Posted on 10/26/2009 10:17:19 AM PDT by presidio9
The Justice Department says it's backing off the prosecution of people who smoke pot or sell it in compliance with state laws that permit "medical marijuana." Attorney General Eric Holder says "it will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers." Party hardy! I mean -- let the healing begin!
I don't think the federal government should be spending a whole lot of time on small-time druggies, and I'm undecided about legalizing pot, which enjoys 44 percent support among the general public, according to a recent poll. Recreational use is not the wisest thing -- and if my 12-year-old son is reading this, that means you! -- but it's no more harmful than other drugs (e.g., alcohol) and impossible to eradicate. On the other hand, I worry it's a gateway to harder stuff. So I think we probably should have an open debate about decriminalization.
But it should be a real debate, about real decriminalization, and not clouded -- pardon the expression -- by hokum about
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
Yep, medical marijuana is nothing more than getting our children addicted to this evil weed. Everyone who says that they use it for medical purposes is a flat-out lying liberal intent on destroying the next generation. It’s as simple as that. < / sarc>
The truth, per researchers, is that "marijuana has medical benefits -- for chronic-pain syndromes, cancer pain, multiple sclerosis, AIDS wasting syndrome and the nausea that accompanies chemotherapy -- and attempts to understand and harness these are being hampered. Also, they add, science reveals that the risks of marijuana use, which have been thoroughly researched, are real but generally small."
If you or the author or one of your loved ones ever had to go through extensive chemo, you would change your mind, I did. And yes, I know there is a pill form...but if you can't keep it down, it doesn't work. Been there, done that with someone I love. As for his 12 year old son, he needs to educate him, not use him as an excuse to deprive others of relief. And the "gateway" excuse is pure garbage and has also been debunked.
And no, I am not a "doper", I am a respected professional administrator with a 23 year career, so the meme that only "dopers" want medical marijuana legalized is also false.
Be insulted all you want, Charlie. Just leave folks the hell alone.
Total BS. If marijuana is going to remain illegal, then I hope that tobacco addicts will have to deal w/ the same fate that those of us who enjoy smoking marijuana face right now. Confiscate their houses & cars & drug test them out of their jobs. Take their kids & put them up for foster care...after all, it is detrimental to the health of a child to be raised in a tobacco-smoke environment.
We need some CONSISTENCY in our drug laws. Either re-legalize marijuana & let those of us who use it responsibly do so w/o fear of gov't harassment (which is what I support), or make tobacco just as illegal as marijuana is.
All I can say, IronKros, regarding the legalization of “harder drugs”, is based on my personal experiances in my younger days.
I feel that smoking pot is no worse for you then having a beer, or a cigarette. (in fact, I would vehemently argue that having smoking cigarettes is MUCH worse for you then smoking a joint... when I used to smoke cigarettes I got massive bronchitis 3x/4x a year, and since I quit those I’m fine)
I feel that harder drugs, like cocaine, heroin, meth, LSD and the like, are NOT in that same catagory. They completely destroy your ablity to reason in short order and give you all kinds of health problems.
I believe that people should have the freedom to decide for themselves what is acceptable, and what is unacceptable. So I see where you are going with this. I don’t have an answer for you other then my firsthand experiances. Pot = not so bad. Hard drugs = very easy to get into , very hard to get out of.
I also think that this is a VERY hot issue with the younger crowd, and the ‘rats realize this and are going to work to get legistlation passed so that record numbers of young voters get out there and support the Marxist policies of the Obama “administration”.
This is one issue where so-called “conservatives” have no respect for state’s rights. Just like the Dims, they trample the 10th Amendment when it suits their purposes.
Definitely a stoner’s classic!
“Total BS. If marijuana is going to remain illegal, then I hope that tobacco addicts will have to deal w/ the same fate that those of us who enjoy smoking marijuana face right now. Confiscate their houses & cars & drug test them out of their jobs. Take their kids & put them up for foster care...after all, it is detrimental to the health of a child to be raised in a tobacco-smoke environment.”
You certainly labeled that right.”Total BS”
I would hate to see Dane miss this thread . . .
Is he still around?
I think the best thing that people who want pot decriminalized could do is to invent a small, portable device that could test for intoxication (aka a breathalyzer). Until we have that (which I don’t think we do), the whole “pot’s no worse than alcohol” argument is hollow.
That said, while pot should be a state, not federal issue, I’m not a big fan of selective enforcement. It just sends the message that rules are well, more like non-binding resolutions.
One of the comments from the You Tube page:
“How the hell does weed bring anyone to the ER?”
You have no right to smoke tobacco either and there are employers that do not permit people to smoke the legal substance even offsite on their own time.
Call it a lifestyle choice like homosexuality and you might be able to force employers to allow it.
Walt Disney didn’t permit his employees to smoke or have facial hair. “Do as I say, not as I do.”
But I know of modern companies that have a no tobacco rule.
Cocaine is already legal - my otolaryngologist swabbed it up my nose a few years back, out of a little brown bottle labelled “COCAINE HYDROCHLORIDE 10% USP SOLUTION.”
Do we have a “huge influx” of kids running to ear, nose, and throat doctors trying to get a prescription for cocaine?
The problems with drugs arise when you use the criminal justice system and the brute force of armed police officers to deal with a public health issue.
I’m familiar w/ that too....not to mention apartment complexes, etc.
You loserdopian, libertarian drug addict, pot fiend, curse to society, non productive, terrorist supporting, junkie of humanity.
Just kidding. Wanted to get that out of the way for the tunnel vision FR weed enforcement agents who are ready to pull a SWAT raid on your post.
When I was a kid I broke my nose playing sand lot football. The Doc packed both nostrils with that a few minutes before he took the palm of his hand and shoved the nose back across my face to it’s normal position.
He is no libertarian. He is ready to lace up the jackboots on things he doesn’t like. I.E smokers.
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