Medical marijuana is an insult to our intelligence

Washington Post ^ | October 20, 2009 | Charles Lane

[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

[ChrisInAR]

LOL...I’m used to putting up w/ FR Narco Agents....& they’re oftentimes not the “Friendly Neighborhood” types, either!

[steve in DC]

If marijuana had a recognizable medicinal use....Wouldn’t WalMart be selling a month’s supply for $10?

[microgood]

Pot is a violation of federal law. What gives this dork the right to usurp the law? HIS own authority? Another example of selective enforcement. Laws mean nothing these days—just ask the bondholders of GM.

There are so many Federal laws now that they cannot enforce them all. It would take 100 million people to keep the rest of the 200 million in jail since undoubtedly we have all broken Federal laws one time or another.

Even though it is illegaly to even posess pot at the Federal level, they do not charge people for possession of small amounts.

[ChrisInAR]

If marijuana had a recognizable medicinal use....Wouldn’t WalMart be selling a month’s supply for $10?

If the gov't would get out of the way, you betcha! I look forward to the day when they do.

[Ken H]

Rasmussen sez:

Sixty-three percent (63%) of Americans believe patients should be allowed to smoke marijuana if it is prescribed by a doctor.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 24% of adults say patients should not be allowed to smoke pot in cases like that. Thirteen percent (13%) are undecided.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/october_2009/63_say_doctor_prescribed_pot_is_okay

(from 10-21-2009)

[neverdem]

Pot does nothing to reduce pain.

Enter (marijuana or THC) and pain into the query box at PubMed.

Find out for yourself when the link is working. It's not now.

Numerous studies show that marijuana is quite effective for treating neuropathic pain.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

True, but isn’t the beneficial part of pot, “thc” obtainable in pill form?

[RC one]

"Pot is a violation of federal law. What gives this dork the right to usurp the law? HIS own authority? Another example of selective enforcement. Laws mean nothing these days—just ask the bondholders of GM. We’re under tyranny. "

two words for ya: "Signing statements"

[itsahoot]

And the "gateway" excuse is pure garbage and has also been debunked.

Ignorance and Vice

"It is high Time for the people of this country to declare, whether they will be freemen or slaves? It is an important question which ought to be decided. It concerns us more that anything in this life. The Salvation of our souls is interested in this event. For wherever tyranny is established immorality of every kind comes in like a torrent. It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For the cannot live in a country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; therefore they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the people's liberties, practice every art to poison their morals. How greatly then does it concern us, at all events, to put a stop to the progress of tyranny." --

John Adams

[donna]

You can’t have a swimming pool without government involvement. Your garden won’t be any different.

[Eddings]

Examples?

[ravingnutter]

Nice try. However, it's not a “vice” if it is used for medical purposes and the only ignorance is amongst those who, only by the grace of God, haven't had to, or had someone they love suffer from, the afflictions that it alleviates. As for general use, the RAND study I linked to clearly shows that it is not a gateway drug based on objective research and analysis by the highly respected agency who specifically does not recommend an opinion, so your point is moot.

[ravingnutter]

You can't keep a pill down if you are nauseated from chemo, it takes longer to work (about 90 minutes vs. 15 seconds inhaled), it is harder to control the doseage, it lacks some of the good components found in traditional marijuana (such as cannabidiol, which has been found to have anti-seizure effects) and it Marinol costs three to five times as much as a comparable dose of medical marijuana.

CBS News: Does the Pot Pill Work?

[BJClinton]

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.

Bears repeating.

[timm22]

and the dopers think that this nation will be somehow more permissive when it comes to pot.

Even if marijuana was subject to the same onerous regulations as alcohol and tobacco, it would still be an improvement over the status quo.

[a fool in paradise]

Moving the DEA under the ATF would be an improvement?

[SeeSharp]

True, but isn’t the beneficial part of pot, “thc” obtainable in pill form?

Yes. The objections to pill form are that it takes longer to take affect, and that pills don't help if you throw them back up.

Besides, the objection government has to pot is that it gets you intoxicated. If a pill will do that also then what's the point of switching.

[EnigmaticAnomaly]

Two trains of thought on this one:

1. Allow legalization of marijuana and let all those who desire to toke up night and day an opportunity to transform themselves into lazy and hungry do-nothings

-OR-

2. Keep marijuana use illegal and either sh*t or get off the pot with enforcement...stiffen consequences for selling/using marijuana to help dissuade people from using it...

Unfortunately for anyone who is generally against all narcotic use, the crux of the problem is that there will never exist a time when nobody ANYWHERE will desire to use drugs recreationally. I personally cannot understand how anyone actually ever DESIRES to try drugs in the first place. Peer pressure is B.S...I was offered myriad drugs while in high school, but NEVER did I feel even REMOTELY compelled to try any...STRESS is B.S....I have endured tremendous levels of stress without succumbing to the perceived "lure" of drug use...Medicinal use is a scapegoat in most cases....

Isn't it simply easier not to BEGIN using illicit drugs in the first place?

[timm22]

Moving the DEA under the ATF would be an improvement?

Both of those organizations seem equally abusive and unnecessary to me.

But I was talking about the regulatory burden users of marijuana face, since you were talking about the burdens users of tobacco and alcohol face. Today, marijuana generally can not even be possesed anywhere. Legally, it can't even be smoked in the privacy of your stand alone home, even if you don't leave the house for the rest of the day. That's a more restrictive situation than either tobacco users or alcohol users face. So for most marijuana users, being treated like current tobacco or alcohol users would be a step in the right direction, even if it doesn't go far enough.

[usurper]

I feel that harder drugs, like cocaine, heroin, meth, LSD and the like, are NOT in that same category. They completely destroy your ability to reason in short order and give you all kinds of health problems.

If you look at it from a commercial point of view, pot could be marketed sold and taxed just like alcohol or cigarettes. Harder drugs simply could not as they are widely known as dangerous and harmful substances making them at the onset defective products.

No producer could ever get the financial backing or insurance coverage necessary to bring these products to market. The product liability would be astronomical.