The debate within the Republican Party over marijuana legalization has become intense, being fought mostly between so-called libertarian Republicans (in support) and social conservatives (in opposition). From my understanding of true conservatism, however, these two factions of the GOP should not be fighting over this issue. Rather, these two groups should be working together to pioneer marijuana legalization at a federal level.

It is no secret that I am significantly right-of-center on the political spectrum. My experiences as a high school student on the Main Line, though, have given me perspective on the issue of marijuana legalization that I think many adult social conservatives do not have. And from my perspective, the prohibition of marijuana does not seem like a conservative ideal at all.

Conservatives are by nature very skeptical of the government. Because of my conservative values, I want the government to maintain the Constitution and to otherwise stay out of the lives of the American people. The Constitution makes no mention of anything necessitating the prohibition of marijuana, but rather suggests that the government has no right to arrest someone for marijuana possession as ensured by the 4th Amendment. For that reason alone, I have trouble understanding such passionate rhetoric on marijuana bans by many on the Right.

The main arguments against marijuana legalization seem rather obsolete in the era of 21st-century science. For example, a main argument against marijuana legalization has been the health impact that results from marijuana usage. I am not about to make the claim that marijuana is not harmful to the body–it is. It is relatively indisputable, though, that marijuana has been proven to be much safer than alcohol or tobacco. If anti-marijuana legislators want to protect the public from hazardous drugs, then marijuana is not nearly as significant of a threat to communities as other illegal drugs or even some currently legal drugs. This argument distracts from much bigger problems, which is ironic seeing that this is a common complaint that conservatives have concerning many liberal policies.

I would actually prefer to flip the argument about health concerns on its head. Marijuana legalization would in fact make its users much safer (who are clearly going to take the drug whether it is legal or not). The prohibition of marijuana is costing lives. Due to the black market created by bans, marijuana is often grown unsafely, and is sometimes given dangerous additives that have done enormous harm. Through legalization, marijuana would be properly regulated and would become safer for people to use.

I would also like to touch on the issue of marijuana law enforcement. As conservatives, we believe in a government as small and as frugal in expenditure as possible. As a result, when the government is spending over $42 billion to hunt down people for something as trivial as smoking marijuana, we should be clamoring about wasteful spending. And, when you couple that with the fact that over 1.5 million people are arrested every year for a nonviolent, victimless offense, conservatives should be practicing their principles of a small government by calling these laws what they are–government overreach.

Countless young people have a felony conviction because of marijuana laws. These convictions put their college aspirations in jeopardy, their career hopes in jeopardy, and their dreams in jeopardy. Most marijuana users are normal people who do not fit the stereotypical portrait of a “stoner.” They are often bright students with promising futures, and an arrest for marijuana possession could completely derail their lives. We need to utilize the potential of all of our students, and we cannot ruin their potential by arresting them for marijuana. The ability for everyone to reach the American Dream is a passionate talking point of conservatism, but we cannot honestly say that message when we are constricting millions of dreams every year by defining otherwise innocent people as felons.

Perpetuating a large government program to expand the power of the government over something relatively trivial is not even close to a conservative idea. It is time that Republicans of all ideological stripes come together in support for marijuana legalization. Until that happens, I do not want to hear another Republican talking point about “small government” values.