cannabisnews.com: Time for An Honest Debate About Marijuana
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Time for An Honest Debate About Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on August 01, 2010 at 09:46:47 PT
By Tammerlin Drummond, Oakland Tribune Columnist
Source: Oakland Tribune 
California -- Last week,  Oakland officially became the first city in the U.S. to allow large-scale marijuana factories to grow and process the drug for medical use. Oakland will issue permits to four of these so-called Walmarts of pot production beginning in January.There was plenty of opposition to the proposal, most of it from smaller and medium-sized cannabis growers who packed council chambers to complain that they would be squeezed out by the mega-producers.
City council members who support the large pot factories said regulation would lead to safer production facilities. It would cut down on the electrical fires and robberies that have occurred in homegrown operations. Gobs of money could be raised for police officers from pot taxes. I couldn't help but wonder:How did we arrive at such a sorry state of affairs that our city leaders are trying to dig out of the budget hole by encouraging pot factories? Does no one see the elephant charging through the room?Growing and selling marijuana for any purpose is still illegal under federal law.Nancy Nadel, I believe, is the only council member who even mentioned it.It is only because President Barack Obama called off the dogs — directing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder not to prosecute marijuana sellers and users who aren't violating local laws — that federal agents are no longer raiding medical dispensaries as they did under former President George W. Bush. Who knows how long the moratorium will last, if California passes Proposition 19 in November? The ballot measure would make it legal for anyone 21 or over to possess one ounce of marijuana for personal use. If California drops its "medical" marijuana cover, will the DEA still remain at bay?The whole notion of marijuana at dispensaries being sold for strictly "medical" purposes has long been a sham. True, there are many seriously ill people who benefit from smoking marijuana. A friend who passed away from brain cancer five years ago smoked the drug to help boost his appetite after chemo treatments made him nauseous. He was an eligible candidate for a medical marijuana card.Yet it's also true that pretty much anyone and their mother can qualify for a medical marijuana prescription in California.You can get a medical card if you have insomnia or mood swings. Who doesn't?There are so many conditions that make you eligible, a de facto state of legalization pretty much already exists.For those who don't want to go through the motions of obtaining a card, there are plenty of "medical" growers with flourishing pot-sale businesses catering to recreational uses on the side.Those who support legalization say that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol. They say it's unfair to criminalize pot while allowing the legal sale of booze.Prop. 19 supporters argue that both marijuana and alcohol should be regulated and taxed. California NAACP President Alice Huffman came out in support of the measure. She said legalizing marijuana for recreational use would reduce the number of young black men in jail for marijuana-related offenses. Out of some 1,500 people in California prisons on marijuana charges, half are black.Yet judging from the firestorm that Huffman's comments have created, there is a huge gulf between those who believe Prop. 19 will lead to more widespread use of marijuana and those who argue that the war on drugs has been a costly failure.A coalition of black pastors is actively campaigning against Prop. 19. They aren't moved by the argument that it would reduce the numbers of black men disproportionately incarcerated on marijuana possession charges.They see marijuana as a scourge in their communities, an addictive substance that often leads to harder drug use. Sacramento pastor Ron Allen says he was on crack cocaine for 11 years. He said marijuana started him on the road to drug addiction.There is no question that marijuana is an addictive drug. I know people whose brains are totally fried from decades of marijuana abuse.Yet I also know people who use marijuana recreationally. They aren't any more likely to become addicts than those who drink responsibly are to develop cirrhosis.It's time we had an open and honest debate on the issue before voters go to the polls in November.Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Tammerlin Drummond, Oakland Tribune ColumnistPublished: August 1, 2010Copyright: 2010 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/2qTtzJRDCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on August 02, 2010 at 17:47:26 PT
More people dead because prohibition of cannabis
hasn't been ended yet.Police Were Selling Pot During Fatal Drug Busthttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n613/a03.html?397
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Comment #12 posted by gentlegiant on August 02, 2010 at 14:45:09 PT:
This author needs to study up. . . and learn 
Obviously, someone needs to do some studying. Addictive? No matter how money the gov't threw at it, it could never get the mice to induce THC. She, obviously doesn't know, cannabis has been written about medically for over 5000 years. That it was prescribed by U.S. doctors for nearly a hundred years(1850-1937). AMA knows exactly what cannabis is. Cannabis is a soft drug. Your own body makes what's inside marijuana for pain, but, also, for pleasure. Yes, I want the studies to be opened Full Bore through NIDA. I wish Obama would order them to open up the spigot on medical marijuana research. Let the truth be known.
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Comment #11 posted by Storm Crow on August 02, 2010 at 09:51:20 PT
I read full medical studies on a daily basis. 
My field of employment is education. My job evaluations show I more than adequately fulfill the job requirements. I write (not just comment in) news articles. My marriage is solid and I am generally considered as a "respectable" woman. People like me as a person. I have used cannabis since before I got married, over 40 years ago. I use on a several times a day basis. Just exactly HOW is my brain "fried"?
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Comment #10 posted by dongenero on August 02, 2010 at 07:48:08 PT
or was that comment from Drummond? Not sure.
Regardless, I contend that anyone who's brain is "fried", did not do so with cannabis.
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Comment #9 posted by dongenero on August 02, 2010 at 07:43:47 PT
Rev Ron Allen
"I know people whose brains are totally fried from decades of marijuana abuse."
This from the clear thinking mind of a 11 year crack addict???I suggest that it is likely Rev Allen's brain that is fried from 11 years of crack cocaine addiction. 
How ridiculous!
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on August 02, 2010 at 07:38:22 PT
Tammerlin Drummond, Oakland Tribune Columnist
Ms. Drummond is an "Award-winning journalist, social commentator and multimedia storyteller." Make that heavy on the social commentator and multimedia storyteller in this column.The lovely Ms. Drummond gets paid for her opinion, but it's still just her opinion... although, no doubt, in many circles, a powerfully influential opinion.She says, "There is no question that marijuana is an addictive drug. I know people whose brains are totally fried from decades of marijuana abuse."It's my opinion, based on scientifically researched facts, but not so widely esteemed as hers, that Ms. Drummond does not know anyone "Whose brains are totally fried from decades of marijuana abuse." Maybe she knows some people that have serious issues and are messed up badly and have been self medicating with cannabis and God only knows what else for decades... but there is no scientific and real life factual truth or evidence that such an all encompassing pronouncement is true in any shape, form, or fashion. She decided it. It's her opinion.Her opinion also includes, " Yet I also know people who use marijuana recreationally.They aren't any more likely to become addicts than those who drink responsibly are to develop cirrhosis.It's time we had an open and honest debate on the issue before voters go to the polls in November."The first part of her column reads as though Ms. Drummond's knickers are in an irretrievable twist over this turn of events in the world of cannabis prohibition. But her final word on the subject, in spite of how nine tenths of her column reads, indicates she might actually be open to a bit of reason.It's as though she spun us in circles through most of the column and stopped spinning us and faced the truth at the very end.Kind of peculiar.
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Comment #7 posted by runruff on August 02, 2010 at 02:37:25 PT
My brain must be a scrambled egg?
Been tokin' since 1964, if anyone has fried brains it is me!Ravished body too...not!I land mush, farm, hike, at 64 I still get around and I have enough brain sells left to educate the author of this article.Not that I am being defenseive...I am just saying....?
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Comment #6 posted by BGreen on August 02, 2010 at 00:48:57 PT
Try to be honest, then let's talk
"There is no question that marijuana is an addictive drug. I know people whose brains are totally fried from decades of marijuana abuse."Oh, yeah? Well, I saw a show on TV last night where a guy had 50 pounds of boobs removed from his nearly 500 pound body. Obviously it was the fault of the addictive drug known as food. It had nothing to do with the young man who ate his way to be a 720 pound high school senior. It's that horribly addictive food that was to blame.I know people who think they know everything about everybody because they "know people" who are dysfunctional. Highly scientific methodology (... NOT!) but it matches the quality of "journalism" exhibited by this "columnist."The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #5 posted by Paint with light on August 01, 2010 at 22:10:27 PT
No question it is addictive is not honest debate
"There is no question that marijuana is an addictive drug. I know people whose brains are totally fried from decades of marijuana abuse."I have a feeling if their brains are really fried, it is not from cannabis use alone."Those who support legalization say that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol.They say it's unfair to criminalize pot while allowing the legal sale of booze.Prop. 19 supporters argue that both marijuana and alcohol should be regulated and taxed."Legal like alcohol. 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 01, 2010 at 15:42:45 PT
runruff
Now that's the way to do it! 
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Comment #3 posted by runruff on August 01, 2010 at 15:38:44 PT
FoM and All.
Check out Linda here;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4qYSxVoKxQ
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Comment #2 posted by Mark702 on August 01, 2010 at 12:03:17 PT
Toke of the Town Article
Didn't see this, at least on the homepage:Oregon Court Rules Marijuana Use No Reason To Take Mother's Kids
Oregon Court Rules Marijuana Use No Reason To Take Mother's Kids
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 01, 2010 at 10:54:28 PT
Texas Medicinal Marijuana Advocates Group
Texas Medicinal Marijuana Advocates Group Hits the Scene with Full Force August 1, 2010URL: http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=448238&Itemid=33
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