I just had to answer some questions on the TalkLeft blog:
Given that mere use and possession can totally mess up your life, why use it? It is like playing in traffic. If you do, sooner or later, bad things will happen.
CA posted that people do it to feel good. Okay. But I still don’t see a rational person thinking that the reward – cost factor is worth it.
Use and possession of marijuana can only mess up your life because of the illegality of the substance, not its properties. If masturbation were illegal, could get you years of prison time, cost you your job and forfeiture of your possessions, then the cost factor of spanking the frank wouldn’t be worth it, either.
We know that many people can drink alcohol and never become addicted. Some become alcoholics.
Is pot the same?
No. Alcohol is a poison to the body. It has a measurable level of toxicity (drink enough of it and you die.) Marijuana has no toxicity whatsoever.
Furthermore, our brains have chemical receptors that are specifically configured to accept the THC (pot’s active ingredient) molecule. It’s as if our brains and marijuana buds evolved into a co-operative relationship.
And if it is, what is the short term and long term effects on the user?
Short term: distortion of time perception, insatiable desire for carbohydrates and sugars, enhanced feelings of sexual pleasure, difficulty with short-term memory, and an increased appreciation of humor.
Long term: a tendency to enjoy noodly-guitar jam bands.
And can the addicted person function like someone on cigarettes? Or are they more like an alcoholic?
Far more functional than an alcoholic or even a tobacco-addict. No stoner needs a break from work every hour to stand outside in the cold for a hit.
And why should society legalize another drug that harms society and the individual?
Because marijuana does not harm society or the individual. While it is true that a miniscule minority of marijuana users have a problem with psychological dependence, they do not cause any societal harms like those associated with tobacco, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, OxyContin, etc. Dependent marijuana users are more of an indication that there are a small subset of humans prone to self-destructive compulsion than an indictment of any alleged harmful properties of the plant. Indeed, if it weren’t marijuana, this subset would be addicted to sex, porn, gambling, religion, Krispy Kreme, voting Republican, or any other of a host of societally-harmful behaviors.
Or is the cost of not legalizing it more than the cost of.
Incredibly so. The costs are:
- Tax dollars wasted
- Peaceful people imprisoned
- Cops corrupted
- Families destroyed
- Civil liberties eroded
- A potentially lucrative industrial crop ignored
- Sick people needlessly suffering
- Businesses wasting money with drug testing
- and much more… see StopTheDrugWar.org
But ultimately, it comes down to the fact that marijuana is a harmless and completely natural plant. What right does the government have to criminalize nature? In a tyrannical society, all things are illegal until the state can show reason why they should be legal. In a free society, all things are legal until the state can show just cause to criminalize them.
