Posted on 01/25/2018 8:34:31 AM PST by Kaslin
The hippies of the 70s are old. Time is merciless and none of us get out of here alive. My dad is a baby boomer born in 1944. He enjoyed his time as a 20 and 30 something in the '60s and '70s of America. It was a crazy time marked by free-love, tie-dyed shirts, pot-smoking, a free-wheeling youth, and the chaos of Vietnam.
That was a long time ago. Until a year ago, my dad, now in his early 70s, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. My dad was a strong man who worked construction much of his life. His parents had lived into their 90s, so we all assumed he had a good 20-year run remaining. We’d all noticed a little shake in his hand at Christmas and by spring it was confirmed to be a ruthless and debilitating neurological disease that has no cure.
It’s a terrifying moment when you have to resign yourself to a fate that only a miracle from heaven can cure. The conversation immediately turns to symptom management. That’s all there is. The only hope is to fight the symptoms off long enough to live another five or 10 years or maybe more if you’re lucky.
So, when the moniker of the 70s, marijuana, is found to be in many cases a miracle drug in controlling those symptoms…it can turn the most die-hard anti-drug hardliner into a libertarian.
If marijuana oil, or pot gummy bears, or an inhaler, or whatever form we choose allows my dad to be a grandfather to my kids a few years longer, then I am for it. It’s time for Congress to get on the right side of federalism and let the states decide this issue. Let the drugs get to the people who need it.
I would not wish my dad’s illness on anybody, but I wonder if Attorney General Sessions would change is bulldog stance on medical marijuana if the next time he put his pen to paper he noticed a slight tremor in his hand. Nobody should take one of the most promising medications away from those who suffer.
Conservatives in Congress have long supported the idea of federalism and the right of states to govern themselves. Right now, Congress is debating the future of the 29 states and the District of Columbia that have passed laws allowing medical marijuana’s use and distribution within the states’ borders. There are a number of conservatives who are fighting to protect federalism from Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ stated intention to free up the Justice Department to prosecute medical marijuana states.
The time is now. Congress is working on finishing up appropriations bills for this year. They’re arguing over a funding rider that prevents the DOJ from prosecuting states that allow medical marijuana. Attorney General Sessions is an aggressive voice to remove that provision from law.
Why? He hates drugs of any kind more than he believes in the states rights to govern themselves. A government closer to the people being governed is always a better government.
Medical Marijuana won’t rise to the level of DACA, but if this provision is removed from the appropriations bill, more Republicans will oppose it on February 8th when Congress takes up appropriations again.
When President Donald J. Trump was running for office, he unequivocally told a Colorado reporter, Brandon Rittman, when asked if he would allow his Attorney General to shut down adult use of marijuana in Colorado he answered, “I think it should be up to the states, absolutely.”
It’s time to hold President Trump to that promise.
Trump professed many times his support for medical marijuana and made numerous statements in support of federalism in regards to state medical marijuana laws. Literally issues like this caused many to boldly vote Trump. Constitutional conservatives supported Trump because they believed he would protect federalism and states’ rights to make laws with regard to activities that are conducted within their boundaries.
The DOJ is on the attack and medical marijuana is in their sites. Earlier this month, the Justice Department withdrew the Cole Memo that provided a safe harbor for marijuana operators in states allowing its sale and following eight law enforcement guidelines. Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) Tweeted that Sessions's withdrawal of the Cole Memo contradicted, “what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation.” Conservative Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was the chief sponsor of an amendment in 2014 that defunded the federal government’s power to prosecute the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana and Congress voted to support his position 219-189 on May 30, 2014. His efforts were joined in the Senate by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
This is an issue that has been championed by conservatives who respect federalism from day one. This isn’t about a bunch of people sitting around in VW Vans smoking doobies. This is about my dad being able to walk into my son’s band concert and not need a wheel chair.
Does the DOJ, Trump, and the GOP for that matter, really want to be against that?
That is not the reason for my post. What Im saying is that Big Pharma wants it prohibited because they cant compete with it. The tactics of big Pharma are not free enterprise, they throw enormous sums of money at congress critters to maintain the status quo...
Other “delivery methods” of ingesting mj can easily lead to ODs as people, and not uncommonly, children, have no idea how much THC content of the brownies/gummy bears/etc.
Funny thing about the psychotic episodes - well, two funny things. DMOTMC (Devout Members Of The Marijuana Cult) claim that people who get psycho from mj would have been psycho anyway, that’s one. The other is that some people (a not inconsiderable number) don’t recover from mj induced or triggered psychosis. Or even not full on nutz, but bouts of paranoia and other fun stuff.
So millions of people can be outright stoners and addicts, just so this guy’s father or grandfather isn’t in a wheelchair.
Got news for the idiot author, medicine using various parts of the mj plant is not equivalent to legalize dope across the board.
This fool should live in my county, welcome to the hell of legalized dope growing.
You think if mj is letalized there will be less crime?
HAHAHAHA
Move to my county.
“... And I have never seen a person suffer from a psychotic episode. ...”
“I didn’t see it, therefore it doesn’t exist” is an immature attitude. And one well behind the times. A lot of folks gave up smug stances like this before the Enlightenment - probably around the time of the Renaissance. Try to catch up.
So, the only medical relief or heaven forbid the right to change my consciousness has to be mandated by who? The government, or some one like you? Who are you to tell me what is right for me? You dont know me or have any idea of what kind of pain and suffering I might have endured.
So since booze causes psycho episodes, mj should be legalized so there can be MORE people with psycho episodes!
And of course the LP fools want ALL drugs legalized.
Just think of krokodil, fentanyl, heroin, crack, regular cocaine, meth and whatever else is out there - whoopeee! So many psycho episodes! The sky’s the limit!
This what fools and ignorant dopers call “freedom”.
Always fun to read DMOTNSC (Devout Members of the Prohibitionist Cult) members describing “funny” things while they make claims they never seem to validate.
I used to smoke mj and a lot of hash and had plenty of episodes that could well qualify for psycho. Top it all off with a lot of LSD and some mescaline.
And the idea that people who use mj won’t use other drugs mix n match is not only stupid, it’s a lie.
No, only that empirical evidence is all I have. And that I have not seen that behavior in the 100’s of people Ive see and been around use it. I have experienced more than one, many more than one individual experience psychotic episodes from too much alcohol consumption.
I don’t owe you a nickel of validation.
You are able to do research just as I have done.
But dopers say, when I have posted info in the past, “Oh that’s from anti-dope sites, no good”. DMOTMC only trust sites like NORML, Cannibis Culture, and the like.
Don’t make me laugh. Dopers are really shallow thinkers and duplicitous as well.
smoke, eat em, inject em.....just do it....
so you think you’re better and walla...you are better...
“...What I’m saying is that Big Pharma wants it prohibited because they can’t compete with it. ...”
Another variation on “Lack of evidence for the existence of a conspiracy is evidence for the existence of a conspiracy.”
Non-falsifiable hypotheses tell us nothing about the argument at hand.
They do, however, provide hints about the thought processes of people who post them in defense of a line of argument.
“So since booze causes psycho episodes, mj should be legalized so there can be MORE people with psycho episodes!”
Fallacy #1
Spewing another fallacy to defend your previous fallacy is not a valid argument, little one.
“And of course the LP fools want ALL drugs legalized.”
“LP fools”? Do explain Should be “funny” as hell.
“Just think of krokodil, fentanyl, heroin, crack, regular cocaine, meth and whatever else is out there - whoopeee! So many psycho episodes! The sky’s the limit! This what fools and ignorant dopers call “freedom”.”
Repeat of Fallacy #1
Are you this miserable sounding in real life or are we just luck here a FR? Just curious.
“So, the only medical relief or heaven forbid the right to change my consciousness has to be mandated by ...? ... Who are you to tell me what is right for me? You dont know me or have any idea of what kind of pain and suffering I might have endured.”
All too true. I confess my ignorance. But knowing such details is less important than we might think. Guessing poses its own risks, but in this case they aren’t too great.
I have met dozens of people like you, who are (apparently) convinced that libertarian fancies can be molded into a workable philosophy of societal interaction. The indignant responses are all exactly alike. And all heroically ignore the grubby realities: that injustice exists, that hard choices have to be made, that bad stuff happens no matter how devoutly we believe it shouldn’t.
We live in a suboptimal world. Conservatives used to support notions like that. Some call them “timeless verities.”
I’m happy.
I don’t need medical marijuana so I can smoke/eat myself into a dope induced mental stupor.
“Debating” with stoners is boring and I have a very busy life.
Libertarianism is yet another in a long, long history of utopian philosophies; none of which has ever worked, and none ever will. And when implemented on large scale, they always end in chaos and often total hell.
“I’m happy.”
Good for you.
So am I.
“I don’t need medical marijuana so I can smoke/eat myself into a dope induced mental stupor.”
Hmmm...that reads like you had a few cold ones before you wrote it. :)
Myself, I hate having to take medicine every day. Been doing so since 1995, starting with depression + anxiety meds till 2015. Cannabis & a thyroid medicine since 2015. Still, I consider myself fortunate. Many people suffer their whole lives with ailments they never get proper relief from.
Funny though, my appetite has moderated & I’ve lost 81 lbs since I started using cannabis. The increase in energy has been wonderful and walking 2-4 miles a day continues to help with the weight loss (only 7 more lbs to go to hit my ultimate goal). All since I began using cannabis. :)
““Debating” with stoners is boring and I have a very busy life.”
Debating with prohibitionists reminds me of teaching 8 yr olds in Sunday school.
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