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Posted on 06/10/2005 2:29:28 PM PDT by Nachum
It is this reporter's opinion that each generation in turn takes a new look at the marijuana question. Now it's this generation's turn. In a 6-to-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-marijuana statutes overrule the laws in ten states that allow the use of marijuana plants to ease pain or nausea.
Fifty years ago, as a much younger television reporter, I did a series of interviews with Dr. Hardin B. Jones, Professor of Medical Physics and Physiology at the University of California Berkeley. Dr. Jones, in his thorough study, raised disturbing questions about marijuana's effects on the vital systems of the body, on the brain and mind, on immunity and resistance, and on sex reproduction.
Dr. Jones addressed such problems of society as the hazards to non-smokers, crime, the law, and the effect of widespread smoking among the military – including atomic weapons personnel. And he didn't stop there. The good doctor included telling comments from interviews conducted with scores of marijuana users and ex-users.
I concluded, after this exhaustive study, that the very idea of legalizing marijuana is to follow a senseless, immoral, perilous path – a slippery slope, that the use of marijuana is dangerous on many fronts, that it impairs memory, alters time perception, reduces coordination, damages the immune system, is psychologically habit-forming and creates a wide range of effects on moods and behavior.
Dr. Jones offered an open letter to parents. Following are the main points discussed in his letter:
Marijuana is not a benign drug. Use of this drug impairs learning and judgment and may lead to the development of mental health problems.
Smoking marijuana can injure or destroy lung tissue.
Teens who are high on marijuana are less able to make safe, smart decisions about sex, including knowing when to say "no."
Marijuana can impair perception and reaction time, putting young drivers and others in danger.
Marijuana use may trigger panic attacks, paranoia, and even psychoses.
Marijuana can impair concentration and the ability to retain information during a teen's peak learning years.
Recent research indicates a correlation between frequent marijuana use and aggressive or violent behavior.
Dr. Jones concludes: MARIJUANA IS ADDICTIVE, and says that more teens are in treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than for all other illicit drugs combined.
Personally, I recall one visitation to a rehabilitation center where we interviewed recovering heroin addicts. We had to interview 25 hard-core drug users before we found a single one who had not started with marijuana!
As for those who say they must rely on marijuana to treat their pain, Dr. Jones cited a Washington University School of Medicine study on the subject: the experiment on twenty young men who were experienced marijuana smokers. Before and after they smoked reefers, electric impulses of different strengths were applied to their fingers and pain thresholds recorded. It was a method that earlier had verified the pain-killing effects of morphine, aspirin and codeine. MARIJUANA NOT ONLY FAILED TO LESSEN PAIN, IT ACTUALLY INCREASED IT! That finding casts doubt on the usefulness of marijuana as an analgesic.
The same facts and conclusions are repeated generation after generation with the same conclusion: DON'T EVER LEGALIZE POT!
Just another tid-bit you don't find quoted on many LP Freepers "me" pages...
So what about the FDA? What about safety regulations and all of that? Still not federal? Should we just abolish the FDA?
George is a smart man.
I won't claim to be an expert on pot. In fact I've have never used it. Only breathed it secondhand at rock concerts. Speaking of which I noticed that the creativity of virtually all the big names in rock dried up when they hit thirty. Most of them bragged or conceded their heavy use of pot. Which might answer the question of why Paul McCartney's post-Beatle music is so dreadful. McCartney is one of the biggest exponents of maryjane. The only conclusion I can come to is that he and many other leading songwriters of that era fried their collective brains on the stuff.
" I still haven't heard a good approach for discouraging vices (e.g., use of pot, tobacco, alcohol, prostitution, promiscuous gay sex, etc.) which do not create worse consequences than the vices being discouraged."
Incredible observation.
They have brute force only, which of course you know, otherwise you'd offer a different argument.
You feel any better about being lied to by WoD persecutors?
What is WoD?
War on Drugs
Since the 1930s
Never seen it. I wasn't alive when it came out so really it has no effect on me.
Certainly you've seen its successors.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
After all, if this is really a miracle cure, and so many people are affected, somebody should be able to fund and find an alternative.
However, Uncle Fed is justifying the WOD via the "Interstate Commerce" clause..
They're applying this, "for the purpose of regulation" to materials and activities that can accurately be described as: Inter-State Commerce, Intra-State Commerce and Completely wholy, Non-commercial.
In my book, that's UnConstitutional. I don't care how bad pot is.
It SHOULD take an amendment to outlaw pot, nationwide...
As was pursued successfully with Alcohol during Prohibition.
OK, I'll step up and be brave. I care about sick people, but I also believe that if you grow a plant, be it tomato, tobacco, or cannabis, it is YOUR business how you use that plant. If you bake a cake, it's YOUR cake.
Another thing that bugs me--it's a plant. A Plant. This is ridiculous. This isn't a meth lab. Not the Medallin (sp?) cartel. It's a plant. These people think it will help them. Leave them alone. If someone wants to grow a plant and do whatever they want with it, so be it.
I'd be for legalizing growing and using your own. Why is that a problem?
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