This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2008.
just another post
“Marijuana is safe and should be legal”. Anyone that says this in one form or another is just as bored hearing themselves talk about it as the listener is hearing it. Time to time I have to say it. Time to time I realize how insane it is, people accept
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I’ve been barking up this tree for 35 years and we don’t seem to be any closer to making this wonderful plant available to those who would benefit from it. It has been demonized to death – it became illegal in the 30s because hemp was competing with Dupont nylon and FDR was a good buddy of Dupont’s. So the competition was cut. That’s when the demonization began, accelerated by bogus movies like ‘Reefer Madness’ and its ilk. The reason is not legal now is because pot does not produce good little soliders and consumers – oh, yes, let’s not forget about the little children and its gateway effect (which is utter bullshit). As OP said, there has never been a death accountable to pot on its own. I do, however, think that the growing bodies and brains of teens do not handle this plant as well as an adult, therefore I advocate its legalization the same way they do for booze.Anyway, OP, don’t hold your breath on this one – I posted a similar missive a long time ago and was bombarded with very nasty replies. You have to have a hide as thick as a rhino’s to be a marijuana advocate.
Really though, not only is the law pointless but the police waste so much time in enforcing it when there are more problems out there to deal with.PLUS if its legal then everyone I know would probablly grow most of it themselves, and “dangerous” drug dealers will make less money.
Bad Guy: Could not agree with you more. Just think of the revenues the government could get if they allowed people a licence to grow and/or allowed pot to be available at NSLC stores (with the appropriate taxes). Only one prob with the latter – it’s a proven fact that the government’s pot has been nicknamed: ‘Seeds and Stems’ and costs more than the street stuff.
“This plant hasn’t caused a single death in all of its history,” Not true. Do your research. The fact that it’s an illegal drug puts it in there as causation to many violent acts which usually involve machine guns and, yes, death. Many violent deaths. The other angle is to compare tobacco to cannabis. Each sport the exact SAME ingredients in varying amounts and differ only by the presence of nicotine in the tobacco and, respectively, the THC in pot. The only reason you think smoking pot doesn’t cause cancer and other smoking related illness is for the lack of published study (because of its illegal nature). But you do the math. Pot has 5 times more tar in it than tobacco.I agree though, I’ve never seen pot addiction lead to someone selling the kids for their next fix. I’d rather see education improved and see it taxed and behind the counters rather than behind the bars… make more room for the crack, heroine, speed, meth, E, cocaine, gun dealers, etc.Food for thought…. Pot is a weed. It’s deep rooting and leaves the land rich with nutrients. Most pot plants will harvest in about 6 weeks too, plenty of time for another crop in the rotation unlike corn which strips the land and takes all fucking summer to do it too. From pot we can make fuel, paper, textiles, epoxies and plastics but it’s illegal because someone might smoke it. In a GREEN age this hearty plant could actually save the planet since it grows on all continents and in all climates. Food for thought, indeed.
I’m sorry, I have to play devil’s advocate on this one…”This plant hasn’t caused a single death in all of its history, you know the death tolls with cigarettes.”Really? Wow, no wonder you’re so wise, you’ve been around since the very first marijuana plant was grown, harvested, and smoked – and somehow onmiscient – you’ve clearly been literally *everywhere* this drug has ever been used – you must be tired from all that running around peeking over thousands of weed-smoking shoulders simultaneously in order to know that weed has “never” caused a “single” death in “all its history”. Oddly enough, you neglect the fact that there have been tobacco plants growing for thousands of years – apparently only marijuana is a naturally occurring substance?”How brainwashed are we? It’s a harsh word to use I know but what else can it be? Explain to me why we allow a toxic plant to be grown that has no benefit and causes an incredible death toll over one that helps and honestly, enlightens?”Tobacco itself does not cause squat – it’s the filters and chemical additives, and bio-engineering we add to make them into cigarettes that kill people. And therefore we allow a “toxic” plant to be grown because the plant is not toxic. Oh yeah, and the government makes ridiculous amounts of money on it – so much so that they are currently running smear campaigns against “illegal tobacco” (which are actually made by cigarette manufacturers tired of government interference if you listen to conspiracy theorists – but I digress).Yes, marijuana helps *some* patients with *certain* conditions either feel better, but I doubt you yourself have personally had “Cancer, AIDS, Multiple sclerosis, Epilepsy, Glaucoma, and Tourettes” (and if you had, you should get something stronger than MJ). In fact, I have personal experience with loved ones with THREE of the aforementioned conditions that weed either did not help or made the problems worse. There is not enough medical studies to conclusively prove it’s a viable method of treatment for all of the aforementioned conditions to start mass-producing joints and selling them in the corner store.Until the government can figure out a way to regulate the sale and tax the crap out of it, dreams of legal marijuana are pretty much going to continue going up in smoke. Until then, stop beating the crap out of the poor unholy tobacco plant – it started out as euphoric, harmless, medicinal, and illegal too.
I’m sorry, I have to play devil’s advocate on this one…”This plant hasn’t caused a single death in all of its history, you know the death tolls with cigarettes.”Really? Wow, no wonder you’re so wise, you’ve been around since the very first marijuana plant was grown, harvested, and smoked – and somehow onmiscient – you’ve clearly been literally *everywhere* this drug has ever been used – you must be tired from all that running around peeking over thousands of weed-smoking shoulders simultaneously in order to know that weed has “never” caused a “single” death in “all its history”. Oddly enough, you neglect the fact that there have been tobacco plants growing for thousands of years – apparently only marijuana is a naturally occurring substance?”How brainwashed are we? It’s a harsh word to use I know but what else can it be? Explain to me why we allow a toxic plant to be grown that has no benefit and causes an incredible death toll over one that helps and honestly, enlightens?”Tobacco itself does not cause squat – it’s the filters and chemical additives, and bio-engineering we add to make them into cigarettes that kill people. And therefore we allow a “toxic” plant to be grown because the plant is not toxic. Oh yeah, and the government makes ridiculous amounts of money on it – so much so that they are currently running smear campaigns against “illegal tobacco” (which are actually made by cigarette manufacturers tired of government interference if you listen to conspiracy theorists – but I digress).Yes, marijuana helps *some* patients with *certain* conditions either feel better, but I doubt you yourself have personally had “Cancer, AIDS, Multiple sclerosis, Epilepsy, Glaucoma, and Tourettes” (and if you had, you should get something stronger than MJ). In fact, I have personal experience with loved ones with THREE of the aforementioned conditions that weed either did not help or made the problems worse. There is not enough medical studies to conclusively prove it’s a viable method of treatment for all of the aforementioned conditions to start mass-producing joints and selling them in the corner store.Until the government can figure out a way to regulate the sale and tax the crap out of it, dreams of legal marijuana are pretty much going to continue going up in smoke. Until then, stop beating the crap out of the poor unholy tobacco plant – it started out as euphoric, harmless, medicinal, and illegal too.
Realize too, pot is illegal because of the real threat is poses as a renewable resource on the pulp and paper industry, the carbon energy industry, plastics and all the other industries that make our pretty planet go round and round (according to economists).
Kay you said:” “This plant hasn’t caused a single death in all of its history,” Not true. Do your research. The fact that it’s an illegal drug puts it in there as causation to many violent acts which usually involve machine guns and, yes, death. Many violent deaths. “Um, the only machine-gun involved violent deaths caused by pot that I am aware of are from that time that litte ba$tard tried to steal my cheesies when I was high. And I didn’t think anyone knew about it?Seriously, aside from Vietnam, where did you hear anything ever linking the SMOKING of weed to a violent machine-gun involved death?
Although I don’t entirely disagree that pot should be made legal, I have issues with a few of the points made. First of all, although pot may not be physically addictive, for me it was definently mentally addictive for about 15 years. There were times where I would forego paying rent or not buy food so I could buy weed. Also, don’t kid yourselves if you think that it causes no physical harm. It’s been 3 years since I’ve quit smoking it and I still cough like hell almost every morning. And as far as violent deaths, you people are delusional if you think there hasn’t been many over the years involving dealers feuding. Anyway the point is sure there are worst drugs out there and yes, weed is probably less harmful than cigarettes but please, don’t make arguments for legalization that are not true for everyone, especially people like me that have gone through some of it.
Well, you’re in a minority, pal. My buddies and I have all smoked daily for over 30 years without the effects you describe. Plus we all have good paying, responsible jobs and have the brains not to smoke the rent money away. Moderation is the key – I never light up before nine at night – that’s something that came with maturity. Some people just can’t handle the bud and you sound like one of them. If I’m emotionally addicted, it’s kept me off Prozac and its ilk for many moons and for that, I am grateful.
People die over Marijuana because of drug wars, not the use of the drug. Which of course prohibition makes possible. In all of recorded history, no one has ever died from smoking pot. No one has suffered anything more then temporary inconveniences such as a cough, probably because it was abused.
This post calls for an avatar change.
I can’t even believe the idiocy of the people trying to argue that a) pot should be illegal and b) pot causes people to die… because it’s illegal. Not the actual pot, not the smoking of it, but the fact that is illegal which is why there ARE drug lords and these apparent machine gun fights. If it was legal, this wouldn’t happen, then where would your deaths be from?Drunk driving? Tobacco use? Cirrhosis? Or those pesky liquor dealers with their AK-47s?
TTFN… I love it…
Pot should not be legal!it would be 3 times the cost plus taxed!
Jane, if cannibis were legalized and cost 3X the current (black market) price, that would be pointless, because you would still have the illegal drug trade… In order to drive out the black market and all its ill effects, the legal trade would have to be comparative to or better than the illegal price… Case in point, look at the illegal trade in tobacco… Please refrain from commenting when you do not know what the fuck you are talking about…
“Please refrain from commenting when you do not know what the fuck you are talking about…”Yes. Please. For those of you who think smoking pot is harmless but smoking cigarettes is terrible…. wake the fuck up! Tobacco has been legal for a long time and, unlike the effects of pot smoking on the body, much study has been performed. So much so that we know all about the carcinogens added to and naturally occurring in the plant that would do us harm and, last I heard, the processing of tobacco doesn’t actually add tar content. So let me repeat myself and, pot heads, feel free to NOT skirt this tiny but powerful FACT so far avoided in our discussion:”…compare tobacco to cannabis. Each sport the exact SAME ingredients in varying amounts and differ only by the presence of nicotine in the tobacco and, respectively, the THC in pot. The only reason you think smoking pot doesn’t cause cancer and other smoking related illness is for the lack of published study (because of its illegal nature). But you do the math. Pot has 5 times more tar in it than tobacco.”TTFN points out how 30 years of smoking pot has had no impact (after 9PM, yeah, sure, whatever) and has helped him(?) avoid Prozac. Listen up and listen hard. Marijuana has recently been reclassified from a depressant to an hallucinogen because of the unnaturally high THC content they find in today’s pot. This does not mean that you automatically (A) hallucinate or (B) become depressed but on a molecular level both of those drug interactions occur in the brain. If you think you’ve avoided Prozac, an anti-depressant / serotonin re-uptake inhibitor because you regularly use a depressant… well, even stoned to high heaven on a rich pot buzz this makes no sense and begs you to realize you use this mind-altering substance as a therapy (daily)… no differnt than an alocholic “self-medicating” during happy hour day in and day out. Any drug or behavior implemented as a therapy (daily) will have a differing overall effect than recreational use of the same drug or behavior. If you’ve been using pot in this way at least admit it has an impact and not a small one. If you don’t believe me quit the shit for about 3 weeks and see what a different person you become… especially those first few days.That said, I’m still in favor of the total legalization of God’s Green Gift and have great hopes, taxed, expensive or not, such an act might save our planet. I repeat once more:”pot is illegal because of the real threat is posed as a renewable resource on the pulp and paper industry, the carbon energy industry, plastics and all the other industries that make our pretty planet go round and round (according to economists).”Now, who thinks it strange the ONLY legal North American implementation of the plant is it’s use as a mind altering drug, “medical marijuana”. Can’t plant it in your fields to anchor top soil or to prepare the land for a rotating crop, can’t grow acres of bud-rich pot best for making epoxies (plastics) and fuel, nobody’s got the guts to resume paper production from this naturally white pulp that produces about 4 times more paper than old growth forests… shall I go on? It’s starting to make me sick… we live in the cream of the world, have an unprecedented set of technologies and fail to implement them for the betterment of the environment in favor of supporting a man-made economy.What I know for sure, however, is the ignorance people have over pot is still too large to organize an effective movement, 4-20 notwithstanding. I mean, look at how many people posting here pot is favor over tobacco where health is a concern. How many people think pot and hemp are two different things? What do you think? Should the education and awareness should come before or after legalization?
Just one more juicy tidbit…. legalize the pot and it’s price will go DOWN from current black market rates even if they do tax the shit out of it. The threshing machine necessary to cultivate pot was created just before prohibition and now collects dust so there are zero technology-development costs associated with this “new” product. Tobacco processing plants are well equipped to produce the packaged product and can do it better, faster and cheaper than your average or even not-so-average pot dealer. Upon legalization there is zero risk involved with the transport and distribution of the product which currently sets it’s price. Consider this. Pot is a WEED (normally a bad thing in a garden because the crazy fast growth and deep rooting system) so supply would ALWAYS be ample keeping the price down.
I actually had no idea how many uses there were for hemp/marijuana, so thank you kay, I was never against pot being legalized before, but I’m all for renewable resources so I see all the more reason for it now.
It doesn’t look like tobacco itself was mentioned at all, however cigarettes and the method they are grown “toxically” in radioactive fertilizers, hence the cancer, was mentioned. So who would do such a thing? I don’t know if Marijuana should be as common in NSLC as wine is, but the actually right being taking away after police come into a home where one or two personal plants are grown is disturbing. Who is hurt? Who dies? This is just a very small step in the law that really is possible. It’s not asking for much, most of the law would remain, only slightly altered, I suppose that’s the problems need to be fixed
Again, the reason pot is illegal is because of the competition this renewable resource introduces to a world economy which revolves around the very industries the cultivation and legalization of pot presents as a very viable and competitive alternative. The fact that the plant produces a fairly mild drug has NOTHING to do with its prohibition except to convince you it’s a bad thing. Propaganda around this has been so effective your average Canadian will not distinguish between a red and yellow rose but actually thinks pot and hemp are two different things.Consider this: WW1 battleship – the decks were sealed with hemp oil. The ships sails were made of hemp. The ropes and anything else textile you can think of on a ship, including soldiers uniforms, were made from hemp.The soles of their shoes were attached with hemp oil (natural epoxy or plastic). The ships logs and maps were made of hemp. Even the pieces of original art that hung in captains quarters was painted on hemp canvass. Even the Bible was printed on hemp.No wonder they had to convince you hemp and pot are two different things. It grows everywhere without cost to anybody. How can they control you when you all ready have what you need growing tax-free in your back yard
To each their own, Kay, I can see you buy the hype that’s out there – did you ever consider that many of these pot studies are financed by drug companies? Probably not. You really are a pontificating little windbag.
The argument of gun deaths is irrevalent, that is a product of the law against it, not the product itself. If all the smokers could grow their own plants, would anyone really be robbing them for them?
Pot and Hemp are different things, their Latin names indicate a difference. For example; Hemp is Cannabis Ruderalis…Pot is Cannabis Sativa &/or Cannabis Indica… Please note the differences in the names of these Species. It is like saying the Monkey, Gorilla and Human are the same because they are primates. It is wrong.You can not really class Cannabis as a weed either. That is a proclivity. That is more of the common opinion of what the plant is. I, personally, would call it a flower.Kay, how much shit do you spew and expect us to take as the gospel; the whole truth and nothing but the truth? You come off as a know-it-all. I find that behavior annoying.
The funny thing is, at least 2 of the comments kay has passed of as her own are directly ripped from one of the first pages you hit on if you do a gogle search.
Thanks for the info, Gidge – I suspected as much. She could have at least used point form to disguise the fact she lifted this shit from Googlin’ – it’d be far easier to read than those fucking rambling missives she coughs up like a hairball.
Cannabis is a flowering weed. Hemp and Pot are distinguished by breed and THC count, elements common to ALL cannabis. Some breeds produce a hearty stalk good for paper and other softwood products while others are better for fuel since they produce big wet buds (flowers). Some of the flowers are stinkier than others too… they’re all bud. Don’t be fooled by propaganda, read between the lines and notice what’s common. You know… the ‘cannabis’ part of the nomenclature.To be called as quoting Google… if I had, well, call it an informed contribution but since I didn’t actually do that today and my contribution comes from experience and other resources (check my history, I’ve posted all of this before) I’ll take that remark as a compliment… like it matters. At least one person had their eyes open to the so-called war on drugs as a result of me posting. My work is done.
Thank fuck your work is done, kay. You are one boring broad.
For such a boring chick I seem to know an awful lot about pot and rock n roll… whatever.
Yeah, right. Well, you were probably a gleam in your old man’s eye when I started doing my research on pot DECADES ago so I’m afraid you will never have the last word on the subject. What is boring, kay, are long, rambling posts that make one’s eyes glaze over like an evening with Steve Murphy.
Oh,yeah, I forgot – my generation invented rock ‘n roll, sweetcakes.
Yeah, and you’re probably smoking my own special blend right now after having paid a little extra for it too.Fuck you all very much. Have a shitty day.
You, too, sweetie! Toodle-doo!
Not looking to get into the pissing match here, just for general info. I’m ignorant regarding most things botanical- who/ what decides if a plant is a weed or not, or is it just a common name for something that’ll grow wild?Okay…maybe I wanted to get into the pissing match a little… I heart the way some people use a “fuck you” or it’s equal as an argument or closing statement around here. 🙂
By some definitions a weed is just a plant that is unwanted. A rose in corn field could be considered a weed.
Ah, thanks.
Way to go Gidge… There was something about Kay’s manisfesto that just didn’t add up… The only thing now is, I am kicking myself for not figuring out that it was pure plaigerism on her part all alongSee if Kay is so hell bent on convincing everyone on here how superior she is, that she would go so far as to claim to have married a sock puppet rock star she met on this bitch site only a few months back, I would have to say she is capable of trying just about anything…Kay you fucking troll… You are getting worse by the day… Get help now…
Kay seems to think she’s the only expert on the field of weed which really cracks me up. I’d like her to pontificate to a few of my elderly friends (over 65) who still indulge in the Blessed Bud. They’d laugh their asses off at her sheer sheeplike stupidity.
Yes and when you consider Kay’s expertise appears to have come from having read that 10 cent William Irish paperback “Marihuana”, the laughs would be unbearable…
I got almost a decade in with “Desi”…. fuck you all very much.Again, wouldn’t be surprised if that was you drooling all over him this past weekend. Again, fuck you all very much.Like I said… posted these facts about a year ago too…. been carrying them in my head for a very long time now. Again… fuck you all very much and have an exceptionally shitty day.
Floyd… plaigerism is spelled plagiarismSmarten up!
The last hurrah of a dying troll… Spelling faults… Hrmph…
Cancer. Heart disease. Lung disease. Asthma. Emphysema. Arterial schlerosis. Thinning of the blood. Impotence. Until people stop smoking it and find a safe way to ingest the drug – and it is a drug – then it is just as dangerous as anything else. And for the argument that it is just a part of nature – by that logic cocaine is natural, heroin is natural, even LSD (made up of natural chemicals) is natural so our society should crumble to satisfy the addicts (yes, it is addictive “h” just look at what happens to a stoner after a day of running dry – the mood swings are intolerable).