This is a subject that has been the source of much controversy lately. So far, both Washington and Colorado seem to have not reported adverse effects from the legalization of pot, and Alaska has now legalized it also. I was just reading an article about the Indian tribes are having a large conference and may legalize selling marijuana on Indian reservations across the nation. If they are able to do this,then they can sell to people who do not live on the reservation, and who are not Native Americans. However, if a person leaves the reservation with pot in their possession, then they can be arrested unless it is one of the states where it is already legalized. Many people report excellent results in using marijuana to treat chronic pain, such as rheumatic arthritis, and other auto-immune diseases. However, many people are worried that it would cause more people to be driving when they are impaired from using the marijuana. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing, in your opinion ? ? http://sputniknews.com/news/20150228/1018871237.html
As long as possession of marijuana remains illigal there is a risk of elderly and infirm people being sent to prison because they use it for relief of painful symptoms. I also think it's wrong for them to have to buy from dealers who profit from selling drugs. I would rather see medical marijuana being legally available to people who suffer from chronic pain. The legitimate sale of medicinal drugs raises taxes and reduces the number of prosecutions for dealing. I do realize that some people will buy it for recreational use, but anyone who drives a vehicle while stoned could be charged with driving under the influence or dangerous driving.
I believe it should be legalized for any use. Let me first say, that I've never smoked pot or used any illicit drugs before. And while I believe that "drugs are bad", is marijuana any worse than cigarettes or alcohol? Both are just as additive, if not more so, and both have health consequences that are much worse. Marijuana actually has some medicinal qualities. So why are cigarettes and alcohol legal, but pot isn't? When you look at what we spend every year on enforcement, eradication and prison - the numbers are staggering. And people are being convicted of simple possession. If they have a family to support, the family is being destroyed. It then goes on their record as a felony - which impacts their ability to find work when they get out of jail. Kids that are convicted are unable to get into college. As @Ruth Belena points out, it then makes criminals of people who have medical conditions that could be effectively managed with medical marijuana. Not to mention the safety issues - when you buy a bag from your friendly neighborhood dealer, you have no idea what you're getting! Look at what prohibition did in the 20s. It didn't stop anybody from drinking, it just assured that there would be dangerous "hootch" for sale, and the criminal underworld flourished. Make it legal - regulate it, inspect it and tax it. Use the tax money to then fund educational and rehab programs.
From what I have read about medical cannabis; there are many different varieties, and different ones produce different effects. Another important fact that is oftened overlooked , is that for cannabis to be an effective healer; it should be eaten, and not smoked. And no---- I am not talking about the well-known "pot brownies". The leaves of the cannabis plant are where most of the healing chemicals are found, and those are partially destroyed by smoking it; whereas the chemicals that make you high seem to do just fine when smoked. Also, different parts of the plant are used. For recreational smoking, you use the buds of the plant, which have the most potent THC that makes people high that smoke marijuana. When you are using it for healing purposes, you would use the fresh leaves, and blending them into a smoothie is supposed to be the best way to use it. I think that it shoulld be legal for people to grow their own, and use what they grow in any way that they want to. Obviously, if they are driving when "under the influence" then they should be arrested just like a person that was drunk, or had used any other mind-altering drug. If it were legalized, I think that I would trying growing some and using it in a smoothie and see if it helps with aching joints (pardon the pun) and arthritis. http://blackgirlgreenworld.com/?p=3505
I have not used weed since the seventies and have no desire to get stoned at this point of the game, but see no wrong with it at all, medical or recreational, It certainly is not as dangerous as alcohol and people don't seem to get aggressive and start fights as is very common with boozers!
I suppose the harmful effects of marijuana to health, as shown in latest studies, outweighed the benefits it could contribute to medicine. I have seen how it affected the lives of those children and how their family suffer because of marijuana addiction.
It seems odd to me that, after a few decades of fighting America's obsession with tobacco, largely successfully, we would now decide to legalize marijuana. Burning anything and breathing it into your lungs cannot be good for you, and it just seems odd to be telling people that smoking tobacco is wrong but marijuana is okay. At the same time, pumping a ton of money into fighting marijuana use through police actions, courts, and the prison system was not only a waste of money, but it ruined the lives of people who had otherwise committed no crimes. Still, I don't know that legalization was the answer as that simply sends the message that it's okay. I tried smoking pot a few times during high school but it wasn't for me. I hated the taste, and it just made me feel tired and stupid.
Ken, I tried it when I was young, too, and totally hated what it did to my brain and thinking ability. I am not a smoker either, and I would not want to start smoking pot. However, from what i have read about using it for pain control, it should NOT be smoked. You are supposed to use the leaves, preferably fresh picked, and put them into a green drink, or smoothie. It is not supposed to make you high, just help with aches and pains. I don't think i would want to get it from the government, either. They seem to be pushing all kinds of mind-altering drugs for people , and I would imagine they probably add even more of the chemicals into the cannabis that they sell, dumbing down people even more than we already have been. I would want to grow it myself, and know that it was actually a medicinal strain, and not one with the high levels of the chemicals that make you get high from it. Another thing that bothers me a lot about this whole thing is the gun control aspect of it. Everywhere that they have legalized cannabis for any kind of use, they have also said that you are not allowed to legally own a gun once you are prescribed the drug.
I believe in legalizing all herbs, but there needs to be an education on there medical use. There is a few thousand different plants that have poison and allergic reactions and not put on a list of dangerous drugs. This like most thing some people find a way of misusing it.The old saying guns don't kill but people using guns kill. There is a place for marijuana in medicine but it is the misuse everyone will focus on.
Maine has legalized medical marijuana, and I know several people who have gotten prescriptions for it, not one of whom I believe has any interest in it medicinally, all of whom are using it as a way of being able to smoke and to grow pot legally. I also don't know of anyone who is taking it any form other than smoking it. Interestingly, a newspaper reported recently that more than 80% of the people who have cards allowing them to use medical marijuana are either growing it themselves (which is now allowed) or buying it from a dealer, as they would have before. Legal suppliers of medical marijuana are apparently not doing very well.
Medical Mary Jane. I am absolutely okay with the plant being broken down into it's integral parts and used to make medicine. Medicine that helps fight off whatever ailments the parts of the plant can help with. Simple. Nope, it's not so simple because some people claim that it just isn't as effective unless you smoke the stuff. Until the science is made factual concerning pot I really do not see any good that can become of allowing pot [in it's smoking form] on the market. If a person has a beer, he or she can pretty much tell where it is going to take them and how much they can drink before it makes them innebriated. Not so with pot or any other brain altering drug. You cannot control the "high" because you cannot control the amount of THC in each plant. Booze has it's restrictions and the label has to be clearly marked as to how much alcohol by volume it contains. Pot has no such restrictions regarding THC or the strength of the stuff. The driving fatality comparison is skewed because it is not based on a per capita ratio. In a group of 10 whereby 9 are drinkers and only 1 is getting high it stands to reason that it is more likely that the drinker will get into trouble. God made pot, man made booze! Yup. And God made curarie too, but I have never seen anyone stuff some into a pipe and smoke it! ( see "curare form drugs in wikipedia) Note: I am not in any way touting good things about the alcohol industry and the number of irresponsible alcoholics that result from the misuse of alcohol. While in the mission ministry (23 years) I never met one person who, while attempting to get their lives straightened out, said anything good about smoking marijuana. I used to be a stoner, and I know that pot can and will eventually lead a person to bigger highs and deeper trips. The only thing I would never do was to use a needle but the rest was fair game and it all started out with marijuana. All the government is trying to do is collect a bunch of taxes and create non-thinking robot stoners who will vote for anyone who is all for getting high. Again, I am all for using whatever resourses that research can come up with in order to insure a healthier way of life. I just do not have enough real scientific information that hasn't been tarnished by the money people to make a safe, informed and intelligent ruling about smoking pot for medicinal reasons.
Medical marijuana is a step toward legalization, just as civil unions were a step toward gay marriage, and I am not making value judgements here. Immediately after Maine enacted civil unions, the petitions began for gay marriage, and I understand that legalization of marijuana will be on our ballot during the next election.
Maybe, I think that it should depend on what medical use only for certain ones when it would be really necessary. Other than that then no.
Let me put it this way if we keep Marijuana illegal we might as well illeglize alcohol and narcotic pain killers as well. Marijuana is really not much different then these. Except maybe it is natural and those aren't. The thing is I believe that Marijuana plant does have a purpose. It is a pain killer, the Native Americans have sworn by it for that purpose for years. Its also been proven to help settle the stomach with nausea, and many who have gone through chemotherapy for Cancer have used it for this purpose. It has been used by those who suffer from some mental disorders such as depression. It has been used by some to help settlle seizures. In other words there are times when Marijuana has been proven to work better then manufactured drugs on the market. As for recreational use, well this is the thing that first got Marijuana in trouble all those years ago and made illegal. But maybe we would be burying our heads in the sand if we didn't think people still weren't using it for this purpose, so maybe it would be better if we regulated that use as well. At least then those using it for that purpose would know it was safe and not laced with something else.
I'm 100% for complete legalization of marijuana and always have been. I don't smoke it now, but did in my younger days. I just kind of outgrew it, I guess. Alcohol causes much more misery and is legal. There are two main reasons the government holds back on the issue. The first is because they can't effectively regulate and tax marijuana because anyone can grow it. The second is the gateway drug fallacy. This has been disproved thoroughly but you still hear many people espousing this theory.