Future Adults will mostly smoke weed according to current trends
While alcohol still dominates the world market as the “recreational drug of choice”, it might not hold its position over the coming decades. According to recent data, “young adults” prefer smoking weed over drinking alcohol with young women being one of the primary factors of growth according to Federal Data.
More than two-fifths of young men and women nationwide now use cannabis at least on occasion, according to federal data, a quotient that has risen steadily in a decade of relentless legalization. Much of the trend is driven by young women, who have all but closed a decades-long gender gap in marijuana use.
SOURCE: The Hill
Currently, both young adult men and women are smoking at roughly the same rate, and this trend doesn’t seem to change. With five more states working on legalizing cannabis this November, and Biden’s politically motivated “marijuana pardons” to bolster blue votes for the November mid terms – it seems that cannabis is here to stay and can no longer be ignored by mainstream politicians.
While it’s true that there are still several political figures in opposition to cannabis legalization, the tides have significantly shifted in favor that even conservatives no longer can justify the War on Marijuana.
Young cannabis users outnumber abstainers in Vermont, where recreational marijuana became fully legal only this month. Young marijuana patrons are nearing majorities in Colorado, where cannabis has been legal for a decade, and in Washington, D.C., where the drug trades on a nebulous gray market. They are also reaching majority in Oregon, where recreational sales commenced five years ago.
“It really helps with sleep,” said Allison, 24, of Silver Spring, Md., one of five states with recreational cannabis measures on the fall ballot. She withheld her last name because the votes are not yet cast.
“It’s great for stress, anxiety,” she said. “And my generation has huge anxiety problems.”
SOURCE: The Hill
According to a Gallup poll in 2021, nearly half of adults have admitted to smoking cannabis in the past 12-months, meaning that virtually half of the adults have at least tried smoking weed or consuming it in one way or another. In 1969, when the question was first asked to adults, only 4% said “YES”. Over the next few years, more than half of the US adults would have tried cannabis at least once.
While I would love to say that the change in statistics is due to a conscientious America realizing that the War on Drugs is a gross violation of individual liberty and the ethos, “my body my choice” the fact of the matter is that it’s ‘greed’ that’s driving most of the trends these days.
While it may have been grassroots movements that helped burst the prohibition bubble, it’s corporate America that is driving the mass legalization movement in the US.
Today, corporate America is sweeping in to open dispensaries and promote an expanding menu of cannabis to eat, drink, smoke and vape.
SOURCE: The Hill
This isn’t to say that activism isn’t doing anything at all. Of course there is an element of social justice that plays a major part in the shift of the conversation. The evidence was clear – cannabis prohibition acted as a spear for the law enforcement to “keep the poors in check”. For decades, they have been disproportionately gone after communities of ‘lower means’ that were often overlapping with communities with a greater presence of “minorities”.
Yet the atrocities – that aren’t mentioned more often – also include law enforcements’ ability to seize your property even if you weren’t committing a crime. Due to some obscure laws, the police has the right to take your car, house, cash, etc – if a crime was “suspected” to have happened on your property. These RICO laws were actually designed to fight organized crime who would invest in assets to “hide their money”. Yet with no real checks and balances, cops all over the nation abused cannabis prohibition and seized billions (if not trillions of dollars) worth of assets from ordinary citizens.
In fact, even more recently, both the FBI and the San Bernardino County Sherriff’s department were accused of this grift;
The driver of an armored car carrying $712,000 in cash from licensed marijuana dispensaries was heading into Barstow on a Mojave Desert freeway in November when San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies pulled him over. They interrogated him, seized the money and turned it over to the FBI.
A few weeks later, deputies stopped the same driver in Rancho Cucamonga, took an additional $350,000 belonging to legal pot stores and gave that cash to the FBI too.
Now, the FBI is trying to confiscate the nearly $1.1-million bounty, which it might share with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The FBI says the money is tied to federal drug or money-laundering crimes, but has specified no unlawful conduct and charged no one with a crime.
SOURCE: LA Times
Yet, these atrocities are hardly ever “mainstream news”. Mostly, you’ll hear about how black people are five times more likely to see the inside of a jail cell than their white counterparts – irrespective of use rates being similar.
This is because Race is a hot topic and isn’t as “sexy” as police and FBI corruption. While the Feds and the cops claim that their seizures were justified, they were later ordered by a judge to stop – because it wasn’t justified.
What’s more, this has been going on for decades and now, with the tides turning – with more young adults sparking up…the jig is up!
A Green Future
Make no mistake, cannabis will be legalized all over the world and the Great Global Cannabis Trade will begin. There might come a time where people in general prefer to consume cannabis over alcohol. This is because cannabis is “less harmful than alcohol” when consumed in large doses, and it doesn’t carry the same caloric value. This is potentially why women are beginning to use it more.
Furthermore, anxiety levels have spiked over the past few years and cannabis has seen to have a positive impact on this, meaning that the parents of tomorrow will be sparking up.
Stoners will be raising children and unlike the fears perpetuated by prohibition – that’s okay! Stoners are great parents and the only thing that will happen is that kids will see cannabis as just another substance adults use.
The major fears from the prohibitionist camp is that “what will happen when kids think it’s okay to smoke weed?” The answer being, “the same thing that happened to alcohol”.
Some teens will probably swank their parent’s stash and smoke…just like some kids break into their parents liquor cabinets and drink their booze. However, the vast majority of kids will not (as with alcohol). Furthermore, it’s very difficult to “binge toke” as one would do with alcohol. Especially with high potency cannabis. This reduces the risk of “fatal overdoses”.
Of course, nobody is arguing that kids should be smoking cannabis recreationally at all. On the contrary, parents who smoke weed will probably – just like parents who drink a glass of wine – instruct their kids that this is an “adult activity”.
Therefore, the fears promoted by prohibitionists for the past five decades will not come true. In fact, if we can teach kids from an early age that:
1) Drugs exist
2) People have been recreationally getting blitzed for years
3) doing so responsibly isn’t a bad thing
4) How to do it responsibly when they are at the right age
We will see fewer negative impact from drug use. This has been proven in places like Portugal, which after decriminalizing all drugs and focusing on public health instead – saw the greatest decline in youth doing drugs all over the country. In fact, the median age for heroin addicts rose above the age of 35. This means that kids aren’t trying heroin so early because education always trumps prohibition.
Nonetheless, the parents of the future will be smoking weed in droves. You’ll probably be able to buy cannabis-infused beverages at ball games and in sports like football (soccer) – this might be a good thing.
In Europe, there are often riots when a football team loses. This is usually a combination of fanaticism and alcohol. But what will happen when you replace alcohol with cannabis?
I think Bill Hicks said it the best,
“Shit man, I don’t think marijuana should not only be legalized…I think it should be mandatory! I’m a hardliner. Think about it man, you got traffic behind you and somebody’s *honking excessively*. Shut up and smoke that – IT’S THE LAW!
**smokes** “Oh sorry, I was taking life seriously!” “Oh man, who’s hungry?” That would be a nice world wouldn’t it…quite, mellow, hungry-high people everywhere. Just Dominos pizza trucks everywhere.”
Pot’s a better drug…I’ll prove it to you. You’re at a ballgame or a concert and they are being violent or obnoxious, are they drunk or smoking pot?
CROWD: “DRUNK!”
They’re drunk! I have never seen people on pot get in a fight because it’s fucking impossible! “HEY BUDDY!”
“Hey what?” “Hey…” “Hey!”
– The Great Bill Hicks
Sticky bottom-line
At the end of the day, they tried to keep a good plant die, but you can’t suppress nature for too long. Eventually, it finds a way to break through. Future adults will probably smoke more weed than drink alcohol…and that is a good thing!
WEED OR BOOZE, READ ON…
