Making the Case for Medical Marijuana

[Gaspar]

Two more valid medical uses.

Not to mention using the stuff to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil - not reduce, as the Republicontins talk about - eliminate!

Clogs my carburetor every time!  Have to keep a pocket knife and lighter in my glove compartment.

[custosnox]

Not to mention using the stuff to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil - not reduce, as the Republicontins talk about - eliminate!

Wait, what?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Wait, what?

Have you not read the other threads about using biomass using marijuana to make us energy independent??

If we REALLY are interested in energy self-sufficiency, the solution is already available.  As well as an excellent medicine for many different disease treatments.  Marijuana is a "wonder plant" - that is why George Washington grew so much of it!!

Also,
fiber for paper, so we don't have to cut down all the trees in the world.

[AquaMan]

Have you not read the other threads about using biomass using marijuana to make us energy independent??

If we REALLY are interested in energy self-sufficiency, the solution is already available.  As well as an excellent medicine for many different disease treatments.  Marijuana is a "wonder plant" - that is why George Washington grew so much of it!!

Also,
fiber for paper, so we don't have to cut down all the trees in the world.

So...you could send a letter to someone and they could read it, then smoke it. This is sounding better all the time.

This is a subject that really tests our country. Now is a good time to decriminalize the drug and re-assess many others. A change in my outlook but we can't afford to keep up charades. The bad news is it won't happen in an Obama administration because of the obvious politicization.

[Conan71]

So...you could send a letter to someone and they could read it, then smoke it. This is sounding better all the time.

This is a subject that really tests our country. Now is a good time to decriminalize the drug and re-assess many others. A change in my outlook but we can't afford to keep up charades. The bad news is it won't happen in an Obama administration because of the obvious politicization.

Let's face it: the law enforcement, court, and incarceration costs involved with pot is eating up massive amounts of money on a national, state, and local scale.  The effects alcohol has on individuals and families is far more deleterious than pot.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Let's face it: the law enforcement, court, and incarceration costs involved with pot is eating up massive amounts of money on a national, state, and local scale.  The effects alcohol has on individuals and families is far more deleterious than pot.

It has always been that way.  Was outlawed it only for the benefit of DuPont and Hearst.  (Nylon replacement for rope and trees owned by Hearst to make newspapers).  Not for any deleterious effect on society.

[custosnox]

Have you not read the other threads about using biomass using marijuana to make us energy independent??

If we REALLY are interested in energy self-sufficiency, the solution is already available.  As well as an excellent medicine for many different disease treatments.  Marijuana is a "wonder plant" - that is why George Washington grew so much of it!!

Also,
fiber for paper, so we don't have to cut down all the trees in the world.

That would be hemp, not marijuana.  I love how those who are trying to legalize marijuana conveniently use the miracles of hemp, which is canibis, to try and sell their case.  And JEFFERSON grew and touted the wonders of hemp.  While there is speculation that other founding fathers my have had hemp plots, nothing substantiates it.  What is funny is the reason hemp became illegal is because no one knew the difference between it and Marijuana, so the canibis plant was outlawed, which included hemp and marijuana.  Of course, to get enough THC from hemp to get stoned by smoking it, you would have to smoke enough of it, fast enough, that it would end up burning up your lungs.

[patric]

It has always been that way.  Was outlawed it only for the benefit of DuPont and Hearst.  (Nylon replacement for rope and trees owned by Hearst to make newspapers).  Not for any deleterious effect on society.

That, and it was associated with Mexicans.
I doubt any politician that votes against medical uses has any trouble obtaining it themselves when a family member has to undergo chemo.

[heironymouspasparagus]

That would be hemp, not marijuana.  I love how those who are trying to legalize marijuana conveniently use the miracles of hemp, which is canibis, to try and sell their case.  And JEFFERSON grew and touted the wonders of hemp.  While there is speculation that other founding fathers my have had hemp plots, nothing substantiates it.  What is funny is the reason hemp became illegal is because no one knew the difference between it and Marijuana, so the canibis plant was outlawed, which included hemp and marijuana.  Of course, to get enough THC from hemp to get stoned by smoking it, you would have to smoke enough of it, fast enough, that it would end up burning up your lungs.

So did Washington.  In fact, he was one of the biggest growers.  And he definitely was growing for medicinal as well as industrial purposes.

It is all C. Sativa.  Differences between varieties relate to the amount of THC in the plant.  Ranging from 0.5% to 20% in some of the "newer" stuff.

In FACT.  Way before DuPont Nylon, starting in the 1600's there were laws requiring the growth of hemp.

More information.
http://naihc.org/hemp_information/hemp_facts.html

[jacobi]

It is all C. Sativa.  Differences between varieties relate to the amount of THC in the plant.  Ranging from 0.5% to 20% in some of the "newer" stuff.

It is the same species.  Growers have just gotten really good and engineering plants that produce more THC.  The stuff that the hippies were smoking was nothing compored to the stuff now.

That said though, I think that THC should be legal on its own ground.   The help/biofeul argument is good, but not directly relevant.  Marijuana should be legal because its negative effects are marginal at worst.  It is a matter of our constitutionally protected right to the pursuit of happiness.  Of course the government has a right to bad those things which do harm society in truely systemic ways (Heroin, coke, Barney)but the line between thos the two needs to be constantly reexamined.  That said, if booze is safe, then pot should be too as it very clearly does less damage physiologically and socially than 4loco.

Ok , done with rant for now....

[heironymouspasparagus]

It is the same species.  Growers have just gotten really good and engineering plants that produce more THC.  The stuff that the hippies were smoking was nothing compored to the stuff now.

That said though, I think that THC should be legal on its own ground.   The help/biofeul argument is good, but not directly relevant.  Marijuana should be legal because its negative effects are marginal at worst.  It is a matter of our constitutionally protected right to the pursuit of happiness.  Of course the government has a right to bad those things which do harm society in truely systemic ways (Heroin, coke, Barney)but the line between thos the two needs to be constantly reexamined.  That said, if booze is safe, then pot should be too as it very clearly does less damage physiologically and socially than 4loco.

Ok , done with rant for now....

Correct.  Should be legal for ALL reasons.  But mainly, because there is no valid excuse for it to be illegal.

[AquaMan]

Correct.  Should be legal for ALL reasons.  But mainly, because there is no valid excuse for it to be illegal.

Having been on against it at one time, I don't think you can say the arguments are totally invalid. They simply aren't strong enough in the face of reality. That reality being that the overzealous efforts to stop marijuana use has faithfully recreated the prohibition era gangsterism. It has diminished the credibility and effectiveness of law enforcement. It is clogging our judicial system and forcing it into player status (they make as much money as the dealers). All in an effort to punish what is basically a natural urge to enjoy peace and tranquility by whatever means necessary.

Its failure pure and simple.

[DanoDan]

Some info and videos related to medical marijuana can be found at http://okmedicalmarijuana.org

[heironymouspasparagus]

Having been on against it at one time, I don't think you can say the arguments are totally invalid. They simply aren't strong enough in the face of reality. That reality being that the overzealous efforts to stop marijuana use has faithfully recreated the prohibition era gangsterism. It has diminished the credibility and effectiveness of law enforcement. It is clogging our judicial system and forcing it into player status (they make as much money as the dealers). All in an effort to punish what is basically a natural urge to enjoy peace and tranquility by whatever means necessary.

Its failure pure and simple.

The only reason that ever had any possibility of being a valid argument to make marijuana illegal is that it may be a "gateway drug".  Whatever that may be...depends on the person doing the defining, I guess.  It is a meaningless term used to confuse and obfuscate.

If there were such a thing as a "gateway drug", there would be two.  Cigarettes and alcohol.  These are the two biggest predictors of addictive behavior, and yet the prohibition of both has been found to be impossible.  With cigarettes we find that at least 20% of the population has this "addictive gene".  Alcohol?  Who knows?

Back to grass; there has never been a valid argument for prohibition.

[Conan71]

Back to grass; there has never been a valid argument for prohibition.

At least not one that makes sense to people like us.