis users persecuted and punished. The task of persecuting cannabis users falls largely on the police who readily fulfill this role. It is easy to find cannabis. It smells. It’s relatively bulky. There are well trained citizens more than happy to assist in the persecution by reporting any suspicious behaviour or odours. So confident in their prejudiced beliefs that they fail to see the harm inflicted. And the best part of all for police, cannabis users are passive and harmless. Soft targets, easy convictions and great statistics to justify further funding. 
The persecution is ultimately enforced by the courts whose rulings regularly break up families, destroy careers and businesses and cause far more damage to people, their families and the community as a whole. When you combine prejudice, discrimination and persecution in an ongoing targeted campaign against a group of people in society there can be only one outcome. Oppression. To put it simply, some people have made a moral judgement against cannabis and cannabis users and as a result a large group of people in society are being oppressed. It’s real, it hurts people. It hurts society.
Does it make any sense for society to discriminate, persecute and oppress people because of a prejudice against something that is safer than alcohol and tobacco?
Of course not.
End the prejudice. End the discrimination. End the persecution. End the oppression.
End cannabis prohibition.
Matt Riley.
