cannabisnews.com: Irrationality Fuels National Pot Paranoia Irrationality Fuels National Pot Paranoia Posted by FoM on May 19, 2001 at 20:18:37 PT By Paul Campos Source: Rocky Mountain News For sheer dishonesty, it would be difficult to top the federal government's campaign against the medical use of marijuana. Several studies have confirmed that smoking marijuana helps relieve nausea in patients taking cancer and AIDS drugs. It has also been shown to benefit people suffering from glaucoma, severe arthritis and other painful conditions. Some of these studies indicate that synthetic substitutes that attempt to produce the same pain-relieving effects are not as effective, and a great deal of anecdotal evidence suggests this is the case, as well. Smoking marijuana is not without risk, but the risks are minimal compared with those associated with many prescription drugs. No one has ever died of an overdose of marijuana. An ordinary bottle of sleeping pills (or for that matter of whiskey) is far more dangerous. Why then does the federal government continue its campaign to overturn the will of the people in the various states (including Colorado) who have approved the medical use of the drug? The answer has much to do with the monumental irrationality that dominates this particular battlefield in the war on drugs. As Michael Massing relates in his fascinating book The Fix, facets of the federal government's current marijuana policy can actually be traced to a summer evening in Atlanta in the 1980s, when a suburban couple came home and discovered their 13-year-old daughter smoking marijuana in their backyard. This couple started a grass-roots political campaign that eventually stretched far beyond Atlanta -- a campaign whose central premise could be described as "Marijuana is turning America's teenagers into depressed sociopaths who hate their parents." That teenagers seem to exhibit such characteristics with about equal frequency whether or not they happen to smoke marijuana is the kind of detail that anti-drug crusaders tend to ignore. Anyway, Massing describes how the relatively sane attitude toward marijuana use that prevailed in much of the federal government during the Nixon administration and the years immediately following gave way to the hysterics of the past couple of decades, when all the old myths about marijuana have been trotted out once again. Myth 1: Marijuana is a "gateway" drug. There is no evidence for this claim. Some marijuana users go on to use more dangerous illegal (and legal -- like alcohol and tobacco) substances. Some collectors of baseball cards do as well. In neither case has a causal link been shown to exist between the former and the latter activities. Myth 2: Marijuana destroys the motivation of those who use it. Again, this has never been demonstrated. Seventy million of this nation's citizens have used marijuana. At least 10 million do so regularly. With such a large sample, you would think it would be easy to demonstrate that those who smoke marijuana are less motivated than those who don't. Myth 3: The government doesn't prosecute ordinary marijuana users -- only large-scale sellers and distributors. In fact, nearly 700,000 Americans were arrested last year on marijuana charges. Eighty-five percent of these arrests were for simple possession, not sale or distribution. What explains the tenacity of such myths? Here is one possibility: The suburban anti-drug warriors who provide much of the political impetus for the drug war are people who inhabit a culture that, in many ways, is bad for children. Divorce is terrible for children, yet the divorce rate among this cohort is more than 50 percent. A family life centered around empty materialism is bad for children, yet many of these people maintain two-career workaholic lifestyles, and assuage their guilt by showering their children with toys instead of attention. One day, such people wake up and discover their children have serious emotional problems. Blaming "drugs" is easier than looking in the mirror. Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. Newshawk: nl5xSource: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)Author: Paul CamposPublished: May 19, 2001Copyright: 2001 Denver Publishing Co. Contact: letters denver-rmn.comWebsite: http://www.denver-rmn.com/O.C.B.C. Versus The U.S. Government News http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/mj.htmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by jacksplace58 on May 20, 2001 at 04:44:40 PT Paul Campos To be able to control the population of a country you first have to be able to identify the individual person,.To do this you pass laws that allow people to be fingerprinted for any minor infraction of the "rules".....smoking pot,..not buckling your child in the seat,...An ineffective parent seeks total control,....the same with an ineffective government,..... [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Cuzn Buzz on May 19, 2001 at 23:23:24 PT ANTHEM "For sheer dishonesty, it would be difficult to top the federal government's campaign against the medical use of marijuana." [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by JSM on May 19, 2001 at 20:54:57 PT Paul Campos Another simply outstanding article...thank you Mr. Campos. 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