cannabisnews.com: Bid To Legalize Marijuana All Smoke and Mirrors
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Bid To Legalize Marijuana All Smoke and Mirrors
Posted by CN Staff on January 15, 2011 at 07:17:36 PT
By Nicole Brochu, Sun Sentinel Columnist
Source: Los Angeles Times
California -- It's difficult to raise the topic of marijuana usage in America today without somehow touching off intense debate over whether this relatively mild, but still harmful drug should be decriminalized, even fully legalized. That's how much the pro-pot crowd has hijacked the national conversation over the nation's ongoing struggle with drug use.Exhibit A: an opinion piece posted in this space earlier this week by a drug treatment psychologist bemoaning a national spike in teen pot smoking and attributing it largely to society's growing tolerance of marijuana use.
Folks, this is not an outrageous assertion. In fact, in figures released Wednesday, the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future — the largest survey on teen drug abuse polling more than 46,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders — found that teens' exposure to anti-drug messages has nosedived over the past seven years. This at a time when teens also reported finding such messages actually work.Perhaps it's not all that irrelevant then that, after a decade's decline in pot-smoking, the same study also saw a spike in marijuana usage among teens last year, with more high school seniors lighting up joints than cigarettes.The numbers, and the trend, are not in dispute. What is up for debate, a heated one at that, is what to do about it.And judging by the deluge of e-mails cluttering up my inbox, there's an increasingly vocal force pushing mighty hard for the country to give up all pretense that the "prohibition" on marijuana is either effective or in the public's best interests. The only answer, these ganja-loving crusaders say, is to quit the double-speak and finally put cannabis where it belongs, in the same legal category as that other socially accepted mood-altering drug, alcohol.To which I say, they must be high.It's a far-fetched notion to suggest Washington would ever have the political will to take such a drastic step — for good reason, because it's irresponsible public policy.Listen, I'm sympathetic to many of the legalization crowd's arguments. To classify marijuana, for example, as a Schedule 1 drug next to heroin is to exaggerate its potency and potential for abuse. I mean, no one's ever died of a THC overdose. The same can't be said for alcohol, which is far more addictive and destructive than pot ever was. So I understand that it smacks as hypocritical to target marijuana in the war on drugs, while scantily clad beauties and Clydesdale horses peddle Budweiser during TV timeouts.But to suggest that legalizing marijuana is somehow an answer to society's drug problems — that regulating its sale and distribution would actually lead to a reduction in usage, especially among youth — defies sober reasoning. Legalization proponents like to point out that the Netherlands, with its liberal drug policy, has a lower drug rate than America's, but they neglect to tell you the country's marijuana usage among 18- to 20-year-olds nearly tripled after legalization — at a time when usage among adolescents in the United States decreased steadily, according to the medical journal Pediatrics.Putting pot up for sale in convenience stores next to cigarettes and beer will only make it more accessible, and more acceptable, not to mention more affordable, creating more consumers, not less. Youth will be the most vulnerable, if Alaska's experiment with legalization in the '70s is any example. The state's youth started smoking at twice the rate of those nationally, convincing Alaska to recriminalize marijuana in 1990, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.We've seen that with alcohol — ironically, the example legalization proponents keep going back to in pushing for reform. It's a bad example. Suggesting that age limits will prove more effective than an all-out ban in keeping pot out of teens' hands ignores the very real problem that alcohol poses for young people today. According to the Monitoring the Future study, alcohol is generally twice as popular among teens as marijuana. Don't tell me being legal, and more widely available, isn't instrumental in those statistics. This isn't a model experiment in legalization we want to duplicate with another recreational substance.And saying pot isn't as bad as alcohol isn't by default the ringing endorsement some want to make it. Anyone who says marijuana isn't harmful is just being dishonest. Studies have shown that long-term marijuana use may shrink parts of the brain and have lasting impacts on mental health. And despite efforts to pooh-pooh its reputation as a gateway drug, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that the younger someone is when using marijuana, the more likely he or she is to use other drugs in adulthood. In fact, according to the Center on and Substance Abuse at Columbia, children who use marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine and 17 times more likely to be regular cocaine abusers. The numbers are equally troubling for heroin. (Think that's why Holland's heroin addiction rate has tripled since it legalized marijuana?)Do we really need more drug addicts in America? No. We don't need another drug declared legal, either. Alcohol has posed enough of a problem, thank you very much.Sure, legalizing marijuana may mean a nice boost to the country's revenue stream through regulation and taxation, but we don't need to sell out our morals and public health for financial gain. We've done enough of that already.Nicole Brochu is an editorial writer and health columnist for the Sun Sentinel. Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author: Nicole Brochu, Sun Sentinel Columnist Published: January 14, 2011Copyright: 2011 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/3ookuBqYCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #18 posted by observer on January 20, 2011 at 18:50:03 PT
propaganda analysis
[1]
California -- It's difficult to raise the topic of marijuana usage in America today without somehow touching off intense debate over whether this relatively mild, but still harmful drug should be decriminalized, even fully legalized .
(Sentence 1) re: "harmful" - It is prohibition, claim prohibitionists, that saves people from drug crazed, whacked out, high flying drug users. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) re: "America" - Prohibitionists assert that the survival of the community, society, the nation, the world, etc. are at stake. Only continued and increased punishments for drug users can be contemplated, because, say prohibitionists, society will otherwise fall apart. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 )
[2]
That's how much the pro-pot crowd has hijacked the national conversation over the nation's ongoing struggle with drug use .
(Sentence 2) re: "drug use" - Prohibitionist propagandists repeatedly assert that "use is abuse." Details about "using" as opposed to "abusing" drugs are ignored. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) re: "pro-pot" - Because they hold differing opinions on drug policy, say prohibitionists, "legalizers" should be silenced or jailed. (Dissent Attacked (propaganda theme 8) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme8.htm#8 )
[3]
Exhibit A: an opinion piece posted in this space earlier this week by a drug treatment psychologist bemoaning a national spike in teen pot smoking and attributing it largely to society's growing tolerance of marijuana use .
(Sentence 3) re: "pot smoking" - Drug war propaganda insinuates drugs are evil, because they are linked with hated groups. (Hated Groups (propaganda theme 1) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme1.htm#1 ) re: "society", "to society" - The health of the "community" (read: government) is assured, prohibitionists explain, because drug users are punished. Jailing drug users is thus painted as upholding society. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 ) re: "marijuana use" - Prohibition propaganda claims that all use of any "drug" is abuse. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) re: "teen" - "Chemicals have long been inextricably linked in prohibitionist literature with the ... corruption of young people." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[5]
In fact, in figures released Wednesday, the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future the largest survey on teen drug abuse polling more than 46,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders found that teens' exposure to anti-drug messages has nosedived over the past seven years .
(Sentence 5) re: "anti-drug messages" - Diplomats and politicians still believe in verbal persuasion and argumentative tactics. It is a very old and alluring game, this strategy of political maneuvering with official slogans and catchwords, the subtlety of bypassing the truth in the service of partisanship, of giving faulty emphasis, the skill of dancing around selected arguments to arrive at personal propagandistic aims or party aims. [Joost A. M. Meerloo, "Rape of the Mind", ch.13, http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/rotm/13.htm#tactics] re: "drug abuse", "abuse" - Prohibitionists try to hammer in the idea that 'all use is abuse.' The rhetoric of prohibition needs to deny that many people can use currently illegal drugs without abusing them. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) re: "teen", "teens", "graders", "messages" - "Nothing can so excite an adult population as can anything which appears to threaten their own children." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[6]
This at a time when teens also reported finding such messages actually work .
(Sentence 6) re: "teens", "messages" - "The inflaming of this fear about the fate of our own children [makes] it difficult if not impossible for most Americans to take a careful and reasoned look at our drug policies."[W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[7]
Perhaps it's not all that irrelevant then that, after a decade's decline in pot-smoking, the same study also saw a spike in marijuana usage among teens last year, with more high school seniors lighting up joints than cigarettes .
(Sentence 7) re: "teens" - Prohibitionists forever claim that children are corrupted by drugs, and this is why adult users must be punished harshly. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[10]
And judging by the deluge of e-mails cluttering up my inbox, there's an increasingly vocal force pushing mighty hard for the country to give up all pretense that the "prohibition" on marijuana is either effective or in the public's best interests .
(Sentence 10) re: "the country" - The survival of society is assured, -- says the propaganda of prohibition -- as long as drug users are punished (jailed). (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 )
[11]
The only answer, these ganja-loving crusaders say, is to quit the double-speak and finally put cannabis where it belongs, in the same legal category as that other socially accepted mood-altering drug, alcohol .
(Sentence 11) re: "ganja-loving crusaders" - People who step forward in disagreement with prohibition are silenced, attacked, and sometimes jailed. (Dissent Attacked (propaganda theme 8) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme8.htm#8 )
[16]
I mean, no one's ever died of a THC overdose .
(Sentence 16) re: "overdose" - The rhetoric of prohibition asserts that insanity, crime, and violence are caused by drugs, or are controlled by prohibition. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 )
[17]
The same can't be said for alcohol, which is far more addictive and destructive than pot ever was .
(Sentence 17) re: "addictive" - Drugs, scream prohibitionists, cause all bad things in life: crime, violence, insanity, etc. If not for prohibition (i.e., jailing drug users), then criminality, violence and psychotic behavior would explode upon the land, the prohibitionist assures us. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 )
[18]
So I understand that it smacks as hypocritical to target marijuana in the war on drugs, while scantily clad beauties and Clydesdale horses peddle Budweiser during TV timeouts .
(Sentence 18) re: "war on drugs" - Prohibitionists demonize the use of drugs and claim the use of drugs is "epidemic." Images of "war" are used by the prohibition propagandist to help whip up emotions. (Demonize, War (propaganda theme 6) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme6.htm#6 )
[19]
But to suggest that legalizing marijuana is somehow an answer to society's drug problems that regulating its sale and distribution would actually lead to a reduction in usage, especially among youth defies sober reasoning .
(Sentence 19) re: "society", "to society" - Because of prohibition (prohibitionists assure us), society is protected: the community is safe, and the nation is saved. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 ) re: "youth" - Drug war propaganda plays on parental fears for the well being of their kids. If drug users are not jailed, says the prohibitionist, then your children will surely suffer. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) re: "legalizing" - Drug policy options are presented as either total prohibition, or as total "legalization." No middle ground is contemplated in the "zero-tolerance" world of prohibition. Absolute prohibition executed with religious fervor and purpose! (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme7.htm#7 )
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #17 posted by observer on January 20, 2011 at 18:48:44 PT
propaganda analysis
[20]
Legalization proponents like to point out that the Netherlands, with its liberal drug policy, has a lower drug rate than America's, but they neglect to tell you the country's marijuana usage among 18- to 20-year-olds nearly tripled after legalization at a time when usage among adolescents in the United States decreased steadily, according to the medical journal Pediatrics .
(Sentence 20) re: "the country", "America" - Prohibitionists assert that the survival of the community, society, the nation, the world, etc. are at stake. Only continued and increased punishments for drug users can be contemplated, because, say prohibitionists, society will otherwise fall apart. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 )
[22]
Youth will be the most vulnerable, if Alaska's experiment with legalization in the '70s is any example .
(Sentence 22) re: "Youth" - Prohibitionists play on parental fears by exaggerating the dangers to children of drugs. Adults must be jailed (reason prohibitionists), because kids might be corrupted with drugs. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[23]
The state's youth started smoking at twice the rate of those nationally, convincing Alaska to recriminalize marijuana in 1990, according to the U.S .
(Sentence 23) re: "youth" - "Since the Harrison Act of 1914, the user and the seller of illicit drugs have both been characterized as evil, criminal, insane, and always in search of new victims, the victims are characterized as young children." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[27]
Suggesting that age limits will prove more effective than an all-out ban in keeping pot out of teens' hands ignores the very real problem that alcohol poses for young people today .
(Sentence 27) re: "teens", "young people" - Prohibitionist propaganda continually whips up parental fear, invoking lurid images of children corrupted by drugs. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[28]
According to the Monitoring the Future study, alcohol is generally twice as popular among teens as marijuana .
(Sentence 28) re: "teens" - Being a prohibitionist means you can never shed too many crocodile tears for the "children". (As you lustily jail or kill their parents for using drugs.) (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[32]
Anyone who says marijuana isn't harmful is just being dishonest .
(Sentence 32) re: "harmful" - Drugs, the prohibitionist explains, are a wicked bane on modern man. Why if not for the noble drug war (i.e. jailing drug users), exclaims the propagandist, then people will run amok, and violence, death, psychosis, and plague shall cover the land. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 )
[33]
Studies have shown that long-term marijuana use may shrink parts of the brain and have lasting impacts on mental health .
(Sentence 33) re: "marijuana use" - "This strategy equates the use and abuse of drugs and implies that it is impossible to use the particular drug or drugs in question without physical, mental, and moral deterioration." [W.White,1979] (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse )
[34]
And despite efforts to pooh-pooh its reputation as a gateway drug, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that the younger someone is when using marijuana, the more likely he or she is to use other drugs in adulthood .
(Sentence 34) re: "Substance Abuse", "Abuse" - The rhetoric of prohibition will assume that "use" and "abuse" are identical. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) re: "gateway drug", "use other drugs", "gateway" - Prohibitionists often claim that a targeted drug is a "gateway" to abuse of more dangerous drugs. (Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#4 )
[35]
In fact, according to the Center on and Substance Abuse at Columbia, children who use marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine and 17 times more likely to be regular cocaine abusers .
(Sentence 35) re: "Substance Abuse", "use marijuana", "Abuse", "abusers" - Any use of an illegal drug is deemed to be "abuse," weasels the propaganda of prohibition. (After all - it is illegal!) (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) re: "times more likely to use" - Some drugs, claims the rhetoric of prohibition, are "gateways" to other, "harder" drugs. (Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#4 ) re: "children" - Prohibitionists are champions of "the child", "kids", "children", etc. Only continued or increased punishments of all adults caught using "drugs" will send the correct "message" to children. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 )
[37]
(Think that's why Holland's heroin addiction rate has tripled since it legalized marijuana?)
(Sentence 37) re: "addiction" - Drug war rhetoric asserts jailing addicts curbs addiction. re: - Prohibition propaganda rarely misses an opportunity to link crime, violence, and insanity with "drugs". The propagandist insinuates that prohibited drugs cause evil, and if it weren't for "drugs" bad things would not exist. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) re: "legalized" - With God on Their Side (prohibitionists assure us), only the continued rooting out of the sinful drug users (total prohibition) will do. All else is portrayed as the slippery slope to total legalization of all drugs for toddlers. (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme7.htm#7 )
[38]
Do we really need more drug addicts in America?
(Sentence 38) re: "drug addicts", "addicts" - Prohibition rhetoric often attempts to associate hated groups with targeted drugs. (Hated Groups (propaganda theme 1) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme1.htm#1 ) re: "America" - Prohibitionists assert that the survival of the community, society, the nation, the world, etc. are at stake. Only continued and increased punishments for drug users can be contemplated, because, say prohibitionists, society will otherwise fall apart. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 )
[42]
Sure, legalizing marijuana may mean a nice boost to the country's revenue stream through regulation and taxation, but we don't need to sell out our morals and public health for financial gain .
(Sentence 42) re: "the country" - The survival of society is assured, -- says the propaganda of prohibition -- as long as drug users are punished (jailed). (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 ) re: "legalizing" - Onward prohibitionist drug warriors, fighting the epidemic and scourge in the battles of the war against drugs! (Drugs declared evil by politicians, that is.) (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme7.htm#7 )
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #16 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on January 18, 2011 at 18:56:16 PT
Responce from NORML
LA Times Columnist’s Unfounded Fears of Legal Pot"I’m still left wondering how we 'hijacked the national conversation' when she’s the one whose column is appearing in 725,000 copies of the Los Angeles Times and another 225,000 copies of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel."http://www.opposingviews.com/i/la-times-columnist%E2%80%99s-unfounded-fears-of-legal-pot
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #15 posted by museman on January 17, 2011 at 10:24:04 PT
Paul Pot
Abso-friggin-lutely!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #14 posted by Paul Pot on January 17, 2011 at 02:56:19 PT:
Prohibition is for the insane.
You are really weird, you're saying that the argument for ending prohibition is right but ending prohibition is wrong.
And that it is responsible policy for swat teams to shoot the family dog in front of the children, to shoot pregnant women should they try to escape during a raid and shoot 92 year old grandmothers during an illegal raid and for the to cops to put a wire on a girl busted for a joint who goes off to do a sting operation for them and who turns up dead a few days later. All these things and more have happened in the name of so called responsible policy.Just what gives you the right to smash people doors in and destroy their lives cause you don't like a plant. Obviously you have never been raided or you might see things a little differently.You really should get a badge and join a raid yourself. Or why don't you ring the police anonymously and tell them there's some pot at your address and see what happens just so you can write about the fun time you had with the nice policemen who came by your house to have milk and cookies with you. You have got no idea at all what is going on out there in the real world, and you're a journalist. And all you seem to be worried about is the fact that young people are using it. With out showing that it has actually caused them any harm. Would you rather have them sniffing glue.'Marijuana is the safest therapeutically active substance known to man' 1988 judge Francis Young, of the DEA no less.And you seem to be implying that you care somehow about this monstrous evil in society yet you are saying at the same time that the we must continue to hunt down those people in need, who are supposedly destroyed by this great peril, smash in their doors, drag them off to court to be abused by his worship, have their belongings their rights and their liberty stripped from them, then you expect a big thank you in return for your care and consideration for their health and well being. Your are nuts and worse, dangerous. Why is it that punitive action is the only response you are able to offer. What on earth happened to community support and management and good governance instead of Nazi brown shirt boot stomping tactics. You have no consideration for the democratic principles and you would much rather live in a totalitarian police state. But you cry 'I am free and living in a democratic society'. Of course YOU have liberty, freedom and justice, YOU can afford it. To support prohibition you have to be either, ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, insane or corrupt.After reading this article I can only conclude that you are all five.And by the way, Washington isn't going to have a say in the end because the people are going to end this madness for themselves and there's nothing you can do to stop them. Thank the founding fathers for creating a real and powerful democracy, 'for the people, of the people, and by the people', that will, in the end, win out.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #13 posted by gloovins on January 17, 2011 at 01:43:57 PT
her email...
nbrochu sun-sentinel.comthere she is ... I will simply send her this link of her "article" here on cnews and alert her to our comments.Nicole - come to the side of reason and sanity. We the People who want to use it for fuel, textiles, & yes medicine/nonnarco foods...Are we high? No, just sane.What are you?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #12 posted by gloovins on January 17, 2011 at 01:32:44 PT
She knows better than you...
Nicole knows....Please listen to her. "I mean, no one's ever died of a THC overdose. The same can't be said for alcohol, which is far more addictive and destructive than pot ever was.""Suggesting that age limits will prove more effective than an all-out ban in keeping pot out of teens' hands ignores the very real problem that alcohol poses for young people today.""...alcohol is generally twice as popular among teens as marijuana."HA - her own words used against her. She is the ultimate hypocrite. Anyone know her email addy? Don't have the time or real care/desire to look her up now. However, she symbolizes this type of prohibitionist who acknowledge all our valid arguments but still retort with babble and anti-logic."Do we really need more drug addicts in America? No. We don't need another drug declared legal, either. Alcohol has posed enough of a problem, thank you very much." she declares.Ahh, I agree we do not need more drug addicts in America but if the choice is between a toker and a drinker, say, behind the wheel of a car or for the sake of health care we'll say, you bet, I want them toking a little herb rather that drinking the rot got, hands down. "Sure, legalizing marijuana may mean a nice boost to the country's revenue stream through regulation and taxation, but we don't need to sell out our morals and public health for financial gain. We've done enough of that already."How dare you want to bring to light an unregulated, underground economy that could bring thousands of jobs above ground and legitimize them. Regulate them and treat them like human beings helping other human beings get by, get high, and yes NOT DRUNK.To which I say to you Nicole, are you drunk? ...or ignorant?I think both.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #11 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on January 16, 2011 at 18:53:23 PT
So, why shouldn't alcohol be illegal?
"I mean, no one's ever died of a THC overdose. The same can't be said for alcohol, which is far more addictive and destructive than pot ever was.""Suggesting that age limits will prove more effective than an all-out ban in keeping pot out of teens' hands ignores the very real problem that alcohol poses for young people today.""...alcohol is generally twice as popular among teens as marijuana."I look forward to the upcoming series of articles in the LA Times urging the return to a national prohibition of alcohol.After all, prohibition of alcohol kept use by kids low, without any other associated problems, right?Makes one wonder why such a wonderful law was repealed after only a little more that a decade.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by Garry Minor on January 16, 2011 at 15:20:32 PT
The Church in Illinois
Once the Churches get behind us, it's a done deal!Protestants for the Common GoodLegislative DevelopmentMedical Marijuana Close to ApprovalRev. Alexander Sharp on Wednesday, January 5, 2011
PCG staff have worked over the past month in support of SB 1381, which would legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes. The bill fell four votes short of approval when it was called for a vote on November 30 and was postponed for future consideration. We are now hoping that the bill will be approved by the Illinois House in the current “lame duck” session of the General Assembly and forwarded to Governor Quinn for his signature. The bill passed the Senate in 2009.
This bill would make Illinois the 16th http://www.thecommongood.org/blogs/detail/425/state to legalize medical marijuana. PCG supports SB 1381 as an act of mercy and compassion on behalf of individuals suffering from chronic or acute pain.
Several key points are critical to PCG’s support. First, we are convinced that, indeed, cannabis has medicinal value that leads to relief. While it does not work for all patients, it is has significant benefits for many and helps some who can find relief in no other way. The testimony of patients who have become addicted to prescription drugs that dramatically reduced their quality of life is persuasive and deeply moving. Second, it is abundantly clear that cannabis is safer than most, if not all of these prescription drugs, most notably OxyContin and Vicadin. Third, this bill provides up-front regulatory measures ensuring that implementation will be one of the most tightly controlled medical cannabis programs among the 15 states that have taken this step. snipped From the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles;"Heal the bodies first, therefore, so that through the real powers of healing for their bodies, without medicine of the world, they may believe in you, that you have power to heal the illnesses of the heart also."
http://www.thecommongood.org/blogs/detail/425/
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #9 posted by FoM on January 16, 2011 at 14:14:18 PT
Just a Note
I wanted to let everyone know we are going to be busy the next few days. We will be going to the hospital for a Nuclear Medicine Scan and Stress Test for my husband and will gone most of the day Tuesday. We have lots of things to get done this week so if I miss news I hope someone posts a link. Luckily the news is very slow this time of year.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by BGreen on January 16, 2011 at 10:02:13 PT
Factual errors or outright lies?
Think that's why Holland's heroin addiction rate has tripled since it legalized marijuana?Um, no. You managed to cram two lies in one sentence. Cannabis isn't legal, it's tolerated as previously stated by DrDunkleosteus. The lie about heroin addicts tripling must have been pulled out of your rear end because the rates of heroin addiction not only has dropped, but the average abuser age has risen. That means that cannabis tolerance has reduced the number of young people using heroin. The lies you lifted off the DEA's own website are bald-faced lies. All you have to do is double check your numbers with official numbers from the Netherlands to discover the DEA is LYING! The Dutch have half the rate of heroin use than the good ol' Prison States of America.The DOJ/DEA website you lifted your lies from actually contradicts itself, so that in itself shows that facts have no place in DEA propaganda.http://www.justice.gov/dea/demand/speakout/09so.htmThe Netherlands has led Europe in the liberalization of drug policy. "Coffee shops" began to emerge throughout the Netherlands in 1976, offering marijuana products for sale. Possession and sale of marijuana are not legal, but coffee shops are permitted to operate and sell marijuana under certain restrictions, including a limit of no more than 5 grams sold to a person at any one time, no alcohol or hard drugs, no minors, and no advertising. In the Netherlands, it is illegal to sell or possess marijuana products. So coffee shop operators must purchase their marijuana products from illegal drug trafficking organizations.andSince legalization of marijuana, heroin addiction levels in Holland have tripled and perhaps even quadrupled by some estimates.Oopsies! They first tell the truth and then slip in a complete lie as if nobody would notice. Cannabis is NOT legal so, if the first part of the premise is untrue, we can accurately conclude that the second part of the statement is equally void of factual content.Ms. Brochu, you've already sold out your morals for financial gain by lying in this article. Shame on you! Maybe you should serve a few years in prison for your sins and you'll get a taste of what you're condemning us to.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #7 posted by rustyfuggerIVXX on January 16, 2011 at 09:03:26 PT:
JT#2
Okay,if the government does not want to control and make revenue off of pot, at least do not prosicute people who enjoy the consumpsion of this nearly harmless plant. It does more harm than good, when a person has a mark on their record for minor pocession. Not me, but I know plenty of others who's futures could have been much brighter if not for a failed law.
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Comment #6 posted by ekim on January 15, 2011 at 19:02:59 PT
Freedom Watch had on Mr Balko a weekago Fri
talking about the poor soul grandfather botched raidhttp://www.drugwarrant.com/2011/01/dea-issues-apology/#commentsIn yet another wrong-address drug raid. Radley Balko passed it on Thursday
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Comment #5 posted by ekim on January 15, 2011 at 13:10:41 PT
Exhibit B we don't need to sell out our morals
and public health for financial gain. We've done enough of that already.like back 10 years agohttp://cannabisnews.com/news/8/thread8817.shtmlBoth universities would have studied the use of hemp to make cloth, paper, oils, food products and building materials at a projected cost of about $1 million. But some SIU officials were concerned with how much money the government would provide, and the amount incurred by the University
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Comment #4 posted by DrDunkleosteus on January 15, 2011 at 12:08:50 PT:
Code of journalistic ethics
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.aspMiss Brochu may want to take a look at that... and perhaps reevaluate her career.
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Comment #3 posted by museman on January 15, 2011 at 10:06:35 PT
JT#2
"What is their problem? Why are they so “hung up” over this? What is their real objection? Do they even know what their real objection is?"Consciousness. They don't have it, don't know what it is, are afraid of it(and justly so) and do not want others to have it because they might (will) get replaced by sanity, responsibility, and people who do things for higher reasons than self satisfaction.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #2 posted by John Tyler on January 15, 2011 at 08:50:43 PT
another lazy, crazy, stupid argument
Another one of those “We can’t end cannabis prohibition because we have to protect the kids” argument. It is still a weak argument as it ever was. The prohibitionists are saying people shouldn’t be allowed to use a natural plant because it was deemed too dangerous by some people who didn’t use it either and didn’t know what they were talking about over 70 years ago. They should go to jail instead. Yet, it is OK, and even encouraged to engage in all manner of other dangerous and unhealthy activities for work or recreation. Why is using cannabis deemed more dangerous than say playing football, or motorcycle riding, or playing with firearms. Even the president got a split lip playing basketball. That wouldn’t have happened if he and his pals had been tokin’ instead. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t do whatever they want to do, but I am saying is that in the whole scheme of activities, cannabis usage is way down at the bottom of dangerous and unhealthy. It seems that the prohibitionists just don’t like cannabis, but they can’t figure out why? They like drinking. They like smoking tobacco. What is their problem? Why are they so “hung up” over this? What is their real objection? Do they even know what their real objection is?
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Comment #1 posted by DrDunkleosteus on January 15, 2011 at 08:26:00 PT:
Come on, Nicole
The fact that you think it was ever "Legal" in Holland shows your ignorance on this subject. It was decriminalized, as in not a crime to possess, but it was still illegal to grow, thus putting the sellers in a "grey area"; there was never any regulation. I think this columnist is just putting out another fluff piece to get herself some recognition and maybe a pat on the head from her superiors. She clearly hasn't taken the time to research any of her claims and the fact that this drivel has been repeated almost verbatim by so many other editors, it makes you wonder how much she plagiarized, or at least "borrowed" from her colleagues. How many times have we seen a title containing "Smoke and Mirrors"? Is this what passes for journalism these days? I miss Hunter S. Thompson...
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