Higher Immorality? For Some Religious Groups, Drug Laws Do More Harm Than Drugs Themselves

ABCNews.com ^ | June 20, 2002 | Dean Schabner

[tacticalogic]

do not accept the statist terms. mj is an herb, as correctly defined, not a drug. otherwise, coffee, corn etc are drugs as well....they have an effect in the body. drugs are man made.

I don't agree. Marijuana is an herb, but THC does fit the definition of a drug. Nightshade is an herb, but digitalis is a drug. I just don't buy the statist definitions that it's only a drug if it's listed on the FDA schedules, or that any unapproved use of a drug is abuse, or that any amount of use of something that's legal is not drug abuse.

[RaceBannon]

Im a former addict. Yes, they are better off without it. Trust me! :-)

[eno_]

Well that's more like it. Gluttony is a deadly sin not solely due to the bad aspects of overconsuption, but for the fetishization of consumption, which makes modern diet obsessions just as sinful as the stereotypical Roman in the vomitorium. In other words: "Get freakin over it or I'll smite y'all!" The WoD is one such sinful obession.

[MrB]

my right to not want to pay for your recovery, kids care, missed work, etc., etc.

You're right. No one should pay for the consequences of someone else's choices. Get those programs and laws off the books first, then we can all enjoy more freedom to choose, and to face the consequences of those choices.

[RaceBannon]

I dont know about a SWAT team, but men in tight white coats comes to mind!!

[eno_]

You are really really going to tell people here you were addicted to mj? Really? Like, can we see the old photos of you in dreadlocks smokin a beeeg faaat Jamaican splif, mon?

[TightSqueeze]

Those experiences led the 35-year-old mother of five to start the Christians for Cannabis Web site, and to begin a campaign of letter-writing to legislators, religious leaders and newspapers, urging an end to the marijuana prohibition and more research into potential uses of the drug, she said.

Jesus is just all right with me. -Dobbie Brothers

[seenenuf]

What you and I both have paid for are endless government funded studies and programs on medical use, criminalization, decriminalization, jail, rehab centers, public defenders, police, etc., A never ending growth industry of helpers, employed by the tax payer,,that if stopped would be simular to the crash in Silicon Valley economy.
When grass helps a cancer patient - great.
If people want to 'smoke', do booze, tranqs, LET 'EM.
Just make them be self-funded - and stay off the streets while drugged.
At least let a druggie fail in society if he chooses to, and allow their inablers pick them up, when they can't maintain a high function, loose one more relationship, or get fired one more time. I'd enjoy the IRS and Liberals more if they didn't envade my wages.

[Kerberos]

"She even decided to try smoking it, though she had always been afraid before. "I was very surprised that I wasn't very different than I was before,"

And this is on of the real unfortunate side effects of the drug war. Kids are propagandized from 1st grade with lies about the evils of drug use. And at some point many of them are going to try it and realize they have been lied to. Once that happens, what is to cause them to believe anything that their parents, other adults, or the government tries to tell them?

I agree there are consequences with drug abuse, but not all drug use ends in drug abuse. Just as not all alcohol use ends in alcohol abuse. Why can't we deal with it for what it is instead of with lies based on supposition?

[Physicist]

Nothing like that old-time religion.

Hey, you break it, you bought it. Now, if the government only would enforce that Biblical verse, I think it actually would help solve some social problems!

[steve50]

I think thats how this nation got in the shape it's in, our politicans said 'trust me' and there were enough fools that bought into it. I'll trust myself, thank you

[KEVLAR]

I agree. At first I thought you were implying that all "dopers", as the WOD crowd likes to call them, are a burden in the ways you described. (one should be here any minute to call all Christians, Jews, Presbyterians etc. Dopers and Libertarians.)

[Dakmar]

Now that I can agree with. I apologize for being snippy about your typo, I mistook you for one of the self-righteous drug warriors, whom I enjoy discrediting in any way that presents itself. Reasonable discorse is always appreciated.

[thoughtomator]

You'll never see a pothead in this position:

don't ask how I came across this site - not for the faint of heart

However, alcohol, which does produce that phenomenon, is not only legal but celebrated. Double standard? Hypocrisy? You decide.

[thoughtomator]

Bleh they changed the picture already... it had some guy barfing in the toilet and shitting all over himself

[jayef]

Haven't you tried to make this point before? Unsuccessfully, I might add.

[Britton J Wingfield]

Should all pharmacists be jailed?

Heavens no. They get the Auto Da Fe :)

[Britton J Wingfield]

This thread is about marijuana, not crack or PCP. I've never known anyone who missed work, abandoned their kids, had major health or mental problems, or harmed anyone else as a rseult of smoking pot, have you?

No, but some bastard ate all my doritos once.

[Kermit]

Exceptions were made for the religious use of alcohol during that Prohibition.

[Dakmar]

I believe that's a slappable offense.