kiwikitten

I hate illegal drugs.

Anything that is ambiguous is open to my interpretation when I read a story. Doesn't matter to me if it doesn't match anyone elses interpretation.

For all I know, that bag could have shredded documents from NASA in it.

Or Shredded money from the mint.

I have a good imagination after all.

Lol weeds lol illegal drugs haha alcohol is just as harmful or tabacco yet you're soo indoctrinated that you hate some leaves that some legitimately I'll people need to medicate themselves, enough to delude your precious little mind to ridiculous extents.

*ill

I'm so sorry, what part of "illegal" did you not understand?

Alcohol is legal - to a certain point. Have you had too much, so that you've killed someone with the car you shouldn't have been driving? (I haven't, and never will)

I do not smoke, not even the legal stuff (it smells bad, and makes me want to throw up just thinking of kissing an ashtray).

I have a friend, who was traumatized as a child, because her brother was a dealer for the "illegal" stuff. Creeps would climb in her window ACROSS her bed as she slept just to get to him. It left marks in her that will never heal. Tell me, how were you "indoctrinated"?

Alcohol per se is not illegal. What is illegal is to drive under controlled substances. And cutiepie is right. Marijuana is a great medicinal plant that just happens to had been missused and with that it gained it's status as illegal and harmful. So yeah, your comment might make you seem ignorant, since we are not talking about heavy drugs or anything. Weed is mainly a sedative. The creeps climbing through your friend's window possibly were looking for some more heavy stuff to be that desperate and just because you "know" that weed is illegal you decided that is bad, not contemplating the human factor of it.

You are really open minded though, right? Oh, please

Marijuana first became "illegal" at a time when hemp was poised to take over both the cotton and paper industries (1940s 1950s). A campaign in the US focused its ire on the African American population as the "cause for concern". The threat, it was said, was that "Black men will rape white women while high on reefer." There was ZERO evidence for this conclusion, but the fear was enough. Marijuana became a class 1 narcotic and hemp lost the bid to overtake cotton and paper as a renewable, consumable resource. To this day, the research into the medical benefits of marijuana are severely limited, but what research that HAS been allowed has shown only benefits. The criminalization of marijuana was nothing more than a political ploy for lobbyist from the cotton and paper industries to leverage a better grip on consumers. Hemp is cheaper, faster to grow, easier to maintain and easier to produce a finished product. Had marijuana not been criminalized, the paper and cotton industries would have collapsed within a decade or two.

The reason for the commentator Usako's friend's trauma, was the criminalization of marijuana, not the plant itself. I also venture to assume that most "dealers" of marijuana do not limit themselves to to the sale of only one product. I say this, because most "pot heads" I know are too baked to eat cheetos let alone climb over a sleeping child to obtain drugs. This only goes to prove the indoctrination, that cutie pie claims, is true. As Usako is unable to discern the illegality of the substance from the illegality of the act. At the time Usako's comment was written, in the country they claim residency, there were at least 13 states that had legalized the medical use of marijuana in some form or other. Making Usako's "dealer" claims even more suspect. And further proving the indoctrination.

Social views and mores are based on laws on the books and unwritten social pressures. What we believe is "good" and "just" can easily be twisted by something as simple as a business deal. The paper and cotton industries made a killing on theirs and cost the lives and livelihoods of millions for drug possession. In the US alone, millions of men, women and children lose their freedom, lives or their family members to violence or incarceration because a plant that was a threat to the paper and cotton industries was criminalized to benefit them. I ask you, is it the plant that is the problem or the law against it? Take heroin as a counter example. Heroin is addictive, deadly and has limited medical uses and then only when synthesized. This is a drug that warrants criminalization on its own demerits. There is no evidence that marijuana is addictive, deadly and there is ample evidence to show that its medical benefits are far reaching, varied and do not require synthesization. Yet, marijuana is still seen as a "bad drug". In the US, the "war on drugs" that began in the 1980s has yielded billions in revenue to the government through confiscation of property and billions more to corporate run prisons. 80% of prison inmates are there for drug offenses and 90% of those inmates are busted for marijuana. This is why the fight to decriminalize marijuana was such a hard won battle. Once again, it was a business deal. Between corporate run prisons, state governments who got to keep confiscated property and the pharmaceutical industry who benefited from keeping a cheap, easy to grow, medicinal plant, that has wide reaching benefits out of the hands of patients, it's a wonder that even the current 29 states that have legalized medical marijuana were even able to do so. Bad drug or bad laws?

I had no idea of that. Really interesting how laws and private interest shape a country. I only know about marijuana because I have several Colombian friends who tell me how in their country their grandma's use the plant as medicinal and that is really good to ease joint pain (it made me really jealous since I'm showing signs of early arthritis). And also because is being tested as an alternative for treating extreme cases of epilepsy.
America is a really interesting (?) place to study based on its laws. The other day I learned about the margarine laws. That was a really bizarre read. And I have always wondered whether all the politics and laws that benefit corporations and are harmful for the citizen are product of all the fear instilled during the cold war. Because in my opinion, is a fear that's is still very present in today's American society. If we take a look at your healthcare system and lack of care for the common employee, I always thought that maybe that fear is what prevents America to advance in those fields.

Marijuana is an incredible pain reliever and appetite stimulant, making it a fantastic support medication for chemo patients. My best friend had uterine cancer and while on chemo her doctor recommended she smoke (this was long before marijuana was legalized for medical use) a little to help her appetite and pain. She had lost thirty pounds that she couldn't afford to lose, but after she followed his recommendation she gained twenty back. God, she was paper thin then. It was like looking at a skeleton wrapped in cellophane.

The US has always had "fear based" laws pushed through. The laws seem reasonable on the surface, but they tend to be shortsighted and reactionary, leaving a lot of gaping holes that never get filled. That, then, leads to bigger and worse problems down the road. Our rape and domestic violence laws are a prime example. There is no clause for "envelopment" in our rape laws and they are written such in a way that men can only be perpetrator and never a victim of a female raping them. They can also be held financially responsible for the child if a woman rapes a man and gets pregnant. The same bias was written into our domestic violence laws. Men are excluded as victims. This is why I balk at the idea of a "feminist's equality". Our country spends 1/10 the budget of women's health issues on men's health issues. And don't even get me started on the sexist bias in our educational and mental health care systems! I'm opposed to "universal healthcare" because I believe wholeheartedly in the idea that "you get what you pay for". I think there should be financial aid available for those who can't afford healthcare, but making everything "free" for everyone reduces the quality of care across the board and reduces the number of qualified professionals who want to provide the services. Which, in turn, makes the waiting lists grow that much longer as fewer professionals have to care for a greater number of patients. Add in the increased workload reducing the quality of the services and you have the perfect storm of healthcare failure. It's a catch 22 that solves one problem but creates ten more.

As for fear, our government and lobbyists have been using the "fear tactic" to push laws through since the turn of the 20th century. Even the way our utilities (electricity, natural gas and telephone) services are parceled out and put on offer to this day, can be linked back to laws and regulations that were pushed through by lobbyists for Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell! Again, the laws look reasonable and beneficial on the surface and at the time, but over time, they cause far more problems than they ever solved. We, as Americans, are too reactionary. We fail to see, or don't care to look at, the bigger picture. If you don't consider the consequences of your actions for the future, you will fail to have one... a future, that is. We like to think we are one of the "big dogs" on the porch, but if you look very closely, we are not much more than a shivering chihuahua with a loud bark. Lately, even our bark (our military) has been stifled due to fears of looking bad because our bark is too loud. If we take away much more, this chihuahua is going to get eaten by a wolf.

blaaaahrrrrg

My imagination is now suffering from the fact that the doctor that is currently doing your next surgery will be high on weed during the operation. Good luck with that!

I don't think it's possible to like this comment more than I do. I wish more people would educate themselves before spouting off. Indoctrination is a thing, and it's *extremely* commonplace for all manner of problems. Why do people believe sex is so taboo and bad and dirty? (I mean, we read yaoi, right? How many times do we see "No! It's dirty!" in a manga?) Where does the idea that touching an otherwise clean body part is "dirty"? The societal mores that dictate sex is "dirty."

Seriously, the war on drugs was nothing but an attempt at punishing the poor and making money for the government. That's it. Argh.

Also... really? A doctor performing surgery under the influence? Wow, can that get any worse?

I'm not sure where the idea that a surgeon would be high during surgery came from. Did I say that? Because I'm I highly doubt that I did. If a medical professional recommends a pain reliever for your open heart surgery or cancer or broken leg, that does not mean that the doctor themselves is taking said pain reliever. I know the effects of cyanide without ever having personally experienced it's effects - considering it is lethal. To conclude that a doctor must partake in using drugs in order to recommend them for their medicinal effects is not just naive, it's downright moronic. There is actual, professional, medical research results available for everything from marijuana to ecstasy. A medical professional does not need to experience medicines first hand any more than a heart surgeon needs to experience their own open heart surgery or an orthopedic surgeon needs to experience their own broken bones to administer care. Should a veterinarian be a dog as well? The logic is ludicrous! I'm perfectly aware that some doctors do engage in such irresponsible behavior, which is why ethics committees and licensing boards are so important. However, I don't believe the use of marijuana is no better or worse than a doctor using Zanax or other prescription narcotics. Which, by the way, is far more common than one might think. So, it's far more likely that your surgeon is high on prescription narcotics than on marijuana. Yet, no one complains about that dangerous and insidious problem until it is too late and a patient is maimed or killed. There is a saying in the medical field, "When you hear hoof beats, you look for horses, not zebras." In other words, pay attention to the ubiquitous before you look for the unlikely.

*points up* I was referring to the reply right before mine from Usako that said "My imagination is now suffering from the fact that the doctor that is currently doing your next surgery will be high on weed during the operation. Good luck with that!"

Ah! That's where it came from. Sorry. My reply then should have been to Usako, but it still stands. LOL I'm sure all the surgeons I know who take everything from adderall to zanax are in far worse shape to do surgery than the rare doctor using marijuana. Yet, no one bats an eyelash at those doctors. Proving, again, that it's not the drug that is the problem, in the case of marijuana, but the stigma surrounding it.

For the record, I agree with you completely. I'd go so far as to say the biggest problem with drug problems all around is the stigma. Someone who deal with addiction issues shouldn't be treated as a loser who doesn't want to do anything and instead be treated for the illness that they are dealing with.

And yes, if there WAS a doctor performing surgery under the influence, it's certainly not the marijuana that's at fault, I agree.

Fear and ignorance can do a lot of damage. Yeah, laws are lobbied and fear instilled. But people don't informing themselves is just as bad. A lot of this issues could have been avoided if people weren't so eager to accept whatever some moron tells them. Antivaxxers are a fine example of this. People who believe their doctors would inevitably be high on work hours if marijuana were legal are others.