medical marijuana

[AdamSmith]

Some of the weed on sale is so thick with resin that it's hard to roll a usuable joint. You need a hash pipe just to smoke the stuff.

 

And the problem is?

 

Agree that rational policy would be to legalize, regulate, tax, and shift a fraction of current spending on law enforcement and incarceration over to public health education. But then this is the U.S., not The Netherlands. So rational policy may have to be forged under cover of, and motivated by, economic drivers as appears to be underway in CA. Nothing wrong with that.

 

However, not at all a foregone conclusion that consumption would skyrocket. Look what Everett Koop single-handedly achieved in public health education about tobacco. Similarly, per capita alcohol consumption today is greatly lower than for example during WWII. Use of potentiating substances does not inevitably go up with time and availability.

[Lookin]

Use of potentiating substances does not inevitably go up with time and availability.

 

Drat!! There goes my plan for a long and happy retirement.

 

I do appreciate the balanced viewpoints expressed in this thread, but the thought has occurred that perhaps we're being a bit sanguine about the horrors of hemp. I wonder if some may have missed seeing the 1936 movie Reefer Madness. You can watch some snippets

, but for those who'd rather not, here's a brief synopsis of what our film-going forebears perceived pursuant to that preliminary puff's path to perdition:

 

 

• Mae sells weed

• Jack sells the plant to young teenagers

• Ralph and Blanche help Jack sell cannabis to young students

• Jimmy drives Jack to pick some up

• Jack gives Jimmy a cigarette which turns out to be a joint

• Jimmy drives off dangerously, running over a pedestrian with his car

• Bill begins an affair with Blanche

• Mary, Jimmy's sister and Bill's girlfriend, nearly gets raped by Ralph

• Bill has sex with Blanche, hallucinates that Mary strips for Ralph, and attacks Ralph

• Jack hits Bill with his gun, accidentally firing it and killing Mary

• Jack plants the gun on Bill, waking him up and convincing him that he killed Mary

• Bill goes to prison

• Ralph goes insane

• Ralph is arrested for Jack's murder

• Jack's boss tells him to shoot Ralph

• Blanche plays the piano for Ralph, playing faster and faster as she get higher and higher

• Jack shows up and makes Ralph nervous

• Ralph beats Jack to death

• The police show up and arrest Ralph and Mae and Blanche

• Mae squeals to the cops

• Blanche clears Bill, and he is released

• Blanche is held as a material witness against Ralph

• Blanche jumps out a window and falls to her death

• Ralph is put in an asylum for the criminally insane for the rest of his life

 

I doubt the producer of the film, a Mr. Dwayne Esper, was under the influence, as all of the above took place within a 68-minute running time including credits. There was no lollygagging on that set.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/ReeferMadness_14.jpg/769px-ReeferMadness_14.jpg

 

I don't think the film did a big box office in Holland, but the American public was captivated. It had been nearly four years since alcohol had been re-legalized and we may just have been looking for another intoxicant to ban. In any event, a year or so later the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed.

 

High time too.

[Guest ChgoBoy]

LOL Lookin, thanks for this most important warning. Poor Blanche!

 

It is madness - madness of the worst human kind

 

I think it's time that everybody does

[Guest DuchessIvanaKizznhugg]

Blanche plays the piano for Ralph, playing faster and faster as she get higher and higher

 

Now THAT's talent!

[+ purplekow]

I did not read all posts thoroughly but I would like to add that pot smokers have a higher incidence of lung cancer and other cancers that those who do not smoke pot. The risk is additive to cigarettes. One to two joints instills about as much carcinogen into the lungs as 1 pack of cigarettes.

This is not to say that short term use of marijuana has no place. However, short term marijuana probably causes more health issues than it cures. If you had to go through the FDA and do appropriate testing, it would never get licensed as an inhaled drug.

[Diverdan]

One More Comment on Addiction

 

I have resisted adding to the fray of opinions on this subject, but since it has wandered all over the map (no pun intended), I decided to add some comments. One of the problems with medical marijuana is that there has been very limited research on this drug, especially its long term use. So much of what we have for policy is driven by opinion by folks for and against its use, and a lot of anecodotal research and opinion. It would be highly desirable for there to be more funding for significant research on the benefits and dangers of its use. What we do know is that marijuana can be effective for some people in some conditions. The active ingredient can be taken orally or smoked, which is what most folks who take it seem to like. However, with any smoke, there are other consequences as we know from smoking tobacco and smokeless tobacco. There is a lot of research on the addictive and health consequences of tobacco, but it does not stop people from smoking and dying of lung cancer and it does not stop professional baseball players from chewing tobacco, even though most of them will ultimately develop mouth, throat and other cancers which will shorten their lives or cause terrible disfigurement and early death. We also know about the consequences of alcohol consumption to excess and some limited knowledge about the benefits of modest amounts of alcohol for some people, but it is not universal. We also know that some folks become addicted to prescription drugs, whether because it is for pain or other conditions. What we ultimately are discussing is addiction and we as a species can become addicted to almost anything, including sex!!!!! Some addictions are very harmful and some less so, and a lot depends on the circumstances that surround the addiction, the chemical makeup of the person as well as their psychological state. I suspect we all know friends or colleagues who have lost the battle with alcohol, pot or other drugs of choice. There is a terrible price to individuals and society with addiction, but from my perspective we would all benefit from more funds devoted to the research that is needed for understanding and treatment in all these spheres. Sorry to be so long winded, but a couple of you asked for my comments to this thread, so here it is.

[GoodFella69]

From the drug tests given to folks in my industry I think I know that marijuana "lingers" in the system and therefore can be detected well after the use. If you USE it a lot, you might be influenced a lot.

 

I have no problem with end of life or truly pallative treatments for those with terminal "problems". In the meantime why aren't we all exercising more and eating better and doing something positive for ourselves and the rest of the world?

 

You make some great points, KMEM. I agree wholeheartedly that more attention should be focused on our preventative health and maintenance.