cannabisnews.com: Marijuana: Dangerous Narcotic or Soothing Herb?  










  Marijuana: Dangerous Narcotic or Soothing Herb?  

Posted by FoM on October 20, 2001 at 20:59:42 PT
By Brenda Baird   
Source: Salt Lake City Weekly  

The aroma surrounding the apartment’s entryway is unmistakable—a frat-house combination of incense, bachelors and pot. Inside, the presence of marijuana becomes quite evident—roaches fill the ashtray, a glass “bubbler” pipe sits discarded (for the moment) on the coffee table beside a small baggie, half full of a leafy green substance. But mostly, it can be seen in the haphazard attitudes and relaxed faces of the apartments’ residents. 
It’s OK to label Jack, Ted and David—who requested that their real names not be used in this article. They happily admit to being “stoners” of varying degrees. Especially now, while the drug is in full effect. The apartment belongs to David and Jack. Ted just stopped by to share his new DVD of Scarface, which plays silently on the television throughout the interview. Later, they turn up the volume so we can watch Tony Montana’s brilliantly violent demise. Ted, the only one with a full-time job, qualifies his participation in the discussion, saying he’s left the lifestyle behind him except for a little weed on the weekends. David and Jack are daily smokers. Both have part-time jobs; David as a substitute teacher and Jack as a waiter. If they need extra cash, they could sell a quarter-ounce bag, but they prefer to stay out of the sales arena except among their tight-knit group of friends. Life is relaxed and for the most part, stress-free. They certainly don’t act like criminals. The first question is easy, and they smile at the memories. “I was hanging out at Cottonwood Mall the first time I smoked pot,” said 20-year-old Jack, the most talkative and, as the conversation reveals, the one with the best connections to high quality “kind” bud. “I was 14 years old. I tried it with three of my buddies; we laughed our asses off and had such a good time. I liked it the very first time I tried it, and I knew I would do it again soon.” Ted, 21, thinks hard for a moment. “I don’t really remember the first time. It was while I went to Kearns Junior High …” “Dude, I remember your first time,” interjects Jack, playfully smacking Ted on the arm. “I was out playing ball and you came up and told me you’d been smoking pot.” “Oh yeah! I told you it was the shit and you had to try it. You were scared, though. I was in 7th grade. It was crazy. I didn’t think it would do anything, but I got so fucked up. I was all self-conscious and paranoid, but I was happy. I liked it.” David, the oldest of the group at 28, said he was about 12 years old when he first tried marijuana. “I was walking home from school with my friend Ricky—I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, then—we found a bag somebody had stashed. It freaked us out, but we tried it anyway. Somebody was probably pissed that we stole their bag.” “That’s where I am today” Marijuana, the three young men reveal, has been a constant presence in their lives since they first stumbled upon it. They relate, one by one, that they had normal childhoods, marked by the typical pitfalls faced by young Americans today. They weren’t bad kids, just curious, adventurous and a little rebellious, with too much time on their hands. And they don’t have bad parents, just out-of-touch, preoccupied with their own lives, and a little in denial about their sons’ extracurricular activities. Jack’s parents divorced when he was 7 years old, and he was caught in a custody battle, shuttled back and forth between Salt Lake City’s suburbs. He attended a different school almost every year, sometimes changing mid-semester. Once you hit junior high, he explains, the most welcoming group for a new kid is the stoners. His first possession charge came in the ninth grade in Sandy. Jack’s parents’ reaction was to move him again, back to Kearns. He joined the debate team and tried to stay out of trouble, but was lured again by marijuana’s charms. “All of the debaters smoked, especially the older ones, the people I admired and wanted to hang out with. I’m sure smoking weed made my grades worse, but I kept going so I could debate. But of course, that got fucked up,” he looks down as he speaks, clearly angry at the injustice. “My parents somehow managed to have a conversation about me smoking pot, and I had to move back with my dad, and they told me I couldn’t debate.” He didn’t go back to school after 11th grade. Jack’s dad set him up with a job at a ski resort. “He said there were respectable people there, that they would be a good influence. Almost every person there puffed weed all the time. Instead of straightening me out, my dad sent me to Marijuana Camp.” Cheerful again, he grins and begins to load the pipe, carefully separating the seeds and stems from the leaves and buds that they’ll smoke. Jack got his GED six months ago, but has not steered clear of trouble. He earned another possession charge, for which he served 45 days in jail this summer, and has already violated his probation once. “Yeah, but that was bogus,” he said. “They weren’t even my beers.” He’s been thinking about moving to Minnesota, where his mom lives now, but will have to wait out his probation in Utah first. Dark and handsome, Ted says he has found peace with his marijuana use now, after his curiosity led him to much more dangerous drug use. He’s more dressed up than the other two, in black slacks and a button-up shirt compared to their jeans and T-shirts. He sits up straight and chooses his words carefully. “My mom knows I smoke only on weekends with Jack now—and that’s the truth.” But that wasn’t always the case, he said. “She was so oblivious! I don’t think she even realized I had tried pot until well into my teenage years. I was stoned at home all the time, and she was just blind. It turned into a game, trying to see what we could do without her noticing. “It wasn’t always a big party, though. Pot was just something we did. We’d smoke, then we’d get the munchies so we’d find something to eat, play video games, go to movies, go for walks. It was all regular kid stuff.” The pot slowed him down mentally, Ted admits, but it also kept his temper in check. That temper, he says, prevented him from graduating from high school. “I had problems with anger and authority,” he says frankly. “I got in trouble for hitting a teacher and throwing him down the stairs. I wasn’t smoking at all then. I think pot mellows me out, takes some weight off my shoulders.” Ted and Jack found an apartment together after high school, and together they began to experiment more. “We ate acid almost every day, did a lot of coke …” Ted said. “This Mormon kid that lived with us freaked out and we ended up losing the house.” They dissolve into chuckles over their adventures. Behind us, Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino silently seduce one another onscreen. After that incident, Ted said, his experimentation led to addiction. “A year ago, I was smoking all the time. I did anything I could get my hands on … I got addicted to crystal meth and coke, and I did Special K [ketamine]. Anything you could snort up your nose, I would do. “My brother saved me. He kicked all the tweekers out of my place and took me to live with him. And he ruined all of my connections—that was the smartest thing—he told all my dealers if they ever sold to me again, he’d kill them. And they haven’t. My brother’s a big dude. “And that’s where I am now. I have a good job, I listen to a lot of music. I quit doing everything except weed, and only with Jack.” Noticeably less gregarious than his friends, David quietly begins his story. “I grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Phoenix. I was surrounded by hard drugs—people smoked crack cocaine and embalming fluid. Both of my brothers are in the penitentiary right now, addicted to crack cocaine. I think pot was actually a healthy choice for me. “The schools I went to were useless. They’d pass you just to get you the fuck out. I was a terrible student. I stole; I vandalized. I went to a special school for a little while, but I got kicked out. I was so tired of my brothers stealing from me and everybody I cared about. I had family in Utah, and I came here with nothing but the clothes on my back. “Pot takes the edge off my problems,” David says of why he continues to smoke daily. “Where I grew up, smoking weed brought people of different ethnic groups together peacefully. It wasn’t violent, like cocaine. I can’t believe it’s bad. I think the world would be a better place if everybody just sat down together and smoked pot.” Pros and Cons Marijuana has held a number of distinctive roles in American culture, particularly when it became mainstream in the 1960s. Celebrities from Cheech & Chong to Woody Harrelson have openly admitted to smoking regularly. Publications like High Times print information ranging from how to grow it to who allegedly smokes it. Its advocates seek legalization, pointing to its proven medical benefits, theorizing that the only reason it’s illegal at all is because it’s easy to grow and hard for the government to control. But law enforcement officials say pot is a “gateway” drug. People who smoke it are more likely to become curious and seek something stronger. Although its dangers are less obvious than heroin or cocaine, marijuana is not safe for recreational use, according the federal Drug Enforcement Agency’s website. “Marijuana users experience the same health problems as tobacco smokers, such as bronchitis, emphysema and bronchial asthma. Some of the effects of marijuana use also include increased heart rate, dryness of the mouth, reddening of the eyes, impaired motor skills and concentration, and frequent hunger. Extended use increases risk to the lungs and reproductive system, as well as suppression of the immune system. Occasionally, hallucinations, fantasies and paranoia are reported,” warns the site. Barry Jamison, special agent in charge of the Utah DEA, says he is all for enforcing marijuana laws. “The credible studies—and I’ve seen lots of studies, not all of them credible—indicate that it is a gateway drug. I’m not going to say marijuana is as dangerous as heroin, but it still exacts a toll on society. And that’s why heroin possession penalties are harsher than marijuana possession penalties.” He referred to a train wreck attributed to marijuana that occurred in 1987 near Chase, Md., in which an engineer drove three linked Conrail engines through a closed switch into the path of an Amtrak train, killing 16 and injuring 175. “Incidents like that are happening more and more around the country,” said Jamison. He said he doesn’t support the medical marijuana movement because the drug’s active ingredient, THC—delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol—is already available by prescription, in the form of a drug called Marinol. “People don’t want to go to a doctor and take the liquid form, they want to smoke pot. I can’t think of any legal drugs that you smoke.” Marinol is marketed as having the ability to reduce nausea and increase the appetite of patients being treated for cancer or AIDS. But medical marijuana advocates say cannabis has many more positive side effects than negative, most of which are not addressed on Marinol’s website. An independent study by Joan M. Bello, titled “The Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Benefits of Marijuana,” disputes marijuana’s classification as a drug at all: “The term ‘drug’ connotes concentration of a substance to its most powerful form, but marijuana is unprocessed, dried vegetation from a strong-smelling annual herb. The intact marijuana compound has no known level of toxicity and the amount needed to produce a lethal reaction has been estimated at from eating five pounds at one time to smoking 40,000 joints in one day, far beyond any physical possibility.” The extensive and well-documented study outlines cannabis’ positive impact on mind, body and spirit. According to Bello, it’s a miracle drug, able to relieve virtually every negative human condition except death. Among the benefits: stress relief—“Marijuana ingestion has been shown to change the worried state by producing alpha waves, experienced as well-being.” Heightened senses—“The enhanced capacity of all the body’s sense organs (including the sense one has of him or herself) accounts for the mental interpretation of intense perceptions, known as the ‘high.’” Spiritual awakening—“Deep within each of us, an essential need for a higher meaning of life is waiting to be awakened. Because of its ability to unlock this yearning and allow us that glimpse of the deeper reality, marijuana is both feared by the establishment and loved by the user.” Is Joan Bello’s study one of the many non-credible sources of information to which Agent Jamison referred? Probably. But still, sides are being chosen across the country. Several states, including California and Maryland, have attempted to decriminalize, even legalize marijuana for medical purposes, but the federal DEA overruled them. A Sept. 10 debate held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque—“Directing America’s Drug War: Which Way to a Safer Society?”—between DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson and New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, a nationally recognized legalization advocate, addressed the most current issues. While Johnson maintained that “drug abuse needs to be viewed as a medical problem, not a criminal problem,” Hutchinson said the DEA is unequivocally opposed to legalization. “If we have a strong law enforcement presence that shows drugs are illegal and harmful, then that adds to the education, and many times triggers treatment for users.” Taking Sides Such are the issues a twenty-something pot user wrestles with. But if you ask Jack, the pros far outweigh the cons. “Pot is a part of my circle,” he says. “It has been readily available to me for such a long time now. It’s not the same as the stupid shit you inject into your arm. It’s much better than fighting or breaking into places and stealing shit.” Agent Jamison had to laugh at this reasoning. “I’ve never heard marijuana called a ‘healthy choice’ before. It’s like asking how would you prefer to die.” The young pot smokers disagree with those sentiments. “Making marijuana illegal puts a mindset to people,” says Jack. “Morality comes from the laws. And all the stupid, gullible people out there think it’s wrong just because it’s illegal. The government knows just as well as we [pot users] do that it’s a tree and money grows on it. And that’s why it’s illegal. More people die from cigarettes and alcohol than pot.” Quite true. But would legalizing marijuana alleviate that—proving true the theory that saying something is bad makes it twice as desirable—or would stoned drivers simply add to the drunken driving problem already plaguing America’s streets? Several schools of thought exist, Agent Jamison and Jack and Co. representing two extremes. And a trip to Amsterdam, a haven for the drug-induced stupor, can’t help but influence anyone’s opinion. Whether or not marijuana enthusiasts admit it, marijuana has been proven to dull the mind and create complacency and inactivity, a situation that Ted sees ending his pot use sometime soon. “I think there comes a point when sobriety is important. You think so much clearer when you don’t smoke for a long time. There comes a time when you need that clarity, to cope with life without using external substances. It’s part of being a man, to see things in the light they’re supposed to be seen in.” Even Jack concedes he may someday grow out of his pot use. At 20, he’s stopped experimenting with other drugs almost completely. “I still take acid [LSD] once in a blue moon, but I don’t ever go out of my way to get anything besides weed. Bad experiences have turned me off to a lot of drugs. I don’t even like mushrooms anymore. And I had a really bad coke trip like two years ago and haven’t touched it since.” Punishing young adults for experimenting doesn’t help them get on with their lives, Jack theorizes. Adults should act as role models for their families instead of handing them money and plenty of free time. That, he says, is what’s wrong with the young adults of today. Filling the jails with kids isn’t solving any problems; it’s just ruining a bunch of kids’ lives. “Parents who hand their kids lots of cash might as well be giving them drugs,” he says, even in Salt Lake City with its religious overtones. “I’d be willing to bet that 99.99 percent of working Mormons don’t smoke pot. But their kids are a different story. I know plenty of Mormon kids who experiment just like everyone else.” Are authorities wasting their time with quarter-bags of marijuana? Jack, Ted and David think so. Many legislators and lawmakers agree. But until somebody makes a decision on whom to fight in the “War on Drugs,” the prisons will continue to fill with the peers of these three young men. And they certainly don’t act like criminals. Newshawk: Christopher T.Source: Salt Lake City Weekly (UT)Author: Brenda Baird Published: October 18, 2001 Copyright: Salt Lake City Weekly 1996-2001 Contact: csmart slweekly.comWebsite: http://www.slweekly.com/CannabisNews Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #13 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on October 21, 2001 at 13:36:03 PT

That train wreck
I want to have as accurate information as is possible and to ensure that what I run my mouth about is at least remotely correct. I searched a bit for the wreck. I found a couple links and have included them here.http://www.citizen.org/congress/civjus/railroads/articles.cfm?ID=810That is a link to a congressional page with a bief overview clearly stating that the men were "smoking marijuana right before the crash" and that they had ignored safety checks which would have alerted them to some of the problems that combined to make that crash happen. There is no moralizing in the article. Apparently the lawsuits that were filed following the wreck stimulated a ruling about how the train comapny can be sued.. But no further mention of pot smoking.>Title: Rear-End Collision of Amtrak Passenger Train 94, The Colonial and Consolidated Rail Corporation Freight Train ENS-121, on the Northeast Corridor, Chase, Maryland January 4, 1987. 
NTSB Report Number: RAR-88-01, adopted on 01/25/1988 
NTIS Report Number: PB88-916301 That is the full title of the NTSB article..it was not available in full from what I found....(ie - amotivational syndrome)And finally, the following blurb from a strange site called Infowar.***
Date: Sun 24 Jan 88 14:28:53-PST From: Peter G. Neumann Subject: Signal-light malfunction blamed in L.A. train wreck PICO RIVERA, Los Angeles County (AP, 24 Jan 88) A malfunctioning signal light appeared to have caused a freight train to crash into a parked train, killing a man and igniting a fire that consumed a church and a store, a railroad official said Saturday. A 72-car freight train traveling about 40 mph to 45 mph slammed into a parked 67-car freight train at 10:30 p.m. Friday after a signal light about a mile from the impact gave the green go-ahead light, an official said. Damage to the trains and buildings was estimated at $2.3 million. [From the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle. The identical story appeared TWICE in the same issue on 24 January 1988 -- on page B-5 and also on page B-7, although with different headlines. The headline guy must have been napping, or else the story was intended to illustrate the importance of redundancy. PGN] [Ironically, the Federal Communcations Commission recently approved plans for a nationwide computerized train-control system -- inspired by the collision on 4 January 1987 of three speeding Conrail locomotives and an Amtrak passenger train, klling 16 and injuring 176 near Chase, MD, with losses estimated at over $40 million. The FCC's private radio bureau reported that "This terrible collision could have been avoided had the locomotives been under the control of a central computer." This popular view assumes that such computer systems always work correctly, and that people always program them correctly. PGN] ------------------------------
http://www.infowar.com/iwftp/risks/Risks-6/risks-6.13.txt**
 Oddly..no mention of marijuana..just a plea to centralize computers. 
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Comment #12 posted by Sam Adams on October 21, 2001 at 10:10:45 PT

Zombie you're so right
This article is complete. Perhaps they'd like to speak to some of my friends - the financial planner, attorneys, and computer programmers who are daily smokers? Everyone at the ski area smoked weed? That's strange, aren't the locals at Alta and Snowbird the ones that spend all day on you-fall-you-die terrain? Don't they embarass all the rich, non-smoking tourists all day on the mountain by skiing their asses off?  I wonder how they do it, with their minds being "dulled" and everything....The best thing about Utah is that there are plenty of interstates & roads leading OUT of there....I hope more people take them (and not the ones leading to Idaho!).... 
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on October 21, 2001 at 09:46:53 PT

Don't They Realize?
What would this world be like without Cannabis? I don't know but it sure wouldn't be very tolerable. Plenty of pills to choose from but this fine herb is the best help. All the people who will be getting sick because of taking toxic drugs to prevent Anthrax could probably use a little marijuana to help with nausea that the drug itself might produce. We know that and I feel sorry for those that don't.
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Comment #10 posted by bruce42 on October 21, 2001 at 09:41:13 PT

granted,
but, the quickest way to a pot user is through the pot. By promoting marijuana prohibition as a war on pot, not the pot user, the anti's find it easier to garner public support. Hence their sudden changes of mind or denial when confronted with the issue of medical treatment versus jail time. They always manage to be in favor of treatment programs when the need arises. And besides, plants can't run and hide, they can't hire lawyers, and they can't speak out. The anti's attack the one thing the pot user cannot do without; the pot. We know it is a war against users, but it is a wolf in sheeple's clothing: blame the plant while killing the user.
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Comment #9 posted by Doug on October 21, 2001 at 09:39:29 PT

That Train Wreck
He referred to a train wreck attributed to marijuana that occurred in 1987 near Chase, Md., in which an engineer drove three linked Conrail engines through a closed switch into the path of an Amtrak train, killing 16 and injuring 175. “Incidents like that are happening more and more around the country,” said Jamison. I've read other articles about the famous train wreck that is quoted as proof of the dangerous qualties of marijuana. If I remember correctly, I'm sorry I can't provide links, a few days after the accident the New York Times pointed out, discreetly, that there had been defective switching equipment that had allowed the accident to happen. But it is much easier, and more effective propaganda-wise, to blame somewone who tested positive for marijuana, rather than attack the railroad for being negligent in its repairs of the equipment.

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Comment #8 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on October 21, 2001 at 06:48:18 PT

Hmmm
>>Its advocates seek legalization, pointing to its proven medical benefits, theorizing that the only reason it’s illegal at all is because it’s easy to grow and hard for the government to control.  It's not the plant, but the people, that the government wants to control.
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on October 21, 2001 at 06:18:02 PT

More on Colorado / Buckley 
Colorado had Bucklley the Colorado Secretary of State (?) and she counted the votes and claimed that there wasn't enough. The petition gatherers requested a recount and she denied. She then said the ballot question would not count, yet her decission was too late to keep it off the ballot, wo it ran and exit polls showed it to pass app. 72% in favor. In the mean time the petition people took her to court and co-erced her to recount, but she again concluded they were short of signees. THEN SHE DIED SUDDENLY OF NATURAL CAUSES - WHILE THEY THEN FOUND EHOUGH UNCOUNTED PETITIONS IN HER DESK TO HAVE MADE THE AMENDMENT LEGAL AT THE BALLOT. SO THEY MADE IT THE FIRST THING ON THE NEXT ELECTION. THE REST OF THE STORY INCLUDES THE FACT THAT THROUGH BUCKLEY IT WENT FROM ITS FIRST ATTEMT KNOWN AS AMENDMENT 19 TO ITS PASSING FORM KNOWN AS AMENDMENT 20. IT WAS KNOWN AS VOTE 420!!!!&!What a sign... It makes you come to know who gave us cannabis to begin with and who is on our side.Gotta love Christ God and The Holy Spirit of Truth.
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Comment #6 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on October 21, 2001 at 06:10:16 PT

PROPAGANDA, by any other name.
I greatly dislike this this article. I think it isspecifically intended to be anti-cannabis though it doesn't seem if one merely skims it.The goal of this article is to cast bad light on cannabis smokers and cannabis culture. It does so by introducing us to 3 "pot smokers". None are over 30. Only 1 has a "real" job" and dresses "properly". The other 2 only have part-time jobs and dress in blue jeans and t-shirts. (Thus are losers?) Nobody in this article had a professional position except the DEA mouthpieces, whose government positions give them an unfortunate air of "authority". They clearly have their own self-interests in mind- perpetuation of cannabis prohibition.Jack is too young to legally drink, yet is shown to be a "stoner" from a broken home who never did well in school. This doesn't look good for Jack, does it?Ted, who dresses nicely and has a real job, is described as going into a polysubstance abuse spiral for awhile in life. At least we have the impression he graduated from High School.Dave is older and still not well-employed. He is shown to come from an awful background: ugly, drug-infested neighborhoods and useless schools. I know exactly what that means because that dexcribes the upbringing of most of the children I work with here in atlanta. Horrible nieghborhoods and totally useless schools. I would like to know what PRECEEDED Ted's body-slam of the teacher. 95% of the time a teacher gets hit or kicked - they did something to provoke it. I see it all the time.I think the focus of this article is to target young people and parents for further spreading of standardized propaganda. That's why the DEA is quoted so much in here. Jamison is a professional liar, technically, but he probably does believe every wrong word he utters. Its an exercize in the flexing of authority that the DEA can say which studies are credible. I'll bet a whole box of donuts he finds that stupid "No Hope with Dope" article "credible".Guy Pharmaceuticals thinks the reseach is pretty damn credible: they are on the London Stock Exchange with cannabis-beased medications. There is research in Spain and Isreal regarding cannabis-based medications for treating open head wounds and stroke victims.Jamison states that "marijuana still exacts a toll on society". Perhaps... but its not noticeable, actually measurable, or "bad". Arresting 700,000 people each year, disrupting and ruining thier lives, stealing thier property or even killing them for for possession or even activism...that takes a toll on society thats easily measured. Again cannabis is blamed for the EFFECTS of PROHIBITION.The train wreck story is one I am suprised they haven't attempted to get MORE milage from. I suppose they HAVEN'T becuase the engineer merely tested positive. I should say: only tested positive. As far as I know there is nobody stating "I saw him smokin a reefer whall he was drivan the train".(expressed in DEA vernacular) No smoking blunt: just a whiz quiz.No...all they have is a man who may or may not have made an error, who tested positive for cannabis. This means sometime in the past 2 -4 weeks he smoked enough weed to test positive on a urine test. He could have had a vacation, gone to Amsterdam, and been back a week and still test positive. This does not mean that cannabis played any role WHATSOEVER in this unfortunate event. If it had, we would have seen this story everywhere and we'd still be hearing about it.It was brought up in this story becuase a lot of people probably won't rememeber it and take the DEA's statement at face value: he's an authority figure with a professional job who dresses nicely and doesn't wear blue jeans and t-shirts or smoke that evil weed.The war against cannabis is the largest skirmish in the Culture war. The wasr where half of america votes republican and hopes the rest of the nation gets sent to jail. Drees nice. Cut your hair. Turn off that rock music. Go to church. Do what you are told. consume.I truly think this is a reasonably well-written article, but even with some medical reference thrown in at the end, I think its profoundly ANTI-Cannabis Culture. I think it's intent is to further "muddy the waters" of public debate. Somewhere a family will read this and confront their teenager (who really should not be smoking, by the way - its a simple health and developmental issue) for actual or percieved pot smoking, further exacerbating FAMILY tensions as they freak out over the fertizer the DEA spreads in Jamison's comments. The kids in these families might try to reference the more postive aspects of cannabis referenced in this article, but propaganda is not for communication. It is to PREVENT meaningful exchanges of ideas on cannabis realities and to keep the subject EMOTIONAL. When you are emotional, you cannot reason. Once you get to a resoning stage, then the ages of lies have to be dismantled BEFORE you can start leveling the truth about cannabis. This article should be filed under the emotionalized heading of "But what about the Chilllldrrrreennnnn?"I have a Master's degree and a professional position with a county government providing mental health services to children and families in a rough inner-city environment. I have smoked since I was 18 (Halloweed..I mean, Halloween 1978) I never smoked in high school and was a lousy student with few friends and somewhat socially backwards. After I began smoking pot in college ( where I was on academic probation) I changed my focus of study and began making A's abd B's for the first time in my life. The people who "turned me on" were ALL better students than I had been. Professors smoked.Finally, why not interview people over 30 (I'm 41, by the way) with professional postitons like me? Answer: because we would get the Kubby Treatment. We can make reference to Carl Sagan - he finished High School. He wrote books. He is generally regarded as a decent guy who made something respectable of himself. He couldn't be interviewed until he DIED because it isn't safe to have a real job and be part of cannabis culture. The DEA will stay up nights trying to do you in.
Cannabis and the War against it
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Comment #5 posted by freedom fighter on October 21, 2001 at 04:27:57 PT

p4me
p4me, GWC is bit right. In Colorado, when we tried to get the ballot in, we had alot of problem until the Sec. of the State Buckley keeled over with a heart attack. They found many registered papers that were not even counted in her office. We voted for the first time but not accepted because of funny games down at the state offices. The second time we made it.Your best best is to inform the voters to move up to the year of 2004 because of the terroristic act in NYC. I have a feelin that in Alaska, they will pass this legalization this coming 2002. Meanwhile, Mich. can still gather another 300,000 voters.Good luck my friend..ff
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on October 21, 2001 at 01:47:16 PT

That petition...
If you need 300,000 signatures, it is better to have plenty more than you think you need. They are going to throw out any that are questionable. It will require thousands more.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 20, 2001 at 22:40:24 PT

p4me 
Thank you. I noticed the link didn't work so I went and fixed it so now we have it two times and no apology are necessary. I hope your Initiative makes it. I really do. Good Luck to you!
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Comment #2 posted by p4me on October 20, 2001 at 22:25:41 PT:

link to Michigan Initiative 
I apologize again to FoM and others but the link I had in the first posting did not work. The link below is concerned with the Michigan signatures to get an iniative on the ballot that will allow 3 ounces and 3 plants to be legal.
Anybody that can help, is urgently needed as 50,000 more signatures are needed in two weeks.http://www.prayes.com
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Comment #1 posted by p4me on October 20, 2001 at 22:14:29 PT:

decent coverage but lacks real depth
That was a pretty decent article. It makes you think about all that "We do it for the children" stuff as if making it illegal keeps kids from getting it. The antis are still spouting that dogma as if it is relevant. Whether or not marijuana enthusiasts admit it, marijuana has been proven to dull the mind and create complacency and inactivity,(I cannot figure out how to put this in italics)That may be true, but to what degree in each individual? Who knows. I do not know that it means by dull the mind. I do not feel like I have a dull mind. And does complacency mean you do not react to every little thing and go off on a bunch of little tangents or what? I know that on a show on pot-tv done by a leading medical MJ doctor at a clinic in San Fransisco, he was talking about how people that were sick and confused about taking an array of harsh medicines ( I think he was referring mostly to AIDS patients and the exact routine they must obey) he said it reduced all the confusing signals the brain would send and allow them to focus on taking their medicine. So my way of looking at it is that it makes you focus on one thing ( if I were anti I would say spaces you out) and you can explore things in detail that you would normally not think about. Of course it wears off. So what. Maybe it cuts your drive some, but what does that drive accomplish anyway. Frustration. Headaches. Conflict with other peoples' wasted drives.My uncle told me one time that the difference between a mule and a horse is that if the horse got caught in the barbed wire he would struggle to get free until its dying breathe. A mule will just sit there and wait for someone to free him. So I can accept that a MJ could change your approach to things and give you a view like a mule instead of a horse. So what.The war on marijuana is lost. Period. If you cannot see the writing on the wall, you really do not have enough sense to even write about it. People are not going to give up MJ. Go to India and tell them about it and see what they say. About the same thing that anybody with cannabis experience here would say. It may take a few more years to enlighten everybody (or should I say 51% of the voters). We do not have one leader in Congress that can see that. So do not expect me to use the word leadership when talking about MJ and Congressman. What we need is at least one person that can see reality in Congress. It would be nice if there were 535 of them, but one would be an improvement. And two trillion dollars and 30 more years following such an impractical approach will not even happen. Us dull minded and complacent people will not stand for it. Just watch.And that Amtrack train wreck. Too sketchy to comment much. No one is saying you should operate heavy machinery or endanger peoples lives or do anything that jeopordizes peoples lives while high. MJ is illegal and the wreck happened any way. Just like when I talked with someone about legalisation of MJ, his comment was "What is wrong. Can't you find any." Stupidity from everywhere with all kinds of incidental stuff. I would like to remind everyone that there is a petition in Michigan trying to get an initiative on the ballot to allow everyone to have 3 plants and up to three ounces and be within the law. The terrorist situation has detracted from their efforts as it stole the media spotlight and blocked out other newsworthy items. They have 250,000 signatures and need 300,000 by Nov. 3rd. If you live in Michigan or know of any interested person registered to vote in Michigan their signature is badly needed. There is a website at http://www.prayes.com
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