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!
Back this up. What is the area of the brain associated with moving to hard drugs? Is MJ the only thing that excites these areas? This is a huge scienific break through if true. I'd really be interested in the research. Link me up.
The only type of conservative you are is your mama's type. Jackbooted conservatism!
The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act pretty much took this out of the states' hands.
It's a little late to be complaining that the SCOTUS should legislate drug laws.
LeRoy must be so sad today.
There is no doper branch in conservatism anywhere.
Anarchist would be your best bet along with liberal democrat hippies.
I'll be in Santa Monica tomorrow, you could tell me things to my face. Yeah, right, your mama won't be there.
"Fifty years ago"
You're posting an opinion based on a study from FIFTY YEARS AGO???
At least we know where A CA GUY gets his info.
Well, come on over and find out. I don't think you're for real, anyway. You are but a caricature designed to indirectly ridicule WOD'ies. You won't be there because you won't have the truth become known about yourself.
Send us your pictures in the rally with REGULAR FR members while wearing your pro-illegal drug position T-shirt and impress the heck out of me.
You can't proclaim openly in a t-shirt or sign your pro-illegal drug use position because the FREEPERS there minus a couple of dopers would not try to be near you. You would be an embarassment IMO.
Do you think you could wear a pro-illegal drug T-shirt and FREEPERS would back you up during a rally? I DON'T THINK SO!!!!
You say I 'would be an embarrassment', but I respond you 'are an embarrassment'. Like I said, I don't think you're for real. FReepers can judge tomorrow whether I am or not. You won't be there, so you'll just have to remain an anonymous embarrassment, perceived and accused of being a plant, a phony, a devil's advocate, a disruptor.
The first three acts violate another person's rights, whereas the last act does not.
It's *your* claim, so *you* get to do the Googling to support it ... or be revealed as a shameless fabricator. (Bet I can predict which it will be.)
TKDietz posted data that indicates the opposite. Do you have anything to counter his data, except your own baseless say-so?
I have repedly asked CA guy for links, or research to back up his claims. Each time he expects me to go do the research for him. Therefor whenever he makes a claim of all prisoners are dopers, Dope always leads to hard drugs, smoking is a faster rush than injecting, etc. I just throw it out the window where it belongs.
Sure, go back to the links I left earlier to schitzophenia.
Our prisons are full of violent offenders who to this day have massive self medication habits.
Often they mix pot with lots of other stuff, which not only involved pot in violence, but also again brings up the pot gateway drug term once again.
So, you ever been arrested for anything related to illegal recreational drugs, I haven't?
MJ verdict is coming in by the way. He often self medicates and went from 120 to 90 pounds between the drugs and worry.
Quite right, however playing with him gives him some satisfation, that his disruption is productive. The guy is as phony as a three dollar bill.
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