Quote of the week – the carbon munchies

re post by: jorgekafkazar says: April 12, 2011 at 9:46 am
Ok, Jorge, I’ve gotta know – how did you put the musical symbols into your post??
As to the article’s implicit derogation of people with the all too prevalent quotes around “medical marijuana” and “afflicted” and so on…. I’m quite certain that they are right and there are abuses, e.g., people who don’t have medical problems getting on the system – but consider that over 25% of the american population at any one time has problems with chronic pain – and that is from many many different studies. Consider also that many of these people go under or untreated – and that is also from many different studies, and is further compounded by the stigma of ‘abuse’ causing the legal system to make proscribing sufficient pain medications extremely difficult and risky for doctors. Then further consider that there are people who simply don’t respond well to typical pain medications – either because of nasty side effects or because of a lack of sufficient pain control. That is also well documented. Lastly consider that people who are prone to substance abuse tend to find ways regardless of laws, and are a far smaller percentage of the population than those with significant pain problems. And if you are going to try to claim that abuse harms not just the abuser but their family friends, and anyone around them – well, that is true – but what is also true is that chronic pain also utterly destroys lives, and not just the person suffering with it, but also their family, friends, etc. Now, I don’t know how much marijuana helps, but I think it is pretty clear that there are a large number of people with legitimate problems that it does help, as much or more than typical pain meds or in conjunction with them when they are insufficient – cancer patients are a prime example, and it’s my understanding that roughly 25% of us will all wind up with cancer at some point in our lives.
re pk says: April 12, 2011 at 11:00 am
Pk, much of it is a victimless crime. As to your examples, they are of people who are publicly intoxicated. It doesn’t much matter if it is from alcohol, marijuana or some other substance. It is the abusers who need to be held accountable, not everyone. Criminalize dangerous behavior – e.g., operating cars or equipment while intoxicated – not use of substances in a responsible manner, e.g., at home or in ways that don’t risk others. I would bet almost anything that criminalizing marijuana use causes more deaths and harm because of the black market, higher prices, attempts to elude or evade police, etc. Not to mention cost to society for all of the people who wind up clogging up our courts and jails when they were involved in what would be, without the criminalization, victimless activities.
So make it illegal to drive or work while intoxicated, just as it is with alcohol or any other drug – and then seriously enforce those laws and seriously punish those who transgress. Don’t make use of a drug with less side effects than alcohol illegal to use at home or where others aren’t put at risk. At the very least, allow the flipping researchers to research it so perhaps they can determine what gives the beneficial aspects and that can be synthesized while avoiding the aspects that give a ‘high,’ if that is possible. Right now it is still extremely difficult to even research it (or the potential medical benefits of other illegal drugs). And while we’re at it, make it less problematic for doctors to provide sufficient pain control, and then come down hard on any doctors who are found to be actually proscribing fraudulently to abusers or dealers – but leave those alone who are just trying to sufficiently treat their patient’s pain.