I think the reality is about halfway between Reefer Madness and what NORML proclaims.
I think marijuana may help some cancer patients with nausea but that it's not a miracle cure for nearly everything. I have no qualms with it being prescribed for the terminally ill who benefit from it, but I don't think it should be handed out to anyone who happens to have a headache. I don't like the fact that it's an area-of-effect drug that makes people high who don't want to be high. I've read enough stories of people getting drunk and stoned and driving the wrong way down expressways that I think users should stay in their houses until the high wears off.
I'd like to see it legalized in a manner like this rather than virtually unrestricted like California attempted, and judge that against the status quo to see if it's an overall improvement.
I would probably never use it, except as an end-of-life way to alleviate pain, much as I have neither drank (drunk?) alcohol, nor smoked tobacco. My feelings about marijuana are much the same as my feelings about drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco -- mixed. On the one hand, I feel it's none of my business what others do for fun, so long as they're not harming others. On another hand, I resent the effects second-hand smoke has on me (sleepiness and extremely painful lung contractions) and I despise drunk drivers.
On yet another hand, I don't believe marijuana is any worse than alcohol or tobacco. It might be *newer* than both (especially alcohol, which has pretty much been with humanity for as long as humanity has been around), and it may simply not have "grandfathered" in to being socially acceptable. I believe the "slippery slope" argument is suspect, since either alcohol or tobacco could be seen as springboards for using illegal drugs. I believe legalizing and taxing it as well as providing oversight as to how it's produced and distributed could be helpful (so long as the growers don't emulate big tobacco and neglect to mention adding things to make it more addictive). I also can't help but think of how unsuccessful Prohibition was, and I can't help but draw conclusions based on that.
Where I am truly most vehement, however, is when it comes to medical use. My maternal family is a tough lot; many die of old age. Those who aren't killed in accidents or by old age die from cancer. My best friend died of a horrifically vicious (but thankfully extremely rare) form of breast cancer a few years ago. I have seen far too many people who could have benefited from medical marijuana instead suffer in ways that broke my heart.
Knowing that my grandfather might have had an appetite and not essentially starved to death after suffering through chemo and radiation is but one example. And if marijuana hadn't helped, well, it certainly wasn't going to hurt him worse than the cancer treatments themselves. Maybe, maybe, if a person is young and may beat the disease, then marijuana might not be advisable due to the possibility of addiction. But for terminal patients? I fiercely believe every possible option which might ease the pain even a little should be used at end-of-life. I can only hope that those who are so vehemently against medical marijuana use have never seen someone they cared for die from a disease like AIDS or cancer. If they have, I just can't imagine having so hard a heart as to not want to alleviate the pain for others.
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Date: 11 Oct 2010 18:10 (UTC)I think marijuana may help some cancer patients with nausea but that it's not a miracle cure for nearly everything. I have no qualms with it being prescribed for the terminally ill who benefit from it, but I don't think it should be handed out to anyone who happens to have a headache. I don't like the fact that it's an area-of-effect drug that makes people high who don't want to be high. I've read enough stories of people getting drunk and stoned and driving the wrong way down expressways that I think users should stay in their houses until the high wears off.
I'd like to see it legalized in a manner like this rather than virtually unrestricted like California attempted, and judge that against the status quo to see if it's an overall improvement.
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Date: 11 Oct 2010 23:20 (UTC)On yet another hand, I don't believe marijuana is any worse than alcohol or tobacco. It might be *newer* than both (especially alcohol, which has pretty much been with humanity for as long as humanity has been around), and it may simply not have "grandfathered" in to being socially acceptable. I believe the "slippery slope" argument is suspect, since either alcohol or tobacco could be seen as springboards for using illegal drugs. I believe legalizing and taxing it as well as providing oversight as to how it's produced and distributed could be helpful (so long as the growers don't emulate big tobacco and neglect to mention adding things to make it more addictive). I also can't help but think of how unsuccessful Prohibition was, and I can't help but draw conclusions based on that.
Where I am truly most vehement, however, is when it comes to medical use. My maternal family is a tough lot; many die of old age. Those who aren't killed in accidents or by old age die from cancer. My best friend died of a horrifically vicious (but thankfully extremely rare) form of breast cancer a few years ago. I have seen far too many people who could have benefited from medical marijuana instead suffer in ways that broke my heart.
Knowing that my grandfather might have had an appetite and not essentially starved to death after suffering through chemo and radiation is but one example. And if marijuana hadn't helped, well, it certainly wasn't going to hurt him worse than the cancer treatments themselves. Maybe, maybe, if a person is young and may beat the disease, then marijuana might not be advisable due to the possibility of addiction. But for terminal patients? I fiercely believe every possible option which might ease the pain even a little should be used at end-of-life. I can only hope that those who are so vehemently against medical marijuana use have never seen someone they cared for die from a disease like AIDS or cancer. If they have, I just can't imagine having so hard a heart as to not want to alleviate the pain for others.
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Date: 11 Oct 2010 23:46 (UTC)"Dave's not here, man!"
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Date: 13 Oct 2010 06:15 (UTC)