Posted on 02/13/2019 9:02:02 AM PST by rktman
Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Twenty-two other states, along with U.S. territories Puerto Rico and Guam, allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes. Let’s examine some hidden issues about marijuana use. Before we start, permit me to state my values about medical or recreational use of any drug. We each own ourselves. If we choose to take chances with substances that can ruin our health, lead to death and otherwise destroy our own lives, that’s our right. But we do not have a right to harm others in the process of harming ourselves.
Alex Berenson is a graduate of Yale University, with degrees in history and economics. He delivered a speech last month at Hillsdale College’s Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., on the hidden dangers of marijuana use. He told his audience, “Almost everything that you think you know about the health effects of cannabis, almost everything that advocates and the media have told you for a generation, is wrong.”
The active ingredient in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Marijuana is most commonly prescribed for pain, but it’s rarely tested against other pain relief drugs, such as ibuprofen. Last July, a large four-year study of Australian patients with chronic pain showed that cannabis use was associated with greater pain over time. Marijuana, like alcohol, is too weak as a painkiller for people with terminal cancer. They need opiates. Berenson said, “Even cannabis advocates, like Rob Kampia, who co-founded the Marijuana Policy Project … acknowledge that they have always viewed medical marijuana laws mostly as a way to protect recreational users.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
So many heads in the sand (or clouds of pot smoke) over the negative consequences of this stupid drug.
The negative consequences of prohibition are overwhelmingly more severe and widespread.
I hear you.
The impressions I get, from our public policy debates, are:
1. That this should be a 10th amendment issue, left up to states, and that the federal government shouldn’t have any laws at all.
2. That we should be “libertarian” about this, as we are on alcohol, and say that responsible marijuana use, similar to responsible use of alcohol, is none of anyone’s business.
3. That the whole “war on drugs” has been such a failure, that we should not have any concerns about drug use.
4. Marijuana, in the opinion on some, is less dangerous to health than cigarettes.
Any talk of whether marijuana is detrimental, whether it’s a dangerous drug in any way, whether it’s a gateway drug, is simply ignored as more and more states move to legalize it.
I don’t actually care whether marijuana is “good” or “bad” or about any side effects.
I just think it is idiotic to put people in prison or jail over it. Or is someone going to try to tell me that jail or prison isn’t nearly as bad whatever side effects marijuana has?
Besides, legalizing it at a low enough price will also eliminate a source of revenue for criminals.
A lot of times I suspect that, if you trace the money for all of these studies, it will show up back at some drug cartel...
Disruptions in brain development related to neurotoxic effects of regular marijuana use could significantly alter neurodevelopmental trajectories by not only changing neurochemical communication and genetic expression of neural development, but causing a toxic effect on brain tissue. Such a marijuana-related effect on white matter and gray matter structures (e.g., changes in myelin, axons, and synapses) could have widespread implications for healthy brain development from childhood to young adulthood on subtle cognitive functioning and success in daily functioning. Studies exploring the neurocognitive consequences and structural and functional neuroimaging changes related to marijuana use in adolescence will be discussed, along with recommendations for future work. — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3930618/
Que the “reefer madness! refeer madness!” accusations...
Yeah, but late term (52 weeks) abortion is okay with them.
I am not an advocate, however, I would think that taking drops of oil would be for more beneficial healthwise than inhaling 1200° superheated smoke down into your lungs.
Assertion noted. Evidence requested.
I think the current trend at the State level is not such a bad thing.
It’s a bit like the opposite of Prohibition. In 1919, America said “No more alcohol: we will be better off”. But by 1933 they had decided that we weren’t better off, and Prohibition was lifted. It was an experiment, and I think the country learned from it.
Well, marijuana has been illegal for a long time. A bunch of states are saying “Legalize it: we will be better off”. I think this is a new experiment, and I think the country will learn from it. It will take more than 10 or 15 years, but eventually I think it be commonly agreed that either we were, or we were not, better off when marijuana was illegal.
We have 50 states. I don’t mind if some states blaze new trails and see what works and what does not.
Another article to make me laugh and forget my troubles. I always enjoy comments here on this subject. Go at it you guys, give me the giggles!
I see what you did there.
Kamala Harris says she smoked marijuana in college while listening to music that didn’t exist yet.
What’s 40 beers a weekend for 20 years do? :)
What does my horrific diet of legal foods do?
What do cigarettes do?
If the speed limit were 10 miles an hour everywhere there would be so many less deaths! :)
Heroin, crack, meth...they surge dopamine levels by 300 to 1100!! percent!!!
orgasm surges it to 200 percent of normal.
Imagine trying to come off of something that makes orgasm looking boring!!
Pot...it’s about 150 to 200 percent, in between food and sex rush.
No one’s killing their grandmother to get money for pot.
I’d rather see recreational drugs legalized and regulated.
THEN when someone does something that hurts someone else triple the punishment when a drug is involved and make mandatory jail sentences based on the underlying offense.
If they aren’t hurting anyone but themselves...
I see it as silly as the suicide laws. If they succeed then no one is going to prosecute them. If they don’t then we still don’t prosecute them, we say they are mentally unstable and need treatment. BUT if they try to take out others with themselves ...well then we throw the book at them.
And the worst thing any pothead ever did to me was clean out the fridge of my ice cream and maybe scratch up a Deep Purple record trying to play it.
Never had someone try to start a fight after too much reefer.
Driving and/or operating heavy equipment are the only legitimate concerns, in my opinion. And most users are much more cognizant that they are high, than any boozer is that they are drunk.
“No one’s killing their grandmother to get money for pot.”
Heck, I know a lot of potheads who can’t even be bothered to get a job to get money for pot :D
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