Man, so many things should be illegal right how. Here’s a 2010 Harvard study about the harmful effects of bacon. And here’s the Wikipedia page about the harmful effects of oxygen and another about the benefits of antioxidants to combat those harmful effects. And have you SEEN the addiction rate for oxygen? It’s 100%! That’s nearly the addiction rate of bacon!
If any credible organization including the NIH wanted to document the harmful and dangerous effects of marijuana they need only take a research team to Jamaica where people have been smoking it for centuries. It would be easy to do such a study. It would likely be funded by taxpayers and if the premise asserting marijuana’s harmful potential was true they could tell the tragic story of how so many lives were wrecked by this “deadly scourge” but there’s no tragic story to tell. People in Jamaica who’ve been smoking this substance for most of their life are no less healthy for it. That’s why no research team would ever show up at Kingstown Airport ready to document the human tragedy of marijuana use. They would return to NIH headquarters empty-handed and thoroughly embarrassed.
Marijuana legalization has powerful, politically connected opponents who see legalization as a direct financial threat like the DEA, and the pharmaceutical industry, and beer and liquor manufacturers. The clout these organizations wield is real and they presently have a lock on federal policy.
Looks like Biden/Harris stance is to decriminalize marijuana.
Imo, this should have happened long ago.
The legal system with regards to marijuana has been, and still is, truly unjustly slanted towards the punishment of black men.
Decriminalization will FINALLY allow researchers a MUCH easier path to study potential health benefits of marijuana, such that we will finally be getting science based reports instead of whatever anyone wants to claim, anecdotally.
The current legal industry for marijuana sales will finally be able to work with banks. The economic gains from sales will increase. Other states may legalize sales. The economy will be boosted, when, in these times, we need the economy to be boosted.
Tims point above is exactly right. Conservative federal and state legislators have used marijuana laws to arrest people they don’t like and African-Americans have always been at the top of the list. Has one single pharmaceutical executive yet been charged for their role in the deaths of tens of thousands from the opioid epidemic?
@timb "I recall some research that suggested that deaths from opiods decreased in states that had legalized marijuana."
I love google when it works:
Marijuana legalization reduces opioid deaths
Date: August 7, 2019
Source: Wiley
Summary: A new study finds that marijuana access leads to reductions in opioid-related deaths.
Journal Reference:
Nathan W. Chan, Jesse Burkhardt, Matthew Flyr. THE EFFECTS OF RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION AND DISPENSING ON OPIOID MORTALITY. Economic Inquiry, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12819
"The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the legislation in September... The "Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019" -- also called the MORE Act -- would officially remove cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances. It would also expunge federal marijuana convictions and arrests, and approve the allocation of resources for communities affected by the war on drugs, according to the bill's text."
“These steps are long overdue. For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of a matter of personal choice and public health,” Nadler, the (House) committee’s chairman, said in a statement at the time. “Whatever one’s views on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes, arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating users at the federal level is unwise and unjust.”
"The MORE Act would remove marijuana as a Schedule I substance…
If the bill passes the House, it would move to the Senate, where its lead sponsor is Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., the Democratic nominee for vice president. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has previously noted he does not plan to endorse the legislation.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, has spoken out in favor of decriminalizing marijuana and expunging criminal records for possession charges. Like Nadler, he thinks each state should decide whether or not to legalize it.
President Donald Trump has openly opposed changing federal marijuana laws…"
If any credible organization including the NIH wanted to document the harmful and dangerous effects of marijuana they need only take a research team to Jamaica where people have been smoking it for centuries. It would be easy to do such a study. It would likely be funded by taxpayers and if the premise asserting marijuana’s harmful potential was true they could tell the tragic story of how so many lives were wrecked by this “deadly scourge” but there’s no tragic story to tell. People in Jamaica who’ve been smoking this substance for most of their life are no less healthy for it. That’s why no research team would ever show up at Kingstown Airport ready to document the human tragedy of marijuana use. They would return to NIH headquarters empty-handed and thoroughly embarrassed.
Stereotypes always have some amount of truth, but it is very inaccurate to say most Jamaicans are potheads. Even if it were true it would not be a good advertisement for the benefits of marijuana as Jamaica is not exactly paradise for the people who have to live there.
Besides, American scientists don’t need to go anywhere else to study the effects of marijuana.
Oh here he is. He is 87. He has concerts scheduled throughout the coming year. He DID stop smoking pot last December due to emphysema. He still uses pot. I suppose with edibles.
He is one of the few(?) people who have smoked pot on the roof of the White House. His scheduled Sept. concerts have been cancelled. I suppose due to COVID-19.
Surely he is not long for this world. Even marijuana cannot make one immortal.
I never said that “most Jamaicans are potheads”. Those are your words, not mine. There are however many in Jamaica that have been smoking marijuana for decades without the dire health outcomes that alarmists predict. Yes, it’s true that their economy and standard of living is sub-par in many areas but that has more to do with centuries-old discrimination and its limited island nation resources. Like Cuba, Jamaica was a slave colony at one time in its history. This historical legacy has far more influence on present-day standards of living in that country than how much marijuana Jamaicans smoke.
I think restrictions should be placed on marijuana use. The physiological maturation of adolescent brains should be uninterrupted by any psychoactive substance that may pose a threat to that important process.
I thank you oneguy for the exchange and as always am grateful for the opportunity to utilize this vitally important free speech, fifth Amendment platform
Oh here he is. He is 87. He has concerts scheduled throughout the coming year. He DID stop smoking pot last December due to emphysema. He still uses pot. I suppose with edibles.
He is one of the few(?) people who have smoked pot on the roof of the White House. His scheduled Sept. concerts have been cancelled. I suppose due to COVID-19.
Surely he is not long for this world. Even marijuana cannot make one immortal.
Being a good musician doesn’t mean you’re not a dumb lowlife. The two do seem to go together.
Ancient medical cannabis was at best an alternative folk medicine from the modern point of view. There’s no evidence today that cannabis has any medical value for half the stuff these advocates talk about.
Being a good musician doesn’t mean you’re not a dumb lowlife.
Case in point: This guy is definitely a dumb lowlife. Some think he is a good musician. Idk, I think his brain was fried by fever from too many cat scratches.
But I do not see how the iconic musician, Willie Nelson, could be referred to as a “dumb lowlife”.
There’s no evidence today that cannabis has any medical value for half the stuff these advocates talk about.
Good rigorous research has been next to impossible for all of these decades that it has been inappropriately scheduled as a Class 1 Narcotic, which it has never truly been.
This guy is definitely a dumb lowlife. Some think he is a good musician. Idk, I think his brain was fried by fever from too many cat scratches.