Pothead Philosopher

March 8, 2007

Marijuana: Thoughts and Ponderings

Filed under: NORML, cannabis, drugs, marijuana, medical, weed — trendyhipster @ 12:10 am

My spell check is telling me that “pondering” is a word, but “ponderings” isn’t.

At any rate, I’ve decided that I’d write a bit more about marijuana because

  • It’s a hot topic
  • My last entry of said subject is doing quite well
  • I want more traffic (for no real reason)
  • I like weed

I always think to myself that if I ever become famous, I’ll definitely devote a chunk of time and money to legalization. Decriminalization is “ok” in the sense that no one’s going to jail over it, but legalization is the way to go. Theoretically, decriminalization could open an even bigger black market, as people would be less afraid of growing, the ante’s would be pushed up for bigger chunks of profit… it’s a lot to talk about, but maybe it’s something I should discuss at a later time.

Attempting to stay on a single coherent path for once, I read a good article that had a few logical points. My paraphrasing of the article is that marijuana was widely known as cannabis before and including the early 1900s, a widely accepted drug, prescribed for many different things. It got banned basically because it was renamed and associated with Mexicans using the drug to lure women and children, claims which fit quite snuggly within the definition of propaganda.

The thesis behind the banning, and as late as a 2003 press release from the white house that “research has not demonstrated that smoked marijuana is safe and effective medicine.” Odd, it’s not a valid medicine, but it seems that there are many different drugs attempting to recreate marijuana’s effect. Synthetic THC is something that’s been out for a while. Synthetic THC. Am I reading that properly? Yes, I am. The government has banned marijuana because of it’s allegedly unproven medicinal properties, but gives the OK to a test tube version that attempts to mimic cannabis’ properties? The only differences would be the cost. Marijuana is cheap. Any drug that takes a lot of research costs a lot of money.

Just reading the side effects and dangers of Tysabri gives me a creepy feeling. What purpose does it serve to endanger the lives of people who seek treatment for certain ailments when a safe alternative has been around for quite possibly forever.

To change from medicinal uses to recreational, why can’t people toke responsibly? People can drink responsibly most of the time, so why is there such a discrepancy to a much less dangerous drug? I can’t make sense of it. I also want to refrain from making this an anti-government rant, so I’ll just stop here.

Thoughts and comments are appreciated.

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