Pro-pot users sometimes hurt their case

[NCDem777]

http://us.blastingnews.com/opinion/2017/05/things-marijuana-advocates-do-that-hurt-their-cause-001666635.html

"You know why the anti-Prohibition movement was so successful in the 30's? The people who wanted it ended were honest.

They just wanted to get drunk and admitted it. They pointed out that enforcement of the law was causing a lot more harm than good. They didn't say that alcohol would cure every disease. They didn't say that alcohol had no downsides. They didn't insult potential allies. Alcohol would probably be illegal today if every other pro-alcohol person was trying to pass off beer as a full serving of vegetables.

If you want to use pot in the privacy of your own home and you don't think it's the government's business, just say that. People would have a lot more respect for you than if you go around claiming you're trying to cure every disease known to man."

[GReedDiamond]

1. Yeah, well there are plenty of cases and studies that support...

...medical cannabis - whether THC or CBD is the "active ingredient" - so the medically beneficial claims of cannabis use are legitimate.

It may not be "every disease known to man," but, believe me, there are people working on many medical applications for many different ailments.

Starting back in the 80s, I was a subject in Dr. Tashkin's UCLA study on the effects of cannabis on the human lung.

Here's a link to an article about the results of that long-term study.

Sometime after I had participated in the Tashkin study, I received a report on the condition of my lungs.

At that point in time, I had been a regular cannabis smoker for at least 20 years, and had lived in the Los Angeles area for almost 15 of those years, but my lungs were in better condition than the average L.A. area resident, according to the report.

Lastly, if alcohol is allowed to be consumed outside of the home, in public places, why not cannabis?

Why should people be forced into hiding in their homes to enjoy recreational cannabis, as if it were the good ol' days of pothibition, where we had to close our curtains and sometimes stuff towels into the crack under the door opening into our apartment building hallway so the neighbors weren't "offended" into calling the cops on us?

[TeamPooka]

2. Activists for legalization do say they want to use pot in the privacy of their own home and the

response from their opponents is that "It's a schedule 1 drug with no redeeming qualities" and shift the argument from libertarian policy to "Bad drug!"
This back and forth has been going on for 40 years
The medical cannabis argument stops that and focuses it on prohibition being a failed public policy, again.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. Yeah, I don't know who wrote this crap. A child, maybe?

"I've never really seen the evidence that it's more or less harmful than anything else people do."

Well whose fault is that, Mr or Mrs anonymous author for "blastingtvnews"? Why opine on something if you can't be bothered to do even the most minimal piece of your own fucking research? Because in about 45 seconds of google, you could have learned that in 1988, no less than a DEA Administrative Judge, Francis Young, called "Marijuana in its natural form... one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."

You also could have easily found the CDC data on yearly deaths from alcohol poisoning - just straight up poisoning, mind you - approx. 2200 a year, in the United States.

By comparison, how many people have died from marijuana "overdoses" in the recorded history of humanity?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/03/marijuana-deaths_n_3860418.html

That's right, none.

So it would be pretty fucking easy to "see the evidence that it's more or less harmful than anything else".

But this ... whatever the fuck it is, doesn't have any evidence. Rather, it's got a few fuzzy anecdotes about "stoners" giving shit to disabled people for taking pharmaceuticals and getting wild claims for miraculous benefits of marijuana from anti-vaccer websites.

Which is apparently "harming the legalization movement", nevermind that legalization is only gaining in popularity at a remarkable rate.

Cool story, bro.


(Not directed at you, btw-- the author of the piece. )

[pbmus]

3. And we have been pointing out that stupid enforcement is more bad..than good.

Over and over and over through many decades...however, we know the real reason for it being scheduled 1....It is called money....huge money....and lots of jobs....in enforcement..

No, it is not a full serving of veggies, it is much better...

Enforcement has ruined millions of lives over a plant ....

And I will very soon use my weed right outside wherever I want cause I have a med card and it is legal like cigarettes and alcohol.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. This is a dumb fucking article.

And that's putting it kindly.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. your concern is noted.