Alabama has a serious problem. No, I am not talking about our abysmal ranking in education. I'm also not talking about being the second fattest state in the nation. I am here to talk about the fact that Alabama is #1 in use of prescribed opioids. Alabama doctors are prescribing more painkillers than anyone else. Those who can't get the painkillers from doctors (which is shocking since they seem to be handing them out like candy these days) are turning to the cheaper, more stigmatized big brother of painkillers: Heroin. Up until recently, the opiate analog known as kratom could be bought in smoke shops throughout the state. Obviously, we are a state that is going absolutely insane over substances derived from poppies.

How can we fight rampant addiction to such a lethal drug? You might not like my answer to that question if you are a conservative. I'm gonna suggest a different substance, a much safer yet still stigmatized substance. A substance that is gaining a lot of attention now that many states have recognized its medicinal potential.

That's right, folks, I think we need to legalize marijuana in order to fight opiate abuse. Forget what they told you in D. A. R. E.: marijuana has not killed anyone. Compared to the other drugs in the Schedule I slot (Cocaine, Heroin, LSD, etc.), weed is harmless. People who smoke weed usually don't cause trouble (unlike other drug-users). Alcoholics can get violent and aggressive, and it's legal provided you are 21. Yes, I'm saying that weed is safer than alcohol. Either they should both be legal or neither should be. I don't think the government is ever going to reconsider going back to the Prohibition Years. So, soon we shall see legal marijuana nationwide, even if it takes twenty years.

Alabama, no doubt, will be one of the last states to legalize marijuana. That should come as no surprise since conservatism is the kicker in this state, and conservatives worship Ronald Reagan, the man who brought us the War on Drugs (which totally failed, by the way). If Ronnie Reagan says, "Weed is bad," then the conservatives will repeat it years after his death. Also, weed has always been associated with liberals, whom conservatives hate with a passion. They don't want us dirty, liberal hippies to be smoking that "devil cabbage" in their America.

Yet facts are facts. In states were marijuana is legalized (for either medicinal and/or recreational purposes), opiate overdoses are on the decline. Opioids and marijuana are both depressants, so their effects are fairly similar (opioids being a lot stronger and addictive). If people are in need of the soothing, calming effect of a downer, they should turn to safe marijuana instead of deadly opiates. Instead of reaching a release through opioids, people in legalized states are turning to smoking a joint. Thus, death from OD-ing is in decline.

Also, since weed does have similar effects as painkillers, it could be prescribed to patients instead of Oxycodone or Percocet. For centuries, weed was used by ancient cultures as a natural pain reliever. Let's take a page out of the book of these people and legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

I truly think we can end the opioid crisis in Alabama as well as America in general, but only if we choose to support the substance we were taught to fear. Even if marijuana had negative effects, there is no way that those effects are worse than those of heroin. I'm sure many desperate mothers would rather have their children smoke pot out of a bong than shoot up in a dark alley.