Posted on 02/06/2015 9:48:52 AM PST by ConservingFreedom
“With marijuana,” declare William J. Bennett and Robert A. White in Going to Pot, their new prohibitionist screed, “we have inexplicably suspended all the normal rules of reasoning and knowledge.” You can’t say they didn’t warn us.
The challenge for Bennett, a former drug czar and secretary of education who makes his living nowadays as a conservative pundit and talk radio host, and White, a New Jersey lawyer, is that most Americans support marijuana legalization, having discovered through direct and indirect experience that cannabis is not the menace portrayed in decades of anti-pot propaganda. To make the familiar seem threatening again, Bennett and White argue that marijuana is both more dangerous than it used to be, because it is more potent, and more dangerous than we used to think, because recent research has revealed “long-lasting and permanent serious health effects.” The result is a rambling, repetitive, self-contradicting hodgepodge of scare stories, misleading comparisons, unsupportable generalizations, and decontextualized research results. [...]
When it comes to assessing the evidence concerning marijuana’s hazards, Bennett and White’s approach is not exactly rigorous. They criticize evidence of marijuana’s benefits as merely “anecdotal” yet intersperse their text with personal testimonials about its harms. They do Google searches on “marijuana” paired with various possible dangers, then present the alarming (and generally misleading) headlines that pop up as if they conclusively verify those dangers. They cite any study that reflects negatively on marijuana (often repeatedly) as if it were the final word on the subject. Occasionally they acknowledge that the studies they favor have been criticized on methodological grounds or that other studies have generated different results. But they argue that even the possibility of bad outcomes such as IQ loss, psychosis, or addiction to other drugs is enough to oppose legalization. [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I’m surprised to hear than from a theologian. It’s a very radical notion. “I own myself.” Or I’m not free. It has led to some very hot threads on this forum in times past.
Thank you. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Alcohol IS a brain-altering drug, you DOLT!!!!
But it also speaks to the fact (yes fact) that the drug war apologists on this thread are feeding into what the article is saying about Bill: The arguments are very weak.
OK, I think you are full of baloney, but THAT picture was great! :-)
I whack you every chance I get
Erm ... you may want to consider rephrasing that.
Sorry, but I see your posts as projecting.
Yes, and that's why *YOU* don't belong. Conservatism is not Libertarianism. Conservatives are not advocates of shallow hedonism, but of Burkean self control.
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites, — in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity, — in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption, — in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.
You people are pushing a world in which civilization cannot exist, but you are too stupid and short sighted to understand the long term consequences of your simpleminded philosophy.
The Arc of History is bigger than you. Grow up.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
It’s literally why I’m here.
Your Burke quotation establishes that marijuana legalization "has nothing to do with freedom" only under the baseless assumption that all marijuana use (including legal use) is "intemperate."
Yes, and that’s why *YOU* don’t belong.
Your behavior here is of a person who is MORE creepy, misguided, and wrong, than the drug addicts!!!
You need to be kicked square in the ass for LYING repeatedly on Free Republic.
And you need to smoke some weed to get over your hysterical state. I'm suspecting Medical pot might be a legitimate call for you.
Then you’re not paying attention.
All Finny can do is threaten to kick our asses and hope we get shot in a duel. Not just this thread but previous pro dope threads also.
It is sanity. China went the other way, into deeper and deeper insanity. Before it was over, there were at least 80 million casualties.
And you need to smoke some weed to get over your hysterical state. I’m suspecting Medical pot might be a legitimate call for you.
Interesting. You know what they say about that...
Whereas you scrupulously avoid caps and exclamation points while delivering howlers like, "You people are pushing a world in which civilization cannot exist".
Why, does he look like a Libertarian or something?
The nanny state crowd doesn't think so. They will continue to cry, whine & lie about how marijuana will cause one to lose their job, burn their children alive & drive their car off a cliff.
Meanwhile, the tens of millions of Americans who have tried marijuana without such negative effects shake their heads & chuckle at the irrelevance of those in love with Big Daddy Government.
Are you sure you meant to send this to me?
Not just this thread but previous pro dope threads also.
This is a personal freedom issue for me. I’ve always had a problem with the government telling people that they can’t smoke a plant that grows wild on their land. It’s so Orwellian to me that it’s unconscionable, even though I’ve lived under it my entire life.
For me, this is not about dope. It’s about personal freedom to do dumb stuff.
EBT also pays for soft drinks, candy, cakes, chips, and lots of other CRAP that WE shouldn’t be paying for!
I also don’t like the idea of them being able to get Fillet Mignon and Lobster! Meanwhile, I’m behind them in line getting some frozen pizzas..... dammit LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.