One Reporter's Opinion – Never Legalize Pot!

Newsmax ^ | Friday, June 10, 2005 | George Putnam

[LowOiL]

experiment on twenty young men who were experienced marijuana smokers. Before and after they smoked reefers, electric impulses of different strengths were applied to their fingers and pain thresholds recorded. It was a method that earlier had verified the pain-killing effects of morphine, aspirin and codeine. MARIJUANA NOT ONLY FAILED TO LESSEN PAIN, IT ACTUALLY INCREASED IT! That finding casts doubt on the usefulness of marijuana as an analgesic.

Just another tid-bit you don't find quoted on many LP Freepers "me" pages...

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

So what about the FDA? What about safety regulations and all of that? Still not federal? Should we just abolish the FDA?

[G32]

George is a smart man.

[driftless]

I won't claim to be an expert on pot. In fact I've have never used it. Only breathed it secondhand at rock concerts. Speaking of which I noticed that the creativity of virtually all the big names in rock dried up when they hit thirty. Most of them bragged or conceded their heavy use of pot. Which might answer the question of why Paul McCartney's post-Beatle music is so dreadful. McCartney is one of the biggest exponents of maryjane. The only conclusion I can come to is that he and many other leading songwriters of that era fried their collective brains on the stuff.

[jwh_Denver]

" I still haven't heard a good approach for discouraging vices (e.g., use of pot, tobacco, alcohol, prostitution, promiscuous gay sex, etc.) which do not create worse consequences than the vices being discouraged."

Incredible observation.

[thoughtomator]

They have brute force only, which of course you know, otherwise you'd offer a different argument.

[escapefromboston]

See the thing is, I really don't care if someone smokes grass. However, I don't feel like being lied to by a bunch of filthy self-important hippies and libertarians. I would rather that they say "I want to legalize pot because I want to get high" instead of "legalize pot because we all care about people with cancer". I don't believe them and I am generally not swayed by cheap emotionalism.

[thoughtomator]

You feel any better about being lied to by WoD persecutors?

[escapefromboston]

What is WoD?

[thoughtomator]

War on Drugs

[escapefromboston]

When did they lie to me to get my support while using cheap emotionalism?

[thoughtomator]

Since the 1930s

[thoughtomator]

enjoy

[escapefromboston]

Never seen it. I wasn't alive when it came out so really it has no effect on me.

[thoughtomator]

Certainly you've seen its successors.

[escapefromboston]

Can't say that I have. Did tax dollars go towards making of that film "reefer madness"??
So basically you are saying is if one side uses cheap emotionalism and lies to get their way the other side should also?
I would rather both sides to be honest, but I guess it will never happen.

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here

[Bernard]

I'm hard-pressed to understand why the active, useful ingredient in MJ can't be distilled or synthesized and provided through means other than through the traditional delivery system.

After all, if this is really a miracle cure, and so many people are affected, somebody should be able to fund and find an alternative.

[Jhoffa_]

I concluded, after this exhaustive study, that the very idea of legalizing marijuana is to follow a senseless, immoral, perilous path – a slippery slope, that the use of marijuana is dangerous on many fronts, that it impairs memory, alters time perception, reduces coordination, damages the immune system, is psychologically habit-forming and creates a wide range of effects on moods and behavior.

With regard to (at the very least) recreational use of pot, I completely agree with him. He's right, imo. I think it should be illegal.

However, Uncle Fed is justifying the WOD via the "Interstate Commerce" clause..

They're applying this, "for the purpose of regulation" to materials and activities that can accurately be described as: Inter-State Commerce, Intra-State Commerce and Completely wholy, Non-commercial.

In my book, that's UnConstitutional. I don't care how bad pot is.

It SHOULD take an amendment to outlaw pot, nationwide...

As was pursued successfully with Alcohol during Prohibition.

[SoVaDPJ]

OK, I'll step up and be brave. I care about sick people, but I also believe that if you grow a plant, be it tomato, tobacco, or cannabis, it is YOUR business how you use that plant. If you bake a cake, it's YOUR cake.

Another thing that bugs me--it's a plant. A Plant. This is ridiculous. This isn't a meth lab. Not the Medallin (sp?) cartel. It's a plant. These people think it will help them. Leave them alone. If someone wants to grow a plant and do whatever they want with it, so be it.

I'd be for legalizing growing and using your own. Why is that a problem?