An Update: End Reefer Madness by Legalizing Pot
Marijuana is not a dangerous drug [”Proposed pot law ignites debate,” Opinion, Feb. 23]. Alcohol causes thousands of deaths each year from overdose (alcohol poisoning), while no one in recorded history has ever died from marijuana overdose. It’s physically impossible to smoke or ingest enough marijuana to come anywhere close to a harmful overdose. We have our legal drugs backward. Numerous scientific studies in Canada and Europe have proven that pot is safer than most FDA-approved prescription drugs. Habitual pot smoking doesn’t even significantly increase the risk of cancer. The worst side effect from chronic pot use is chronic laziness. And the studies that claim pot is a “gateway drug” are inherently flawed because the omit alcohol, tobacco and prescription drug abuse.
The argument that legalization will lead to an increase in traffic accidents is also flawed. Of the millions of pot smokers who are currently breaking the law, studies and statistics show that only a small percentage are stupid enough to drive while stoned.
Those like myself who would be inclined to smoke pot once it’s legal, but who currently refrain, are already respectful of the law, and, therefore, would not be likely to drive stoned once it’s legal.
Marijuana was made illegal for two purely political reasons. The first was a back-door agreement that ended alcohol prohibition. The prohibitionists wanted something in return for alcohol’s return to the market; marijuana was the trade off. Second, William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate, wanted to eliminate the hemp-based paper competition for his paper mills.
David Santucci
OC Register, February 27, 2009
My wife was against the legalization of medical marijuana until she went through the intensive Pain Management Program at St. Jude. While there, she spent hours in group sessions with chronic pain sufferers from the entire spectrum of society. These are people who live with excruciating pain all day and night for years. Imagine the most painful headache you’ve had in your life, but you live with it for months on end and you are bedridden because it never subsides.
These patients told horror stories of addictions to strong, expensive prescription painkillers with diminishing effects over time. For some of these people, medical marijuana was one of the few prescriptions that could relieve their pain without the threat of physical addiction – the only light that allowed them to escape their haunted lives.
Needless to say, my wife came out of those meetings with a new perspective and compassion for people who need this medicine.
Anon… you have to ask yourself WHY she was that way in the first place. Answer; government propaganda. There is a great movie to watch that documents America’s position on Marijuana. You might be interested to know WHY your wife had those views.
http://www.missliberty.com/FilmGrass.html
It’s also interesting to know that you can smoke pot and win 8 gold medals!
My daughter got involved with meth (the devils drug) when she was in collage, needless to say, she quit going to school and became very distant to me and our family. She was a mess, she could not focus on completing anything, she was like a dog chasing her tail, going in circles (tweaking) she quit school and everything else. My dad who has been smoking pot since his twenties, got my daughter to smoke weed instead, it took a while (6 months of smoking weed every day), but, miraculously she started to focus on things. The tweaking ended, she was calm again, she started reading books, she enrolled back in collage and graduated. She has a good paying job and is engaged to a great guy. To our family, marijuana was a miracle drug and should be legal. Great post David!
I tried drinking and got a DUI. I smoked pot and got 8 Gold Medals. Go figure. Please check me out: http://www.michaelphelps.com/2004/english.html
I recently had an in-law that passed-on due to the combined side effects of many drugs that were prescribed by several doctors for her ailment that over the years was diagnosed as several diseases common and rare. In the end she was emaciated due to no appetite There was a time that her siblings asked if I knew how she could get some grass. I asked if she had a prescription. She did not. I never gave them any of my homegrown for her to try. It would have done no harm.
http://cannabis-growing.com/
Could an herb save California from Bankruptcy, Arnold thinks so.
http://360mediawatch.com/videos/videos/6787/ethannadelmanndrugpolicyallianceac360cnnnational05_0610pm02_40.wmv
just do it ALREADY
“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny”.
I say legalize it! My grandma smoked a little pot while she was going through chemotherapy and it did nothing but subside her worries and pain. Marijuana does more good than harm, which is more than I can say about most things in life!
I believe MJ should be decriminalized for all the reasons stated. Unfortunately, Prop 19 is a Trojan Horse and not the right way for the following reasons:
1) NEW CRIMINAL PENALTIES (e.g., patients cannot sell/purchase from one another, limit growing to 5’x5′, et al.)
2) ONLY LARGE GROWERS CAN GET A GROW LICENSE ($200k!)
3) CITIES GIVEN THE RIGHT TO TAX/REGULATE/DENY SALES!
4) MED MJ TAXABLE W/SPEC TAX ($50/oz?)
5)TRYING TO CHANGE A BAD LAW IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT.
We should vote against this outrageous Prop 19 and get a good one. Several good groups are in process of doing that. The above is worse than what is now in effect. Vote NO on 19.
Prop 19 online: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6601631-full-text-of-california-prop-19-which-would-legalize-marijuana
Arnold
Thank goodness Prop 19 failed! It was a “Poison pill” that would have permitted Cities to ban dispensaries or put exorbitant taxes on MMJ. Gov AS made possession < 1 oz an infraction, the next best thing for decriminalization.
A new initiative for legalizing MMJ Dispensaries and Growers is still needed if one believes that MMJ is a med.
Arnold
Arnold, glad to see we’re on the same page, I thought for a while you were going off the reservation. Good analysis!
What a loser Arnold Swart. turned out to be. The new Gov. is much smarter and more conservative than freaking Arnold ever was. Did anyone hear he wants to squash RDA’s?