cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Vote About Legalizing Pot, Too





Medical Marijuana Vote About Legalizing Pot, Too
Posted by CN Staff on September 02, 2004 at 08:01:29 PT
By Roger Clawson, For The Outpost
Source: Billings Outpost
This happens. Then that happens. Can we conclude that this caused that? Of course not. Does killing turkeys cause it to snow? One event following another is no proof that the first caused the second. Women won the right to vote in 1920. Since then we have had six wars, a Great Depression and the invention of the cell phone. Oh Lord! See what this suffrage hath wrought. Or not.
Did women vote for war or economic distress? Aside for a tendency to be more progressive, women vote pretty much the same as men in their community. The backers of an initiative to legalize medical marijuana cited a California study last week that amounted to another claim that slaughtering turkeys creates blizzards. The state of California reported that the number of ninth-graders using marijuana has dropped 45 percent since the state adopted its medical marijuana law eight years ago. Pro pot activists say this is proof that legalization of medical marijuana does not encourage youngsters to smoke pot. It’s no such thing. The decline in juvenile pot smoking in the Golden State may have been due to any number of causes, including a rise in the price of weed, availability of other drugs or an anti-drug campaign conducted by the Left Coast Baptist Convention. Paul Befumo, treasurer of the Marijuana Policy Project of Montana, says young people in California are seeing that marijuana is for sick people and not something that should be used lightly. Befumo’s logic is befuddled. We might wonder what he’s smoking. Medical marijuana use might persuade kids that weed is for the sick. It might also suggest that it’s just what the doctor ordered. More likely, kids don’t think about medical use of marijuana at all. Opponents of the initiative are not above spinning the truth. A National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University study has become the opposition’s gospel. The center reports that children and teens are three times likelier to be in treatment for marijuana use than for alcohol use. Sounds impressive. The study proves nothing but strongly suggests that our society is more alarmed by some drugs than others. Kids caught smoking pot are sent to treatment. Those busted for drinking beer are sent to their rooms. Most kids in treatment are there because the legal system put them there. Judges, like most adults, are more alarmed by pot smoking than by the boozing. A judge may have a liquor cabinet in his home, or even in his chambers, but woe to a perp caught with a half-ounce of weed. Never mind that alcohol (a legal narcotic) kills more people than all the street drugs combined. A study commissioned by the White House and Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey verified that marijuana does have medical benefits and argues that it should be made available to patients who could benefit from its use now. The list of those advocating the legalization of medical marijuana continues to grow and includes two committees of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, a raft of local and state medical associations, the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the stuffy old codgers from England’s House of Lords. Opponents argue that marijuana has harmful side effects, leads teens to harder drugs and that the attempt to legalize marijuana is just another step in the assault on laws outlawing pot. The drug warriors’ shotgun defense of the status quo has its problems. Marijuana use may lead to heavier drugs, including coke, crack and Jack Daniels. But if pot is a “bridge drug,” so are alcohol and cigarettes. Hang out with the people who use these over-the-counter drugs and they’ll introduce you to lots of stuff. No one is currently calling for a ban on booze or butts. (Incidentally, cigarettes kill more people than all the street drugs AND alcohol combined.) The notion that a marijuana smoking might cause cancer is laughable – except to someone dying of AIDs or forced to vomit several times a day by effects of chemotherapy. However, the claim that medical marijuana advocates are bent on legalizing pot for all has merit. Pro pot groups have fought to lift the ban on marijuana use for nearly four decades. In the beginning, they fought Draconian laws that earned users 20 years in prison for the possession of tiny amounts of marijuana. “Decriminalization” of marijuana progressed to legalization of marijuana for personal use in Alaska, a police chief’s decision not to use limited resources arresting pot smokers, and the legalization of medical marijuana in 13 states. NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) has led the battle. More recently NORML created the national Medical Marijuana Project, which has donated $170,000 to the Montana Medical Marijuana Project. Is the drive to legalize medical marijuana about the suffering of AIDS and cancer victims? Yes. Is it also part of a push to legalize all marijuana use? Of course. Source: Billings Outpost, The (MT)Author: Roger Clawson, For The OutpostPublished: Thursday, September 2, 2004 Copyright: 2004 The Billings OutpostContact: editor billingsnews.comWebsite: http://www.billingsnews.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Montana Careshttp://www.montanacares.org/Med Marijuana: Initiative Can Help State's Sickhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19410.shtmlMarijuana Backers Cite New Study http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19379.shtmlMedical Marijuana Initiative Draws Debate http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19263.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on September 03, 2004 at 23:58:11 PT
Recent Canadian Prohibitionist Actions and more...
RCMP Arrests Wheel-Chair Bound Granny for Pot http://www.cannabisculture.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=933255&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1Pot TV News Sept. 3 with Loretta Nall http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2955.html' Emery Falls Into Enemy Hands' Sign the FREE MARC EMERY Petition' RCMP Arrests Wheel-Chair Bound Granny for Pot' RCMP Harass "Free Emery" Protesters
Interview with Jody Pressman' US Marines to Patrol Canadian Border' Marines Patrolling Canadian Border Make First Pot Bust' Bush Chopper Security Busts Pot Grower' Marijuana Initiative Fails to Make Ballot in Nevada' John Walters is a LIAR' New Super Strain of Coca Stuns Anti-Drug Officials' Notes on Colombia '
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