The Marijuana Issue
3rd Gear
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,847
When the legalization effort failed in the 70's it was repackaged as "medical marijuana". I do not support medical only cannabis because it IS a safer recreational choice than alcohol, which is widely accepted.
In my opinion regardless of its legal status marijuana should be available to anyone who needs it medically. Treating sufferring shouldnt be a crime, denying sick people their medicine is atrocious.
Studies show somewhere near 100,000,000 Americans admit to using marijuana sometime in their life. There are so many pot smokers in the USA that if we all "came out" on one day it would be logistically impossible for the government to arrest us all. The problem here is that so many people are content doing it illegally and hiding it from everyone (even from their own families).
As long as politicians THINK its political suicide to endorse it, and as long as they keep accepting billions of dollars from lobbyists its not going to happen. Anheuser Busch keeps giving its millions to keep potential competition from marijuana away. Exxon Mobile sees hemp fuel as a threat and keeps funding the politicians who keep it illegal. Our former presidents mother made her millions investing in prison development to house all of these criminals we have made out of pot smoking hippies. Du Pont industries sees hemp as a threat to their chemically engineered products, the cotton industry would become obselete, allong with the companies that make chemicals to put on the plants. Pharmacutical companies would no longer be able to sell expensive drugs to which there is a natural alternative. See where im going?
Even our law enforcement (DEA, cops) and government benefits from its illegal status. Whats the DEA going to do when they cant beat up on old hippies? Its their job at stake! so they CONTINUE to spread lies and misinformation regarding marijuana. Our key to progress is educating the public.
In my opinion regardless of its legal status marijuana should be available to anyone who needs it medically. Treating sufferring shouldnt be a crime, denying sick people their medicine is atrocious.
Studies show somewhere near 100,000,000 Americans admit to using marijuana sometime in their life. There are so many pot smokers in the USA that if we all "came out" on one day it would be logistically impossible for the government to arrest us all. The problem here is that so many people are content doing it illegally and hiding it from everyone (even from their own families).
As long as politicians THINK its political suicide to endorse it, and as long as they keep accepting billions of dollars from lobbyists its not going to happen. Anheuser Busch keeps giving its millions to keep potential competition from marijuana away. Exxon Mobile sees hemp fuel as a threat and keeps funding the politicians who keep it illegal. Our former presidents mother made her millions investing in prison development to house all of these criminals we have made out of pot smoking hippies. Du Pont industries sees hemp as a threat to their chemically engineered products, the cotton industry would become obselete, allong with the companies that make chemicals to put on the plants. Pharmacutical companies would no longer be able to sell expensive drugs to which there is a natural alternative. See where im going?
Even our law enforcement (DEA, cops) and government benefits from its illegal status. Whats the DEA going to do when they cant beat up on old hippies? Its their job at stake! so they CONTINUE to spread lies and misinformation regarding marijuana. Our key to progress is educating the public.
Last edited by SourDieselS4; Mar 18, 2009 at 09:49 AM.
3rd Gear
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,847
I've smoked with doctors and surgeons, nurses, Army, Navy, Marines (an MP no less). All do their job well. I've also drank with a guy who i worked with building aircraft parts. His drinking was affecting his work to the point where he got canned.
This is a very good point to make. The sterotypical face of a "pot head" dosnt work. We come from all walks of life, blue collar, white collar, rich and poor. My dad started 20 years ago with a playing card table in a garage selling vegtables. Now he owns one of the most reputable and best known retail farms in the North East, farming hundreds of acres. He credits much of his success to marijuana and its ability to open your mind up. Some of his best and most successfull buisness ideas were inspired by a joint.
You can't say pot shouldn't be legalized because surgeons would be hacking you up because they were high, or because there would be a ton of car accidents from people being high, etc because The same common sense decision making you should be using for alcohol should be used for weed.
Driving stoned is akin to drunk driving under the limit (below .08 BAC). Meaning someone with a .079 BAC who is legal to be on the road, is more inebriated than someone under the effects of marijuana. With marijuana you also know that you imparied and adjust your driving accordingly.
Yes, sometimes people do jackass things like drive drunk. Those people are jackasses. Should we then go back to prohibition because of those few? If weed were legal, it doesn't mean I'm gonna get high before I drive to work and use heavy machinery, because thats stupid, just like I wouldn't get trashed and go to work.
Your body and mind REALLY ARE worse off with alcohol. If alcohol is accepted, then pot should be as well.
This is a very good point to make. The sterotypical face of a "pot head" dosnt work. We come from all walks of life, blue collar, white collar, rich and poor. My dad started 20 years ago with a playing card table in a garage selling vegtables. Now he owns one of the most reputable and best known retail farms in the North East, farming hundreds of acres. He credits much of his success to marijuana and its ability to open your mind up. Some of his best and most successfull buisness ideas were inspired by a joint.
You can't say pot shouldn't be legalized because surgeons would be hacking you up because they were high, or because there would be a ton of car accidents from people being high, etc because The same common sense decision making you should be using for alcohol should be used for weed.
Driving stoned is akin to drunk driving under the limit (below .08 BAC). Meaning someone with a .079 BAC who is legal to be on the road, is more inebriated than someone under the effects of marijuana. With marijuana you also know that you imparied and adjust your driving accordingly.
Yes, sometimes people do jackass things like drive drunk. Those people are jackasses. Should we then go back to prohibition because of those few? If weed were legal, it doesn't mean I'm gonna get high before I drive to work and use heavy machinery, because thats stupid, just like I wouldn't get trashed and go to work.
Your body and mind REALLY ARE worse off with alcohol. If alcohol is accepted, then pot should be as well.
3rd Gear
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,847
Well it's not non-hurting, as you put it... there are harms associated with excessive use. Levels of tar, for example, are higher in a joint than in a cigarette. So a real pothead would run the risk of lung cancer down the road, just like a cigarette smoker.
That being said... it's no reason for it to be illegal. Tobacco and alcohol are obviously just as bad... and alcohol is capable of killing somebody in a single night. How many teens/young adults die from alcohol poisoning? I don't have that figure... but I know that it is at least possible to overdose on alcohol. Not the case with THC.
That being said... it's no reason for it to be illegal. Tobacco and alcohol are obviously just as bad... and alcohol is capable of killing somebody in a single night. How many teens/young adults die from alcohol poisoning? I don't have that figure... but I know that it is at least possible to overdose on alcohol. Not the case with THC.
As for deaths IIRC alcohol kills 340,000-450,000 people a year
Marijuana 0 in 10,000 years.
5th Gear
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 6,678
From: Colchester, VT
Heres a thought...
you say drugs, people think hard stuff, heroin, meth, coke, as well as weed.
maybe instead try to make an effort to NOT call it a drug. AKA, its a entheogen. Which it is, kinda.
Point is, you can throw out facts and stats all day long, but I think a good number of people are brainwashed and 'drug' is a broad term, and pot is always gonna be right there with the hard **** in their minds.
you say drugs, people think hard stuff, heroin, meth, coke, as well as weed.
maybe instead try to make an effort to NOT call it a drug. AKA, its a entheogen. Which it is, kinda.
Point is, you can throw out facts and stats all day long, but I think a good number of people are brainwashed and 'drug' is a broad term, and pot is always gonna be right there with the hard **** in their minds.
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