GOP Leaders Press Ehrlich To Veto Medical Marijuana

Baltimore Sun ^ | April 4, 2003 | Tim Craig

[Wolfie]

GOP Leaders Press Ehrlich To Veto Medical Marijuana

The Bush administration and other top national Republicans are heavily pressuring Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to veto a proposal that would drastically reduce penalties for terminally ill patients who smoke marijuana to ease pain.

In recent days, several Republican officials have urged Ehrlich to reconsider his longtime support of medical marijuana, which has become one of the few issues that divide the state GOP.

Rest of article here.

[MrLeRoy]

Using someone as a human shield puts them at risk; how do pro-pot legalizers put medical patients at risk?

I answered it.

That is a clear lie

Uh no it is not. The premise of a human shield is too use an innocent person to further your political goals.

And the largest part of what makes the "human shield" strategy as practiced on the battlefield so repugnant is that innocents are put at risk---which point you have yet to address rather than squirm away from.

[MrLeRoy]

"Though cannabis was widely cultivated in America for three hundred years, both as a fiber resource and for its medicinal properties, its use as an intoxicant was rare until the beginning of the twentieth century."

So its use as an intoxicant today should be illegal because it was historically rare, but its use as a medicine today should be illegal although it was historically widespread. Got it.

[rhombus]

Thankfully most of these guys are on the downhill side of the age curve. Most Republicans that are under 60, don't drive a Buick, don't wear Sanz-a-Belt slacks, etc. also don't buy into the Drug War.

And most Republicans under 60, burn 'em when they can get 'em.

[MrLeRoy]

They care about sick people getting cannabis about as much as they care about anyone else overdosing on legalized heroin, which is to say, not at all.

I care about both---the former more than the latter. Your baseless ad hominem is duly noted.

[A2J]

The Drug War has had a really bad effect on pain management. If you want to loosen restrictions on prescription narcotic pain meds, abuse may rise. Perhaps it is inevitable that abuse does rise.

An unusual admission from a pottie that abuse will rise upon the removal of restrictions that are meant to prevent a society full of stay-at-homers and street bums who can't keep a job.

[MrLeRoy]

Oxycontin doesn't need to be injected.

Neither does heroin.

[MrLeRoy]

the pro- pot legalizers use medical patients as their human shields.

Exactly.

And you guys shoot them anyway?

LOL! That's how they express their outrage at the use of human shields.

[Dane]

And the largest part of what makes the "human shield" strategy as practiced on the battlefield so repugnant is that innocents are put at risk---which point you have yet to address rather than squirm away from

Actually some of the human shields in Iraq are there voluntarily.

But like I stated many times before the concept of a human shield is a political one.

In your case you shield yourself behind innocent sick humans to promote your ultimate political goal of making the drug culture validated.

[bassmaner]

So I'm with CJ; focusing on pot legalization is bad policy.

I must respectfully disagree. Despite the fact that pot possession is no big deal legally in CA, the fact remains that over 700,000 Americans nationwide are arrested on MJ charges annually. When you consider the sheer level of (taxpayer-funded) effort expended to arrest and prosecute that many marijuana "offenders" (even if they never go to jail), it's pretty damned significant.

And it's never a good idea to affirm the existence of a black market, with all its violent attributes: consider the effect of Prohibition on crime rates in the 1920's, and consider the continued effect of the WOD on our inner cities. No matter how you cut it, prohibition is a public policy disaster.

[MrLeRoy]

But like I stated many times before the concept of a human shield is a political one.

Your saying it doesn't make it so; you're rhetorically appealing to people's repugnance at endangering innocents without factual justification---or the honesty to admit that you're doing so.

For shame.

[Dane]

Your saying it doesn't make it so; you're rhetorically appealing to people's repugnance at endangering innocents without factual justification---or the honesty to admit that you're doing so.

Huh? I am not the one shielding myself behind innocent human suffering to promote a wider political agenda of validating the drug culture.

Like I said I am for the concept of medical marijuana, not your agenda of validating the drug culture.

[dcwusmc]

Actually, the innocents are put at risk BY THE WAR ON AMERICANS called a war on some drugs. They deny or restrict the use of certain drugs/medications because someone, somewhere might use it for recreation. If ANYONE is using the sick as human shields it is, by definition, the DRUG WARRIORS. Who, by the way, are the human scum who never had what it takes to become REAL policemen... They are our equivalent of Uday's feyadeen stormtroopers. I only wonder when they will feel the "need" to use chemical or bio weapons in their holy quest...

[headsonpikes]

I'll take Option B, bag the DEA.

If any drugs should be proscribed and forbidden, it's not the organics, but the bath-tub crank and other chemicals.

I mean, mushrooms and ditchweed, illegal? This just makes the government look silly.

I prefer to respect the government, but they do make it difficult.

[MrLeRoy]

you're rhetorically appealing to people's repugnance at endangering innocents without factual justification---or the honesty to admit that you're doing so.

Huh? I am not the one shielding myself behind innocent human suffering to promote a wider political agenda of validating the drug culture.

But you are rhetorically appealing to people's repugnance at endangering innocents, without factual justification---or the honesty to admit that you're doing so.

And I'm not shielding anything; even if I were to be persuaded that recreational marijuana use should be illegal, I would continue to support the legality of medical marijuana.

[Lysander]

The needle is one reason most people will stay away from heroin.

Your stupidity is showing. Many people snort and smoke heroin. Also many people are "Chippers," using only occasionally. It is only slightly more addictive than nicotine or caffein.

[Dane]

And I'm not shielding anything; even if I were to be persuaded that recreational marijuana use should be illegal, I would continue to support the legality of medical marijuana

You are, IMO. You and pro-pot organizations shield yourselves by feigning sympathy on the suffering of innocents while your true symapthy lies with your wider and ultimate agenda.

Total drug validation.

[Lysander]

They are our equivalent of Uday's feyadeen stormtroopers

You nailed them! If they really cared about the harms drugs cause they would see that most of the harm is from drugs being illegal, expensive and against the law. Sending kids to crime college for drug use is doing more harm than good. Drug addiction is an illness yet they want to lock 'em up!

[bassmaner]

Huh? I am not the one shielding myself behind innocent human suffering to promote a wider political agenda of validating the drug culture.

Do you support repealing the 21st Amendment, and returning to the days of moonshine, speakeasys, and Al Capone? After all, ending Prohibition validated the "alcohol culture", didn't it?

The "drug culture", as you describe it, started long before the 1960's: it started in the 1930's, with the first generation of Americans that relied on the welfare state for assorted and sundry government handouts. Marijuana isn't the enemy - socialism is.

[MrLeRoy]

And I'm not shielding anything; even if I were to be persuaded that recreational marijuana use should be illegal, I would continue to support the legality of medical marijuana

You and pro-pot organizations shield yourselves by feigning sympathy on the suffering of innocents

Read much? It's not feigned.

[Dane]

They are our equivalent of Uday's feyadeen stormtroopers.

Get some help, seriously. I think that your paranoid delusions are taking over your life.