It's a hard subject. Drug or plant, smoking pot has an effect you wouldn't want to see in people when for instance they are at work.
And there really are people for whom pot has been a stepping stone to hard drugs.
So regulate it, just as alcohol and tobacco are regulated. I would certainly rather have an office visit with a stoned doctor than one that is drunk, or even hungover. As a firm believer in the benefits of moderation in both substances, I know from experience that being drunk or having a nasty hangover is FAR more problematic than smoking a little reefer.
And...I'd bet there are more people that have used alcohol as a "stepping stone" than pot. I don't have hard numbers or links, but I would certainly be willing to wager that more teens in this country drink a beer before they ever smoke a joint. Doesn't that make alcohol, not pot, the stepping stone? :shrugs:
Even worse...alcohol can be a truly devestating drug on it's own...no need to progress when you are already using one of the most volatile, most addictive, and most destructive drugs available...and it's perfectly legal...
On the other hand, it IS no more addicting than alcohol or tobacco (and seeing the people I know who smoke pot, I would even say it's less addictive than tobacco).
No
more addicting?? There is NO chemical addiction or dependancy associated with marijuana. There are no physiological symptoms or withdrawal. There is no clinical addiction.
Sure...it can be habit forming. But habits and addictions are clinically defined completely differently. There is NO ADDICTION to marijuana. It simply does not happen. And that is a fact, long since proven to be true.
Further, there are no serious side effects, such as liver disease and lung cancer, as there is with tobacco and alcohol. THC is oil and alcohol soluble. The majority of carcinogenics found in pot are related to the carbon monoxide smoke. THC becomes useable by the body at 425*F. The plant burns at over 600*F. Vaporize the THC without burning the plant, and you receive all the positive effects of the THC with NONE of the carcinogenic effects of smoke inhalation. Bake it into butter, oil or soak it in an alcohol-based tincture, and the results are the same...all the benefits, none of the carcinogens.
So why is tobacco, every bit as addicting or even more, legal and pot isn't?
Why is alcohol, with an effect when taken too much as bad or worse than pot, legal and pot isn't?
Because there is billions of dollars per year to be made by these products.
Tobacco is a nutrient expensive plant to grow and harvest, and requires a tremendous amount of land to successfully produce. It is also not a self-sustaining crop.
Alcohol is regulated to prevent any individual from distilling their own hard liquors, and brewing of beer is also regulated. Again...it is not something the average individual has the capability of doing in their own home.
Conversely, marijuana is a self-flowering, self-sustaining crop that can be grown in a very small area, produce high quality plants, and does not deplete soil of it's nutritional value. If you till your plants back into the ground after harvest, they will grow the following year with very little assistance beyond grooming, trimming, and caring, as you would any garden vegetable.
What sane pot-head would pay a large corporation to package the plant that they can easily grow for a fraction of the cost in their own backyard, or even a 4X5 closet in an apartment?
Ultimately...there is billions to be made from the manufacture and production of alcohol and tobacco. There is no money to be made in the growing of pot, because any person can grow their own "stash", and sustain it with very little knowledge or effort.
Mostly money I guess. Many, many people earn their money in the tobacco and alcohol business. You can hardly make something illegal when it means that by doing that, you put such a multitude out of work.
That's precisely right.
And people are used to those being legal and consider pot to be worse.
That's because this country has a long history of criminalizing anything that doesn't make a profit. If people would ignore the propoganda of pot being a "gateway drug", and look at the real statistics and facts about the risks vs. benefits of the plant...there wouldn't be such a nasty stigmata for such a harmless plant.
Legalising pot is a good idea imo. Especially for medicinal use. I wonder how many people have to commit a "crime" to be able to use something that can finally relieve a part of their disease...
I am a clinical insomniac. On a good night, I sleep 4 hours. Most nights I am asleep by 3 or 4am, and back up before 6 to get ready for the day. If I go outside and smoke a joint at 8pm, after my daughter is in bed and asleep, I can be asleep by 10, and sleep through the night until my alarm clock wakes me up at 7am. That's 9 hours of sleep.
My alternatives are Ambien and similar highly-addictive sleep aids, all of which have the wonderful side-effects of sleep walking, cardiac arrythmia, and possibly death.
Gee...what's my choice?:shrugs:
