"Freedom of choice is what we got, freedom from choice is what we want."
Posted on 03/12/2013 6:54:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Denver television station CBS4 reports that Colorado has seen a sharp spike in marijuana use among teenagers since voters passed Amendment 64 last November, legalizing recreational use of the drug. As described in The Economist, along with a Washington State measure also legalizing marijuana, Amendment 64 is “an electoral first not only for America but for the world.”
That means two American states are to the left of the Scandinavian countries, Holland, and every other liberal country regarding marijuana.
CBS4 quotes a number of local high-school students:
“I’ve seen a lot more people just walking down the street smoking (joints),” high-school student Irie Johnson said.
“In high school it has kind of gotten out of hand,” student Alaina Tanenbaum said.
According to the CBS4 report, based in part on data from a local drug-testing lab: “Experts say the test results show that children are getting higher than ever with alarming levels of THC, marijuana’s active ingredient, in their bodies.”
The massive increase in both the number of users and the amount of marijuana used by young people is precisely what I and many others predicted.
It was easy to foresee.
When something desirable is made easier to obtain, more people will obtain it. It is difficult to imagine an exception to this commonsense observation.
So legalizing marijuana is foolish because it leads to far more use of the drug and the availability of ever more potent forms. But the foolishness doesn’t end there. Equally foolish is that as a society we have made peace with marijuana while making war on tobacco. This has been a classic example of upside-down thinking; and we are reaping exactly what we have sown. We have produced a generation of young Americans who would never put a cigarette or cigar near their lips, but who increasingly get high on pot.
Yes, tobacco — specifically cigarettes — kills and marijuana doesn’t. But, if you’ll forgive the ultimate political incorrectness, young people would do much better in life if they smoked tobacco rather than weed.
First, tobacco doesn’t kill young people. When it kills, it generally kills much older adult people. Moreover, according to a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, if you stop smoking cigarettes by age 44, you will lose only one more year of life than a person who has never smoked.
Second, regular pot smokers increasingly tune out of life, becoming what are known as potheads, or, to put it bluntly, losers.
Third, as noted in the CBS4 report, “new studies that have been published say the risk of a car accident increases two-fold after someone consumes pot.” In other words, innocent human beings — sometimes whole families — are more likely to be maimed, paralyzed, and killed by pot smokers than by cigarette smokers.
For myriad reasons, then, I would far prefer my teenager indulge in cigarettes — not to mention cigars — than pot. Anyone who thinks that pot is less harmful to a teenager than tobacco is fooling himself — and his teenager.
If this is not obvious, ponder these questions: Would you rather your airplane pilot smoke pot or tobacco while flying? How would Britain have fared in World War II if Winston Churchill had smoked pot instead of cigars?
In terms of the effects of tobacco and pot on the smoker while smoking, there is simply no comparison between pot and tobacco.
What the Left has done to America’s youth in the last 40 or so years is so damaging as to be unforgiveable. They have ruined public-school education; left them with so much debt that they will likely be the first American generation to live in a fashion materially inferior to that of their parents; and robbed their innocence with sex-education classes, now beginning in kindergarten in Chicago and elsewhere. Now they are making marijuana available to more kids and in greater potency than ever before.
But they have left them with higher self-esteem.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist.
I don’t smoke pot. Anything that makes me hungry and lazy, I need less of. On the other hand, I have a general contractor who is a friend of the family who does smoke it. He is the most motivated, hard working guy I’ve met. Make of that what you will.
Please don’t get mad. Didn’t you see the : ) ?
I’m just ribbing you about your typing. I meant no offense to your sister. I hope she will eventually work her problems out.
I’m telling you from experience, wether you want to ignore that or not I couldn;t careless.
I;ve seen what drugs can do to my family and it started at her age of 15.
Her taking and starting with weed ended up to her stealing, for the drugs, for her brain being fried, for her kids to now be slow because of the second hand smoke and her going on to harder drugs.
Now of course some say that Govt should nto tell people what they do with their bodies, and if you think that peoplke taking heroin, coke, and LSD is fine and be on the street with it then shall Govt also not tell kids and what age are kids to do this and then should Govt not say if a shop can sell drugs next to a school?
Question for you. What does the law mean for companies who require a drug-free workplace? Is that still enforceable, and/or legal? Can they still drug test, including prospective hires.
There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that taxing the crap will make the problem even worse.
That’s precisely the problem. I’m referring to “The State”. If idiots were forced to take responsibility for themselves, there would be far fewer of them among us. IMO, drugs should be freely sold in unlimited quantities. That way anyone stupid enough to abuse them removes themselves from the gene pool. When more idiots start dying, they will serve as lessons for others.
Right now we have Junkies stealing thousands of dollars worth of property to hand over to dealers for overpriced drugs that cost pennies to make. The junkies basically act as surrogate thieves for the dealers. The dealers keep the prices high so junkies don’t use too much and keep stealing for small “hits”. I say cut out the dealers and let the junkies die cheaply of overdose/starvation without stealing from us. It happens to rich idiots ALL THE TIME and I think the poor should have the same opportunity to do us all a favor.
Nanny-statism keeps the idiots alive at everyone’s expense!
There were no federal laws prohibiting marijuana possession, use, and distribution prior to 1937.
And the republic survived just fine, in spite of the assertions by power-hungry prohibitionist bureaucrats that the evil weed made white women have sex with black jazz musicians.
Repeal all federal MJ prohibition laws. Let the states handle it. Now.
Has the state passed a law to determine levels of impairment for drivers, as with DUI...the legal limit?
If left as is, I think you will see within two years, substantial rate increases for auto insurance liability for young drivers..
"Freedom of choice is what we got, freedom from choice is what we want."
Thank you but it;s a touchy subject.
I hated seeing her destroy her life, for her kids to be all screwed up now.
She was beautiful smart , near top of her class unlike me and now she;s a criminal, druggie, fighting taking drugs every day, a theif and now not a mother.
Thankfully I joined the military right after high school and it sorted me out but seeing her when I came on leave and seeing her whither away has made me against drugs totally and no matter what anyone states about drugs I will be opposed to them.
I;ve raised my kids with them knowing the dangers of drugs and hopefully they never go down the same road or see what I saw.
Very unrealistic. Even with unlimited supply most drug users won’t kill themselves outright. At least, not until they’ve used up decades worth of obamacare medical and treatment cash.
Instead of being dead, they’ll be economic parasites (they already are, and I don’t think agree with trying to make the problem far worse by legalizing).
Very few people who smoked pot end up like your sister....tiny percent
We have what......200 plus million current or former pot smokers now versus very few hard drug addicts relatively speaking... but not counting alcoholics
And pot and heroin are not alike whatsover...pot is not an escape drug
I take it you have never smoked it?
I don’t endorse any drug....nor have used any for many years but in my personal experience normal pot use is on par with normal alcohol use social detriment wise
And is no more likely to correlate to heroin addiction than alcohol or tobacco other than both being illegal mostly
One does not wake up and say... hey pot is just not doing it so ill be a herlin addict
Pot today is rather potent....no one could be immune from it...its like 100 proof and up
Truly there is much much more connection effect wise between alcohol heroin or sedatives...and othe opiods of course
This is first hand knowledge speaking...not reading or observing
You may wonder...well just what is that old redneck addicted to?
Well buddy....
Aint but one thing on Gods green earth getting do workef up over and throwing your money and good sense away over
a fine woman....and that special treat that comes with em
A fine addiction i plan on overdosing on one day
So... if they legalized pot, those who are doing it to be 'cool' would probably quit.
The state from what I am told wants to tax the drugs, think they said it was going to be 15%.
Doesn;t make sense as the argument for making this drug legal was to get rid of the drug dealer.
So if say dope smoker wants his or her drugs then of course they will go to the drug dealer where it is cheaper and where the drug dealer does not tax.
The left again and their stupidity.
Yeah, since nobody smokes cigs to be cool.. Oh.
’ the pro-pot-prohibitors typically conflate - very, very, very greatly - the “societal dangers” of pot’
I see the same zeal and similar arguments used to demonize pot as those used to demonize guns. Exchange the word gun in many pot threads, and folks would be agonizing about their natural right to self defense. The analogy is not perfect, but the emotions are. People are afraid of losing their safety and losing control, no matter whether they are liberals or conservatives.
I’m not a pot user for the record. As long as I have my full natural rights, I’m ok with more freedom in terms of its legalization. There will be some period of teeth knashing at this point just as there is after every gun restriction is lifted.
The problem is that irresponsible people want to be shielded from from the consequences of their irresponsibility. Which is why we’re in the state we are now.
If drug addicts were able to do so, then we wouldn’t have the nanny-state, or potentially even not do drugs in the first place.
Oh, absolutely. Pornography is the number one draw on the Internet. The Promotion of drugs and illicit sex is rampant on it.
Few on the internet, talk about Holy Living according to the Scriptures, Few talk about Holy Matrimony, and Few talk about keeping the temple of the Holy Spirit (the Body) being ready and cleansed for His use. Most travel the broad path to destruction and few find the narrow windy road to life. (Matthew 7:13)(Philippians 1:21)
yea I hear you on those last lines and I agree with your frst few lines too..
Beautiful women OH I CERTAINLY DO HEAR YOU PAL
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