America Should Make Marijuana Inconvenient and Expensive Rather Than Ban It
Source: The American Conservative. "Dealing With the Marijuana Problem - The American Conservative." February 18, 2026. www.theamericanconservative.com
The Gist
The author argues that since Americans won't accept banning marijuana outright, we should make it really hard and expensive to use instead. Just like we did with cigarettes - tax it heavily and restrict where people can smoke it.
Conclusion
Since marijuana prohibition is politically unfeasible in culturally libertarian America, policymakers should instead make marijuana use extremely inconvenient and expensive through regulations and taxes to reduce its harmful effects
Premises
- Marijuana causes significant health and social problems including addiction, cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, psychotic disorders, and impaired driving
- America has become too culturally libertarian to accept outright prohibition of marijuana, preferring individual freedom over vice suppression
- The tobacco control model successfully reduced smoking from 42.5% to under 12% through inconvenience (smoking bans) and high taxes rather than prohibition
- Americans are particularly responsive to inconvenience and will avoid activities that require extra effort or cost significantly more
- Heavy regulations on where marijuana can be used, combined with substantial taxes and potency limits, would replicate tobacco's success
Assumptions
- Cultural attitudes toward individual liberty make prohibition politically impossible
- The tobacco control model is directly applicable to marijuana policy
- Making activities inconvenient and expensive effectively reduces their prevalence
- Current marijuana legalization trends will continue regardless of opposition
- Harm reduction through regulation is preferable to widespread uncontrolled use