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.

[Dane]

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.

Oxycontin is controlled and it is causing havoc and dread within due to it's abuse to many families in America.

If you let go of all restrictions you wuld probably have the similarity of modern day opium dens opening up all across America.

[jmc813]

Uh yes you were generically equating them. But what the hey actually looking at the the issues takes work.

So it's OK to use liberal debating tactics to argue for a conservative cause. Gotcha.

BTW, I am not roscoe.

I'm aware of that. Your response reminded me of his canned reponse whenever I bring up the similarities of the gun grabbers and the drug warriors - "There you go, equating drugs and guns again".

[Roscoe]

If there was no federal prohibition laws, you can be sure that more and more states would legalize

No, I'm not sure of that. ALL fifty states haves legal restrictions on marijuana.

[Dane]

Why do you feel the need to bastardize the pro-abortion argument?

Excuse me, pro-life argument.

[Cultural Jihad]

I thought you supported medical MJ.

Yes, but I didn't vote for the proposition in California because anyone who needs it can get it without any problems as it is. What California doesn't need is the State sponsoring growing and distribution channels.

[Dane]

I'm aware of that. Your response reminded me of his canned reponse whenever I bring up the similarities of the gun grabbers and the drug warriors - "There you go, equating drugs and guns again".

Because both issues are different. All inanimate objects are not created equal.

Firearms help save innocent life and property.

How many lives has the recreational use of a joint, crack pipe, or heroin needle saved.

[bassmaner]

Oxycontin is controlled and it is causing havoc and dread within due to it's abuse to many families in America.

Addicts commonly use Oxycontin as a substitute for heroin, which is more difficult to obtain in rural areas than it is in cities. If maintenance doses of pharmaceutical grade heroin were available to addicts legally via prescription, Oxycontin abuse would naturally decrease. The incidence of sociopathic acts committed by addicts to maintain their addiction would decrease as well.

A win-win situation for pain patients who need Oxycontin, and the public at large due to a decreased crime rate.

[bassmaner]

Yes, but I didn't vote for the proposition in California because anyone who needs it can get it without any problems as it is.

So, you support the continued existence of the violent drug black market?

[jmc813]

Ahhh, understood.

[Roscoe]

Yes, but I didn't vote for the proposition in California because anyone who needs it can get it without any problems as it is.

Good point.

[Dane]

Addicts commonly use Oxycontin as a substitute for heroin, which is more difficult to obtain in rural areas than it is in cities. If maintenance doses of pharmaceutical grade heroin were available to addicts legally via prescription, Oxycontin abuse would naturally decrease. The incidence of sociopathic acts committed by addicts to maintain their addiction would decrease as well

Wrong. Oxycontin doesn't need to be injected. The needle is one reason most people will stay away from heroin.

[bassmaner]

What California doesn't need is the State sponsoring growing and distribution channels.

What California (and any other state that approves of it) needs is private, regulated growing and distribution channels, in place of the violent black market.

[jmc813]

You people don't get it. I'm comparing the debating techniques used, not the stinkin' issues! Do you understand the difference?

[Roscoe]

Well, er, uh, you could, umm, like poke your roach in an assailant's eye to defend yourself, so marijuana is protected by the 2nd Amendment!!! Yeah, that's it. Dope is just like the right to keep and bear arms!

Pssssssssssst.

[headsonpikes]

I can't believe I'm affirming a post of CJ's. But here goes.

He's exactly right; marijuana is easily available , and truly, "California doesn't need ...the state sponsoring growing and distribution channels."

Precisely. Legalizing pot will give the government control over a plant that will grow almost anywhere. Seriously, no one need do without pot in this day and age.

OTOH, opium requires somewhat more expertise and a particular climate. Unlawful concoctions of varying analyses peddled furtively to reckless addicts are the real-world alternative to legally available opiates.

Legalizing opium and its derivatives would alleviate more suffering and injustice in a day than legalizing pot would in a year.


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

All IMNSHO. ;^)

[Lysander]

There are three kinds of Republican Drug Warriors:

Overall I would say there are three groups opposed to legalization. The lawyers and their personal lobby the politicians, the cops, and the drug dealers. Guess why?

[jmc813]

Well, er, uh, you could, umm, like poke your roach in an assailant's eye to defend yourself, so marijuana is protected by the 2nd Amendment!!! Yeah, that's it. Dope is just like the right to keep and bear arms! Pssssssssssst.

This coming from the world renowned 2nd Amendment defender Roscoe ;-)

[Lysander]

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

Exactly.

And you guys shoot them anyway?

[Wolfie]

Except of course, that various opiates ARE legal for medical purposes, and can be had by prescription. There is no such option (at the Federal level) for marijuana, which is kind of the point of the whole thing. Move marijuana's DEA schedule placement, and it could stand alongside morphine, etc.

[Lysander]

Notice any similarities between the mindsets of Leftists and Drug Warriors??

Let me try. Authoritarians both. One is for control of your money. The other for control of how you live. Both end up controlling the opposite's pet thing (indirectly) anyway. A Lot of bad stuff gets done by their so-called "good intentions."