Posted on 12/20/2002 9:37:03 PM PST by Sparta
Following ballot initiatives in some parts of the country this fall, local authorities and experts agree that any form of legalization or decriminalization of narcotics is a bad idea.
Mary Sloan, prevention supervisor for Northwest Iowa Drug and Alcohol Treatment Unit, had one word to describe the proposals - wrong.
"It normalizes use - it gives society a message that if it's legal then it's normal for people to use," she said. "And we do know that marijuana is addictive. People talk about hard drugs and soft drugs - it is a drug.
"It can cause problems for people physically as well as all the areas that drugs can cause problems with - family, schools," she added. "That's why we make policy around these drugs, because they do cause problems for people."
As far as medicinal purposes, Sloan said marijuana if legalized strictly for that purpose would need to be treated as any other prescription medicine by sharply controlling quantity and frequency of dosages.
Further study to find what part of marijuana is beneficial is important, too.
"Let's use that component because then we can measure the quantity and the frequency and be more specific with dosages," she said.
Efforts to legalize marijuana do not sit well with local law enforcement either.
"We would not support that," Storm Lake Public Safety Director Mark Prosser said of legalization proposals.
"As a government and as a country we have done a very poor job in the legislating, control and enforcement of alcohol and tobacco laws historically," he said. "To bring mind-altering drugs that are deeply interconnected with organized crime and street gang violence onto a public market would be a disaster."
Proponents of the legalization argue that the "war on drugs" has failed to eradicate problems, that those who need treatment for addiction instead face jail time that is expensive to society and does not rehabilitate them, and that marijuana as a drug could be compared to other legal addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco and caffeine
Countries where small amounts of marijuana or other drugs are legal face social service costs seven to eight times higher than those in the United States, Prosser responds.
"That includes many more clinics, treatment centers, social service employees and law enforcement because of the social problems created through the legalization process," he said.
There are higher addiction rates and both higher inpatient and outpatient treatment, he said.
However, treatment should be an option for addicted individuals in the United States.
"Those individuals not involved in sales, but are addicted to drugs I view more as an illness," he said.
Prison should be the answer for those who deal drugs, he said.
"Those individuals who choose to sell and deal drugs are clearly criminals," Prosser said.
Prevention continues to play a role in creating a healthy community, Sloan said. At NWIADTU, she focuses on preventing problems from even starting in the first place - that involves helping people understand why marijuana and other drugs are harmful, she said.
"We don't want this to become a normal pattern of use, that it's okay to use," she said. "It is a drug like other drugs. We need to be aware of the risks and protect what we value."
NWIADTU works with all audiences in its prevention work, focusing on empowering other people to become "effective prevention people," Sloan said.
NWIADTU believes substance abuse prevention is essential for healthy communities.
"We want to help people in our area value prevention and to get the message out that every Iowan is a prevention partner," Sloan said. "Prevention is not only about individuals - it's about families, it's about communities."
NWIADTU works with people to look at low-risk choices when it comes to drugs and alcohol.
"What we're trying to do is create a community norm around making low-risk choices," she said. "The only low-risk choice when it comes to illegal drugs is abstinence."
Low-risk choices also need to be considered when it comes to alcohol, tobacco, and both over-the-counter and prescription medicines.
"That's why prescription drugs have directions," she said.
At Christmas time, NWIADTU tells people to "celebrate with care," and encourages workplaces suggestions on environmental prevention strategies, such as not providing alcohol for free at a Christmas party and ensuring other non-alcoholic beverages are also available.
Legalization is not something that should happen in the U.S. because marijuana is legal elsewhere in the world, she said.
"It comes back to protecting what we value - do we value the health of a community, do we value that crime is low?" Sloan asked.
Prosser said he has "faith that the good people of Iowa see that it is a mistake for the heartland."
In Storm Lake, the police department has successful support for its prevention efforts.
"We've had unprecedented support for both drug enforcement and drug education," he said.
But it's never-ending job.
"Ironically, last Thursday as we were completing the final D.A.R.E. graduation, simultaneously we were dealing with an active meth lab in the downtown," Prosser said. "It's a never-ending problem."
Although I grew up in the smokin' 70s, for some reason I was never tempted to partake, even though it was all around me. It just never seemed somehow "right" to me to seek to lose control.
But I did watch others carefully. My dorm-mate in college was in particular a REAL doper. If you can get high on second-hand pot smoke, then I guess I can say I've imbibed.
It was interesting to see, in college in the mid- to late-70s, the dopers, many of whom were absolutely brilliant people, consistently fall short of all reasonable academic expectations. It was just hard for them to be interested in anything except their religion.
BWAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!!!! ......... waahahhahhahahahahhahahhah..............
The chief merit of Italian Humanism, as indeed of Humanism in general, was that it opened up the real sources of ancient culture and drew from these, as a subject of study for its own sake, the classic literature which till then had been used in a merely fragmentary way. Philological and scientific criticism was inaugurated, and historical research advanced. The uncouth Latin of the Scholastics and the monastic writers was replaced by classic elegance. More influential still, but not to good effect, were the religious and moral views of pagan antiquity. Christianity and its ethical system suffered a serious shock. Moral relations, especially marriage, became the subject of ribald jest. In their private lives many Humanists were deficient in moral sense, while the morals of the upper classes degenerated into a pitiable excess of unrestrained individualism. A political expression of the humanistic spirit is "The Prince" (Il Principe) of Niccolo Machiavelli (d. 1527), the gospel of brute force, of contempt for all morality, and of cynical selfishness.
http://www.newadvent.org
Got any other examples, or is this a one-nation "trend"?
Yes, but that process does not operate in a political vacumn. In this case, it's been short circuited because of political concerns in the War on Some Drugs. Marijuana is an excellent general-purpose analgesic and appetite activator that has been safely used for millenia. It's cheap, can be administered in multiple forms that patients will accept, and patients find it very simple to determine and adjust an effective dosage.
And, yes, it is psychoactive. So are other drugs that are prescribed. Certain everyday activities like driving, etc., should be limited when you use it, just like hundreds of other drugs.
Are there derivatives of the plant's active agent that could be used? Yes, but why use an expensive commerical pharmaceutical when you can simply ingest an inexpensive plant and get the job done?
The decision to refuse to allow doctors, who are trusted and allowed to prescribe hundreds of other drugs with deleterious effects, not to prescribe this one drug is absurd.
If marijuana were found to have some similar medical benefit, I wouldn't have a problem. But don't get your hopes up; I doubt it will be in smoked form.
Thanks for the ping jmc813 but that is as far as I read.
EBUCK
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers, Primus
I've seen them out at Soco They're pounding sixteen penny nails The truckers on the interstate Have been known to ride the rails The sweat is beating on the brow Can't keep these fellas down 'Cause those damned blue-collared tweekers Are runnin' this here town
I knew a man who hung drywall He hung it mighty quick A trip or two to the blue room Would help him do the trick His foreman would pat him on the back Whenever he would come around 'Cause these dammed blue-collar tweekers Are beloved in this here town
Now the union boys are there To protect us from all the corporate type While curious George's drug patrol Is out here hunting snipe Now they try to tell me different But you know I ain't no clown 'Cause those damned blue-collar tweekers Are the backbone of this town
Now the flame that burns twice as bright Burns only half as long My eyes are growing weary As I finalize this song So sit back and have a cup o' joe And watch the wheels go round 'Cause those damned blue-collar tweekers Have always run this town
For your entertainment..and enlightenment. Meth, the supposed psycho-maker, is even handed out to our pilots (flting billion dollar jets no less) in time of war. Used responsibly (as with any drug) and people don't go ape-$hit.
EBUCK
Sure, and by extension, most countries in world have banned private ownership of guns, making most gun owners criminals. Therefore all guns, everywhere, should be banned. Globalism ROCKS!!!!
EBUCK
For some, the smoked form is the only way to ingest it (nausea etc..) outside of IV administration (which may be impossible outside of a hospital).
EBUCK
Yup. They've even started using the UNDCP treaties as an excuse to refuse to justify the scheduling of mj, even though the CSA makes no provisions for those treaties to be a consideration. I'd be willing to bet the DEA had a hand in helping to write those treaties in the first place.
My point was that even if marijuana is found to have medical benefits, it would probably not be delivered by smoking. It would be difficult to administer in a hospital setting, and there would be potential side effects like those associated with smoking tobacco.
Good point...I just can't seem to picture some guy in a hospital bed "toking" his hourly dose while some poor fellow in the next cot is suffering from asthma or any other respritory ailment.
I have read a bit about the eye drops but they sure do seem to be high priced compared to a joint.
EBUCK
suppository form.
LOL, I'm thinking that there may be some initial friction to the delivery vector...
EBUCK
The current approval process pretty much assures that you won't see approval for any form of THC that doesn't involve a pharmacuetical company and a patent.
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