Matt Davies for September 14, 2013

It’s long past time to take Marijuana off Schedule I, and move on! Legalization makes a lot more sense, in many ways, and not just for medical use.(and it DOES have valid medical use which removes it from Schedule I!)

Your post in inappropriate for two reasons:

1) Just because he is not polite is not a good reason for you to be rude.

2) You are belaboring the obvious. (And the oblivious, too, come to think about it.)

Point one: There’s little doubt that inhaling smoke from from either tobacco or dope is somewhat harmful, but almost no one smokes twenty or more joints a day and there used to be plenty of two-packs-a-day cigaret smokers.

Point two: Don’t you think that alcohol and tobacco are both “gateway drugs” too? I agree that almost no drug is harmless.The “gateway” argument is B.S. It probably is true that almost no one’s first drug experience is dope. Perhaps food is a gateway drug too, because everyone who smokes dope probably started out by eating food.

Point three: Chemistry has advanced a lot since the 1970’s when your point was certainly true. They have some pretty good tests for THC now. Hopefully, even doped out hippies know that driving while stoned is dangerous for everybody.

Point four: It should be “politically expedient” to legalize dope when most people in our country do not think it should be illegal and the monetary expense of enforcement and incarceration is huge. The medical community does know more than politicians and most doctors that I know smoke dope.

Point five: So I say to my kid(34years old, Ph.D. in chemistry)" I dunno how taxing dope is gonna work. It’s so easy to grow your own." He says" You make your own beer and wine too, but most people buy it and pay the tax while doing so, because it’s easier and just more convenient." Furthermore, don’t we spend resources enforcing laws about alcohol?

I do not claim to have exclusive knowledge, but I would like to address your well-considered questions with what I know as a health-care provider (and someone who went to college….)

1: Although there is ample lipservice to portray marijuana smoke to be as toxic or more so than tobacco, the incidence of lung-related diseases does not support those conclusions. It is quite likely that we have been lied to about its toxic effects. Witness the “this is your brainwave on pot” commercial, which was not only NOT a brainwave of a person smoking pot, but not a human brainwave at all.2. Correct. No drug is harmless. Witness caffeine or alcohol or nicotine. Our society deems us capable of weighing risks and benefits associated with taking legal drugs, and those named above can have far more devastating effects than pot.3. In Virginia, DUI laws cover more than just alcohol. I am sure we are not alone. Testing will be developed, spawning a new and lucrative industry.4. Politicians don’t know squat about medicine. Witness their incapacity to fix the health care system. But more and more docs (including the famous Dr. Gupta) are realizing that previous “studies” were skewed to match pre-determined results, and that the previous myths about marijuana are mostly just that: mythical.5. While it is true that many Rx’s for marijuana are for “stress” or “nerves”, marijuana has been found to decrease pain and increase appetite in a number of maladies, including seizures and cancer. People who have used strong opiates like oxycontin or dilaudid often will say that pot works better, works longer, and does not interfere with function as much. Overall, though, the fight against pot is over. More than 10 years ago, a DEA agent told my friend that DEA estimates there is marijuana in 3 out of every 5 households. Probably more now. And as to illegal growing: same as alcohol. There will always be moonshiners, but most of us go to the liquor store to buy our liquors.

Your line of thought is pointing to legalizing murder to reduce the crime.False equivalence. How does someone making the choice to get high impact you, as long as they aren’t behind the wheel or playing with guns? Do you support banning alcohol, tobacco, coffee & all other stimulants/depressants?

Yeah, Republicans go for meth.Hey, that’s not fair. Republicans favor prescription drugs like Vicodin & Oxycontin. That’s why they oppose any database tracking those prescriptions.http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110313/WIRE/110319757

it seems to me (I never smoked any) that I’ve read that Marijuana doesn’t need to be smoked (baked in cookies,chewed like beechnut, even taken in capsules)…that way would eliminate the smoking damage…on the other hand..;I’m still suffeering PTSD from ’NAM!!gimme some

1. driving drunk or "stoned’ should be illegal, AND ENFORCED! Drunk drivers, or those texting, should GO TO JAIL, first offense!

2. I have a lot of friends who are paras or quads, marijuana is the ONLY thing that’s proven effective with spasticity and pain for them. The “synthetic” THC doesn’t have the other synergistic agents pot does, and causes extreme problems for all the folks I know who’ve tried to use it.

3. I have fybromyalgia and neuropathy, and PTSD, and valium, ativan, gabapentin and other drugs I’ve either go, or used in the past, ALL have more side effects, and potential lethality, that marijuana does NOT have. My doc is willing to give me the “recommendation”, there aren’t “prescriptions” issued for it in my state for MJ, and when in my youth “I partook”, with no negative side effects, even in ‘Nam.If we were on pot we could react, while the drunks on their beer or whiskey were incapacitated and often ended up dead if it “hit the fan”. I didn’t “use” once I got into law enforcement, as it seemed too hypocritical to indulge if I was having to cite people for using.

I’m giving serious thought to getting that recommendation though, as it turns out I’ve developed some serious physical problems that may be directly related to the use of several of the “legitimate” drugs I’ve been given!! Which, EVERY ONE of my “legitimate” drugs has either potentially lethal side effects, or can be fatal in an OD, which is IMPOSSIBLE with marijuana, smoked,, or taken as candy or brownies!!

4. It’s NOT a good idea having folks running around stoned all the time, but I also have friends who use “recreaatonally”, and have for years. Their cigarettes (tobacco), and alcohol use have caused them far more degradation of health, than the pot. They also function at a much higher level on pot than on booze.

5. “Reefer Madness” was an insanely false and stupid film, and not anything in it was factual, but it IS the “mentality” behind the continued banning of mj to the “conservatives”, and it’s the DRUG COMPANIES, who don’t want the competition from safer, more effective mj, which would cut hugely their profits from pain killers, anti-spasmodics, tranqs, and “nerve pills”.

6. Grow your own should be totally legal. One reason I’m not using now is the fact there’s no easy, reasonably priced, local outlet, and the feds have been busting all the legitimate medical growers in my region for the last two years, it positively STUPID, especially as our national forests and public lands ARE being destroyed by ILLEGAL growers activities. BTW, behind every “Mexican cartel” running operations here, I can guarantee you, there’s a nice white, AMERICAN who’s REALLY behind the whole operation and clearing the biggest profit! (AND that person is probably either an elected official, or somewhere in the chain of command where the profits are laundered!)

Where are those “small” government cons when you need them?

“The only thing false is the assertion if legalized the crime will go away.”I don’t need to argue from conjecture on this. We have hard experience with Prohibition. I asked is alcohol abuse is somehow better than other forms of drug abuse or if you think we should be banning anything that alters your mind.

Human: yes, the benefits of commercial hemp are fantastic, reducing the need to cut down our forests for fiber, hemp oil, lots of purposes!

Brass Orchid: I spent nearly a decade in law enforcement, it was depressing seeing how judges (drinkers themselves) would let DUII folks off. My sister-in-law btw got picked up SIX TIMES for DUII, and got only a wrist slap, kept offending. When she was finally busted the 7th time (with her kids in the car) and thrown in the slammer for the first time, six months sentence, served 30 days and 5 years probation, it DID make the point, and she never re-offended.

But, alcoholism, biological or psychological in cause, IS a disease, and treatment PLUS some jail time for DUII may be needed! MJ by the way CAN be psychologically “addictive”, but NOT physically, it is NOT a narcotic!

Republicans prefer booze and all the death that comes with it.

Stipple: just a note by the way, as I’m sure Ahab would also agree, best of luck on your treatment regimine with a successful outcome, and your return to good health.

I was relieved at last endoscope and colonoscopy (aren’t THOSE fun?) that the esophagus is still a bit of a mess, but not pre-cancerous and the “other end” was resolved with a little “snip and tuck”.

Which, is another reason for legalizing pot, and NOT shoving the drugs on us that have, and DO, “mess us up”!!

That’s why I put small in quotes.