When I was in college I noticed that none of my college buddies who smoked could hold their breaths under water for more than a few seconds. I consider that alone to constitute serious harm.
IMHO, marijuana is over hyped politicized junk.
They decided to go after it under Nixon and since then it has been THE single most studied drug, with over 3,000 various federal studies looking into every aspect of this drug.
They really haven’t been able to find much. And so BS like “gate way drug” and “psychological addiction” were born. These are really rhetorical arguments not science based.
That said, both tobacco and alcohol can be physically addictive. Ask anyone who’s in AA if alcohol isn’t physically addictive.
Furthermore, the damage done to the body is far greater with alcohol or tobacco.
You do not consume 40 joints a day like a smoker does cigarettes, and even when it is smoked, the user only inhales 2 or 3 times. Besides, many users of marijuana opt for less stinky and cleaner options such as oils, edibles, etc.
Bottom line- marijuana has been villainized to the point of comedic. The new angle of attack is trying to pretend like it causes psychosis and makes some people go crazy. Junk, junk, and more junk.
The reason why these junk arguments will not work, is because so many people use it: ~60% try pot and about 22% of adults used pot in the last year.
You can tell people that they will fall off the side of the earth if they sail too far out to sea in some government study feeding a policy maker what they want to hear, but once 50% have sailed past that point and know the truth, it’s an argument appealing to ignorance that will have limited traction only with a small few that really want to believe that junk (some other underlying reason).
Eventually, in the next years it will become more and more legal, albeit it should never be considered acceptable to be high and operating a vehicle, while at work, in school, or annoying people with its horrible stench. For those that want to use this drug both medicinally and recreational, fine, but don’t put other people at risk nor annoy them with the smell.
Ever see the battlefield in the past, where people rally around various flags (colors)?
This is one of those issues that has nothing to do with the merits of any argument.
Some folks will simply oppose it because they think as a conservative they need to take that position.
Instead of thinking, making a judgement based on any sort of facts, weighing the pros and cons, filtering out the nonsense, identifying what are assumptions... they essentially use a form of group think to define their stance on the issue.
The burocracy at all levels of course will resist and has financial incentives to keep it illegal (huge budgets for law enforcement, intel agencies and fines/revenue are involved).
But in the meantime those that support it have learned that they can also play that game: lobby, hire former speakers of the house, promise money in the form of taxes, licencing, etc.
Who would have ever believed this: https://youtu.be/s8gj3IGqIwY?si=AXU08X0GzswmBy6s
One day people will look back and think “did we really arrest people over this?”. It’ll sound about as stupid as arresting or incarcerating someone for owning a vibrator. A long time ago, people actually did find themselves in prison for owning a dildo or vibrator. Some of these laws (though seldom enforced) are still on the books!!! https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.43.htm#43.21
Marijuana simply became criminalized because of politics (Nixon), government growth and serving itself (DEA, FBI...), and many people on the political right feeling they need to take a stance against it because that makes them “conservative.”
Not sure where it says in the Constitution that pot should be illegal or regulated. I thought the conservative movement is about smaller/less government, less intrusion in our lives?
Again, IMHO this is an issue where you have a lot of contradictions, a lot which simply doesn’t make sense, huge over exaggerating by those trying to make marijuana out as dangerous, and many folks that simply take a stance on the issue because as a conservative they feel that’s what position they are supposed to take.
Real world: a kid eats the entire pack of edible marijuana gummies (10 doses). What happens? He falls asleep, wakes up the next morning without a hang over. What do you think happens to the kid if he eats 10 doses of prescription sleep pills?
Marijuana is essentially habit forming but not really addictive. It is extremely hard to overdose. No kidding Tylenol kills more people every year (450): https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/acetaminophen-toxicity-what-pharmacists-need-to-know#:~:text=Acetaminophen%2Dassociated%20overdoses%20account%20for,and%20over%20450%20deaths%20annually.
It does NOT make people freak out or behave or irradically, quite the contrary, it calms people down. It’s negative health effects are far less than alcohol or tobacco. There are medicinal uses for marijuana: seizures, sleep, anxiety... It’s a plant that grows naturally and has been used for at least 8,800 years by humans: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cannabis
Now we want to define it as a schedule 1 drug (comparable to heroin, crack or LSD) in America: https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/drug-scheduling (look under schedule 1)
No, it makes absolutely no sense.
It’s stupid.
It’s a loosing battle for those that oppose it’s legalization, and that’s a good thing.