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I keep wondering what in the Constitution says that I can't grow and use a particular herb if I want to.

My doctor has told me that THC would be a better medication for my chronic pain, vision, and digestive problems than anything he can prescribe, but nobody can legally make me a safe, pure tablet I could take on his orders. It would be less addictive than the other crud I'm having to take. And if it would be more effective, then in my view the government is torturing me by forcing me to do without it. If it wouldn't be effective, well, it would sure have a lot of company in my medicine cabinet.

What gives the government the right to tell me doctor that he can't prescribe it, to tell me I can't take it, to tell me that I can't grow it and use it myself if that's what I want to do?

My next-door neighbor can go out and get drunk on ethanol, purely for recreational purposes, but for some reason THC is special and we need a totally unconstitutional War On Drugs to keep us from using it. Why? Cancer patients and people with glaucoma are known to benefit from it. People like me can only wonder. Why are we denied the right to try it? It might work, it might not. Hey, it might make us feel a little better, temporarily. WHy would that be so terrible it needs to be outlawed?

We already have perfectly good, semi-effective laws against driving under the influence, so don't tell me that's why.

I'm not saying it's a perfectly safe chemical--nothing is. You can kill yourself with water if you use it wrong. In fact, more people kill themselves with water than kill themselves with all other chemicals combined! I'm just wondering how we ended up with a government that can tell me what I can ingest and what I can grow. I can buy rat poison and kill myself with that if I want, but I can't buy THC because it might just possibly over the long term have some nebulous negative effects. I can be trusted with a firearm (so far!) and with narcotic pain relievers that knock me out, but I can't try a little pot. WHY?

It all makes no sense to me, and that they can confiscate everything and jail people who are peripherally involved with this particular activity is crazy. This is not a legitimate function of the federal government. It's a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, and wrecks many a productive life. I gather Willie Nelson has been doing weed for most of his adult life. Carl Sagan, too, was a pothead. I just don't see that it's any worse than ethanol and it might well be better. It should be legalized, because we're a free people and have the God-given right to make these decisions for ourselves.

I also don't see any evidence that most people are inhibited by laws against it. I am, but I resent it.