Making the Case for Medical Marijuana

[Ed W]

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS A REFERENCE TO WORLD NET DAILY. FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, PLEASE USE PRECAUTIONS BEFORE READING IT. AN ALUMINUM FOIL HAT, SAFETY GLASSES, AND NYTRILE GLOVES ARE STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

"Carson told Farah that he worried politicians like President Obama and Eric Holder are surreptitiously encouraging marijuana use in order to create a dumb citizenry. That way, doped-up Americans will be distracted by controversies like the name of the Washington Redskins instead of focusing on stories about Benghazi and Fast and Furious."

So there you have it. Marijuana is linked directly to Benghazi. Who knew that Obama could be so Machiavellian?

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-thinks-politicians-are-promoting-pot-use-make-people-dumb-distract-benghazi

(As an aside, perhaps Benghazi references should be a sub-set or corollary to Godwin's Law. Just sayin')

[patric]

Meanwhile, crime is falling in Colorado since weed became legal.  The exact opposite of what law enforcement and the prison cartel predicted.

http://rt.com/usa/colorado-crime-change-legalization-study-017/

"Overall property crime fell by 14.6 percent in Denver. Homicide rates, while not leaving the single digits in either year, fell by 66.7 percent while the number of robberies decreased by seven percent."

...And we have to get this news from the Russians.
At lest our leaders are protecting us from epileptic babies smoking joints.

[Conan71]

[patric]

Meanwhile, crime is falling in Colorado since weed became legal.  The exact opposite of what law enforcement and the prison cartel predicted.

So while Colorado was laying the groundwork to amp up its tax base, Oklahoma was laying the groundwork to keep it's prisons full:


New penalties for possession or making of hashish, a grinder, or brownies may include life imprisonment, were enacted in 2011.
Effective Oct. 1, 2013, a person will be jailed for no less than 30 days or more than 1 year if: A person as any amount of a Schedule I chemical or controlled substance, as defined in Section 2-204 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes, OR ONE OF ITS METABOLITES OR ANALOGS in the person's blood, saliva, urine or any other bodily fluid at the time of a test of such person's blood, saliva, urine or any other bodily fluid administered within two (2) hours after the arrest of such person.  A second offense will have longer sentencing as well as require an ignition interlock device that can only detect alcohol even if person is not a user of alcohol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._state

[heironymouspasparagus]

Twinkies.  Gotta have...wait...what?

New Crest store in Norman...tonight...2 boxes of Hostess Cupcakes!!  Yum!!  Rationed at no more than 12 a day!    Er, uh.....1 per day!!  Yeah, that's it....that's the ticket....!

[Vashta Nerada]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/11/only-scientist-researching-how-pot-can-help-veterans-ptsd-gets-axed-after-gop-pressure/

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pot-ptsd-arizona-boots-researcher-seeking-cure-vets-n152881

[Vashta Nerada]

Lots of lobbyist $$$ going towards misinformation campaigns to defeat drug reform....

Apparently, "authorities" lumping marijuana with other, more dangerous substances is a time-tested misinformation tactic that still works.
Look at the Lobbyist money being thrown around police associations in an effort to confuse pot with synthetic drugs, with phony phrases like "synthetic marijuana" and "fake pot:"

http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/08/drug-warriors-spend-money-training-cops
http://show-mecannabis.com/2014/06/law-enforcement-training-vs-political-propaganda-the-fine-line/
http://kwgn.com/2013/09/09/explainer-what-is-the-difference-between-synthetic-marijuana-and-natural-marijuana/



There's big grant money waiting for agencies that will give their officers the appropriate propaganda training on WOD talking points,
Here's one example of how that trickles down to the uninformed media:

http://www.fox23.com/news/news/local/teen-warns-k2-dangers-new-law-could-stop-drug/ngcQ5/

TULSA, Okla. —  FOX23 has been telling you about the dangers of synthetic marijuana and how difficult it's been to make it illegal.

Now FOX23's Janna Clark found out there may finally be a way for law enforcement to stop it.

The packages say it's incense, but FOX23 found out the state has documented that three people have died from smoking some kind of synthetic marijuana and hundreds have gone to the hospital.

Law enforcement hasn't been able to stop stores from selling it.

"The biggest problem is how easy these chemicals can be changed," said Mark Woodward, with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

He said OBN worked with lawmakers to ban specific chemicals in synthetic marijuana.

But the manufacturers tweaked the ingredients, which made the drugs legal again.

That happened over and over, and now the state's banned more than 200 chemicals.

"It's become a cat and mouse game," said Woodward.

Until now, Woodward said the state just passed a new, different law.

The law bans nine categories of synthetic marijuana. Now chemists won't be looking for certain chemicals, but the structure of the compound of the chemicals. If the compound fits in one of the nine categories, it will be illegal to smoke it and sell it.

"All of these we believe are going to fit one of these nine categories," said Woodward.

Woodward said Oklahoma mirrored its law after those in Arkansas and Illinois.

"They said it has been a silver bullet to stop the synthetic marijuana problem in their states," said Woodward.

The irony is the laws that have tried to stop it have actually made the drug more dangerous.

The laws triggered amateur chemists to change the chemicals that they haphazardly spray on herbs.

"How dangerous are these synthetics?" asked Clark.

"They're deadly," said Woodward.

When the law goes into effect in November, Woodward said OBN agents will aggressively investigate stores that sell synthetic marijuana.

[Vashta Nerada]

Heres a somewhat telling story about Oklahoma's drug bureaucracy...

Apparently there's a plant in the Coffee family that people have used for thousands of years to relieve pain -- and more recently to help avoid narcotics and even alcohol.

Apparently the only ones really harmed by this drug are the big pharmaceutical companies, but OBNDD has already tried to have it banned.  Currently, they are "monitoring" the news for another excuse to take a shot at it.

http://www.fox23.com/news/news/local/drug-agency-monitors-kratom-use-oklahoma/ngftf/

[patric]

I take it Mark Woodward doesn't get out much.

More "they're marketing it to our babies!" propaganda:

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force discovered all kinds of flavored marijuana in a recent bust, and much of it was in the form of gummy bears and sugar cubes. They say this is a wake-up call for parents that pot now comes in all shapes and sizes.

"Look at these. You open it up and it looks identical to gummy vitamins. If I were a kid, I'd eat them. The different flavors, that's tempting. They even smell good," said Investigator Leighton Boyd, Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.

Why yes, candy always comes in medicine bottles...





Investigators say if a child ate a handful of these or more, they could overdose, get sick, even die. They say parents may not realize kids are doing drugs right in front of them.
http://www.newson6.com/story/26116365/colorado-pot-products-showing-up-in-tulsa-drug-busts

And again, how many people have died from overdoses of marijuana?

ever?

[TeeDub]

And again, how many people have died from overdoses of marijuana?

ever?

Apparently two, but that was back when you could either smoke it or bake it.   Now that you can eat a joints worth in one gummy bear, we might get to see that chemistry can up that figure.

http://time.com/10372/marijuana-deaths-german-study/

[Vashta Nerada]

Repeal Prohibition, Again

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-marijuana-legalization.html

It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished. It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol.

The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.

We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of The Times's Editorial Board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws.

There are no perfect answers to people's legitimate concerns about marijuana use. But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization. That will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medicinal production and use where it belongs — at the state level.

We considered whether it would be best for Washington to hold back while the states continued experimenting with legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana, reducing penalties, or even simply legalizing all use. Nearly three-quarters of the states have done one of these.

But that would leave their citizens vulnerable to the whims of whoever happens to be in the White House and chooses to enforce or not enforce the federal law.

The social costs of the marijuana laws are vast. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives. Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.

There is honest debate among scientists about the health effects of marijuana, but we believe that the evidence is overwhelming that addiction and dependence are relatively minor problems, especially compared with alcohol and tobacco. Moderate use of marijuana does not appear to pose a risk for otherwise healthy adults. Claims that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs are as fanciful as the "Reefer Madness" images of murder, rape and suicide.

There are legitimate concerns about marijuana on the development of adolescent brains. For that reason, we advocate the prohibition of sales to people under 21.

Creating systems for regulating manufacture, sale and marketing will be complex. But those problems are solvable, and would have long been dealt with had we as a nation not clung to the decision to make marijuana production and use a federal crime.

In coming days, we will publish articles by members of the Editorial Board and supplementary material that will examine these questions. We invite readers to offer their ideas, and we will report back on their responses, pro and con.

We recognize that this Congress is as unlikely to take action on marijuana as it has been on other big issues. But it is long past time to repeal this version of Prohibition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-let-states-decide-on-marijuana.html

[Hoss]

Apparently two, but that was back when you could either smoke it or bake it.   Now that you can eat a joints worth in one gummy bear, we might get to see that chemistry can up that figure.

http://time.com/10372/marijuana-deaths-german-study/

Researchers said, however, that the drug was to blame in two isolated cases of two seemingly health people, one 23 years old and another 28. Autopsies found that younger had a serious undetected heart problem, suggesting that people with cardiological issues should be aware of marijuana risks, and the older had a history of alcohol and drug use.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Apparently two, but that was back when you could either smoke it or bake it.   Now that you can eat a joints worth in one gummy bear, we might get to see that chemistry can up that figure.

http://time.com/10372/marijuana-deaths-german-study/

A Rupert Murdoch publication.

[Ed W]

Do a search for "marijuana oklahoma city" and you'll find a couple of news pieces on the rise of homelessness in Denver since their laws changed and another on how home owners associations can ban marijuana cultivation or use.

Gotta beat that drum.

[TeeDub]

Researchers said, however, that the drug was to blame in two isolated cases of two seemingly health people, one 23 years old and another 28. Autopsies found that younger had a serious undetected heart problem, suggesting that people with cardiological issues should be aware of marijuana risks, and the older had a history of alcohol and drug use.

I'm just saying that if you put a fat man on a treadmill and he has a heart attack, you blame the treadmill not the years of poor health choices.

Personally I think we should legalize it and tax the hell out of it.    We are going to need a new tax base soon to replace all the cigarette taxes that are going away.