text: I reluctantly voted for legalization, and still think adults should be able to responsibly partake, but this narrative that it doesn't have negative effects or is just a plant are dishonest. Tobacco is also a plant. Alcohol is created from a natural fermentation process. Opiates and cocaine are also derived from plants. Hell, sugar and caffeine are also drugs that come from nature. And it is harmful on developing brains of adolescents and kids. I'm not saying it should be illegal for adults because of that, but let's be intellectually honest. 
  
  But it also isn't grandpa's pot. Marijuana is big business, and strains are artificially cultivated to increase THC content, to a level where addiction and overdose can happen and the effects can be similar to that of psychedelics. Maybe that's ok, but it isn't without risk, and as much as it pains me to agree with Rhyner, he is right that a lot of crime in Alaska, even violence, has been connected to marijuana (especially among young people).