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The legal age isn't set where it is because that's the age at which marijuana is deemed to have no negative effects, any more than it is for alcohol or any othe

The legal age isn't set where it is because that's the age at which marijuana is deemed to have no negative effects, any more than it is for alcohol or any other substance that can be habit forming. It's just the age at which people are considered responsible enough to make a decision on their own about the risks and benefits involved. If you want to say that cognitive development isn't done until 25, and so people can't be considered adults until then, you'd better be ready to argue that for a whole lot of other sacred cows.

paulcole 7y ago
Voting age and drinking age have been separated for decades and we’ve gotten used to it. I don’t see setting the marijuana age limit to be 25 to be any more/less arbitrary. No need to bring sacred cows into this.
- TylerE 7y ago
  What do you hope to accomplish by this? History says again and again that banning something doesn't make it happen less, it just lets criminal elements profit from it.
  - paulcole 7y ago
    I mean I’m not accomplishing anything. And honestly I don’t even hope for anything either! I’m just saying that some state setting marijuana age limit at 25 isn’t going to make people question drinking age, voting age, military age, etc.
  - h0l0cube 7y ago
    The prohibition movement is the usual example provided to support that theory, but historians and experts in the domain do acknowledge there was still an overall decrease in consumption of alcohol during prohibition. 'Courtwright’s The Age of Addiction has the statistics: “Per capita consumption initially fell to 30 percent of pre-Prohibition levels, before gradually increasing to 60 or 70 percent by 1933.” That suggests a 30 percent reduction, at a minimum, in consumption — although that was less than the initial effect, as people figured some ways around the law.' https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibition-alcohol-public-health-crime-benefits https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibit...
    - pmoriarty 7y ago
      But was that reduction in use a result of Prohibition or of the moralistic anti-drinking attitude that was prevalent at the time? Even if Prohibition itself was responsible for the reduction in drinking, we must consider whether the overall effect on society was worth it. This effect included an enormous increase in organized crime, murders and other types of violence, and widespread corruption. American society as a whole decided that no, it was not worth it, and repealed Prohibition. The effect of the current war on drugs is arguably much, much worse than Prohibition ever was.
      - h0l0cube 7y ago
        I recommend reading the article. It has compelling alternate hypotheses for the increase in crime. It also broaches the topic of the 'war on drugs', though I don't recall that it makes any useful comparison of modern 'harm minimization' strategies and prohibition.
- pmoriarty 7y ago
  I'm not sure how much practical effect such an age limit would have. Even at the height of the drug war, when cannabis was illegal in every state in the US, it was incredibly easy to get for anyone who wanted it. Now that it's effectively legal in many states, it's even easier to get. People below whatever minimum age limit might not be able to legally get in to a business that sells cannabis, but already plenty of underage drinkers get in to bars with fake ID's, and they could always get the cannabis from their friends, black/gray-market dealers, or just grow their own from seed. The Netherlands, where cannabis has been effectively legal for many decades, has a much lower percentage of youth who use cannabis than the US. It's just not considered cool there, as it's not forbidden as it is in the States. Often, the attitude among natives in general there is that it's something that mostly tourists or foreigners do. But in the US, forbidden fruit is going to look twice as attractive and taste twice as sweet. So setting a minimum age limit might have the paradoxical effect of making users out of more youth than would otherwise try it.
ramraj07 7y ago
Which makes sense too in many ways. The only people who've had to bet their money on making a decision on what age to consider people as adults at, is the rental car industry. Incidentally they came up with the 25 number too, I guess purely actuarially.
- hpen 7y ago
  This is no longer the case. At least in Tennessee.
  - Godel_unicode 7y ago
    That's not true. See below for the under age surcharge for Budget in Tennessee and Enterprise everywhere: https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/common/agePopUp.html#TN https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/common/agePopUp.htm... https://www.enterprise.com/en/help/faqs/car-rental-under-25.html https://www.enterprise.com/en/help/faqs/car-rental-under-25....
    - hpen 7y ago
      How am I wrong? The link you posted states "The minimum age to rent a vehicle is 21 years of age." Sure there's a $20 a day extra fee, but that's negligible in comparison to the inconvenience of not being able to rent the car. The sentiment of my comment was that you don't have to be 25 to rent a car.
      - ramraj07 7y ago
        Of course no place bans renting cars for folks under 25, but the point is they don't consider you a regular adult at that point, more like a risky adolescent.
        hpen 7y ago
        Not true. In the past several car rentals didn't rent to under 25 year olds. Period.

paulcole 7y ago

Voting age and drinking age have been separated for decades and we’ve gotten used to it. I don’t see setting the marijuana age limit to be 25 to be any more/less arbitrary. No need to bring sacred cows into this.

TylerE 7y ago
What do you hope to accomplish by this? History says again and again that banning something doesn't make it happen less, it just lets criminal elements profit from it.
- paulcole 7y ago
  I mean I’m not accomplishing anything. And honestly I don’t even hope for anything either! I’m just saying that some state setting marijuana age limit at 25 isn’t going to make people question drinking age, voting age, military age, etc.
- h0l0cube 7y ago
  The prohibition movement is the usual example provided to support that theory, but historians and experts in the domain do acknowledge there was still an overall decrease in consumption of alcohol during prohibition. 'Courtwright’s The Age of Addiction has the statistics: “Per capita consumption initially fell to 30 percent of pre-Prohibition levels, before gradually increasing to 60 or 70 percent by 1933.” That suggests a 30 percent reduction, at a minimum, in consumption — although that was less than the initial effect, as people figured some ways around the law.' https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibition-alcohol-public-health-crime-benefits https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibit...
  - pmoriarty 7y ago
    But was that reduction in use a result of Prohibition or of the moralistic anti-drinking attitude that was prevalent at the time? Even if Prohibition itself was responsible for the reduction in drinking, we must consider whether the overall effect on society was worth it. This effect included an enormous increase in organized crime, murders and other types of violence, and widespread corruption. American society as a whole decided that no, it was not worth it, and repealed Prohibition. The effect of the current war on drugs is arguably much, much worse than Prohibition ever was.
    - h0l0cube 7y ago
      I recommend reading the article. It has compelling alternate hypotheses for the increase in crime. It also broaches the topic of the 'war on drugs', though I don't recall that it makes any useful comparison of modern 'harm minimization' strategies and prohibition.
pmoriarty 7y ago
I'm not sure how much practical effect such an age limit would have. Even at the height of the drug war, when cannabis was illegal in every state in the US, it was incredibly easy to get for anyone who wanted it. Now that it's effectively legal in many states, it's even easier to get. People below whatever minimum age limit might not be able to legally get in to a business that sells cannabis, but already plenty of underage drinkers get in to bars with fake ID's, and they could always get the cannabis from their friends, black/gray-market dealers, or just grow their own from seed. The Netherlands, where cannabis has been effectively legal for many decades, has a much lower percentage of youth who use cannabis than the US. It's just not considered cool there, as it's not forbidden as it is in the States. Often, the attitude among natives in general there is that it's something that mostly tourists or foreigners do. But in the US, forbidden fruit is going to look twice as attractive and taste twice as sweet. So setting a minimum age limit might have the paradoxical effect of making users out of more youth than would otherwise try it.

ramraj07 7y ago

Which makes sense too in many ways. The only people who've had to bet their money on making a decision on what age to consider people as adults at, is the rental car industry. Incidentally they came up with the 25 number too, I guess purely actuarially.

hpen 7y ago
This is no longer the case. At least in Tennessee.
- Godel_unicode 7y ago
  That's not true. See below for the under age surcharge for Budget in Tennessee and Enterprise everywhere: https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/common/agePopUp.html#TN https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/common/agePopUp.htm... https://www.enterprise.com/en/help/faqs/car-rental-under-25.html https://www.enterprise.com/en/help/faqs/car-rental-under-25....
  - hpen 7y ago
    How am I wrong? The link you posted states "The minimum age to rent a vehicle is 21 years of age." Sure there's a $20 a day extra fee, but that's negligible in comparison to the inconvenience of not being able to rent the car. The sentiment of my comment was that you don't have to be 25 to rent a car.
    - ramraj07 7y ago
      Of course no place bans renting cars for folks under 25, but the point is they don't consider you a regular adult at that point, more like a risky adolescent.
      - hpen 7y ago
        Not true. In the past several car rentals didn't rent to under 25 year olds. Period.