DELTONA -- I am absolutely against the legalization of marijuana, period.
There isn't an argument in the world that will change the fact that psycho-active substances produce emotionally-crippled adults.
We are living in a “lack of personal responsibility” country where young people, especially, are actively seeking out new and creative ways to self-medicate.
These are young people who are at a place where they should be learning how to process their emotions, not sublimate or suppress them.
And, so, conversely, what we are winding up with is a generation of burgeoning adults who have no idea why they have so much anxiety (when they aren't high) or why it is practically impossible for them to learn to relate to other people (unless they're high). Legalization would be a nightmare.
All of a sudden, marijuana would be sold in grocery stores and 7-Elevens right next to the slurpy machine. There'd be advertisements in newspapers and on TV.
The advent of the many different brands of pot would create a whole new industry that would mirror the alcohol and tobacco industries.
Why are Americans in such a hurry to get high?
None of this is going to happen overnight. But my point is also none of it “has to happen overnight." The mad rush nowadays seems to be to push for the legalization of marijuana, but this begs the question: Why?
Why are Americans in such a hurry to get high? Why are people fighting passionately to create legislation that could put this burgeoning new generation at such high risk?
Do we really want to create a culture that is filled with millions of adults who have no coping or self-soothing skills, who live their lives with unexplained panic disorders and high anxiety (no pun intended)?
Is our job, as a society, to promote drugs that would get people high or to promote drugs that unrealistically help people with physical or mental illnesses?
Most people talk about legalizing pot as if it were no worse than alcohol -- as if no one has ever died as the result of using marijuana. But the truth is, alcohol has created so much dysfunction and destruction in our society, why would we want to introduce yet another drug that gets people high, and back its usage with the power of Congress? Is that the society we're passionate about becoming? A "loaded" society?
Most people talk about legalizing pot as if it were no worse than alcohol -- as if no one has ever died as the result of using marijuana. But the truth is, alcohol has created so much dysfunction and destruction in our society, why would we want to introduce yet another drug that gets people high, and back its usage with the power of Congress? Is that the society we're passionate about becoming? A "loaded" society?
Twenty states and Washington, D.C., allow the use of medical pot and 11 states allow marijuana dispensaries, according to ProCon.org, a website that tracks marijuana legislation.
In New York, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania, there is pending legislation to make medical marijuana use legal. Washington state and Oregon allow the use of marijuana for recreational purposes.
And perhaps worse of all, Forbes has reported that the legal marijuana industry may be worth $9 billion a year by 2016.
Tax and spend liberals are already licking their chops at all those incoming taxes to spend on their “ivory tower, university faculty lounge ideologies” that are already destroying the essence of the real American Dream.
Hey “ACORN,” here is a big check to give more money to lazy people and prostitutes.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a medical correspondent for CNN ( the bastion of the “lame-stream” liberal media), was a huge anti-marijuana advocate, but in an unprecedented change of heart, Dr. Gupta reversed his position and is now promoting marijuana as a “misunderstood” drug.
Let’s quickly examine the ridiculous process of obtaining medical marijuana.
Paperwork tp obtain pot in California is as simple as this sample paperwork shown at left, similar to a prescription.
The "process" of obtaining California "Medical" Marijuana is easier than buying a pack of cigarettes.
You actually don't need to have a card to grow or possess pot in the state. You just need the go-ahead from a licensed physician (usually on site in person) and simple paperwork.
It's a piece of paper like that shown in the graphic above.
And for a few extra dollars (reportedly often suggested by almost all dispensers – a Medical Marijuana card can be obtained, because it would “make my life easier if the cops ever questioned me").
A medical marijuana card like the one shown here at left is easily obtainable from a licensed physician in California.
Pot smokers Once again, you just need the go-ahead from a licensed physician (also usually on-site in person). It's a card the one shown in the graphic here.
The roots of marijuana law in the U.S.
The Marijuana Tax Act was introduced in 1937. It required sellers to obtain a license. Blanket prohibition was not the intention. Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner Harry Anslinger testified in hearings on the subject that the hemp plant needed to be banned because it had a violent “effect on all users, and serious health consequences.”
However, citing limited legal authority by the federal government, it was decided that marijuana could be sold by someone “licensed” by the government.
But this was a moot issue, as the government officials who were allowed to issue the licenses simply “did not do so” (there was never even one license ever issues in America), effectively banning the drugs. Thus, the federal government did have the right to regulate the sale and ingestion of drugs to protect the well-being of the public.
A substance considered unhealthy cannot be produced and distributed with the help of the state, because the goal of the state is to protect citizens’ health and not to expose them to risk.
Consider the following:
• The easy availability of drugs would create new consumers rather than rescuing current ones.
• Drugs are addictive. They rob the user of free will. A drug user cannot make an informed and rational decision to continue using drugs because the use of the drug eliminates that user’s ability to think logically. Nor can they disseminate themselves from drug taking.
• Drug use is dangerous to persons besides the user, in the rise of health care costs, violence associated with the use of drugs, neglect of children by drug-addicted parents, and other third party effects.
• The use of soft drugs, such as marijuana, leads to the use of hard drugs (the Gateway Theory).
• Drug dealers will sell to anyone, including children. Merchants who legally sell alcohol and tobacco are not allowed to sell to children. Many high school students report that it is easier to obtain illegal drugs than alcohol and tobacco.
• Legalizing drugs will send a message to children that drug use is acceptable.
We're not fighting to prevent people from receiving the medical help they desperately need. We're fighting for the emotional well-being of our children. We're fighting for the future.
“Mental illnesses can lead to drug abuse,” according to the NIDA website. “Individuals with overt, mild, or even subclinical mental disorders may abuse drugs as a form of self-medication. The things that set alcohol and tobacco apart from these other drugs are their affects on us.
Alcohol creates euphoria and is a depressant, but it takes awhile to become addicted from its use. Tobacco is quickly addictive, but there is no physiological or psychological effects from its use that prevent a person from safely functioning in society.
How well has alcohol and tobacco worked out, however? The leading cause of death on our roads is by drunk drivers. Tobacco use has caused thousands of people to suffer with cancer. Why on earth would we want to legalize and in turn legitimize the use of more drugs in our society?
Alcohol creates euphoria and is a depressant, but it takes awhile to become addicted from its use. Tobacco is quickly addictive, but there is no physiological or psychological effects from its use that prevent a person from safely functioning in society. How well has alcohol and tobacco worked out, however? The leading cause of death on our roads is by drunk drivers. Tobacco use has caused thousands of people to suffer with cancer. Why on earth would we want to legalize and in turn legitimize the use of more drugs in our society?
The drugs we use now are bad enough. The problem with marijuana as clearly demonstrated in California is that it is nearly impossible to control the use and distribution of the drug to just patients holding truly legitimate prescriptions.
The likelihood of people legally smoking marijuana sharing a toke with friends also greatly increases. It is hard enough to enforce marijuana laws now, but when it is illegal everywhere then police have probable cause to investigate when it is detected and take action.
When you add to the mix many thousands of legal users smoking it everywhere, it increases the difficulty of enforcement and will lead to an increase in wasted man-hours. Legalizing medical marijuana for all intents and purposes will make the enforcement of marijuana laws unenforceable.
Which, I believe is the whole purpose of pushing for the legalization of marijuana for medical reasons first. This is a stepping stone to the dismantling of all the marijuana laws in this country. The chronic use of marijuana is far more harmful than tobacco.
The very method of smoking marijuana leads to this. Tobacco cigarettes are smoked normally through a filter and the smoke is exhaled almost immediately after inhaling. Marijuana, on the other hand, is normally smoked unfiltered.
To increase the effects of the "high," the person holds the smoke in the lungs as long as possible before exhaling. This greatly increases the lungs and blood exposure to over 400 different chemicals found in marijuana smoke.
Marijuana has 50% more carcinogens (cancer causing compounds) in it than tobacco. The method of smoking marijuana increases the likelihood of cancer over tobacco. It also will cause the cancer to occur at an earlier age.
Pot users suffer lung infections, other heath issues
Marijuana users in addition suffer from an increase in lung infections, phlegm, and breathing problems Anyone who would argue that these claims are unrealistic is being very naïve.
Chronic users of marijuana are lethargic. They lose track of time, and they have reduced desire to work or meet obligations. Timetables are not important. They just don’t care. Ambition and pot smokers do not co-exist.
Be honest with yourself and ask if you have ever been stoned or knew anyone that was stoned and at the same time was enthusiastic about going to work. So, if you smoke a joint in the morning before going to work, or on your lunch break, what kind of worker are you for your employer?
How long do you expect to remain employed? Would you want to trust your livelihood and the welfare of your family on a business run by a boss who is a pothead? Would you trust him to work hard to make the company a success which in turn will afford you an opportunity for success?
Be honest with yourself and ask if you have ever been stoned or knew anyone that was stoned and at the same time was enthusiastic about going to work. So, if you smoke a joint in the morning before going to work, or on your lunch break, what kind of worker are you for your employer? How long do you expect to remain employed? Would you want to trust your livelihood and the welfare of your family on a business run by a boss who is a pothead? Would you trust him to work hard to make the company a success which in turn will afford you an opportunity for success?
Boy, legalizing drugs is looking better and better. Marijuana is the one drug that has the most push for legalization.
There are other illegal drugs that will be the next in line if marijuana is successfully legalized: cocaine, heroin, LSD, PCP, methamphetamine, to name a few.
As America changes the drugs of choice through the years, the two things they all have in common are that they are still here and they are addictive, either physiologically, or psychologically. They cause bizarre behavior, they cause paranoia, and the person often hallucinates.
If a person takes these drugs, and as a result does not care about anything else, what makes you think their behavior will not spill over into your life?
If you do not already have a loved one in your family somewhere that has been destroyed by drugs consider yourself very lucky. If you have someone, then why would you want any other family to suffer, too by legalizing these drugs? The number one victims of all drug abusers and addicts are their families.
The premise usually proposed is that legalizing marijuana will reduce the level of violence perpetrated by drug-related organizations. This argument also is a fallacy.
Think of the cartels as part mafia and part sophisticated multi-national corporations. While absolute marijuana sales are substantial, marijuana is only a small portion of total profits.
Approximately 60 percent of illicit cartel profits come from activities other than drugs.
Of the 40 percent that does come from drug related activity, there are a variety of product lines including cocaine, meth, heroin, synthetic drugs (incense and bath salts), and other sale of drugs. In addition, marijuana is the one crop that is regularly grown by the consumer.
Drug legalization promoters often prefer to dismiss these arguments, rather than acknowledging their validity. Legalizing marijuana sends our society down a “slippery path” based upon unfounded premises, a lack of personal responsibility, and simply a selfish desire to “escape reality."
However, we do live in a very “real world" and that will never change. The leaders of tomorrow must be able not just to handle the new business of information technology, but also how to handle their emotions without resorting to drug use.
If that happens, we will become noting more than a country of mediocrity complacency, where we view our work as “good enough to do our jobs and get a paycheck.”
God help us when we call 9-1-1 and the operator is “legally” high. What good does that do the public, whom depends on these services – not to mention thousands more?
What happened to “rugged individualism”?
Does anyone really think Bill Gates, Charles Schwab, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Edison, Ford, and countless other leaders could have ever changed the face of the world constantly smoking a bong, eating bags of potato chips, and watching South Park for several hours at a time?
The “Shining City on a Hill” as Ronald Reagan envisioned, is quickly fading. God help us all.
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