Arlos wrote:Arlos, you are not being objective at all. Marijuana has MUCH more detrimental effects than your statement of "potentially causes harm..." Do you smoke weed or something? I've heard doctors on talk shows talk about how dangerous and mind-altering THC is. Why would several REAL MD's (not crackpot ex hippies like Dean Edell) warn people on radio and tv about the dangers of smoking marijuana? Real doctors don't have a political agenda, unlike Dr. Dean Edell, who has a major agenda. Why is it so hard for you to accept that THC destroys the brain, and marijuana smoke destroys lung tissue?
Mindia, did you not look at either graph I posted in my post on the first page? Those come from the article from The Lancet, which, as I said, is one of the TOP (and most conservative) medical journals on the planet. The people that wrote the article are indeed REAL MDs. (and no, it was not written by Dr. Dean Edell). They CLEARLY show that marijuana DOES cause harm. However, the AMOUNT of harm it causes is lower than other drugs that are already legal: tobacco and alcohol.
I have already freely admitted that those graphs showed marijuana causing more harm than I believed it did. I expected a much lower result on the scale than what the Lancet article displayed. It still doesn't change my ultimate point, though: While it may cause harm, the harm it causes is LESS than other drugs that any adult can go buy in any quantity they desire at any time. There is no agument against alcohol causing major losses to business either; I mean, how many man-days of productive work are lost per year due to people showing up to work hung over to the point where they're not or barely functional? I'd say that number is large... Why is that OK, yet there is something fundamentally wrong with someone smoking a joint at home in the evening, yet they show up to work the next day completely OK?
-Arlos
We all know that it's possible that someone can snort a line of cocaine or meth, and drop dead of a brain aneurysm or heart attack. And heroin is highly addictive, and users are basically committing protracted suicide. Just because Drug B and C are MORE dangerous than Drug A, that does not mean that Drug A (marijuana) is not dangerous. The person who smoked a joint in the evening and then goes to work the next day is hardly devoid of any after-effects. THC is stored in fatty tissue and is thus present in the body for approximately 2 months after ingesting it. It destroys brain cells and affects decision-making abilities and a variety of many other detrimental effects. I would be willing to bet every last dollar I had, that if prop 19 had passed, eventually you would see a massive increase work-related injuries and workman's comp claims. It's a certainty.
The reason why I'm such a staunch opponent to the legalization of marijuana is: A. I don't want to see or hear about more and more people being hurt on the job... especially those operating machinery. B. I don't want innocent clean and sober people to get hurt because some asshole came to work stoned and caused someone else to sustain an injury. C. I wouldn't want to be on any roadway while there is a driver under the influence of marijuana on the same roadway. D. Marijuana absolutely IS a gateway drug... I'd hate to see people move on up to even more dangerous drugs than marijuana, which is highly probable and most likely to happen. E. Letting the government get involved in the sale and taxation of marijuana is just giving the government yet another avenue of control. Lastly, people who say it will free up jail space for more dangerous criminals, or whatever, is a joke too. Possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is only a citeable offense in California... that means they confiscate it and write you a ticket. You don't go to jail, you don't go to court... you just pay a fine. An ounce of marijuana is a huge amount that will keep any stoner stoned for a couple of months.
Anyway, these are the reasons why I feel the way I do about it. Trust me, if I thought there was even an ounce of truth to what proponents are saying about prop 19 and why it should be legalized, then I might be swayed. But facts are facts, and I hope marijuana NEVER gets legalized in ANY state, for the sake of clean and sober people trying to live normal healthy lives.
You're so stupid.