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Medical Marijuana Isn’t a Joke. Debating the DEA Head Is
News Ledge ^ | November 11, 2015 | Marcus Chavers

Posted on 11/11/2015 11:22:02 AM PST by ConservingFreedom

Another day, another controversy. Medical marijuana activists are rightly upset over comments DEA head, Chuck Rosenberg, made to reporters last week.

During a Q&A, he talked about his stance on medical marijuana.

"What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal because it's not. We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don't call it medicine -- that is a joke."

Right, so you want to have an intellectual debate prefaced with medical marijuana is a joke. Want to clarify that bit a more?

"There are pieces of marijuana -- extracts or constituents or component parts -- that have great promise," he said. "But if you talk about smoking the leaf of marijuana -- which is what people are talking about when they talk about medicinal marijuana -- it has never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine."

I'm with the activists who point to study after study showing it helps with chronic pain, muscle spasms and other ailments. In fact, here's an analysis of 79 studies from JAMA pointing to "moderate-quality evidence to support the use of cannabinoids for the treatment of chronic pain and spasticity."

Damn, here he is making a blanket statement and along comes science...

Should Rosenberg Resign?

No. I get the frustrations of medical marijuana activists. They have turned to change.org demanding his resignation. As of today, the petition has gathered nearly 16,000 signatures.

Nothing wrong with voicing frustration at the DEA head, but it's empty. The DEA works like every other agency in the executive branch. It enforces the law. Well, sometimes...

23 states and DC have passed some form of marijuana legalization. Specific medicinal uses all the way to recreational. One problem, none of the state laws trump federal law.

And yes, the DEA is a federal agency. Chuck Rosenberg isn't a fan of marijuana. Even if he was on the side of legalizing it for everyone, he can't do anything. His job is to enforce the law as directed by the President.

Notice the raids have quieted down on dispensaries across the 23 states? Rosenberg may think it's a joke, but the latitude given to the states is telling. Politicians make bombastic statements, but state after state is flipping green.

More Research

The FDA is moving to give researchers more room to study the drug. The JAMA study above? 79 studies. That's it. In 2013, 16,000 people overdosed from opioid painkillers. How many died from overdosing on marijuana? Oh right... Zero.

Other studies have shown a decrease in painkiller overdose deaths when medical marijuana was accessible.

It isn't just pain where marijuana plays a significant role. Seizure disorders have been treated with various strains. Who knows what researchers could unlock in the future?

Is it time to open the doors and make it legal? For medicinal use? Definitely. Recreational? Soon, but it needs tight regulation to prevent a wild west of potent strains and no oversight. In Colorado and Washington, the results are still early, but you cannot call it a failure.

Is it a joke? Maybe to Chuck Rosenberg and others. Should he resign or be fired? Of course not.

To the people medical marijuana helps? They aren't laughing. And it's a shame they get targeted. But, the tide is turning. The American people are with them. State governments are increasingly with them. The Federal government? One day you'll wake up to a simple voice vote that finally ends the debate.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cannabis; federalism; marijuana; medicalmarijuana; medpot; pot; potheads; statesrights; tenthamendment; wod
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

Back in the 80s while playing basketball someone’s shoulder drove up into my jaw with great force resulting in painful and annoying TMJ compression. Acupuncture helped bring relief but marijuana works better. And it’s cheaper. If I don’t smoke pot my jaw starts to ache and I always feel like I need to yawn. I only speak for myself.


141 posted on 11/12/2015 5:42:42 AM PST by GSWarrior (Click HERE to skip this tag line.)
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To: sargon

Sorry I am not a libertarian. I’ve known many people who take drugs, destroyed their health, and committed crimes to support their habits. I see nothing good from drugs.

I do not equate freedom with hedonism, pornography, prostitution, open borders, drug addiction etc.

I do believe in the US Constitution. States have a right to regulate many of these things. The federal government is obligated to protect our borders.


142 posted on 11/12/2015 6:41:20 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: Cold Heat; Ken H
this matter of contraband drugs is not a matter for federalism. It’s of national concern. It requires national resources

The Constitution does not authorize the federal government to legislate on all matters that are "of national concern" and "require national resources." The Constitution is a strictly enumerated grant of authority, with all powers not explicitly granted to the federal government being reserved to the states - and among those explicitly granted powers we do not find the power to regulate any drug transaction that does not cross state borders.

And note that your argument can readily be used by libs to justify, for example, Obamacare.

143 posted on 11/12/2015 7:25:10 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: ConservingFreedom
Matters for employers and licensers, not government.

Not when smoking pot is declared a "constitutional right," like sodomy has. And this WILL be argued.

144 posted on 11/12/2015 7:28:03 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: ConservingFreedom
"There is nothing easier, enforcement wise, than banning a behavior or substance."

That's why nobody smokes pot, right? ROTFL!

It's also why nobody commits burglary, robbery, assault, rape, theft, etc. So, what's your point? That we should suspend all laws which don't eliminate undesirable behaviors perfectly?

145 posted on 11/12/2015 7:30:08 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: luckystarmom
My problem is that in California MM is basically a way of people getting it for recreational use.

Bingo! And that is exactly the purpose of such laws.

146 posted on 11/12/2015 7:31:15 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: fwdude
Matters for employers and licensers, not government.

Not when smoking pot is declared a "constitutional right," like sodomy has. And this WILL be argued.

If it is, I'll argue against it. We can't justify an unconstitutional federal ban by fears of an unconstitutional federal mandate.

147 posted on 11/12/2015 7:39:06 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: fwdude
There is nothing easier, enforcement wise, than banning a behavior or substance.

That's why nobody smokes pot, right? ROTFL!

It's also why nobody commits burglary, robbery, assault, rape, theft, etc.

It's difficult, enforcement wise, to ban a consensual 'crime.' Two-thirds of murders (for example) get solved; the fraction of drug 'crimes' that are even detected is assuredly orders of magnitude smaller. This is due in no small part to the fact that murder, unlike drug 'crimes', in and of itself has a victim - who will try to avoid and resist the crime and whose family and friends will assist in its investigation, whereas everyone involved in a drug 'crime' acts so as to make it succeed.

148 posted on 11/12/2015 7:46:38 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: ConservingFreedom

I’m with you about this being a federal issue. It should be an issue for the states to decide. But that’s nevertheless government making laws against something you approve.


149 posted on 11/12/2015 8:07:39 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

So, you think all consensual actions should be legal, despite externalities affecting others?


150 posted on 11/12/2015 8:08:44 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: ConservingFreedom
"CONCLUSION: Numerous studies suggest that marijuana smoke is an important risk factor in the development of respiratory disease."
Many medicines have negative side effects - should they all be banned?
Stoners going to "clinics", getting pot and sitting around smoking pot are not medicating.
How is that relevant to your original point about the risk of respiratory disease?

It's not "my" original point. It's from an article that you quoted from to support your position.

And you're mixing up terms. Smoking pot is NOT medicinal. So respiratory disease is not a side effect. It's like saying that because smoking cigarettes calms someone down that smoking cigarettes is good medicine. Both are completely fiction.

The reason that smoking pot is considered "medicine" by some is that the pot industry and stoned leftists want to make it legal. The medicine aspect is just an easier way to do it. They had ZERO success using arguments of freedom. They had ZERO success trying to make the point that smoking pot is harmless. They had ZERO success at everything they tried to get it legalized. Finally some genius said "Hey, why don't we call it medicine, start and fund ballot measures, propagandize the heck out of the issue by using sob stories about how terminally ill people deserve pot, and then when we get the votes we'll implement what we really want...practically unfettered access to legal pot. Boom...success!

I get so mad at people like you CARRYING WATER for leftists. You're being used. Quit spreading the lies and propaganda.

151 posted on 11/12/2015 8:20:51 AM PST by DouglasKC (I'm pro-choice when it comes to lion killing....)
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To: fwdude
So, you think all consensual actions should be legal, despite externalities affecting others?

I already address your "externalities" argument in post #106.

152 posted on 11/12/2015 8:22:20 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: fwdude
It should be an issue for the states to decide. But that’s nevertheless government making laws against something you approve.

Where did I say I approved of pot smoking? I don't - nor of tobacco smoking, nor of the reading of Marxist literature. Must I therefore support banning those activities?

153 posted on 11/12/2015 8:24:19 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: ConservingFreedom

It’s silly saying that the carding of minors will solve the problem. How has that worked out with alcohol and cigarettes?

When you increasingly saturate an environment with drugs like marijuana, which legalizing it WILL do, you expose children in that environment to it more and more.


154 posted on 11/12/2015 8:25:09 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Yours sounds exactly like the argument, “I’m against abortion, but I don’t think I should tell women they should get one or not.”


155 posted on 11/12/2015 8:26:30 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: DouglasKC
"CONCLUSION: Numerous studies suggest that marijuana smoke is an important risk factor in the development of respiratory disease."

Many medicines have negative side effects - should they all be banned?

Stoners going to "clinics", getting pot and sitting around smoking pot are not medicating.

How is that relevant to your original point about the risk of respiratory disease?

It's not "my" original point.

You quoted it; was I mistaken in assuming you did so in order to make any point ... or are you now ducking and weaving with word games?

It's like saying that because smoking cigarettes calms someone down that smoking cigarettes is good medicine.

The only one saying anything is "good medicine" is the voice in your head. The harm/benefit balance is clearly against smoking cigarettes to calm nerves. Smoking marijuana (which, unlike tobacco, has not been shown to lead to any more serious respiratory disease than bronchitis - "proof that habitual marijuana smoking does or does not cause cancer awaits the results of well-designed studies") has lesser established harm and far greater potential benefit for certain ailments.

156 posted on 11/12/2015 8:33:52 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: fwdude
Since young people report that they can get pot more easily than beer or cigarettes, it seems that the best way to keep pot out of their hands is to legalize it for adults; sellers of legal drugs typically card minors, whereas sellers of illegal drugs never do.

It's silly saying that the carding of minors will solve the problem. How has that worked out with alcohol and cigarettes?

Better than the current noncarding for marijuana.

When you increasingly saturate an environment with drugs like marijuana, which legalizing it WILL do, you expose children in that environment to it more and more.

The evidence I cite indicates that this effect is outweighed by the increased disincentives for sellers.

Should we ban for adults everything we don't want kids to do?

157 posted on 11/12/2015 8:37:15 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: fwdude
Where did I say I approved of pot smoking? I don't - nor of tobacco smoking, nor of the reading of Marxist literature. Must I therefore support banning those activities?

I notice you didn't answer the question.

Yours sounds exactly like the argument, "I'm against abortion, but I don't think I should tell women they should get one or not."

Abortion in and of itself violates a person's rights - pot smoking, tobacco smoking, and reading Marxist literature don't.

158 posted on 11/12/2015 8:39:36 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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To: sargon

AMEN!!!


159 posted on 11/12/2015 9:07:39 AM PST by TheStickman
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To: sargon
Prohibitionists simply don't believe in minimal government, and are deluding themselves if they think they do.

Threatening an adult with prison for possessing the wrong plant, medicine, or liquid spirits is ludicrous, and about as anti-Liberty as it gets.

Right wing authoritarians and left wing authoritarians would have the rest of us choose between their competing versions of Tyranny, and settle for whichever seems more palatable.

No thanks. I'll take NEITHER of those phony options. An individual's pursuit of happiness is not subject to the statist dogma of nanny-state authoritarians.

There is Authority, and there is Liberty.

Arbitrary Law is Illegitimate, whether fomented by a group of leaders or a mob.

I prefer actual Freedom, with all of its "scary" hazards and challenges.

And all the authoritarians can continue trying to outdo each other with their self-righteous, "well-meaning" non-freedom.

Education, not legislation.

Ditto!

160 posted on 11/12/2015 9:12:34 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (a "guest worker" is a stateless person with no ties to any community, only to his paymaster)
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