RE: The Death Knell of the Prohition of Weed
November 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm
(This post was last modified: November 21, 2012 at 11:13 pm by Autumnlicious.)
You do know, really, that legalizing weed will still allow you to keep those nice scientific advances made without hemp.
As I said, marijuana legalization is about weighing public safety (as any substance) against the civil rights to do what you want to your own body.
Marijuana does have some serious downsides:
- Youth that consume cannabis habitually before their late teens are significantly more prone to anxiety disorders and mental illness
- Users experience varying effects from excellent coordination to severely impaired
- Sudden Infant Death (SIDs) rises with exposure to second hand smoke (of any kind, but the data on infant-cannabis exposure is next to nil)
- People who are at-risk for mental illnesses raise their risk by using a psychedelic
Of course, when you look at alcohol, you get the similar-to-worse downsides if one is an severe alcoholic or prone to alcoholism.
So the analogy between the two of them is striking.
On the upside, marijuana doesn't allow users to kill themselves by simply consuming too much, creates a minor physiological addiction (compared to coffee) and more often relaxes people.
Legalization requires that the public develop means to detect impaired driving (the walking test, abc's, etc), develop a culture of shunning unsafe drivers and come to grips that by legalizing weed, they're going to get nasty events by criminals who blame the drug for their criminal actions.
It is inevitable (already happens) that people will crash and possibly kill/maim others while high on weed.
The problem is cultural, not a matter of legality.
But if our culture refuses to take responsibility, expect a puritanical Prohibition-style backlash.
The problem isn't Pot.
It's irresponsible pot-heads who make responsible users look bad.
As I said, marijuana legalization is about weighing public safety (as any substance) against the civil rights to do what you want to your own body.
Marijuana does have some serious downsides:
- Youth that consume cannabis habitually before their late teens are significantly more prone to anxiety disorders and mental illness
- Users experience varying effects from excellent coordination to severely impaired
- Sudden Infant Death (SIDs) rises with exposure to second hand smoke (of any kind, but the data on infant-cannabis exposure is next to nil)
- People who are at-risk for mental illnesses raise their risk by using a psychedelic
Of course, when you look at alcohol, you get the similar-to-worse downsides if one is an severe alcoholic or prone to alcoholism.
So the analogy between the two of them is striking.
On the upside, marijuana doesn't allow users to kill themselves by simply consuming too much, creates a minor physiological addiction (compared to coffee) and more often relaxes people.
Legalization requires that the public develop means to detect impaired driving (the walking test, abc's, etc), develop a culture of shunning unsafe drivers and come to grips that by legalizing weed, they're going to get nasty events by criminals who blame the drug for their criminal actions.
It is inevitable (already happens) that people will crash and possibly kill/maim others while high on weed.
The problem is cultural, not a matter of legality.
But if our culture refuses to take responsibility, expect a puritanical Prohibition-style backlash.
The problem isn't Pot.
It's irresponsible pot-heads who make responsible users look bad.
Slave to the Patriarchy no more
