Backers of so-called “recreational” legalized marijuana use are now admitting they erred and are pleading with officials to re-impose restrictions on the rampant use of the drug. But the momentum toward full legalization may be difficult to reverse even as the evidence piles up against it.
Last week, reversing nearly a decade of pro-pot stances, The New York Times Editorial Board declared, “It’s time for America to admit that it has a marijuana problem.”
“In our editorials, we described marijuana addiction and dependence as ‘relatively minor problems,’” the Editorial Board wrote. “It is now clear that many of these predictions were wrong… Given the growing harms from marijuana use, American lawmakers should do more to regulate it.”
As the Times acknowledges, legalization of marijuana did lead to a dramatic increase in use and abuse of the drug (as most people with common sense could have predicted), addictions did increase, and hospitals are being inundated with drug-related illnesses, including “marijuana-linked paranoia and chronic psychotic disorders.” Worse, innocent children are accidentally eating edibles laced with cannabis and ending up in the emergency room.
As The Wall Street Journal reported back in 2023, psychosis cases among teenage pot users are skyrocketing due to elevated levels of THC, the psychoactive element in the marijuana plant, in modern strains of the drug. Today’s pot is roughly three times more potent than it was in the mid-1990s. Some marijuana-derived products have THC content as high as 90 percent – exponentially greater than the three percent THC content in marijuana plants a generation ago.
The Times Editorial Board was careful to note that it does not want a complete return to past prohibition of the drug, but said American society “has recently gone too far in accepting and even promoting its use.”
To address the burgeoning crisis that they helped create by mainstreaming legalization, the Editorial Board members, at least some of whom use the drug themselves, propose a federal tax on marijuana, arguing that the increased cost will deter heavy users. They also want tighter regulation of so-called “medical marijuana” and the questionable claims pot corporations make about its alleged benefits. Some companies claim, for example, that it “can treat cancer and Alzheimer’s.”
When it comes to legalized pot, “it is time to acknowledge reality and change course,” the Times pleads – and they aren’t the only ones. Other past supporters of marijuana admit they made a mistake and want to see limits put on the drug or at least have regulations on public use enforced.
National Review, a conservative outlet with a libertarian streak, has generally supported the legalization of pot, going back to the 1970s when its founder, William F. Buckley, endorsed the idea. But now Senior Editor Charles Cooke says that “legalization is a good idea with bad consequences,” decrying “pot anarchy.”
In particular, Cooke is peeved that pot users openly smoke the drug in public, and officials are loath to enforce any limits. This contrasts sharply with strict bans on smoking tobacco in most public places, in part to prevent harm to non-smokers from secondhand smoke.
“The United States has some of the greatest and most interesting cities in the world — New York, Chicago, San Francisco,” Cooke said, but “almost all of them have become unpleasant to walk around in thanks to the ubiquitous smell of weed.”
While backers of marijuana often compare it to alcohol, the truth is it is rarely legal to walk around with an open beer or gin and tonic. Alcohol is actually more regulated than marijuana in this regard, Cooke argues.
Laws against smoking pot in public are “so poorly enforced,” Cooke laments. He slammed his fellow marijuana legalization advocates for not speaking up more about the haze of smelly, skunky weed assaulting the noses of Americans.
“This is absurd, and in the long run, it is unsustainable,” he warns.
The National Review editor also highlighted the lie used to push legalized marijuana, which is that it would remain in homes and out of sight. The right approach, in Cooke’s opinion, is that the drug is “best indulged in private.”
Indeed, for years that was the image cultivated in popular culture – the innocent teen or adult who simply smokes a joint in the privacy of their own home while munching on snacks.
Shows like “That 70s Show” depicted teens and young adults smoking pot in their parents’ basement, not harming anyone. Entertainers like Cheech and Chong and Willie Nelson cultivated the image of happy-go-lucky guys just enjoying a little marijuana for fun with friends.
Now the image of pot as a safe and harmless activity is going up in smoke. Adults are being afflicted with psychosis from the drug, while non-users are forced to smell pungent weed while grappling with the harmful effects of friends and family who have become dependent on the drugs.
But as evidence mounts pointing to the dangers of marijuana where recreational use is legal, so does the momentum to continue legalizing it in other states. As the New York Times reported recently, “no state allowed marijuana for recreational purposes,” prior to 2012. That year, Washington and Colorado voters approved ballot measures in support of recreational marijuana.
But as of 2026, 24 states allow for recreational marijuana use in some form, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Forty states allow for so-called medical marijuana as well. Some states are considering loosening their regulations on marijuana even further.
Virginia, for instance, is currently considering a bill to allow for a “retail market” in marijuana. Current law allows for individuals to grow a small amount of the devil’s lettuce for personal use in their homes. (Notably, the Virginia State Senate President Pro Tempore, Democrat Louis Lucas, who is one of the leading proponents of legalization, owns a cannabis store that has been busted for selling illegal products.)
Pennsylvania is also considering opening up a lucrative drug market, as it sees neighboring states raking in millions of dollars in tax revenue.
If Virginia and Pennsylvania lawmakers care about the health of their citizens, they’ll reconsider legalization. What began as a cultural experiment in normalization has quickly revealed serious public health and social consequences that even its most prominent champions can no longer ignore.
If politicians are serious about protecting communities, they must confront the evidence and reimpose meaningful limits before today’s permissiveness becomes tomorrow’s irreversible damage.
AMAC Newsline contributor Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
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