Posted on 08/27/2013 8:15:53 AM PDT by Kaslin
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta admitted earlier this month that he had been wrong in his opposition to medical marijuana during the rollout for his documentary "Weed." Gupta reported on research that demonstrated the proven benefits of marijuana in treating neuropathic pain. Medical marijuana was the only drug that helped a 5-year-old girl with Dravet syndrome live without constant seizures. It calmed the constant hiccuping of a 19-year-old. Israelis use it to treat Parkinson's disease and other ailments.
Gupta took on the federal government's classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which has no accepted medical use but has a high potential for abuse. (Heroin also is a Schedule I drug. Methamphetamine is Schedule II.) Gupta now believes that classification is an outrage.
The doctor didn't say marijuana is all good. He cited research that found that regular use by teens can lead to a permanent decrease in IQ. But Gupta could find no documented case of a death from a marijuana overdose, whereas someone dies every 19 minutes from a prescription-drug overdose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 80,000 Americans die each year from excessive alcohol use.
Last week, Gupta's sentiments were echoed on the right when columnist Charles Krauthammer, a former psychiatrist, told Fox News that alcohol is much more harmful than marijuana. Quoth Krauthammer: "If I were starting a society from scratch and had to choose the intoxicant, I would outlaw alcohol and I'd allow marijuana." (Side note: But seeing as he can't reset the world, Krauthammer said he wouldn't legalize pot.)
Gupta's about-face might well signal a sea change in how this country looks at marijuana. Gupta told CNN's Erin Burnett that he used to look at medical marijuana advocates as "malingerers" who are "just looking to get high." But he came to see that cannabis not only helps severely ill people but also averts the dangerous side effects of more potent pharmaceuticals.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy announced Monday that his committee will hold a hearing Sept. 10 about the correct federal response to state laws legalizing the use of medical marijuana and, in the cases of Washington and Colorado, recreational use of marijuana.
Is President Barack Obama paying attention? Reporter Jessica Yellin asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest last week whether the administration was considering changing marijuana's Schedule I designation. Earnest responded with a long-winded no.
Before the American Bar Association recently, Attorney General Eric Holder delivered a speech that was supposed to signal big changes in the administration's approach to nonviolent drug offenders.
But he didn't mention marijuana enforcement, even though his Department of Justice has waged a ruthless war against medical marijuana dispensaries. Federal prosecutors have not only sent registered California dispensary operators to prison but also gone after their landlords, their bankers and contractors.
Listen to Gupta and Krauthammer and it's fair to surmise that marijuana is the least harmful of all controlled substances. It's less toxic than alcohol, which is legal. It's less lethal than prescription drugs.
So why is Washington still waging a war on weed?
Well the idea that drugs can be developed from plants is well established. However that's not what medical marijuana types are about. They're about making dope widely available for smoking by virtually anyone. That's why they use the popular vote to get these referendums passed. They use emotional arguments and trot out stories of pain and woe and imply that it's all because people can't smoke pot. That's what it boils down to. Leftists arguments for a leftist cause.
Even laws that they vehemently oppose....
I am rolling a joint and putting on my flame retardent underwear.
I answered that in post 64. Marijuana infused as an oil, through a heating and cooling process is the best and least invasive way of administering its benefits.
The enormous cost that will come with its widespread use to create a false sense of euphoria, through inhalation, will be astronomical. The illegality of it keeps those on the fence, on the fence. With more people using it, you will see more crowded emergency rooms, more sick kids between the ages of 14 and 30 and higher prostate, brain, breast, uterine, testicular and lung cancer rates. Not mention the urge to increase the sense of euphoria through advanced experimentation with other drugs. This, in itself, can make it more dangerous to society than cocaine and, even heroin. The chemical toxicity is dependent on many variables which add to the dangers. I listed 3 in post 64.
Take it for what it is worth. Your decisions are you are own to ponder and act upon. We still have freedom in America, at least for now. However, actions have consequences and complaining after societal decay worsens and sickness increases, as a result, can no longer be acceptable, if America is to survive.
I remember screaming to my sister to come listen to the new Joan Baez ablum ... obviously she had changed everything and was singing tunefully and using lots of hi and lo notes. Man, the woman must have been taking singing lessons! Whoa Nelly! This was GREAT!!
Sis: "Idiot! That's Judy Collins...."
Direct your clouded gaze toward the Mexican Border. The marijuana business is not as idyllic as you might think. Not too many muchachos shooting each other over smuggled tequila, amigo.
A lot of the opposition to legalizing marijuana comes from the Du Pont family. Check in to it. This family is probably one of the most powerful and influential families in the world but seldom written about.
The single most addictive and destructive thing in the world of humans is power. After that alcohol is by far the most destructive substance mankind has ever bought forth into his world. I know. It damn near killed me. By the grace of God and AA I’m 23 years sober, one day at a time.
My problem with recreational marijuana? Well in my vast experience in ordering members of the lower classes to their certain death, I have found that they use marijuana in large amounts, but have not thereby slacked off on their use of alcohol.
This makes them even more lethargic than usual, unenthusiastic, and diminishes their capacity to follow my orders.
Hey, maybe it's because one of their own habitually got high on the Holy Weed and murdered a member of the US Olympic Wrestling Team? Cost'em many millions to square that one away!
Yeah. I can see that. Those '10 mph fatal crashes' are just all over the news, maaan.
I could respond in kind by making up a bunch of BS about back when I smoked my first joint, too, but that would be less than productive. Your argument that this Darwin Award winner thought he was driving fine at 10 mph says a bit more about your mongoloid brother, and quite a bit less about the effects of weed. That it makes drivers more careful actually argues against your "point."
As someone who has used for well over 50 years, you can save your 'H.J. Anslinger-style' horror stories for the pre-school kids who may yet be ignorant enough to give you their naive ear.
It is to laugh...
8^D
You must have used invisible pixels in post 64, as I can find nothing that demonstrates that pot can be more toxic than cocaine.
You just put it out there without an ounce of substantiation.
You may be right (under some strange set of circumstances), but one cannot tell from what you’ve written.
Hey, maybe it’s because one of their own habitually got high on the Holy Weed and murdered a member of the US Olympic Wrestling Team? Cost’em many millions to square that one away!
<><><>
Yea, you’re right, it was the demon weed, not his paranoid schizophrenia.
Perhaps you were hoping no one remembered.
Here is a link that may explain a bit.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/06/21/backstrom
As for what I said. The environmental stressors affect the growth of the plant and the chemical composition. Even the air temperature and humidity when inhaling it, effect its potency. Besides that, just the fact that it is one further step towards cocaine use, arguably, makes it more dangerous than cocaine. As for alcohol, one can argue that the legality of it vastly contributes to its use and destruction.
In the end, behavior has consequences. It is about time we all sytart practicing responsibilty for our actions.
Well said...
100 percent correct!
Do you have any idea how inane that sounds?
My question is always, “what right do we have to deny someone the ability to smoke in the privacy of their home”?
I do agree about potheads. They pick jobs where they can get away with smoking pot. We had someone apply to our company with no medical issues (20 years old) and he was great for the job but insisted he be able to be high while working. Not hired. I told him I love beer but it’s not something I bring to work.
But if they want to chill after work with some pot, I don’t care and do not think it should be illegal.
No, not the Trio... they could sing and were indeed commercial. A friend arranged Tom Dooley for them in the classic way they recorded it, and he could tell you they weren’t commies. Baez however (sorry) aside from being annoying until later and even then, was/is a definite commie.
Seeger on record as card carrying (and quite proud) and was anti US and anti-Britain being in WWII until Stalin put out the word “we’re allies with them now— support it”. Such crass cynicism from a child of privelege who “found” the real working man (of the world, unite) and realized they were nothing like him- hence, fleeceable and sheep.
Based on your insufficient response towards cocaine vs marijuana I’m highly disinclined to regard neither your remarks nor your website link.
Here, on the other hand, is much more detailed account regarding marijuana research as well as Rick Simpson and 6 additional doctors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHnQ-YAqAsA
First half of this I had not seen before, so only bout an hour invested, some of you may have already seen the second half with Rick Simpson bout 5 years back - updated account just published 2/12/2013 iitc.
Ignorance about this subject just continues to amaze me how folks will believe everything their media and governmental authorities tell them as gospel truth. I’ve always preferred Paul Harvey Sr’s [may he rest in peace] viewpoints on researching and reporting ‘the rest of the story’...
neener neener neener
You and your loved ones too can benefit from legalizing pot to safely cure much of what ails you - but you should try to shed your ignorance first please - do us all a favor and see link in post 119 this thread.
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