Legalising Marijuana

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“When you find yourself more conservative than the Swiss, perhaps it’s time to lighten up.”
~ Lorne Elliot

“If a guy drinks too much alcohol, he goes out, smashes up his car and gets in a fight. If a guy smokes too much weed, he rolls over on the couch and falls asleep.”
~ Dave S., A Pot Grower

“Ice-cream is exquisite — what a pity it isn’t illegal.”
~ Voltaire[François Marie d’Arouet Voltaire] (1694-1778)

On 2001-07-31 medical marijuana became legal in Canada. All you need is your doctor’s ok. You must buy from registered growers. In 2002-01 it was decriminalised for recreational use.

Introduction	The Netherlands Experience
Marijuana is Harmful	Why Is Marijuana Still Illegal?
Reducing the Harmful Effects of Marijuana	Hard Drugs
Medical Use Of Marijuana	Summary
The Legal State of Medical Marijuana	Books
Why Is Marijuana Illegal?	Links
The Prohibition Experience	WebRings
The Tobacco Experience

Introduction

I used to live in an apartment on Burrard Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Every night at 1 AM the bars would close. People would pour out onto the streets screaming at the top of their lungs, shouting obscenities. I would wake up every night to hear some couple screaming across the street back and forth to each other "Fuck You!"

I would walk down the street the next day to see overturned mailboxes and vandalised newspaper boxes, the victims of raging drunks. I have seen so many lives totally destroyed by alcohol. I have seen how alcohol could turn my best friend from a personable guy into a vicious wife beater. Everyone knows a family missing a loved one, the victim of a drunk driver.

We tolerate alcohol only because of the failure of prohibition. I ask myself, what would society be like if the social drug of choice were changed from alcohol to marijuana. I strongly suspect it would be orders of magnitude more peaceful.

Marijuana is Harmful

“That bad medicine will make you a vegetable.”
the 16th Karmapa, a Tibetan high Lama.

I don’t claim marijuana is harmless. Clearly putting all that smoke and tar into your lungs can’t be good for you, especially when the smoke is inhaled so deeply. A percentage of the population become paranoid or psychotic smoking marijuana. It tends to make people lazy. It can waste a lot of time. It puts people in contact with pushers who can suck them into trying heroin or cocaine, perhaps by spiking the marijuana. Marijuana may contain toxic quantities of pesticides or the herbicide paraquat.

However, the deleterious effects pale compared with the much more addictive tobacco or alcohol. If marijuana were made legal, I think it could make great inroads into alcohol use as the normal party drug. As a society, we would be much better off, as would the people taking the drug. It does not make sense to treat marijuana legally as a more dangerous drug than alcohol.

Reducing the Harmful Effects of Marijuana

Probably the most dangerous feature of marijuana is that it is a gateway drug. It teaches disrespect for the law. If it were legalised, that role would disappear. There would be no need for the average teen to have anything to do with drug pushers at all.

If marijuana were legalised, the drug could be government inspected, and guaranteed of standard potency, without pesticide residues. With lower cost, people might start eating it in brownies or other specialty foods rather that smoking it, which would reduce the health risk considerably.

Instead of all that marijuana money going to criminals to fund their cocaine and heroin smuggling, it could fatten the tax coffers.

Medical Use Of Marijuana

Nausea is one of the most difficult medical conditions to treat. For most people with chronic nausea, Gravol does not do much good at all, and ginger does little better. Stemetil sometimes works, though it puts you to sleep. THC is the only drug that offers any relief, and probably that is mainly through distraction. In other words, the disorientation of THC is a necessary side effect. People prefer smoking marijuana to taking THC tablets because they can precisely control the dose. With tablets it is far too easy to overdose.

Chronic nausea is so debilitating it leads to suicidal depression. Marijuana offers a tiny respite of elation to look forward to. This pleasurable side effect, that so upsets Puritanical Republicans, is necessary for it to function.

Though there is some evidence that marijuana may suppress the immune system, it can have value for people with AIDS who are suffering from wasting. They have little energy to eat, they feel nauseous and the strong medications make all foods taste utterly disgusting. A friend of mine near death on heavy duty AIDS drugs said that all food tasted like diesel oil. Marijuana can stimulate the appetite.

Who better than the people with chronic nausea to judge the pros and cons of using marijuana for nausea? Why allow the blue-nose Republican Senator Orin Hatch to make that judgement call — somebody who has never experienced a terminal illness or chronic nausea.

Reform MPs want to block marijuana for medical use. Perhaps they also would want to block the use of morphine for pain control simply because it can be abused. Where is the consistency is this, allowing doctors to prescribe morphine, but not marijuana? Nobody has ever died of a marijuana overdose. Morphine is acknowledged to be a highly addictive and dangerous drug. The federal Liberals are going ahead with trials of medical marijuana. This won’t help people suffering from chronic nausea now, but at least it may prevent future suffering.

Right wing Christians are so convinced of the their righteousness, they are quite willing to put others through needless suffering by denying them this anti-nausea drug. I doubt they have even the remotest inkling of the hell they are forcing others to endure. Nausea from flu for a week is one thing. Nausea endlessly year after year without a break is quite another.

Why are they so lacking in compassion? Deep in their hearts they wish torment on those with AIDS, a disease associated with both nausea and homosexuality. Perhaps someone should tell them their narrow views are also needlessly tormenting cancer-ridden heterosexuals.

Peter McWilliams, a best-selling author (Life 101 and some others) is on trial in Los Angeles for using and advocating the use of medical marijuana. He has AIDS and an AIDS-related cancer, and has been taking marijuana for nausea so he can keep his medications down.

The trial was held 1999-11-21. The trial judge ruled he could not use a medical marijuana defense, nor could he mention Proposition 215, marijuana’s medical usefulness, the eight patients who get medical marijuana monthly from the federal government, or his medical condition. He faces 10 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. You can find more information at the PeterTrial website.

We must stop these mindless Christians from tormenting others.

To those who think they have the right to enforce their marijuana laws on the rest of this I say this: "Who do you think you are, my mother? Even my mother would not not presume to tell me what to do. I am 53 years old. I’m old enough to decide for myself whether the benefits of medical marijuana are worth the risks. How dare you presume to tell me what to do when you know nothing of the circumstances. You’re not the one with the nausea. You arrogant puppy, thinking you know better how to run my life than I do!"

The Legal State of Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana is now legal in nine states of the USA. However, federal law still prohibits it. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the conflict. The court contains seven Republican appointees and two Democratic. Republicans generally have an irrational terror of marijuana. However, these are learned men, and would have to find justification for permitting morphine for the terminally ill, but not marijuana (which has not even been scientifically shown to be harmful or addictive). They might handle it by demanding the same ultra strict standards as for morphine.

Hawaii allows certified patients to possess up to three ounces of marijuana and grow up to seven plants. Doctors can get a registration certificate for a patient to use marijuana to ease pain caused by debilitating diseases such as cancer or AIDS. I trust "pain" includes nausea.

The main legal arguments against medical marijuana are:

It would create an additional source of marijuana to the illicit market. Medical marijuana would be unadulterated and of known consistent potency, thus preferable to street marijuana.
Terminally ill people could make money by legally having friends grow some marijuana in their apartments for them, and selling it rather than consuming it.
It would soften the public attitude to marijuana drug enforcement. If it is good for very sick people, how could it hurt people who are well?
It would complicate drug enforcement. If ever police found a single marijuana plant, the defendant could claim it was owned by someone with a medical marijuana certificate.

Surely common sense has to prevail eventually. What if at some point in history religious fanatics had banned the tomato? Why would such laws continue to be upheld indefinitely without any scientific evidence the tomato was actually harmful with plenty of evidence the fruit had health benefits?

Why Is Marijuana Illegal?

Marijuana was originally made illegal for two rather odd reasons:

To help the Dupont company sell its artificial fibres. Originally marijuana (aka hemp) was grown for rope and canvas fibres.
As a way of giving the racist police a way to arbitrarily arrest black people since it was in common use only among blacks. It was a tool of KKK think. To this day, marijuana laws are selectively enforced against blacks.

We keep it illegal based on myths about the drug’s dangers. Utah Republican Senator Orin Hatch announced on TV to explain why marijuana growers get longer sentences than rapists was that marijuana was the "biggest killer of children" What’s that man been smoking?

Christians have a fundamental distrust of anything pleasurable. Attorney General Ashcroft thinks dancing is wicked simply because it is fun. Kristians think they have a right to make everyone else as miserable as they are. They imagine they are everyone else’s mother with a God given right to tell everyone else what to do.

Unlike tobacco and alcohol, nobody has ever died from smoking marijuana, other than as a result of impaired driving. The war against marijuana is very costly, in terms of drug enforcement and the destruction of lives of the people who would not be criminals if marijuana were treated realistically. There is no benefit in continuing the war, and a stupendous benefit in dropping it — reduction in the use of alcohol.

There are three groups in society that benefit from the current scheme:

the breweries
who sell the competing product, alcohol.
the constructors of prisons
and the prison industry generally. They are now one of the major lobby groups. To improve the profitability of private prisons, they push for harsher penalties for relatively insignificant crimes. They have succeeded spendidly. The USA has a greater proportion of its people in jail than any other country, including even countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia. There are two million Americans in jail costing the taxpayers a minimum of $20000.00 USD a year each. In 1980, the government arrested a few hundred thousand a year on drug charges, and today they arrest 1.6 million, with no sign of decreased drug use. The RAND corporation points out that every dollar spent on rehabilitation and treatment saves seven dollars. On the other hand, every extra day a person spends in prison increases the odds they will cause trouble when they get out. We know prison has the exact opposite effect of its supposed intent, but persist in ever greater incarceration for ever less serious offences. Prison is supposed to deter crime though punishment, but in practice it is a school for criminals and an indoctrination center for criminal values. The prison lobby is able to dishonestly paint anyone who opposes them as “soft on crime”, when in reality, it is they are who fostering crime.
Organised crime
who sell marijuana at spectacular markup. It is as easy to grow as lettuce, and fetches $2765.00 USD per pound or $6096.00 USD per kilogram.

Perhaps those are the special interest groups feeding Republican Senator Orin Hatch his ideas and his funding for his hysterical war on marijuana.

“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

Frontline did a documentary on marijuana. They interviewed law enforcement officials. The officials said that marijuana should be illegal for three reasons:

It is against the law. [This is circular reasoning.]
It kills people. [There is not even one death attributable to marijuana overdose.]
It is a gateway drug. [This a good reason to legalise the drug. The Dutch successfully decriminalised marijuana to prevent the young from contacting the criminal element who would push hard drugs on them.]

We are dealing with professional morons blinded by their religious beliefs.

The Prohibition Experience

“One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

What happened when America experimented with the prohibition of alcohol?

Consumption went up.
Organised crime drastically increased its influence.
The government lost all tax revenue from alcohol sales.
Since smuggling higher potency alcohol is easier, people moved from drinking beer and wine to overproof alcohol.
Health damage increased from improperly manufactured alcoholic beverages.
General respect for law decreased.
Many ordinary people had daily contact with the criminal element.
Enforcement became a major preoccupation of all police departments.
There was no treatment for alcoholism, just punishment.
Criminals actively solicited underage customers.
After giving a good try, Americans decided prohibition did not work.

The Tobacco Experience

Tobacco use is legal but restricted. What has been the experience?

Use is gradually decreasing.
There is relatively little organised crime surrounding its use.
Quality and dose strength are well controlled.
The tobacco industry and tobacco users are being forced to directly pay for their fair share of the health hazards tobacco use creates.
People who use tobacco are not exposed to the criminal element.
It costs relatively little to enforce the laws that control its use.
People who are addicted can easily get treatment to help them drop the addiction, without stigma.
The main downside is the tobacco industry openly advertises for new child customers.

The Netherlands Experience

In the Netherlands, there are "coffee" shops that legally sell pre-rolled joints for about four Euros. They have glass cases and little cards describing the potency and characteristics of each type. Yet oddly, the Netherlands has lower marijuana use and lower drug use generally than either the USA or Canada. When I visited, I never saw people smoking in the streets, and the "coffee" shops were not exactly overflowing with customers.

The result is heroin and crack cocaine are very rare.

I suspect that the casual smoker never comes in contact with underworld pushers, and hence is never tempted to try the more dangerous drugs.

90% of American high school seniors report they can get cannabis easier than alcohol. This is because liquor sales are legal and regulated and marijuana sales are illegal and unregulated.

Why Is Marijuana Still Illegal?

Given that making marijuana illegal makes about as much sense as making tomatoes or aspirin illegal, why do we bother? Surely someone must benefit from the way things are. Who are these people?

drug dealers
If marijuana were legal, they would be out of business. Marijuana would be as cheap as lettuce, since is so easy to grow, unless of course it were taxed.
racist Republicans
These laws are an excuse to put 1/3 of black males in jail for some period of their lives. From then on they lose the right to vote.
alcohol sellers
People might drink less and toke more.
prison industry
Less money would be spent on prisons if you did not have to incarcerate tokers.
Puritans
people who object to marijuana on the grounds it pleasurable without any built-in punishment similar to alcohol’s hangover.
the Clueless
People who know nothing about marijuana or its effects on people have the strongest opinions on it. They confuse it with cocaine, PCP, LSD and heroin. They react with gut terror.
Crooked Politicians
The Dutch have proved which approach works, American or Dutch. Yet Americans persist in doing what they know does not work. Why?
Because it is what the drug dealers want. Organised crime contributes big money to tell politicians to spend big bucks on programs that will look good to the public, but which actually increase their profits. So the “tough on drugs” people like William Bennett, are, perhaps unwittingly, actually in the pockets of organised crime.

What strange bedfellows!

Hard Drugs

Many argue that surely prohibition is needed for hard drugs, so the same logic applies to marijuana. Yet strange as it sounds, when Britain instituted a system of heroin maintenance in the 1960s by prescription, similar to methadone in the USA, the number of drug addicts plummeted. Drug-related crime disappeared. How could this be? There was no criminal incentive to hook new users! The drugs were hard to get since there was no money to be made selling them on the black market. New users could not get drugs, but addicts could.

This would not quite apply to marijuana because it can easily be grown even if not available on the black market, but in the same way you would not have dealers pushing it on new users, especially children.

Summary

The drug war is a sham. Even with billion dollar budgets and by putting more people in jail than any other country in the world, the USA only manages to intercept 5% of its drug supply, and confiscates only a minute fraction of the profits since the drugs themselves are very cheap to produce. The drug war is a huge expense without much to show for it.

It is naive to imagine social engineers can curtail people from using drugs. They can’t even do it inside a prison where everyone is under surveillance 24 hours a day. How can they possibly do it in a democratic free society? If you do manage to cut off one drug, users will just turn to ever more damaging ones like cooking spray, gasoline, Listerine, Sterno, solvents, strychnine… However, it is possible for a government to do two things:

Help people work on the painful personal problems that drive them to drugs.
Encourage people who are likely to use drugs to use drugs that will do them less harm, use them in a safest possible way, and to do less harm to others in the process of using them.

As recreational drugs go, marijuana is about as benign as you can get. It is not addictive. It does not cause violence. It creates no hangovers. No one has every died from an overdose. Dangerously impaired people tend to sit still or fall asleep. They are less likely to drive while impaired. It would be a very good thing if any of the people who would normally use hard drugs could be persuaded to make do with cheap potent marijuana. Similarly, I would far sooner deal with someone who was abusing marijuana than alcohol. They are far less likely to seriously harm themselves or others. Marijuana’s main danger comes from the carginogens in the smoke, a problem that could be alleviated with other sorts of delivery.

It is not a choice of having a population who takes drugs and a drug-free society. That is a pipe dream. The best we can hope for is a society where drug use is controlled, and the majority of people avoid the most dangerous drugs. Dangerous should be defined rationally, not historically. Alcohol and tobacco are much more dangerous than many of the currently illegal drugs, (which even include such benign substances as protein supplements).

Only fascist Kristians are under the delusion they can control everyone else to conform to their Puritanical standards. Not only is that impossible, they ought not to attempt it.

“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or to forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because in the opinions of others to do so would be wise or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from which it is desired to deter him must be calculated to produce evil to someone else.”
~ John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

My closing argument is financial. Enforcing marijuana laws is expensive. There are police, courts jails and probation officers. Keeping a man in jail cost about $40000.00 USD per year, plus a bundle to keep his family on welfare while he is incarcerated. This unnecessary burden on the justice system means serious crimes that actually hurt people are not being given sufficient attention. They are far more productive ways to spend the taxpayer’s money.

“Nothing promotes disrespect of the law more than passing laws which can not and should not be enforced.”
~ Albert Einstein

Books

recommend book⇒Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out

paperback

ISBN10:

0-415-92647-5

ISBN13:

978-0-415-92647-8

publisher:

Routledge

published:

2000-01

by:

Mike Gray

This is a non-hysterical book that gives a lot of factual information about drugs and explains why things are the way they are, e.g. why crack swept the ghettos while cocaine swept the elite. It explains why it is foolish to exaggerate to youth the dangers of marijuana.

	amazon.ca	amazon.com
	chapters.indigo.ca	powells.com
	amazon.fr	barnesandnoble.com
	amazon.de	amazon.co.uk

recommend book⇒In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

hardcover

ISBN10:

0-676-97740-5

ISBN13:

978-0-676-97740-0

publisher:

Knopf

published:

2008-02-12

by:

Gabor Maté, MD

Maté has worked ten years on the lower east side of Vancouver dealing with patients who are plagued with drug addiction. He discovered the causes of drug addiction and, no surprise, that our current policies are almost guaranteed to keep people trapped in drug addiction with almost no chance of escape. His solutions are simple and humane, but they require giving up the desire to punish for the sake of punishing.

	amazon.ca	amazon.com
	chapters.indigo.ca	powells.com
	amazon.fr	barnesandnoble.com
	amazon.de	amazon.co.uk

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Introduction

Marijuana is Harmful

Reducing the Harmful Effects of Marijuana

Medical Use Of Marijuana

The Legal State of Medical Marijuana

Why Is Marijuana Illegal?

the breweries

the constructors of prisons

Organised crime

The Prohibition Experience

The Tobacco Experience

The Netherlands Experience

Why Is Marijuana Still Illegal?

drug dealers

racist Republicans

alcohol sellers

prison industry

Puritans

the Clueless

Crooked Politicians

Hard Drugs

Summary

Books

Links

Rings