Posted on 06/10/2005 2:32:31 PM PDT by Nachum
It is this reporter's opinion that each generation in turn takes a new look at the marijuana question. Now it's this generation's turn. In a 6-to-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-marijuana statutes overrule the laws in ten states that allow the use of marijuana plants to ease pain or nausea.
Fifty years ago, as a much younger television reporter, I did a series of interviews with Dr. Hardin B. Jones, Professor of Medical Physics and Physiology at the University of California Berkeley. Dr. Jones, in his thorough study, raised disturbing questions about marijuana's effects on the vital systems of the body, on the brain and mind, on immunity and resistance, and on sex reproduction.
Dr. Jones addressed such problems of society as the hazards to non-smokers, crime, the law, and the effect of widespread smoking among the military – including atomic weapons personnel. And he didn't stop there. The good doctor included telling comments from interviews conducted with scores of marijuana users and ex-users.
I concluded, after this exhaustive study, that the very idea of legalizing marijuana is to follow a senseless, immoral, perilous path – a slippery slope, that the use of marijuana is dangerous on many fronts, that it impairs memory, alters time perception, reduces coordination, damages the immune system, is psychologically habit-forming and creates a wide range of effects on moods and behavior.
Dr. Jones offered an open letter to parents. Following are the main points discussed in his letter:
Marijuana is not a benign drug. Use of this drug impairs learning and judgment and may lead to the development of mental health problems.
Smoking marijuana can injure or destroy lung tissue.
Teens who are high on marijuana are less able to make safe, smart decisions about sex, including knowing when to say "no."
Marijuana can impair perception and reaction time, putting young drivers and others in danger.
Marijuana use may trigger panic attacks, paranoia, and even psychoses.
Marijuana can impair concentration and the ability to retain information during a teen's peak learning years.
Recent research indicates a correlation between frequent marijuana use and aggressive or violent behavior.
Dr. Jones concludes: MARIJUANA IS ADDICTIVE, and says that more teens are in treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than for all other illicit drugs combined.
Personally, I recall one visitation to a rehabilitation center where we interviewed recovering heroin addicts. We had to interview 25 hard-core drug users before we found a single one who had not started with marijuana!
As for those who say they must rely on marijuana to treat their pain, Dr. Jones cited a Washington University School of Medicine study on the subject: the experiment on twenty young men who were experienced marijuana smokers. Before and after they smoked reefers, electric impulses of different strengths were applied to their fingers and pain thresholds recorded. It was a method that earlier had verified the pain-killing effects of morphine, aspirin and codeine. MARIJUANA NOT ONLY FAILED TO LESSEN PAIN, IT ACTUALLY INCREASED IT! That finding casts doubt on the usefulness of marijuana as an analgesic.
The same facts and conclusions are repeated generation after generation with the same conclusion: DON'T EVER LEGALIZE POT!
That is utter nonsense. Where did you pick up that urban legend?
Ethyl Alcohol is a depressant in it's own right - it doesn't get "converted into opiates".
That statement will have to be proved or it will be ignored.
The body ownership argument fails. The State also prohibits fraud and murder, and that is common to all States.
For the victimless crime argument: the true self does not exist independently of the community. Every thing you do affects others.
BTW, Bill Gates doesn't bathe. People stand upwind of him if at all possible.
Must be strange to be the only guy in America to have not attended a business meeting with Bill Gates eh?!
Whoever holds the patents on your DNA owns your body.
No, put it in your own words, or put your words here if those are your words.
Some argued that money had to have intrinsic value so it could consist only of precious metals, or maybe jewels.
Others argued that all it needed was the full faith and credit of a government behind it.
We left the debate when I pointed out that the first money consisted of little brass castings of bulls and a property owner's name. You could take your brass bull to someone and swap it out for a real bull.
Or, alternatively, you could do your accounting by imprinting the casting in a mud brick, which was then baked, and you could pass it around, or even pay taxes with it. No doubt counterfeiting was invented shortly thereafter, but the first money was little more than a letter of credit ~ of no intrinsic worth.
I'm still waiting for one of this crowd to address the issue of when Real Money (a little brass casting of a bull) got turned into Silver or gold, and why.
Once we get past that then maybe you can differentiate between socialism and community.
Or between community and Communism. Almost the same word. It's what you put into it or break out of it when you engage in criticism that matters. For some, the State itself is socialism in action no matter what.
For the record, I think you want to ping mugs99, not me, muggs. I don't know mugs99 but I have noticed that I often agree with him/her so I can understand why you might be confused.
I discovered early on in the postal racket that there were some real bleeders out there who were all the time moaning and groaning to us about how unfair it was for them to have to pay postage.
At the same time they thought others in their same business were inefficient and should be suppressed by the government so that the nation's substance should not be eaten out by such undeserving folks.
All of that boiled down to some folks wanting a government subsidy and no competition~.
That's the filter I hear these "it's socialism" arguments through. Sometimes it's not socialism, it's raw greed that's involved. Funny, though, how greedballs and socialists tend to use the same arguments. Probably think all the rest of us are suckers.
So, how many "MUGGS....." we have on FR now, and what's it mean?
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