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Ted S. Warren / AP
Researchers have found no correlation between legalization of medical marijuana and increased pot use among teens, according to a new study.
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Again and again, we get a clearer view of cannabis in the world, and the clearer that view gets, the less it resembles the 'Bizarro-planet' propaganda that government and haters espouse.
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What is at the heart of all this propaganda against canibus is FEAR. Fear that everyone will be a raging drug addict. Like prohibition make drinking more fasinating because it was taboo is the same with marijuana. I dont know about you but I am totally fed up with our rights to holistic medicine through herbs, vitamins and natural resources being taken away from us. Big Pharma kills by addicting everyone with pain pills and trying to shut down herb and vitamin to be sold to the common people in health food stores. Let's not forget all of our hollywood stars that have total access to multiple doctors who freely whip out their perscription pads because of the money thrown at them. And yet those deadly and I do mean deadly drugs with their nasty side effects causing you to take more meds are LEGAL??? NOBODY has EVER overdosed with marijuana. Sheesh...vote it legal already!
WMG: You made my day! Thanks for the very courageous warning. :)
WMG,
You seem to be channeling William Randolph Hearst. Put your hands above your head and back away from the Weegee Board slowly.
@WMG -- Always nice to have a chance to read orraziB in it's original egaugnal!
No crap. It's harder for a teen to get legalized pot than stuff grown by dealers.
Total legalization and regulation similar to tobacco or alcohol will make pot LESS accessible to kids as the dealers are priced out of the market.
Now let's Let's Legalize it and Quit Playing Government Games,Tax it,and Stop the Criminalization.
Does Obama want your Vote,You bet he does,Stop Criminalization.
Marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is a plant. It requires no synthesis, no additives, absolutely nothing unnatural.
Tobacco and Alchohol are responsible for more deaths than all drug related violence.
People who oppose marijuana but still support Tobacco, Alchohol, and most prescription drugs are nothing but clueless little idiots. You dont have to use it, and its not your business to interfere with people who do.
The funny thing is you see all these people with Xanax and Valum prescriptions walking around like freaking zombies. Not to mention prescription drugs are horrible on your liver.
The ignorance of people will never cease to amaze me.
jrt, it is still a drug. But a pretty harmless one (it even has many benefits, like aspirin, for example). Stating "Its not a drug" undermines credibility.
It's greatest benefit is curing chronic boredom. It also makes TV and movies somewhat watchable.
While Marijuana isn't a "drug" it is still a drug.
Medical-Dictionary.com
1. a chemical substance that affects the processes of the mind or body.
2. any chemical compound used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease or other abnormal condition.
3. a substance used recreationally for its effects on the central nervous system, such as a narcotic.
Just what prescription drugs do to your liver should lead you to at least try marijuana instead of some of the drugs they push at you. Every drug you take is filtered by and does harm to your liver. Marijuana does no harm to you at all. Your body already has cannabinoids in it. It is not foreign to the body.
All: Marijuana is a drug like beer is a drug, or wine, or tequila. That is, they all contain psychoactive substances such as THC for marijuana or alcohol for beer. By the way, nutmeg is a drug in the same way, containing myristicin (it's also in parsley - "why is Denny's giving me a drug with my grand slam breakfast?").
So it's OK to call marijuanaa drug as long as one is consistent with the analogy.
I wish somebody could send this article in response to the horrible AP article that was printed in the Oregonian. Obviously bought and paid for by the anti-legalization faction that exists there. Education resistance seems to be a common theme among the conservatives. I hope none of them ever have a relative in chemotherapy vomiting along side the road uncontrollably because marijuana is illegal and the prescription drugs for nausea don't work.
Is 'education resistance' a euphemism for 'willful ignorance'? That's not owned exclusively by conservatives.
I do agree with you and most of the other posts but I'd like to point out that this study is self-reported and so may not represent reality with complete accuracy. With all the breaches in information security it would be unwise to be completely honest in response to these kinds of questions.
Maybe not exclusively, no, but they own a great deal of it, particularly on the issue of Pot Prohibition.
In last October's Gallup poll, Conservatives ranked lowest among six categories of political affiliation in favoring legalizing Pot. Went like this - Saying 'yes' to legalizing marijuana were:
Liberals, 69%
Democrats/ Moderates/ Independents, 57%
Republicans, 35%, Conservatives, 34%.
The political Right in America stands alone in majority support for the Prohibition of marijuana. This has much to do with Culture War animosity, and where there's "willful ignorance" on the issue, it's that animosity that gives it such force.
Iit is very easy to check the accuracy yourself. Simply call up the data in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey for the legalized medical marijuana years in question (e.g., 1996 - 2010 in California): http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm
One can also compare the Federal "National Survey on Drug Use and Health" (NSDUH) data against medical marijuana states: http://store.samhsa.gov/product/SMA11-4658?WT.ac=EB_20110908_SMA11-4658. I've tracked these for years and have the same results as those found by this latest study.
I have typed my fingers raw trying to convince people that there is nothing harmful with marijuana. Sugar and fatty foods kill more people every year. In fact no one has ever died from marijuana. Not one! I'm not going to bother to spout a bunch of death statistics to prove marijuana is safe because I'm truly wasting my time. All I can say is I'm 60 years old and have been smoking pot for 40 years daily and I am as healthy as a horse. My doctor even thinks that I don't smoke anything.(I don't smoke cigarettes) Every year at my physical he listens to my lungs and says everything sounds good. 5 years ago I requested a chest x-ray and to be wired up and put on a tread mill to check my heart because heart problems run in my family. The chest x-ray was clean and my heart was in great condition I was told. I had been smoking marijuana daily for 35 years then. I admit I didn't smoke for about 3 days before my physical. I admit you get a little congested smoking pot daily but quit for a week and your lung completely clear. The stuff is harmless and I would rather my children smoke marijuana than ever take a drink of alcohol. My children are all adults now. I was an alcoholic in my youth. I haven't had a drink in 30 years. One child smokes pot only, one drinks occasionally and smokes occasionally, and one does neither. I say legalize it now. It has lots of medicinal uses also, Great for migraines, nausea, sleep, arthritis pain in my hands (I have broke them both). I'll smoke it till the day I die. I'm going to keep my retirement money. (I'm retired) Not giving it all to the pharmaceutical companies. LEGALIZE!
Gorgeous photo, by the way :)
Ahhhh, those were the days ....
This article is kind of moot. Of course legalizing "medical" use of marijuana isn't going to increase the access of drug use among teens. If it's for medical use that would require parental consent in most situations. Also as any people have pointed out, its more expensive from a prescription than from some guy on the corner.
On a side note, while I don't think this drug should be legalized, I wouldn't fight it once a method is created to detect recent usage in a more accurate means. Similar to a breathalyzer. If you're baked, and pulled over for reckless driving, law enforcement need more than a urine test to determine if you're "under the influence" or "intoxicated". An UA will detect usage from over a week past, causing for false charges and problematic enforcement.
Until then, I oppose. Once an accurate detection system is created and put in place, then I don't care.
This is another falsehood about marijuana. Where are all the car accidents now caused by marijuana? People smoking marijuana are safe drivers not daredevils like drunk drivers. People should quit worrying about people driving on marijuana. It will not be a problem. Marijuana does not impair you like alcohol in the least bit. This is just another thing prohibitionist bring up because they know they will never be able to detect it like alcohol because it stays in your system for quite some time after smoking. Marijuana use is rampant now. Where are all the accidents? Like deaths they are non existent. My opinion, 40 years of smoking. Never had an accident. 3 minor speeding tickets in 40 years. Not an issue as far as I'm concerned.
@Minnsurveyor -- Hear Hear!
I've been in cars driven by drunks a handful of times, and seen reasons to worry.
I've been in cars driven by smokers (often while smoking) literally thousands of times, never a problem, never a worry.
Folks, it goes on all the time. And the roads haven't been turned into fields of carnage any more than America's been turned into a 'Nation of Zombies' from all the Pot that's been smoked by as much as a third of us.
@Horn
While I guess you are a marijuana legalization supporter, since they have the saliva test which detects use within the last 4-6 hours.
Welcome to the cause!
While driving under the influence of marijuana is much less dangerous than driving while intoxicated with alcohol, one is still "under the influence." If we want to change the laws concerning marijuana, we need to also quit the hyperbole and acknowledge that marijuana use is appropriate only within certain situations (not while driving, operating machinery at work, and performing child care, surgery, tatooing, biking, skateboarding, etc.). If we want to complain about the mythology of the "dangers of evil weed," we need to give up the mythology of "never a problem smoking pot."
Nor should we be willing to say things other than what we know to be true, to keep in the good graces of Prohibitionists.
I'm only reporting what I've seen and know to be true.
Among a number of people I've seen operate a car "under the influence," I've never seen a problem there. Not an accident, not a close call. No danger, apart from the possible danger of being found out.
Someone who's new to Pot, or new to driving, or both, should refrain, as they're in unfamiliar territory; and I don't ever imagine a world in which people will be completely okay with driving and smoking. But the concern that legalizing can only come at the expense of road safety (Not necessarily so), and that much greater testing of drivers will be necessary, will open us up to Drug War by different means.
Yes, there's something to be said for responsibility and I very much hope that, once legalization comes, people will be responsible, even courteous, about it -- be good citizens and all -- but we're not going to do ourselves any favors by kowtowing to Drug Warriors' 'common wisdom,' either.
They're starting a new mythology, that smoking Pot leads to Psychosis. Should we be willing to meet them halfway on that?
No way. Just saying we should stick to common sense. However, it is an important to remember that we cannot change the law with common sense or reason either. The British statemen Thomas Macaulay said "It is not by accuracy or profundity that men become the masters of great assemblies." Only by mass disapproval of current policy as reflected in the media, in institutions of learning, and in the public square will any change ever come about.
No surprise here! Marijuana is safer than alcohol. And everyone knows it!
So, when are they gonna take booze off the shelves?
They didn't need to do a study.
I could have told them that.
Nobody seems to be paying attention to the fact that when marijuana grew wild along the roads and ditches all over this country, only a few doctors and a lot of politicians even knew about it. Then, some Bible thumping Baptist Democrat got on his high horse and managed to criminalize pot and the entire country has gone down hill since then. Just legalize pot and things will get back to normal again.
Like most of our drug laws marijuana is illegal mostly for racial reasons. I encourage anyone that has never bothered to read about the origins of most of our drug laws to do so......very little science!
This debate about whether pot is addictive, or a gateway drug is pointless because the very act of abusing any drug is stupid and dangerous period.
I am from the old school. Growing up I never heared of the stuff. Why does everybody want the stuff? A person can live till they're 90 without it. None of my kids ever smoked it and are doing just fine. This is never a topic of discussion in my family, only run accross it on TV and the internet. Otherwise it would be a forgotten subject. Bet you all are blaming Trayvon Martin for using pot though, out one side of your mouth and wanting it legal out the other side of your mouth.
We can forget about legalization of marijuana here in the USSA. Not going to happen. The cartels, with the total backing of this criminal enterprise we call a government will do whatever it takes to protect their interests--even murder.
The DOJ has made sure the cartels are well armed. The DOJ has went so far as to raid medical dispensaries in California to protect the cartels business.
This country is consuming over a million pounds of weed per month. Anyone who believes this can be stopped is delusional. This administration, just like every administration since Nixon is pushing the same tired line. "We need more cops, more judges, more prisons to solve this problem.
40 years of the same crap. At what point do you try a new approach? If you're in bed with the cartels---Never!!!
Get rid of all democrats and republicans. Then we can put some Americans in charge who actually believe in freedom, and our constitution.
Maryjane is a cure all.The war on drugs is worthless. These United States of America could use the revenue pot legalization will bring. Besides the Government has the best smoke..
I'm a conservative herb smoker and I feel like the liberals are the hypocrits. They say they want it decriminalized, yet Obama gives the go ahead to still raid medical pot dispensaries. At least you know where conservatives stand on the issue. Liberals say one thing and then go and do exactly the oppisite. Money ruins people and it doesn't matter what side of the isle you stand on.