Medical Pot a Political Ploy, Bush Drug Czar Says

The Associated Press ^ | August 15, 2003

[robertpaulsen]

PORTLAND -- Drug czar John Walters said Thursday that medical marijuana is being used as a political ploy to support efforts to legalize marijuana in a state where it already poses the most serious drug abuse problem for teenagers.

Walters said about 25 percent of teens in the metro area who report drug abuse problems say they are dependent on marijuana, compared with 15 percent who report alcohol abuse.

[Unknowing]

I think that Mr. Cash addresses this "Drug Czar" and the whole WOD mob when he sings:

"You'll be left without excuses
For the evils and abuses
Down to today from years and years ago
And have yourself another toke
From my basket full of smoke
And let the train blow the whistle when I go"

[Skooz]

Oh yeah, it is Friday. Cool.

[mr.pink]

No problem and no offense taken at all...as I said, it was nice to see such a sucessful group leave their egos on the sidelines and just sing the Anthem as it was meant to be done, IMO. Too many preformers make singing the anthem about "them singing the anthem" as opposed to honoring our nation (the disgraceful chick playing a "look at my tits" game while singing the anthem at the MLB All Star Game comes to mind). The way Phish choose to do it says a lot about the quality of their character IMO.

BTW- in my younger days, I was a quasi deadhead and I figure if was a young person now I'd probably be a bit of a Phishhead.

[mr.pink]

Great pick.....It's very sad that Johnny's out the way out. His recent work with Rick Rubin producing has really been powerful.

[robertpaulsen]

What's this with you and Oxycontin all of a sudden? Give up on comparing marijuana to alcohol and tobacco?.

Sick and dying people ARE being used as a political prop to legalize marijuana. To wit:

Richard Cowen, 1993 director of NORML ( excerpted from a speech given at a conference celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of LSD): "The key to it (full legalization) is medical access. Because, once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana medically, under medical supervision, the whole scam is going to be blown. I mean what we know is that marijuana prohibition is the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people...

The consensus here is that medical marijuana is our strongest suit. It is our point of leverage which will move us toward the legalization of marijuana for personal use, and in that process we will begin to break down the power of the narcocracy to wage a war of terror over things.

And so I think that we have the beginning with medical marijuana, then the legalization of personal use, and then we are in a position to take on the narcocracy on all of its abuses across the board, including obviously LSD and the psychedelics and the inhumane treatment of hard drug addicts as well."

Keith Stroup, 1979 director of NORML, told Emory University students that "NORML would help reclassify marijuana as medicine for chemotherapy patients "as a red herring to give marijuana a good name."

Kevin Zeese, President of Common Sense for Drug Policy, co-founder of the Drug Policy Foundation (which he has described as the "elite of the counterculture"), former Executive Director and Chief Counsel of NORML, has stated "the legalization question is not really a question open to political debate at this point in real political terms. And we've gotta be looking at issues we have today that can be won. The medical marijuana issue, no doubt, is one."

[xm177e2]

Their parents are part of a Baby Boom generation that considers marijuana a "soft" drug that poses only a minor problem compared to "hard" drugs such as heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine, he said.

But marijuana remains the single biggest abuse problem in the nation, especially for teens and young adults, Walters said.

How so? I think the drug czar is defining "abuse problem" as "someone is taking drugs," not "drugs are causing problems for people." What this jackboot is really saying is Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug, not that it actually causes any problems for anyone.

This attitude is what's wrong with the WoD, it's why these drug czar creeps think they should crack down on sick people who need relief. In other words: they see a sick person using marijuana to help themselves, and they chalk it up as just one more "abuse problem" in the nation for them to crack down on. We're not citizens, we're just potential "abuse problems" who need to be kicked around and stomped on every now and then, to keep us under control.

[robertpaulsen]

"According to research cited by the Institute of Medicine, of all those who have ever used alcohol 15% of them became dependent; for marijuana the corresponding figure is a substantially lower 9%."

What does that have to do with teens in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area? How does a generalized report of "have ever used marijuana" make Walters a liar? Is that stupid outdated report your rebuttal? Lame.

[jmc813]

Sick and dying people ARE being used as a political prop to legalize marijuana.

Do you agree that sick and dying people were used by the Republicans to argue for their perscription plan?

[bassmaner]

I'm not entirely comfortable with the "medical marijuana" approach myself, but it is a step in the right direction.

The real issue is putting a stop to the 700,000+ arrests for marijuana charges annually, and the incarceration of citizens who have committed the "crime" of marijuana possession or trafficking. No human being should ever be subjected to PRISON RAPE for an "offense" that stems the possession or sale of a plant that grows naturally and had been for centuries (until August 1937) part of the generally accepted physicians' pharmacopiea.

The real issue is RE-LEGALIZATION - ending the 66-year old social experiment in marijuana prohibition started by one jack-booted thug named Harry Anslinger. If we have to get there using the incremental approach of "medical marijuana", so be it.

[robertpaulsen]

Well, since prescriptions are only written to help the sick and dying, I would imagine that the sick and dying were "used" by the Republicans.

But I would prefer the word "referenced" rather than "used".

Now, what does this have to do with marijuana, a Schedule I drug?

[PaxMacian]

Political ploy? Ignorance! It has been a medicinal herb since the beginning of time and will always be a medicinal herb whether or not the medical community dictates. There is an air of absolutism and elitist fascism running rampant in health care professionals as of late. The puritanical dictates of this profession are a threat to the liberty and security of our nation. I find these issues far more important than possible health risks of herbs. They pander to parental fears in an attempt to adopt us all as children of a nanny state. All hail the oligarchy of the doctors, we want to be enslaved by paying top dollar for scripts for the elderly while paying debt service on the money we have to borrow to buy these drugs, even though we know there will not be a dime left for us when we get old. Meantime, the oligarchy will dictate what you may ingest, regardless of what your religious beliefs or the Constitution has to say on the matter.

I can grow hundreds of herbs in my own garden all of which have an effect on the human body in one way or another. Some have medicinal properties. Some which I am permitted to grow have portions that are deadly if ingested at all and others if in too high a quantity. Why is it that this particular herb which pre-existed this nation upon this land is so different that it falls under the jurisdiction of the commerce clause?

It is simple fascist ignorance to believe that this herb bearing a seed is just a weed to be eradicated when it just so happens that its seed contains the most complete and absorbable combination of amino acids required by the human body for sustenance of any plant on the face of Earth

[ActionNewsBill]

But I would prefer the word "referenced" rather than "used".

BWAHAHA!

[robertpaulsen]

"No human being should ever be subjected to PRISON RAPE for an "offense" that stems the possession or sale of a plant that grows naturally and had been for centuries (until August 1937) part of the generally accepted physicians' pharmacopiea."

Don't you mean, "No human being should ever be subjected to PRISON RAPE for any offense?

Why do you single out marijuana? Are there some offenses where PRISON RAPE is OK?

[MrLeRoy]

What's this with you and Oxycontin all of a sudden? Give up on comparing marijuana to alcohol and tobacco?.

No, but alcohol and tobacco are not used to treat sick people, whereas Oxycontin and marijuana are.

Sick and dying people ARE being used as a political prop to legalize marijuana. To wit:

Richard Cowen [etc.]

They're a "prop" only if they're thought to not actually benefit from medical marijuana. Only Stroup's remark even hints at such a belief---and one guy does not define the entire movement.

[PaxMacian]

Drug czar John Walters said Thursday that medical marijuana is being used as a political ploy to support efforts to "RE-LEGALIZE marijuana

If this Czar had to tell the truth things might change.

A war is being waged upon citizens by an EVIL spirit of unconstitutional nature bent on controlling the minds of the populace through FALSE PROPAGANDA and DEADLY FORCE directed by a CZAR. The law has been twisted and there is no justice when an individual is imprisoned for possession of a flower from the garden of God because it may alter the thoughts in that individual in a manner deemed inappropriate by corporate pawns seeking to maintain the efficiency of their chattel.

"The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time;
the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." --Thomas Jefferson, 1774

[MrLeRoy]

What does that have to do with teens in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area?

Are we to believe that Walters intended no larger point in citing the Portland numbers?

How does a generalized report of "have ever used marijuana" make Walters a liar?

It calls into question the clearly intended implication of his statement.

Is that stupid outdated report

Outdated? If you have newer info that contradicts it, let's see it. And what makes the Institute of Medicine's report "stupid"---other than that the facts it states are uncongenial to your pro-War On Marijuana position?

[bassmaner]

Why do you single out marijuana? Are there some offenses where PRISON RAPE is OK?

Of course not. Not even Taliban Johnny or Scott Peterson should ever be subjected to it.

My point is that the government should be held criminally negligent when it allows a non-violent, non-sociopathic citizen to be RAPED by a violent sociopathic felon, just because he was caught with a politically-incorrect plant.

[jmc813]

But I would prefer the word "referenced" rather than "used".

Bull. Playing on people's emotions to advance agendas happens all over the political spectrum. That's the reality of the situation. The Republicans used "the children" to defend No Child Left Behind. The liberals use "women" to defend abortion. The libertarians use "the sick" to defend medical pot.

[robertpaulsen]

My point is that the government should be held criminally negligent when it allows a non-violent, non-sociopathic citizen to be RAPED by a violent sociopathic felon, just because he was caught with a politically-incorrect plant for any reason.

I don't understand why you repeatedly insist on restricting your comments to marijuana when you mean all crimes.

[robertpaulsen]

Walters was very specific in his statement and you called him a liar based on a generalized report which used "have ever used" percentages as opposed to the "snapshot" percentages that Walters was using for one location.

That's what made it "stupid". And the only way you can justify your cite it is to try to find some hidden meaning in Walters' words. That's stupid as well.