Pot's Special Interests
James Poulos, Ed. ·
Jul 19, 2010 at 5:21am
Yes, Food and Commercial Workers Union, you would be in favor of legalizing marijuana.
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
I'm about ready to throw in the towel on the drug war. I'll grant that those who argue the issue based on states' rights have many points in their favor. But no one is ever going to convince me that cannabis use is innocuous. I've known too many people, most especially the young, who have squandered years living like mushrooms in someone's basement. Pot is not harmless.
Jul '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
I wonder if a connection can be made between California's decline and the evangelism led by liberals there for the legalization of marijuana.
Jun '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Jun '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Absolutely. Pot use especially by the young leads to arrested intellectual and psychological development. It also rots the soul through moral corruption.
Re: Pot's Special Interests
In related news, James Joyner warns of the coming Wal-Martization of Weed.
Re: Pot's Special Interests
XBox and Wii are stealing far more from our youth than marijuana ever did.
Re: Pot's Special Interests
@Paules: Cigarettes and butter have ruined more lives than marijuana.
Does their use lead to moral corruption?
Jun '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Justified Right: @Paules: Cigarettes and butter have ruined more lives than marijuana.
Does their use lead to moral corruption? · Jul 19 at 7:18am
No one ever woke up next to someone they didn't know because they ate too much butter the night before.
Re: Pot's Special Interests
I'm with you, Justified Right. So much so that I think I'd best reserve my comments for a new thread. The pot-smoking, vegetarian, animal-loving, Thatcherite defense-hawk wing of Ricochet is gathering its ammunition. Stay tuned.
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Can't wait to read it, Claire!
Re: Pot's Special Interests
@Paules: If waking up next to strangers is the moral problem, then you make a great case for outlawing liquor.
Re: Pot's Special Interests
~Paules
Justified Right: @Paules: Cigarettes and butter have ruined more lives than marijuana.
Does their use lead to moral corruption? · Jul 19 at 7:18am
No one ever woke up next to someone they didn't know because they ate too much butter the night before. · Jul 19 at 7:47am
Obviously you weren't in a fraternity.
That's a joke. Now for something that isn't:
Claire Berlinski: I'm with you, Justified Right. So much so that I think I'd best reserve my comments for a new thread. The pot-smoking, vegetarian, animal-loving, Thatcherite defense-hawk wing of Ricochet is gathering its ammunition. Stay tuned. · Jul 19 at 7:55am
Sounds like another occasion to take another, deeper cut at the different ways of thinking about drugs, immigration, and defense as elements of a single issue.
Jun '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
I read somewhere, and I forget where, so please forgive me, but it appears that in Holland where pot is legal, the authorities have noticed an increase in schizoprenia among the young middle-aged population. They attribute this increase to the combination (both precursors must be present it appears) of 1) early use of pot, and 2) frequency of pot use. If anyone out in Ricochet land can cite the sources, or correct me if I am wrong, I'd be grateful.
May '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Is it OK to still eat hamburgers? I love my dog. And Maggie.
May '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
And "Wal-Martization" is not an inherently bad thing.
Jun '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
I'm not making a case to outlaw liquor or pot. I'm saying that the use of either has consequences. I drink, but I don't hang around in bars. The bar scene for me was a temptation for immoral behaviour. I'm going to keep my powder dry until I hear from Claire. This should be a good debate.
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Without taking a position either, I'll just note some hypocrisy we live with in America:
It's illegal to alter your consciousness with pot, but it is legal to alter your consciousness with alcohol. Why not treat them the same, legal or illegal?
It's illegal to treat nausea after chemotherapy with pot, but it is legal to treat it with the drug Phenergan. Why not treat them the same, legal or illegal?
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Justified Right: Without taking a position either, I'll just note some hypocrisy we live with in America:
It's illegal to alter your consciousness with pot, but it is legal to alter your consciousness with alcohol. Why not treat them the same, legal or illegal?
It's illegal to treat nausea after chemotherapy with pot, but it is legal to treat it with the drug Phenergan. Why not treat them the same, legal or illegal? · Jul 19 at 11:06am
The late Professor of Law Charles Whitebread has proven -- I think conclusively -- that marijuana was originally banned in the United States for preposterous and wildly misinformed reasons. That's not a slam-dunk argument for changing the law. But it is an important piece of information.
May '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
Justified Right: Without taking a position either, I'll just note some hypocrisy we live with in America:
It's illegal to alter your consciousness with pot, but it is legal to alter your consciousness with alcohol. Why not treat them the same, legal or illegal?
It's illegal to treat nausea after chemotherapy with pot, but it is legal to treat it with the drug Phenergan. Why not treat them the same, legal or illegal? · Jul 19 at 11:06am
Until there is a societal consensus regarding recreational use of non-alcohol intoxicants, medical marijuana should be handled exactly like any other controlled therapeutic drug: test it for efficacy, check. Test for safety, check. (We already know those answers) Prescribe for proper indications, check. Prosecute 'scripts abuses, check.
Both the "This is the Devil's Weed and we Granny's March on Evil Oppose Any Use!" and the "Hey, I can grow medical miracles in my weed-patch!" schools should be repudiated. In other words, ignore both Drew Carey and the Family Research Council for the time being, but to quote Rick Brookhiser, "Stop arresting sick people"- provided they abide by a common-sense law.
May '10
Re: Pot's Special Interests
I am a 39 earl old marketing director for a medium-sized manufacturer in California. I'm middle class and fairly conservative--if Claire will forgive me borrowing, I would call myself a former-pot-smoking, carnivorous, animal-loving, Reaganite defense-and-debt-hawk. I've been accused of being a RINO, once accused of being a bleeding-heart-liberal in the same week that I was accused of being a racist right-wing-nut, but have argued for conservative principles since I was in high school. And yet...
I've smoked pot, snorted coke, popped prescription drugs recreationally, used meth (didn't turn me into a whorish Zomby (misspelling makes sense if you visit resurrectionsong.com) in spite of the scary "not even once" commercials on TV), and occasionally have a drink or two of the good stuff.
I think the statistics would bear this out: most people in the US have tried an illegal drug (especially if you include self-medication with prescription drugs in one form or another) and didn't ruin their own lives. Sure, there are others with different experiences--hard cases--but remember that hard cases make bad laws. Follow-up comment coming...