It's Time for America to Admit That It Has a Marijuana Problem

Thirteen years ago, no state allowed marijuana for recreational purposes. Today, most Americans live in a state that allows them to buy and smoke a joint. President Trump continued the trend toward legalization in December by loosening federal restrictions.

This editorial board has long supported marijuana legalization. In 2014, we published a six-part series that compared the federal marijuana ban to alcohol prohibition and argued for repeal. Much of what we wrote then holds up — but not all of it does.

At the time, supporters of legalization predicted that it would bring few downsides. We described marijuana addiction and dependence as "relatively minor problems." Many advocates went further and claimed that marijuana was a harmless drug that might even bring net health benefits. They also said that legalization might not lead to greater use.

"It is now clear that many of these predictions were wrong."

Surging Marijuana Use in the United States

<1M

Near-daily users in 1992

Near-daily users in 2012

18M

Near-daily users today — more than daily alcohol users

2.8M

Americans suffering cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome each year

Source: Jonathan Caulkins (Carnegie Mellon), based on National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Legalization has led to much more use — and this wider use has caused a rise in addiction and other problems. More people have ended up in hospitals with marijuana-linked paranoia and chronic psychotic disorders. Bystanders have also been hurt, including by people driving under the influence of pot.

America should not go back to prohibition to fix these problems. The war on marijuana brought its own costs. Every year, authorities arrested hundreds of thousands of Americans for marijuana possession. The people who suffered the legal and financial consequences were disproportionately Black, Latino and poor. A society that allows adults to use alcohol and tobacco cannot sensibly arrest people for marijuana use. We oppose nascent efforts to re-criminalize the drug.

Yet there is a lot of space between heavy-handed criminal prohibition and hands-off commercial legalization. Much as the United States previously went too far in banning pot, it has recently gone too far in accepting and even promoting its use. The most promising approach is one popularized by Mark Kleiman, a drug policy scholar who died in 2019. He described it as "grudging toleration" — keeping the drug legal while enacting policies that curb its biggest downsides.

The larger point is that a society should be willing to examine the real-world impact of any major policy change and consider additional changes in response to new facts. In the case of marijuana, the recent evidence offers reason for Americans to become more grudging about accepting its use.

We want to emphasize that occasional marijuana use is no more a problem than drinking a glass of wine with dinner or smoking a celebratory cigar. Adults should have the freedom to use it. Still, any product that brings both pleasures and problems requires a balancing act. At least one in 10 people who use marijuana develops an addiction — a similar share as with alcohol. People who are frequently stoned can struggle to hold a job or take care of their families.

"As marijuana legalization has accelerated across the country, doctors are contending with the effects of an explosion in the use of the drug and its intensity. The accumulating harm is broader and more severe than previously reported." — New York Times investigation, 2024

Part of the problem is the power of Big Weed. For-profit marijuana companies have a financial incentive to mislead the public. Some have sold products in packages that mimic snacks for children. Companies know they can increase profits by downplaying the harms of frequent use: more than half of industry sales come from the roughly 20 percent of customers known as heavy users. The legal pot industry grew to more than $30 billion in U.S. sales in 2024 — close to the total annual revenue of Starbucks.

A Path Forward: Three Policy Steps

Federal and state taxes on marijuana. Taxes should be high enough to deter excessive use — on the scale of dollars per joint, not cents. Increases in tobacco taxes have been a major reason that tobacco use has declined during the 21st century, with profound health benefits. An advantage of taxes is that they fall much more on heavy users than casual smokers.

Restrictions on high-potency products. In 1995, marijuana seized by the DEA was around 4% THC. Today, products with 90%+ THC are sold legally. The appropriate response is to make illegal any marijuana product that exceeds a THC level of 60 percent, and to impose higher taxes on potent forms of pot — much as liquor is taxed more heavily than beer and wine.

Federal action on false medical claims. Decades of studies have found little medical benefit from marijuana, yet many dispensaries claim it treats cancer and Alzheimer's. The government should crack down on these outlandish claims and close dispensaries that do not comply.

The federal government needs to be part of these solutions. Leaving taxes and regulations to the states threatens to create a race to the bottom in which people can cross state lines to buy their pot. Congress can set a floor, as it has done — however inadequately — with alcohol and tobacco, and states can build on it as they choose.

The unfortunate truth is that the loosening of marijuana policies — especially the decision to legalize pot without adequately regulating it — has led to worse outcomes than many Americans expected. It is time to acknowledge reality and change course.