No, Jeff Sessions, Marijuana is Not as Bad as Heroin

While many statesmen and philanthropists struggle to defeat the rising problem of heroin addiction in America, United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions showed how out of touch he is with reality by opening his mouth.

I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use. But too many lives are at stake to worry about being fashionable. I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.

This ignorance of the Attorney General's is not merely ridiculous. It's dangerous.

No, Jeff Sessions, marijuana is not as bad as heroin. It is not slightly less awful. There remains no comparison between marijuana and heroin in any respect, and, if you, Jeff Sessions, continue spreading your incorrect opinion, people will die. Your words carry weight, Jeff Sessions. And that weight can and will crush people.

Marijuana Can't Kill You

Shall we begin with the obvious fact that you cannot overdose on marijuana? It seems, Jeff Sessions, that when you claimed that marijuana was slightly less awful than heroin, you weren't referring to the fact that, in 2015 alone, over 13,000 people died of heroin overdoses (over 20 percent higher than the year prior), compared to the number of people who died of marijuana overdoses in the last century.

That number is zero. Zero have died from marijuana overdoses in a hundred years. 13,000 souls lost their lives from heroin in one year.

This data, Jeff Sessions, comes from a government website. You may tell us that the media "distorts" information to make it easier to spread your own misinformation, but we're getting these numbers from our government. Tell us, Jeff Sessions, how you can tell us marijuana is on the same level as heroin when you can't even be killed by it?

I can stop there.

But I won't.

Marijuana is Not a Gateway Drug

You may argue, Jeff Sessions, that marijuana may not kill, but it serves as a gateway drug. A means to lead people onto greater means to get high. Greater lengths to get all good and stoned.

But, once again, you reveal you know nothing.

Yes, many people see evidence that marijuana can in theory lead people to pursue harder drugs, and, indeed, there are people who seek out harder drugs after trying cannabis, but these people are a minority.

Once again, using United States Government sources, the majority of pot smokers never use harder drugs. The vast majority.

Jeff Sessions, if marijuana were as dangerous as heroin, then why does the government regard it as a lesser drug than heroin? And, furthermore, why is that this harmless drug that won't kill you, if it is a gateway drug, does not ship more people off onto the black tar heroin train?

The reason, Jeff Sessions, is clear: heroin is awful, and marijuana is not.

But there's more to this, Jeff Sessions, that troubles me about your declaration.

Medical Marijuana Trumps Opiates

Heroin is an opiate. It comes from the same plants used to create countless pain killers like morphine. When we talk about heroin, Jeff Sessions, we often ignore that legal drugs are among the most abused drugs in the country. You may have to go to a dealer to purchase heroin, but you can get morphine and other opiates at pharmacies and hospitals.

And marijuana, if you have it your way, we won't be able to purchase anywhere.

And yet medical marijuana is a far safer pain killer for many – to the point where doctors all over the country would rather prescribe medical marijuana than medical opiates. Most people addicted to pain killers become addicted to opiate-based pain killers... because opiates are chemically addictive.

While stoners and pot heads may crave marijuana, cannabis is not chemically addictive like tobacco or heroin. It's mentally addictive. It is addictive the same way picking your nose or biting your nails is addictive. Opiates alter your brain chemistry directly to make you dependent on them. They made you need them.

You may need therapy to ween yourself off of pain killers.

Medical marijuana? Not so much.

People can overdose from opiate-based painkillers.

No one has overdosed from marijuana.

Are You Comfortable With This, Jeff Sessions?

Are you comfortable with allowing opiate-based drugs to plague Americans? Countless, innocent Americans become dependent on drugs just like heroin because you continue to let the market push them on innocent people. But marijuana – a safer drug, a safer bet – is bad. That's wrong.

You say that marijuana is just like heroin while chemicals that are really just like heroin on a chemical level are sold to the sick and desperate. Countless wars are torn apart by a drug you just trivialized by comparing to a trivial joint.

Try marijuana, and you might lay back on a sofa eating stale Dorrittos.

Try heroin, and you might die.

Maybe, Jeff Sessions, the problem is that you don't really know the difference. Or maybe, Jeff Sessions, you just don't care.