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RainDog

(28,784 posts)
14. this is not a party issue
Thu Apr 26, 2012, 02:17 AM
Apr 2012

although many Democrats tend to be less reactionary about this issue at this time (and were when Carter was in office as well, but not so with Clinton - he was a triangulating drug warrior who fought against CA's mmj laws in the 90s.)

While 42 members of the WA state legislature, in an historic request, have called for the federal govt to reschedule cannabis

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1170197

The former gov. of New Mexico supports legalization. (He's a Republican/Libertarian.) Both Democratic and Republican governors have been reluctant to implement state laws that violate federal laws.

Nevertheless, there are 15 more states who have pending legislation on mmj. (New Hampshire would make it 16.)

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002481

Washington D.C. is supposed to begin implementation of mmj laws this spring, on May 4th. It took decades to get the federal legislative branch to fund implementation of the law.

I think the thing that has really caused Americans to become so strongly in favor of legalization of mmj is b/c enough ppl know its value for chemo patients - though they aren't the only ones.

Most Americans can do a simple cost/benefit analysis and see that being able to keep down medication or keep from wasting away (which is why some cancer patients die) is more valuable than keeping some stoner stereotype from his big bud.

So many people have experimented with mj at some point, they know the relative harmlessness of this substance compared to hard drugs that are deemed to have medical value.

The average pattern of use is experimentation as a young adult, a decline in use as that group marries and has children, and then acceptance of cannabis when that group moves into ages when diseases start to become more prevalent - such as cancer, arthritis, MS, etc - cannabis is useful for all these, as well as CP, epilepsy and migraines.

There are some indications cannabis can be synthesized to use as treatment for cancer, not just a secondary medication for side effects. We would all benefit if our govt would reschedule to allow more research on this topic.

So, again, considering the benefits - as well as the experiences of other nations that have instituted regulated markets - if most people would do an honest cost/benefit - cannabis would be legal, imo.



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