The Marijuana Problem

How will America manage this menace when it becomes legalized

It looks like the potheads may win and weed will soon become legal nationwide. Does this mean we should throw up our hands and say all is lost?

Not a chance.

In my latest American Conservative column, I set out a plan to deal with the pothead problem and how America can reduce weed smoking. Primarily, the country needs to make weed use as inconvenient as we did for smoking:

Cigarettes were once ubiquitous in this country. One could smoke them in the office, restaurants, and even on planes. In 1965, 42.5 percent of American adults smoked. Today, that number stands below 12 percent.

How was this changed? Besides health campaigns warning about the dangers of smoking, we made it harder to do so. Starting in the 2000s, we started to ban smoking at work and inside all buildings. Now if you wanted to smoke, you had to make the extra effort to stand outside and take a smoke. This made it highly inconvenient. No longer could you just light up a cig at your desk. You had to put aside work and brave the weather to do so.

Americans hate to be inconvenienced. We structure our society, in theory, for maximum ease and accessibility. Being forced to go the extra mile to do anything will dissuade Americans from doing it.

Read the rest here.