Are We In the Final Days of Marijuana Prohibition?

Reason ^ | 10/18/2012 | Zach Weissmueller & Paul Feine

[Jayster]

"There' a rising tide of acceptance of the fact that people are going to smoke marijuana, and it's like the prohibition against alcohol in the 1930s. There's a recognition that perhaps the laws are causing more harm than the drugs themselves," says Rick Steves, author and travel host.

Steves and others attended "The Final Days of Prohibition" conference in downtown Los Angeles in early October. The conference was put on by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and Reason TV was on the scene to ask about the future of marijuana laws in the U.S., particularly in the upcoming election where the states of Oregon, Washington, and Colorado all have marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot.

About 3 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine and Zach Weissmueller. Edited by Weissmueller.

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[tacticalogic]

Mine’s somewhere under the Pacific, on one of our fast attack subs.

[savagesusie]

awesome.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

when laws are not in line with the Supreme Law of the Land—they are null and void. Unconstitutional law has to be eliminated

Including all federal laws that regulate commerce that does not cross state or national borders?

[JustSayNoToNannies]

Alcohol can be used as an aid to health. I drank beer for the protein when I nursed my children who went on to graduate with honors from Stanford and Boalt Hall. I can drink with dinner but it never affects my brain power and I have never been “drunk” since once in college when I was drinking vodka. :) I was into vice at that time—anti-God-—vice breeds vice and I was stupid and naive.

There is no known benefits from most drugs like cocaine and pot which actually contain harmful toxins for the body and/or lungs and brain.

Both alcohol and marijuana have health benefits as well as the potential for abusive vice (and if one inhales marijuana via a vaporizer one avoids the harms of smoke). So how should these drugs be treated in law - and is there any reason to treat them differently?

So you want to make drugs real cheap so all immature children will be seduced into polluting their bodies

Since teens report that they can get pot more easily than beer or cigarettes, it looks like the most effective way to keep pot out of teens' hands (and still-developing brains) is to legalize it for adults - so sellers have an incentive not to sell to kids (namely, the loss of their legal adult sales).

and become addicted (just like my classmate)

Alcohol is more addictive than marijuana.

and destroying their brain (studies prove it).

Studies prove that alcohol can destroy the brain.

That is really wise. When you have a society that can promote Vice to children

Again, to legalize is not to promote - it is not against the law to insult one's spouse yet that is not thereby promoted.

Manson’s friends were all on drugs and they didn’t really care about money. Look at the prisons-—most gangs and prostitutes and degenerates are all addicted to drugs.

That doesn't show that drug use led to their crimes, any more than the fact that they all drink water shows that water led to their crimes.

To insult one’s spouse is evil. It is immoral (vice).

Agreed. Should it be illegal? If it's legal, does that promote it or make it a virtue?

[savagesusie]

Government is to create a “Just” society. So, for laws to be Just Law-—they can’t be used to force vice—or evil—such as “rights” for sodomites or rights for abortionists or “rights” for drug users.

That doesn’t mean they have to have laws that punish it—unless the acts are impacting families in really negative ways. If people were sodomizing boys—which always happened in homosexual societies , than laws would have to be enforced and severe to end the practice (which they have not been traditionally).

The Founders understood that men were not “angels” and that if men were not “virtuous or religious” we would not be able to be Free. That concept understands the necessary of personal restraint from base instincts which destroy one’s health and rationality because a Free Republic is not designed to be totalitarian-—the need for people to be civil and honest is essential to the economy-—and it comes from Virtue. People without virtue are incapable of being free-—they will have to be totally controlled by government or incapacitated by drugs.

Forcing young children to take “Pride” in sodomy is unconstitutional. It is forcing a Satanic religious cult’s ideology on vulnerable minds-—making them irrational—unable to understand the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”.

Studies on marijuana show the LONG term effect on the brain, unlike alcohol. I explained that the Just Society has an interest in the Intellect having power to control base instincts. It is what creates a civil and Just society. If you think it is wise to allow people to “diminish” their cognitive power—and that is EVER a GOOD thing—I disagree. I think it reduces man to an animal-—the Marxist model of group think-—impaired intellectual capacity so that decisions are affected in a negative, base way. Bull about druggies using “vaporizers”.....they can’t be concerned about their “health”—they think with their unused pea-sized brainwashed godless brain-—and think “Feelings” trump intellect and virtue is meaningless when all the Founders stated that without Virtue (and Judeo-Christian ethics)—you can never have a Free Republic. We become a police state.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

Studies on marijuana show the LONG term effect on the brain, unlike alcohol.

NOT unlike alcohol. 'A person who drinks heavily over a long period of time may have brain deficits that persist well after he or she achieves sobriety. [...] heavy drinking may have extensive and far–reaching effects on the brain, ranging from simple “slips” in memory to permanent and debilitating conditions that require lifetime custodial care.' - http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa63/aa63.htm

Bull about druggies using “vaporizers”.....they can’t be concerned about their “health”

Wrong. Google Shopping shows 7900 results for "vaporizer" - market economics says there aren't that many sellers chasing no buyers.

[savagesusie]

When the THC binds with the cannabinoid receptors inside the hippocampus, it interferes with the recollection of recent events. THC also affects coordination, which is controlled by the cerebellum. The basal ganglia controls unconscious muscle movements, which is another reason why motor coordination is impaired when under the influence of marijuana.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/marijuana3.htm

Messing around with THC in the brain is not the same as drinking alcohol. You can have no damage from alcohol—indeed—know good effects from occasional drinks of beer and wine.

My point is that alcohol is not addictive if used by responsible adults—which government should assume we all are. I am not for promoting alcoholism—that should be discouraged-—it is a Vice.

My point is that there is no “Good” from marijuana use like in beer and wine. None. THC does immediate damage to the brain which has been known to damage it-—particularly in teenagers.

You are comparing apple and oranges.....Vice is evil. That is my point. Don’t try to “rationalize” any pot smoking-—it is evil and immature and destroys intellectual thinking plus motivation.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

When the THC binds with the cannabinoid receptors inside the hippocampus, it interferes with the recollection of recent events. THC also affects coordination, which is controlled by the cerebellum. The basal ganglia controls unconscious muscle movements, which is another reason why motor coordination is impaired when under the influence of marijuana.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/marijuana3.htm

Messing around with THC in the brain is not the same as drinking alcohol. You can have no damage from alcohol

Your source doesn't say marijuana "damages" at all but only "interferes" and "impairs" - temporary, not long-lasting effects ... and it certainly does NOT say that ANY amount of marijuana does damage. For both drugs, the old saying holds, "The dose makes the poison" - each has a threshold above which there is damage.

—indeed—know good effects from occasional drinks of beer and wine.

Marijuana has well established medical applications: "Until a non-smoked, rapid-onset cannabinoid drug delivery system becomes available, we acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting." - Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (1999), Institute of Medicine

My point is that alcohol is not addictive if used by responsible adults

Of those who have used marijuana, 9% have at some point been dependent on it - the corresponding figure for alcohol is a substantially higher 15% (research cited by the aforementioned report).

THC does immediate damage to the brain

Again, your source does not support your claim.

You are comparing apple and oranges.....

You have yet to provide evidence for this claim, while I have provided evidence to the contrary.

Don’t try to “rationalize” any pot smoking

I don't smoke pot and I don't recommend it - my point is that there is no rational basis for making pot illegal while the drug alcohol is legal and regulated.

[IDFbunny]

I would like to blame the democrats for the erosion of our 4A rights but the big government conservatives war on drugs is mostly to blame.

[arthurus]

I would like to blame the democrats for the erosion of our 4A rights but the big government conservatives war on drugs is mostly to blame.

Yes.