Don't let the potheads ruin freedom

The Prometheus Institute ^ | 9/5/2006 | Editorial

[tang0r]

Generally, there are two types of marijuana users. First is the most commonly stereotyped “stoner,” depicted in the media of movies (e.g. Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High) and television (e.g. Shaggy from Scooby Doo). These are the dead-end job, ambitionless abusers who ingest marijuana to escape their already dismal lives. They represent the image which is most often associated with marijuana use. Certainly, the average American high school is teeming with similar directionless pot-smoking losers, further cementing this public perception.

[Disturbin]

Zoinks!!!

[staytrue]

Ok, how about this. Pot is illegal unless you buy a license to use it. To get a license for personal use only, you pay 30,000 a year. That way only the high achievers can get it and the pot heads won't get it legally.

[Disturbin]

"Neoprohibitionists seize on these abounding examples of squandered talent and vanishing ambition as proof that cannabis is nothing but a societal cancer that should be illegal on utilitarian grounds, if nothing else."

Aren't we getting out of hand with the "NEO" everything?

[ndt]

"These are the dead-end job..."

Who says ghost hunting is a dead end job?

[Disturbin]

Then the libs would create a "disease" for which they can take our tax dollars and use them to buy pot for the "victims."

[Clint N. Suhks]

Nice Liberaltarian Red Meat article.

[Global2010]

I forgot what I was going to say.

j/k

[dmz]

Aren't we getting out of hand with the "NEO" everything?
_____

Pretty neolinguistic of you to so suggest.

[texas_mrs]

It is helpful to remember that legality is not social approval, and our laws recognize this.

Maybe so, but our children do not.

[orionblamblam]

> Pot is illegal unless you buy a license to use it.

How about booze? Or tobacco? They do far more damage to society than pot. Hel's belles, how about requiring a license to have a baby?

[aligncare]

As public policy, the war on marijuana is a dismal failure. Any negative impact marijuana has on society remains entirely as a result of it's status as illegal.

[rhombus]

What's the point of that?

[fnord]

neologisms are everywherish

[Global2010]

Scooby too.

[orionblamblam]

[JamesP81]

I think the tone of the article is ridiculous, however, I agree with it on one thing: I've come to think that marijuana is not the evil it's been painted to be. While most of my Christian brothers and sisters will disagree with me, I don't think marijuana is as dangerous as alcohol. I know that we get tired of hearing that comparison, but it is accurate.

I don't think possession of marijuana should be a crime, or if it is, not a serious one. Basically I think marijuana should get the same legal treatment as alcoholic beverages. Now, trafficking is another matter. Just like bootlegging is a more serious crime, I would think that marijuana trafficking would be too. I just think a great amount of judicial and policing effort is wasted catching pot smokers. Furthermore, not everybody that smokes a little dope is a bad person. However, a drug conviction pretty much gurantees you can't get a job that pays more than 8 dollars per hour for the rest of your life (on a side note, it's no wonder people sent to rehab programs have no motivation to actually get rehabbed. There's nothing waiting for them when it's over except poverty and social ridicule). That just doesn't seem right to me.

[rhombus]

Nice Liberaltarian Red Meat article.

Amen to that. It also brings out the paleo-angry too.

[staytrue]

How about booze? Or tobacco?

We already tax the crap out of both of these and ditto for gasoline and automobiles too. Why not restrict pot to people who will pay an arm and a leg for it and use the proceeds for a tax cut on the middle class.

[Moonman62]

I don't think possession of marijuana should be a crime, or if it is, not a serious one. Basically I think marijuana should get the same legal treatment as alcoholic beverages. Now, trafficking is another matter. Just like bootlegging is a more serious crime, I would think that marijuana trafficking would be too.

That's how alcohol prohibition worked, or should I say didn't work.

[Clint N. Suhks]

Nice Liberaltarian Red Meat article.

Amen to that. It also brings out the paleo-angry too.

Are they not one in the same?

[ez]

Pot is illegal unless you buy a license to use it. To get a license for personal use only, you pay 30,000 a year. That way only the high achievers can get it and the pot heads won't get it legally.

Yeah, great idea...let's give the government more power over the citizens' recreational habits. And btw, potheads ALREADY don't get it legally.

[staytrue]

From what I have seen, alcohol has a downside similar to pot.

But alcohol has more upside than pot. It apparently has some cardio benefits. Pot gives you reduced lung capacity and cancer in some cases.

Alcohol gets people to be more social. Pot puts you in your own little world.

On a cost benefit ratio, alcohol beats pot.

I will agree with you that for those who abuse, alcohol is just as bad or worse than pot.

[orionblamblam]

Why not restrict booze and smokes to people who will pay an arm and a leg for it and use the proceeds for a tax cut on the middle class.

[Nathan Zachary]

"How about booze? Or tobacco? They do far more damage to society than pot."

Sez who? The pot smokers? And at the rate babies end up under state care, or become a welfare check generators, maybe that isn't a bad idea either.

[Nathan Zachary]

"How about booze? Or tobacco? They do far more damage to society than pot."

Sez who? The pot smokers? And at the rate babies end up under state care, or become a welfare check generators, maybe that isn't a bad idea either.

[tumblindice]

Space Ghost? http://webpages.charter.net/superheroes/space_ghost.htm

[monday]

You didn't post enough of the article to get to the point. Stop wasting our time.

[Lucky9teen]

Cannabis, like nearly everything else, can be misused or used beneficially, depending on the user. It can accelerate the demise of those who are otherwise disposed to slothful underachievement, but also enhance the performance of those determined to create and innovate.

Many a time it has helped me get motivated and enjoy cleaning my house, quite efficiently and thoroughly, I might add.

I for one, am for legalizing it. IMO, I don't think it's any more harmful than alcohol.

[JamesP81]

Why not restrict booze and smokes to people who will pay an arm and a leg for it and use the proceeds for a tax cut on the middle class.

Not to criticize too harshly, but this smacks of higher taxes and wealth redistribution. I will have no part of it.

[Pyro7480]

That was such a funny episode.

[Trampled by Lambs]

Does pot make you lazy? Check

Does pot make you dim and forgetful? Check

Does pot lead you to harder drugs? Check but only because once you start using it, you often begin to associate with users of other street drugs.

Are many pot smokers losers with no ambition? Check - some but not all.

Should you go to jail for using it? Nah...

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Ok, how about this. Pot is illegal unless you buy a license to use it. To get a license for personal use only, you pay 30,000 a year. That way only the high achievers can get it and the pot heads won't get it legally.

How about a $50K/year alcohol use license instead?

[Nathan Zachary]

"I don't think marijuana is as dangerous as alcohol. I know that we get tired of hearing that comparison, but it is accurate."

That may have been true back in the days of low THC pot. Pot is much stronger than it used to be, and leads more often than not to other drug use.- "Getting dragged out from smoking pot day after day? wash down this little pill with your drink...."- is more common than you think, and that's because pot has become socially acceptable, and so are other drugs, like meth. If you think teenage kids can make rational decisions, you are daydreaming. That's why many of them end up on a slab at the morgue.

[JamesP81]

If you think teenage kids can make rational decisions, you are daydreaming. That's why many of them end up on a slab at the morgue.

I'm not claiming that they can. Then again, I'm not convinced that adults are able to make rational decisions either. At some point you have to acknowledge that people can and will do stupid things, and you have to let them do them.

We don't let teenagers drink alcohol, but we let adults drink. The same rule should probably apply with pot.

[Nathan Zachary]

"Why not restrict booze and smokes to people who will pay an arm and a leg for it and use the proceeds for a tax cut on the middle class."

have you been to Canada lately? $11.25 fora pack of smokes, $20 for a dozen beer, not to mention gas tax. Does any of this tax robbery provied "tax breaks for the middle class"? Nope. But socialist governments love the idea of taxing addictive substances and recreational drugs- booze included, and that is usually the line they use to sell it. I guess that tells us who you vote for, doesn't it.

[pandoraou812]

Pot was the 1st drug I used as a teen, then I went on to drinking. All my friends used it too. Most went on to using other drugs and left pot far behind. When I had children I stopped smoking it and stopped drinking. However many people I know swear its a gateway drug. I doubt it will be made legal as too much money is made from it being illegal. I feel bad for the people who want to use it medically.

[Gordongekko909]

On that note, I've never seen anyone get into a fight while stoned. Drunks, on the other hand...

[Samurai_Jack]

Legalize it... Regulate it, Sell it along with alcohol and then Tax the hell out of it. Put that money into rehab clinics.

and then prosecute the dealers

NOW you have solved the problem.

Prohibition was a failure then and it's a failure now.

[from occupied ga]

Don't let the potheads ruin freedom

It isn't potheads that ruin freedom. It's the jackboots who use this as an excuse to expand government powers who "ruin freedom" and the armchair drug warriors who cry "if you haven't done anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about" and of course "It's for the children" who ruin freedom. All potheads do is ruin themselves.

[Vaquero]

Sorry I have to disagree. Pot is Dangerous and I have seen it.

To ironically quote the pedophilic Alan Ginsberg..."I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness"

my favorite song describing Pot psychosis is:

Uncle Bob's Midnight Blues Lyrics
Artist: Randy Newman
Album: 12 Songs



Goin' down to the corner
Gonna have myself a drink
Goin' down to the corner
Gonna have myself a drink
'Cause that sh*t that we been usin'
Sure confuse my thinking
Gonna send out to the drugstore
Buy myself a goat
Tie him up in my front yard
For all my so-called friends to see
Ain't nobody gonna look in my window and laugh at me
I been up so long
That it looks like down to me
Please don't talk about to me when I'm gone
Baby, are you against me too?
Had a great idea the other night
Come-A-Ti-Yi-Yippie, baby
Look out
When the blue of the night meets the gold of the day
We love you
We love you
We love you

[Gordongekko909]

I've smoked up a few times (as in, fewer than five), and it did exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to do. I understand it's supposed to calm you down, right? Not me. I got jittery as all hell. It was teh suck.

On the upside, I had the best night's sleep ever when I went to bed afterwards.

[JamesP81]

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness"

Ginsberg is wrong. Those minds destroyed themselves. No one made them smoke dope.

[KeepUSfree]

One of the more self-righteous, delusional posts I've ever read.

Let's just take 1 "minor" statistic.

How many people do you know that have died or had thier lives ruined due to alcohol?

How many due to pot (not every illegal drug...just pot)?

NOT ONE PERSON has ever died due to mariajuana poisoning.

Alcohol poisoning causes over 4,000 deaths per year.
Alcohol Poisoning

[antiRepublicrat]

Why not restrict booze and smokes to people who will pay an arm and a leg for it and use the proceeds for a tax cut on the middle class.

In general, the people who like sin taxes are not the same people who would give that money back to the people.

[Nathan Zachary]

At least you can notice when kids get into their parents booze, and access is limited. Not so with pot.
Plus, research shows that the brain of a teenager is undergoing an extreme growth/change, much like it does during the first few years of life. The brain looses much of it's unused brain cells during this period of change, and if a teenager is laying about "smoking his brains out", it may be a truer catch phrase than originally thought. Active brains (from studying/learning) retain more brain brain cells during this final development stage.

Pot should never be legalized, because it will just make it all the more socially acceptable. Another reason is that the government will tax the crap out of it, and regulate it. Illegal dealers will still be illegal, just as bootlegging is illegal.

[staytrue]

Alcohol poisoning causes over 4,000 deaths per year.

Alcohol abuse is a huge problem. But then alcohol usage is probably 10 times the level of pot use.

What percentage of the population drinks alcohol on occasion ? It is probably close to 95%. So alcohol deaths at 4000 is probably similar to pot deaths at 800 which is so small as to not get any notice.

[tacticalogic]

Pot is much stronger than it used to be, and leads more often than not to other drug use.

Then the stats for "other drug use" should come to more than half of the figures for pot use. If they don't someone is lying.

[DouglasKC]

While most of my Christian brothers and sisters will disagree with me, I don't think marijuana is as dangerous as alcohol. I know that we get tired of hearing that comparison, but it is accurate.

Actually James, marijuana is much worse than alcohol and ESPECIALLY for Christians.

Pot is insidious to ones spiritual life in that it smoking it generates "feelings" of spirituality that counterfeit true spirituality. Simply put, if one is smoking pot, they will never come to God because they're taking a shortcut to a stronger and more intense "spirituality". It is a type of spirituality they are accessing, but what it happening is that they are leaving themselves open to demonic influences, demonic spirituality, and Satan take advantage of that.

Potheads who think they are being "enlightened" or "inspired" are...by Satan:

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

[Nathan Zachary]

" How many due to pot (not every illegal drug...just pot)?"

Alot. Even more than Alcohol. Any other answer is delusional.
In fact I know MORE people who died from drug abuse than from drinking themselves to death.

You may THINK pot doesn't kill, but you are wrong. It effects judgement like any other drug which leads the user to take other drugs, or do something stupid resulting in death. You have no stats to back up your claim, because THC samples aren't taken like alcohol samples are.