Marijuana legalization gains with public, but pot use almost always a negative with politicians

[Jesus Malverde]

The report that former Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen was a recreational marijuana user came wrapped in a particularly unflattering package.

Cogen, who resigned under pressure in September, has also been accused of using cocaine and ecstasy, according to an Oregon Department of Justice investigation released Friday.

However, the revelations about Cogen signal something that remains true about marijuana and politicians: Even though polls show a majority of Americans now support legalizing the drug, it's the rare politician who will admit to going home at night and rolling a joint.

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl called it the "cannabis closet" in a piece he wrote earlier this year for Huffington Post describing how he used marijuana to treat neuropathy in his feet and excruciating back pain caused by late-stage cancer.

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2013/11/marijuana_legalization_gains_w.html

"There are a lot of people – white-collar people, medical professionals and politicians as well – who are recreational marijuana users and are still in the closet," Kaufmann added.

In some ways, he said, it's similar to the fight over gay rights. As more gays came out of the closet, public attitudes increasingly changed. And the same could happen with marijuana.

Come out of the shadows and into the light.

[pscot]

1. And with good reason

considering it's effects, as shown in this illustration from Fuzz Against Junk by world renowned narcologist, Akbar del Piombo.



STONED

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Who is that supposed to be, a hermaphroditic baby?

Is the message to keep your baby off drugs?

[pscot]

7. Consult Sr. Del Piombo's work

for a more detailed explication.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. People are funny.

People bitch all the time about some of the insane laws we have, including a lot of the drug laws, but the same people don't want their politicians to be users. What kind of laws do they think are going to be passed by Miss Prunella, who they elected because she had a pure record? If you want government to change the way it does things, quit electing these people who walk around like they have a stick up their ass.

[dembotoz]

3. so is divorce

[Romulox]

5. President Obama is an admitted marijuana user. So was President Clinton.

I question this source.

[Jesus Malverde]

8. Addressed in the article you didn't read :)

Ever since Bill Clinton talked about trying marijuana, but not inhaling, during his 1992 campaign for president, politicians have become almost casual about talking about far-in-the-past marijuana use.

"When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently," Barack Obama said two years before he was elected president in 2008. "That was the point."

But it's still quite a different thing to discuss current use.

[Romulox]

9. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are both committed to the War on Drugs. They're not closeted users.

The public has rejected the War on Drugs, but that has next to no impact on President Obama's prosecution of the War on Drugs, for example.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. How do you know they are not smoking....

There are many participants in the war on drugs, who also smoke cannabis. It's hypocritical, but thats life.

[Romulox]

12. What difference does it make? Public opinion doesn't drive the War on Drugs. nt

[Jesus Malverde]

13. Yes it does.

The war on drugs only came to it's fore when the public was muzzled and the debate silenced in the media during the reagan era.

Government spent millions perhaps billions propagandizing the war on drugs with mass media like the nytimes getting kickbacks for running anti-drug propaganda.

In the context of an open debate, cannabis always wins over the bullshit memes we live with.

[randome]

6. To borrow a recently overused phrase:

Pot use should be legal but rare.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

[cleanhippie]

11. That makes no sense. Why should cannabis be legal but rare?

What does that even mean?

[randome]

14. It means most people will choose to smoke it instead of ingesting it safely.

And putting smoke into your lungs will inevitably lead to an uptick in respiratory disease. Plus the smoker's smell and smoker's skin that goes with that. Plus used butts littering the ground.

Some have argued on DU that marijuana smoke is different from tobacco smoke and that's true but it is still smoke. Some have even argued that it is good for you, which I find laughable.

We have enough problems with alcohol and tobacco. I would prefer a public safety campaign to impress upon people the health trade-offs associated with smoking.

And people are simply not rational about drug use. There will still be those who try to circumvent local laws about pot use. Organized crime will move on to other areas of profit.

DU has convinced me to favor legalization but I feel it's essential to point out that this is no stepping stone to some sort of nirvana society. There are trade-offs with everything.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

[cleanhippie]

15. You seem to be falsely equivocating cigarette smoking to pot smoking.

The science is there, your concerns are valid but over-hyped. Cannabis use, even for habitual users (which are a minority of cannabis users), pose drastically less health risks than cigarettes and even alcohol.

That's a fact, not opinion.

And I still do not understand what your "legal but rare" analogy is supposed to mean.

[randome]

20. I think I was clear about 'legal but rare'.

Marijuana should be discouraged. My daughters know they can experiment however they choose but I want them to be aware of the dangers.

I just walked back from Starbucks. On my way to the rest room first, I noticed a stack of boxes marked 'DO NOT PEEK'. Naturally I peeked.

One of the baristas said, "David! No Peeking!"

And I responded, "When a sign says 'No Peeking', you have to peek!"

My point is that I have nothing whatsoever against railing against the rules, even in so mundane an environment as Starbucks.

It's a beautiful November day in St. Louis. On my way home, I felt my own kind of high just being outside.

Yes, marijuana smoke is less harmful than tobacco smoke. It is still harmful.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

[cleanhippie]

25. "Marijuana should be discouraged". Why? Says who?

Perhaps you mean smoking marijuana should be discouraged due to the hazards of inhaling smoke of any kind, even though the proven risk of sickness or disease by inhaling cannabis smoke is quite small.
Consuming cannabis is not dangerous. It poses no known adverse health effects (other than the small risk when smoked because of inhaling smoke), especially when vaporized or digested. In fact, there are emerging proven health benefits, especially mental health/well being.

So I fail to understand just why adults using cannabis should be discouraged. Can you explain why you believe that?

[randome]

27. That IS what I meant. Smoking should be discouraged.

Most will not take the time to bake or vape. It's easier to simply light up.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[cleanhippie]

32. Ok. But we need to accept the fact that smoking pot does not carry the same risk as smokin cigs do.

They are not even comparable. Even the heaviest pot smoker does not compare to a pack-a-day cig smoker. It's comparing apples and oranges when the only connection is that they are both fruit.

[Comrade Grumpy]

16. Thankfully, we have net nannies to remind us of the horrors.

[randome]

19. Pointing out the obvious, that's all.

Sometimes the obvious gets lost in the shuffle.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

[hootinholler]

23. " Plus used butts littering the ground. "

Really?



We'll be wading through roaches?

[randome]

29. That was one of the effects of wide-spread tobacco smoking.

That may not be the case with cannabis because I don't think it will gain as widespread use as tobacco. Plus the knowledge of health hazards posed by smoking have been widely disseminated.

And some will opt for baking or vaping and I don't see any negative health effects associated with that.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[Jesus Malverde]

24. Look at yourself.

Are you going to run out an buy an ounce of Grand Daddy Purple if cannabis is legalized? Of course not. Legalization will have a negligible effect on the number of people who use cannabis or the overall amount consumed.

What will change is we will no longer live in fear. Fear of losing jobs, fear of being raided, our dogs shot, our children kidnapped by the state. Our land stolen, and worst case getting murdered by the state. Legalization of cannabis is about correcting a wrong from Americas RACIST past, and freeing MILLIONS from FEAR.

[randome]

28. I said I'm in favor of legalization.

I think the health effects of smoking should be acknowledged, that's all.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[cleanhippie]

33. And just what proven adverse health effects must we acknowledge?

[jberryhill]

17. Same with tobacco

Tobacco is legal, and you almost never see a politician smoking it.

[Jesus Malverde]

18. Good point.

It seems the only acceptable "drug" is alcohol. Recalling the "beer summits" at the whitehouse.

[jberryhill]

21. Caffeine is also acceptable

[Jesus Malverde]

22. So acceptable it's not really considered an intoxicant nor addictive.

Both of which are untrue.

[libdem4life]

26. Points of reference..."Marijuana Legalization" seems to refer to an ultimate corporate monopoly

similar to tobacco and is more acceptable. "Pot Use" seems to refer somewhat perjoratively to the individual user...legal or illegal depending on state. Public perception, perhaps.

I've always thought that it will not legalized entirely until the national market is pretty well set to put the small growers out of business by dropping the prices...which is already happening.

When the Feds shut down Oaksterdam in Oakland it seemed they didn't want to encourage small business.

[TeamPooka]

30. Prohibition is a failed public policy. nt

[librechik]

31. call me when marijuana is popular with donors.

and that will never happen with the drug, alcohol, textile and petroleum industries.