Joshua Phillips: The hidden harm of legalizing marijuana use — why libertarians should oppose SB 120
Philadelphia and its surrounding counties are already wrestling with rampant public drug use, soaring homelessness, and crime. Now, Pennsylvania lawmakers are entertaining bills like Senate Bill 120, which seek to legalize recreational marijuana under the illusion of “personal freedom” and “smart regulation.” Many libertarians instinctively support such measures. But in truth, SB 120 and efforts to legalize marijuana directly undermine and are counter to the very pillars of libertarian philosophy and ideals.
At its heart, libertarianism champions three fundamental principles: the non-aggression principle, protection of private property rights, and the sanctity of voluntary contracts. SB 120 and the broader push to normalize marijuana violate each of these core tenets while imposing real costs on the daily lives of Pennsylvanians.
The non-aggression principle: When “harmless” isn’t harmless
Libertarians rightly value the freedom to live without aggression or coercion. The non-aggression principle holds that harm is only justified in self-defense, not in initiating it. Advocates claim marijuana is a personal choice that harms no one else. But that simply isn’t true.
Consider our roads. Marijuana use significantly impairs reaction time and judgment, creating deadly consequences behind the wheel. A study by the Centennial Institute found that, in Colorado alone, marijuana-impaired driving crashes cost over $25 million in one year, with 139 people killed by drivers under the influence of cannabis. That is aggression, plain and simple, visited on innocent drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.
Closer to home, Philadelphia already battles reckless driving and high pedestrian fatalities. Adding widespread marijuana use to the mix all but guarantees more tragedies — and more need for government crackdowns, checkpoints, and costly emergency responses. Far from reducing state power, legalization invites it.
Then there’s secondhand harm. Marijuana smoke contains many of the same carcinogens as tobacco. Legalization means more use in shared spaces — apartment complexes, sidewalks, even playground-adjacent streets — forcing non-users, including children, to inhale harmful compounds against their will. The right to bodily autonomy cuts both ways; your freedom to smoke ends where another’s lungs begin.
Worse still is the impact on kids. Legal weed means more predatory advertising, more pot shops (often concentrated in poorer urban neighborhoods), and edibles that look like candy. The developing adolescent brain is especially vulnerable to substances that disrupt emotion regulation and cognition. By normalizing marijuana, we turn a supposed “victimless crime” into a multi-generational public health crisis that is way outside the boundaries of personal freedom.
Property rights: Who pays for your high?
John Locke, the father of classical liberal thought, argued that property rights are foundational to liberty. You should control the fruits of your labor and not have them seized to subsidize someone else’s choices.
Yet wherever marijuana is legalized, taxpayers foot the bill for the fallout. The same Colorado study found that for every $1 in tax revenue from marijuana, $4.50 was spent on addressing increased health care, addiction services, and law enforcement costs. That’s legalized plunder, where your hard-earned dollars bail out the social costs of someone else’s buzz.
In Philadelphia, where property taxes already strain homeowners, imagine those dollars being diverted to manage the consequences of marijuana addiction and treatment, while potholes go unfilled and schools remain underfunded. Legalization forces the many to underwrite the risky choices of the few, in violation of basic property rights.
Even within private living spaces, marijuana poses problems. In dense row homes and apartment buildings, smoke doesn’t respect property lines. Your neighbor’s marijuana habit seeps into your child’s bedroom through shared vents and hallways. Who owns the air? Who compensates you for reduced air quality or lost enjoyment of your own property? Legalizing marijuana creates conflicts that inevitably require more rules, lawsuits, and state interventions. This is hardly the libertarian ideal.
Voluntary exchange: A free market undermined by foggy minds
The most important pillar of a libertarian’s functioning free market society is the protection and enforcement of voluntary contracts. Through the legalization of weed, these contracts could be uprooted through THC’s ability to hinder and affect one’s ability to think and make decisions. As Timothy Hsiao, adjunct professor of philosophy at Park University, writes, “One of the government’s chief responsibilities is to protect and promote freedom. In order to do this, it must also protect and promote the underlying conditions that make freedom possible, one of these being clarity of thought. The government therefore has an interest in cultivating a culture that encourages clear thinking and discourages impaired thinking.” As it is, employers already struggle to fill safety-sensitive positions. Marijuana impairs attention and reaction time, increasing the risk of workplace accidents. Businesses then face liability and must impose stricter drug policies, reducing privacy and tightening contract terms. In the long run, this burdens honest workers and employers with higher insurance premiums and compliance costs.
Staying true to libertarian principles
To be sure, some libertarians might argue that adults have a right to ingest whatever they wish, consequences be damned. That argument may make sense, until those consequences spill over into car crashes, higher taxes, impaired contractual capacity, and kids exposed to harmful substances. At that point, it’s no longer a matter of personal liberty but of violating others’ rights and shifting costs onto neighbors.
True libertarianism is not about maximizing personal indulgence regardless of harm. It’s about responsible freedom — liberty anchored by the duty not to infringe on others’ rights or drain their resources.
A call for libertarian consistency
Citizens of our commonwealth are already grappling with enough challenges, from violent crime to significantly underfunded services, without inviting new burdens cloaked in the language of “freedom.” SB 120 would expand the size of government (to regulate, tax, and mitigate marijuana’s harms), swell bureaucracy, and socialize the costs of private vice. Not only does this bill propose a new layer of government by establishing a seven-member control board, but SB 120 would impose the heavy hand of Big Government by removing the rights of local officials to deny a pot shop in their jurisdiction.
If one wishes to uphold genuine libertarian values — non-aggression, respect for property, and secure voluntary agreements — then it should include resisting the deceptive siren call of marijuana legalization. This isn’t about moralizing. It’s about protecting individual rights from the very infringements that bills like SB 120 would accelerate. So to my fellow liberty-minded citizens across Pennsylvania: Let’s stay consistent. Say no to SB 120, not to curtail freedom, but to safeguard it from the costly, coercive consequences of state-sanctioned legalized marijuana.
Joshua Phillips is a registered Libertarian, and a political science honors student at The Catholic University of America and 2025 PA Family Institute intern. He is a resident of Glenmoore, Pennsylvania.
Fear of Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever. So please prohibitionists, we beg you to give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Cannabis Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?
Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of cannabis legalization, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.
The prohibition of cannabis has not decreased the supply nor the demand for cannabis at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing citizens for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than alcohol.
If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!
Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize cannabis when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?
Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and/or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Cannabis Laws.
There is absolutely no doubt now that the majority of Americans want to completely legalize cannabis nationwide. Our numbers grow on a daily basis.
The prohibitionist view on cannabis is the viewpoint of a minority and rapidly shrinking percentage of Americans. It is based upon decades of lies and propaganda.
Each and every tired old lie they have propagated has been thoroughly proven false by both science and society.
Their tired old rhetoric no longer holds any validity. The vast majority of Americans have seen through the sham of cannabis prohibition in this day and age. The number of prohibitionists left shrinks on a daily basis.
With their credibility shattered, and their not so hidden agendas visible to a much wiser public, what’s left for a cannabis prohibitionist to do?
Maybe, just come to terms with the fact that Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is an inevitable reality that’s approaching much sooner than prohibitionists think, and there is nothing they can do to stop it!
Legalize Nationwide!…and Support All Cannabis Legalization Efforts!
Prohibition and Reefer Madness are only pushed and believed by a very small, lunatic-fringe minority of irrational looney-tune Holier Than Thou types that are on a never ending little personal moral-crusade and witch-hunt against relatively benign cannabis and it’s consumers. The rest of us sane, rational, normal Americans just laugh our butts off at and mock utterly desperate lying prohibitionists and their ridiculous Reefer-Madness-Rhetoric as the comedy show they truly are!
Fear of Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever. So please prohibitionists, we beg you to give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Cannabis Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?
Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of cannabis legalization, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.
The prohibition of cannabis has not decreased the supply nor the demand for cannabis at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing citizens for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than alcohol.
If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!
Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize cannabis when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?
Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and/or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Cannabis Laws.
Reefer madness is for mental midgets!
lol
Reefer Madness lol
Good article. Surprised it took Brian Kelly so long to respond with one of his raving long winded comments which boil down to: he wants your children inhaling that stench.
Research finds a 35% rise in chronic homelessness in states following marijuana legalization – Source: Jason P. Brown, Elior D. Cohen, and Alison Felix, September 2023; updated June 2024
Evidence is emerging of a rise in hospitalizations and emergency department visits related to cannabis abuse and dependence – Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10176789/
Odor also is is never a valid, reasonable, rational justification to keep anything illegal and to continue criminalizing and handing out life long permanent criminal records to millions of American citizens. We can’t just arrest, lock up and hand out life long permanent criminal records to anyone who, heaven forbid, dares to make you temporarily smell things that you aren’t fond of smelling for a few brief seconds while you pass by in public places. Sound fair and reasonable?
Believe it or not, millions of American citizens have always used cannabis way before we ever considered legalization. Legalization is not adding anything new into our public places that wasn’t always there before. For the most part its the very same people who have been using cannabis while it was illegal that will be using cannabis when it’s legal.
To suggest that all of a sudden due to legalization that the scent of cannabis will be everywhere public is ludicrous, irrational, and ridiculous! Get real and stop the silly smell exaggerations and lies. Admit that the only real issue you have with cannabis legalization is your very own unjustifiable irrational personal moral issue with allowing other adult American citizens to legally enjoy cannabis without constant threat of lifelong criminalization, prosecution and persecution.
Regarding “The Children”,
Let’s not use “The Children” as an excuse to prohibit and criminalize adult use of a natural plant far less dangerous than perfectly legal alcohol because nobody condones child use, and this is about allowing adults only to choose cannabis.
It’s our responsibility as parents by to educate our children on both alcohol and cannabis use. It’s not the government’s job to force Draconian cannabis Laws upon every adult citizen under the guise of protecting “The Children”.
What message are we sending our children when in states where cannabis remains completely illegal and prohibited, it is easier for them to obtain cannabis than it is for them to buy alcohol?
It doesn’t take the intellect of a genius to understand that stores card kids for I.D. Thugs and gang members do not. They also push the real hard drugs on children. Stores do not.
Cannabis legalization makes it harder for children to obtain it.
What message does it send our children when several of the Presidents of The United States themselves alongside a long list of successful people openly admit to cannabis use at one time or another in their lives?
While we tell our kids how it will ruin their futures, and then ensure so, by allowing our government to to jail our children and give them permanent criminal records when they get caught with a little cannabis. Especially, if they are the wrong skin color or from the “wrong neighborhood”. Which in turn, ruins their chances of employment for life.
The Prohibition of cannabis is the wrong message to send our children while we glorify, advertise and promote the much more dangerous use of alcohol like it’s an all American pastime.
The worst thing about cannabis and our children is what happens to them when they get caught up in the criminal justice system due to it’s prohibition.
Protect “The Children” and Our Neighborhoods Through The Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis Nationwide!
Your disingenuous arguments hinges on emotional appeals and misrepresentations. They completely lack sound reasoning.
No serious anti-legalization argument centers solely on cannabis odor. It’s a disgusting public nuisance issue, and it subjects children (frankly everyone) to not just the odor but the drug within the smoke itself. And it is not the core of the debate, at all. Just another data point. By fixating on smell, you sidestep substantive concerns like public health, addiction risks, impaired driving, a marked increase in homelessness (which everyone can observe is happening), etc. all of which deserve real discussion.
Claiming cannabis use hasn’t increased post-legalization ignores evidence. Studies, like those from the CDC, show rising usage rates in legalized states, especially among youth. Legalization normalizes and increases accessibility, amplifying exposure in public spaces—contrary to your assertion that nothing changes.
You accuse opponents of having “unjustifiable irrational personal moral issues” without evidence. This is a lazy ad hominem attack that avoids engaging with policy concerns like regulation enforcement or societal impacts. Disagreeing on legalization isn’t inherently moralistic; it can stem from practical considerations.
“The Children” Misrepresentation: Comparing cannabis to alcohol oversimplifies. Both have risks, but alcohol’s legal status doesn’t justify adding another intoxicant without scrutiny. Legalization may restrict underage sales in theory, but data from states like Colorado shows increased youth access post-legalization due to broader availability. Education is vital, but so is limiting exposure.
Race-Baiting Tactic: Your insinuation that prohibition disproportionately targets certain races or neighborhoods is a serious claim requiring evidence, not a throwaway line to inflame. Criminal justice disparities exist, but you offer no data linking them solely to cannabis prohibition. This tactic distracts from policy substance and poisons discourse.
Hypocrisy on Messaging: You decry criminalizing youth while ignoring that legalization can send mixed signals, normalizing use. The “successful people used it” argument is irrelevant; individual anecdotes don’t negate broader societal risks. Prohibition’s flaws don’t automatically make legalization the solution without addressing trade-offs.
Legalization debates require weighing costs and benefits, not demonizing opponents or dodging real issues with exaggerated claims and divisive rhetoric. Your rants lack seriousness. They would be funny if we didn’t have so many innocent fools that get tricked by zealots like you that are really anarchists at heart and sadly suffering, and want society to suffer along with you.
Don’t like it? Then don’t use it. Alcohol is far more harmful. Stop the reefer madness fearmongering because it gets real old quick and Americans overwhelmingly support legalization.
Steven, Your tired lies and incorrect information get “real old quick.” Most US citizens overwhelmingly do NOT support legalization. What you reefer degenerates don’t seem to care about is that you are subjecting the rest of us to your tired baloney behavior, and the use of your garbage. And it costs tax-payer money to address the actual problems you cause for, and to, the rest of us.
Hey, want to grow it, and don’t sell it to anyone, and use it within your private property and not hurt anyone else? That is perfectly fine in my book. But, just as there are laws against burning fires in your private yard (because it affects others), we do not want to be subjected to your filthy, disgusting, and harmful decisions and behavior.
(Category) Brain Health –
(Key Finding): Reduced working memory activity, permanent IQ loss up to 8 points (Source): JAMA Network Open 2025, SAMHSA samhsa.gov
(Category) Cardiovascular Health –
(Key Finding): Higher risk of heart attack, increased stroke risk (Source): American College of Cardiology 2025, CDC cdc.gov
(Category) Mental Health –
(Key Finding): Increased risks of depression, anxiety, psychosis, and addiction (Source): The New York Times 2024, CDC, SAMHSA
(Category) Addiction Rates –
(Key Finding): 1 in 6 adolescents, 1 in 10 adults become addicted, higher THC potency (Source): SAMHSA, NIDA nida.nih.gov
(Category)Public Health Concerns –
(Key Finding): Rising hospitalizations, unintentional poisonings, especially in children (Source): PMC Articles, CDC (DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.07.005)
(Category) Social Impacts –
(Key Finding): Worse educational outcomes, impaired driving, relationship problem (Source): SAMHSA, CDC (NHTSA reports)
Now do alcohol. You really behave like you have a big stick rammed up your rear end over cannabis, don’t ya buddy?
Your sources are notoriously rabid prohibitionist government organizations with an anti-cannabis-legalization agenda to push and therefore are all entirely non-credible when it comes to info on cannabis. These are the same government organizations that have been in place and mandated to lie to the public about cannabis since it was first prohibited. Government sponsored propaganda is all you keep regurgitating.
Show us the “horrors” of alcohol directly from your bias propaganda spreading government sources on cannabis with an obvious agenda such NIDA, NIH, SAMHSA, CDC and JAMA
Tommy, how about you act and think like an actual adult instead of using childish retorts. You selfish clowns want to smoke, micro dose, or do pills? Great. Do it without pulling the rest of us into your mess. The kind of reasoning you use is similar to a toddler when you tell them not to eat glue: “But Jimmy ate crayons!” Pointing at alcohol’s flaws to justify weed is like saying it’s okay to jump off a cliff because falling down the stairs hurts too. Both can mess you up, kiddo, and dodging the question with a tantrum-level distraction doesn’t make the argument any less childish. Grow up and face the actual debate – which is about legalizing marijuana.
And to you, and the rest of your reefer degenerate friends… all of the “show me the sources” crowd—
when presented with more and more peer-reviewed studies, government data, or expert reports… what do you do? Attack the sources like toddlers. You guys go from: studies show our drug is great, to those studies are obviously biased. You guys want to behave in a manner that directly affects me, and your behavior directly affects others. Your behavior does not just affect you. So, you are correct – I’m annoyed that you and your reefer degenerate friends are trying to ram your marijuana stick up my rear end and then use my money (via higher taxes) to pay for your selfishness and stupid decisions.
Gezz Louise! You are really obsessed with your reefer madness. Attacking every single person who comments here. Calm down and chill out already! Lol Here you go, this one is on me since you obviously need to relax and mellow tf out really badly, Lil Karen! Lol ”’
(You need either some good ganja or a straight jacket!) Lmao
Try it….
BS article!
Frank,
Yours is an exclamatory comment.
Genuine question for the publisher of this article – how do you not extend these same arguments into the alcohol debate? Every argument made in this article could be applied equally, if not more justifiably, to alcohol, and thus would suggest we return to prohibition times. Are you in favor of that?
Thank you. Exactly! Very well said. It’s just simple common logic to everyone else except these nutjob zealots whom irrationally apply such an obvious unfair double standard to cannabis that they ignorantly refuse to apply at least equally to much more harmful yet entirely legal in every single state, alcohol!
Their blatantly irrational double standard is so very, very dumb and screams of utterly ignorant hypocrisy!
Mellissa Schwab, Sam, and Debbie:
Look, a “contact high” from marijuana smoke wafting through a park, or on a street, or even sitting in traffic isn’t just some hazy vibe—it’s an uninvited chemical assault on kids breathing it in. Unlike alcohol, which stays in your glass and doesn’t sneak into someone else’s lungs, secondhand weed smoke carries THC that can mess with a child’s developing brain. And to those who partied in college, and giggled about “contact highs” like it was a quirky badge of honor, yet now clutch their pearls and claim it’s not real when legalization debates heat up—nice try. Your selective amnesia doesn’t erase the science or the ethics of exposing our kids to your selfish drugs and bs clouds.
You aren’t even sincere – you are selfish reefer degenerates. You wouldn’t like it if parents decided to assault you in the same way your chemicals assault their children in the park, would you? Instead you try to change the argument to alcohol?!? You guys are a total joke.