Posted on 05/14/2005 6:19:49 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Apparently, if we’re to believe his friend’s tape recordings, George W. Bush smoked pot at some time in his life. In some quarters, this president is taking some heat for having actually inhaled. Well, I’m confessing that I, too, smoked a little weed in my younger days. Unlike some people, such as Bill Maher, I’m not bragging about it. It’s simply something I did, like riding a bike and practicing my hook shot three hours a day, and now I don’t.
Therefore, unlike many of my fellow conservatives, when I discuss marijuana, I’ve had first hand experience with it. To begin with, I am certain that, overall, the stuff did me far less harm than the Marlboros I smoked and the vodka I drank in those days. Understand, I am not advocating its use. But I would argue that in a society where I was free to satisfy my cravings for nicotine, which kills thousands of Americans every year, and alcohol, which not only kills and maims thousands of others, but destroys careers, friendships and families, it is the height of absurdity and hypocrisy to make possession of pot illegal.
Based on my experience with the stuff, along with witnessing its effect on others, I would say it makes people hungry, dozy and stupid. Which sounds like the three dwarfs who didn’t get cast opposite Snow White. What it doesn’t sound like, and what it isn’t, is a societal scourge.
It doesn’t make people violent, and it is not so expensive that people have to resort to theft or prostitution in order to pay for it. I have heard people insist that marijuana use leads to cocaine, heroin, meth, ludes, ecstasy, and all those other scary drugs we hear about. That, my friends, is baloney. While it is probably true that every heroin addict at some point smoked some weed, it is ridiculous to suggest that the progression was inevitable. It’s like suggesting that some hood driving the getaway car for a gang of bank robbers started out driving to the movies and the mall, and thus doomed himself to a life of vehicular crime.
The problem with outlawing marijuana is that there is simply no upside to its prohibition. It wastes the time of cops, judges and prosecutors, who should be concentrating their efforts on the criminals and sociopaths who actually prey on us. It fills our prisons to overflowing, forcing us to either cough up millions of dollars to build more jails or, in order to make room, offer early releases to the felons who really need to be locked up.
In addition, it keeps the price of the cheap product higher than it otherwise would be for no other reason than that it’s illegal.
Also, let us not overlook the fact that it is a major industry, but nobody involved with it -- be they growers, distributors or consumers -- pays a single dollar in taxes. On the contrary, it drains much-needed tax dollars away from schools, roads and law enforcement. Talk about dumb!
In addition to everything else, its illegality is preventing people who require it for its various medicinal properties from obtaining it. Talk about cruel!
Lest you think I have written this because I feel the law breathing down my neck, I swear I haven’t smoked a joint in about 40 years. And inasmuch as George Bush apparently broke the law more recently than that, if the narcs come after me, I intend to roll over and give up the president!
You may be wondering why I quit using the stuff. Well, in the beginning, I must admit I enjoyed the reaction I got. It made me feel relaxed and very amusing. It was only later, on those occasions when I hadn’t indulged and my friends had, that I discovered how boring and stupid they all sounded. It occurred to me that perhaps, just maybe, marijuana didn’t really turn me into Oscar Wilde on one of his wittier days.
Once I decided to quit smoking, I just flushed my few joints down the toilet, and I never felt the slightest urge to ever light up again. Take my word for it, the stuff is about as addictive as cauliflower.
However, I did find I had to enter rehab in order to kick the brownie habit.
Burt Prelutsky has written for Dragnet, McMillan & Wife, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, Bob Newhart, Family Ties, Dr. Quinn, and Diagnosis Murder. He wrote a humor column for the Los Angeles Times and was the movie critic for Los Angeles magazine. His most recent book is Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco (A Hollywood Rightwinger Comes Out of the Closet).
Email Burt Prelutsky: Burt Prelutsky@aol.com
"And inasmuch as George Bush apparently broke the law more recently than that, if the narcs come after me, I intend to roll over and give up the president!
"
LOL! That's was a good shot. "give up the Prez!"
I never smoked much - I found that regular smoking was extremely tiring - and I quit because it just seemed to be a part of youth and disappeared as youth itself was lost.
Yeah, right. In other articles he describes himself as a libertarian, much closer to the truth.
"The problem with outlawing marijuana is that there is simply no upside to its prohibition."
Like there's an upside to its legalization?
Burt really isn't trying to be profound. He's a humourist, and you've noticed that in all of his columns, he's very laid back. He has a refreshing "take it or leave it" atttitude.........and beside all that, he's a really REALLY wonderful guy. He was on the Al Rantel show out here one night about 3 months ago (KABC AM 790, in L.A.) and the show got very high ratings.
actually yes there is an upside.
Prosecuting marijuana cases is a waste of money. We ought to put our tax paying energies into prosecuting and putting away crack dealers.
I don't think Pot should be sold like candy. Make it legal to smoke at 21 like alcohol.
Hey, what's not to like? He favors "people doing pretty much whatever they like so long as it doesn't hurt others".
Me? I favor people getting together and deciding how they will live together as a society that will endure.
You're right.
Fine. Then decriminalize and issue tickets. No need to legalize.
"Make it legal to smoke at 21 like alcohol"
Currently, 30% of marijuana smokers are underage. If we were to legalize marijuana, that percentage would probably grow to 50%.
With half the marijuana market remaining illegal, I don't see how we'd gain much of anything. The black market would remain and kids would still be arrested and tried in court.
"Make it legal to smoke at 21 like alcohol"
Currently, 30% of marijuana smokers are underage. If we were to legalize marijuana, that percentage would probably grow to 50%.
Substitite MJ with alchohol...and see where your argument falls apart
It's a source of never ending amazement to me that in my state I'm permitted to legally brew as much alcohol for my personal consumption as I like yet if so much as one single marijuana plant were found on my property I would be looking at a five year prison stretch.
Making smoking a weed illegal makes about as much since as banning the drinking of beer.
That reminds me, I have to trim my hops tomorrow. The Goldings are looking pretty good this year.
L
When you look at the Dutch case...where the door was opened for all...the 50 percent use by teenagers is probably true. Yet, across the vast Dutch population...I'm willing to bet that only 35 percent currently use it...from once a month to once a day...a wide spectrum, I will admit.
The key thing event though in the Netherlands is that a small segment of society (around 25,000 of the total population)...became categorized as "too stressed" to work, and were put on disability. I listened to an entire interview of a Dutch doctor explaining this special category...which almost no other European country allows as a reason to collect disability. The patients admitted that they gradually were unable to cope with stress in the office place (if you've ever been to the Netherlands...you'd note that its about the least stressful work environment of any country on the earth). Its obvious that significant usage of grass...forced people to use it as a crutch across office stress...and it simply increased month after month. The same would be true in American society if we allowed it free access. People would eventually say that working at McDonalds...simply was too stressful and request permanent disability.
My argument stands.
I agree.
Then why is it that kids use alcohol 2:1 over easy to get marijuana? Alcohol is legal, that's why, and legality carries with it a societal acceptance of the drug.
Then why would you compare teen marijuana use in the Netherlands with that of the U.S.? Cultural differences come into play.
The fact is that teens in the Netherlands don't have a marijuana problem -- they have a drinking problem. Twice as many teens there abuse alcohol as teens in the U.S.
So if the teens there choose alcohol, we can see how their marijuana use might be lower than ours.
I have worked closely with many police officers.
Once I heard one of them say "I never had to break up a domestic violence call involving marijuana."
This sentiment is shared by a majority of Law Enforcement I met. Domestic violence calls are some of the most dangerous calls for police.
Quite possibly because they prefer its effects.
Well, if that's true, then why do you argue that we need to legalize marijuana and make it harder for teens to obtain?
Your statement above implies that one could give kids marijuana and they'd turn it down, preferring alcohol instead.
So, what is it -- do we really need to make marijuana more difficult for teens to obtain? Why? Teens prefer alcohol anyways.
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