'Cannabis gave me my life back'

Your "argument" consists wholly of superficial and ad hominem arguments.

Yeah, but it's all true, unlike all the "patients" illnesses.

Well your opinions are true for you and that is your personal perception. My personal feeling is that superficial perceptions of people, whether they have dreadlocks, no matter who they live with, or what color they are... are just that -- superficial perceptions, and not really meaningful. We should attempt to look deeper. We shouldn't base laws and public policy on how people look.

I know 2 real patients with real illnesses and that's one of the reasons why I support medical marijuana. One of the many reasons why I support full legalization is that the federal government considers medical marijuana patients/grower to be criminals, and they are not even allowed to state the fact that they are using/growing medical marijuana if they get snagged and have to go to court. That's not justice. That's not freedom.

As for people who do fake illness: They would not have to do so if the government ended prohibition. You seem to be pointing the finger at your fellow citizens instead of the real culprit (the government). It doesn't make moral sense for the government to continue a law that was put into the books based on lies. The government doesn't have our best interest in mind. It's just flat out wrong to put people in jail for using marijuana recreationally. America has more of its population in prison than any other country. It's sad. We should start thinking differently about what freedom really means.

There are 2 issues here and I support them both. Namely, I support medical marijuana, as well as legalizing it for everyone. Medical marijuana doesn't have to be a ploy that people have to play in order to choose for themselves. How much control do you really want over what your neighbors do in the privacy of their own homes? As long as people aren't doing it in public or driving or anything like that, there's no reason for the law to get involved and start arresting peaceful, nonviolent people. When one looks at the real facts and follows history, one inevitably comes to the conclusion that the government is not handling this honestly or fairly. It always comes down to money, not what is really right or wrong.

The greatest opponents of ending prohibition are the tobacco, alcohol, and pharmaceutical corporations, as well as those who benefit from the prison industrial complex. It's not about what is good for the people. It's about money. It always is.

The only material statement you made was about MJ curing cancer.
That was your opinion misrepresented as fact. MDs in the Netherlands
know that MJ cures or effectively treats the symptoms of 90% of all known
disorders/diseases, and immunizes people against 90 % of all known
degenerative diseases. It's such a miraculous wonder drug that even for
people without ailments, MJ will have a phrophylactic effect, and prevent
those diseases from ever occurring. There's a down side to using MJ to
excess. But it's benign. And none of your negativistic propaganda changes
the facts. I've been blogging Mike Herrer here on Current.com for 2 years,
along with CopperDragon et al. All their news articles are backed up with
scientific studies that have been successfuly replicated. Face up to facts.

This was caused by a crack down, not by legalization.

if i could grow my weed in the back yard these scumbags wouldnt exist......then again...

haha yeah he definitely missed the point of his own post..

This is the one area where I agree with you.

Making it into a pill may be a good idea, but it probably wouldn't be because all of the chemicals need to be present for it to be the most effective without negative side effects and pharmaceutical corporations want there to be bad side effects so you need another prescription to cancel it out, etc. If they just used a distillation process to extract the essential oils it would change many of it's applications, but it would still be mostly without side effects.
They already have THC pills, but THC by itself just does not work the same: there is evidence that it's addictive and carcinogenic by itself.

Interesting. So some of the other attributes of the plant negate the otherwise addictive and carcinogenic aspects of THC? I wonder if the same is true for hashish?

remember how good that worked for bayer when they sythesised opium and made heroin...
why not pick on cigaretts....why not booze.....how bout coffee...or aspirin...for real....
read a book....

There are several ways to make hash. The most common of the methods (involving pollen catchers or tumblers and then pressing) sound as if the end product wouldn't be too different from the whole plant, just more concentrated. Some other methods (any method involving more than 5 minutes of high temperatures) are bound to change something in the chemical makeup of the plant, though I can't say what and I'll bet it would be difficult to tell by conducting experiments considering how many different strains there are. Then there's hash oil, made by soaking the plant in some liquid (acetone, alcohol [it's implied that rubbing alcohol is preferred], butane, or petroleum ether) then allowing the liquid to evaporate leaving behind a sticky substance that's more like tar than oil. This typically doubles the THC content, but info on what else is extracted is limited.
I do know that a similar method has been used for hundreds of years to make alcohol based remedies called tinctures making me think that a fair balance of the chemicals present are included in the extract (I'll have the FDA get right on confirming THAT *cracks whip*). To make a tincture: you need 4T of herb, slightly bruised in a mortar and pestle. Place it in a large dark glass jar or bottle with at least 10 fl oz capacity. Pour over 10 fl oz of either (good quality) brandy or vodka making sure all the herb is covered. Seal the jar/bottle and leave in a cool dark place. Shake the bottle daily and after 3 weeks, strain the liquid thoroughly. Decant into dark glass bottles (the kind with a rubber teat and glass pipette inside is best since the dosing is measured in drops) and store in a cool dark place. These can keep for years (if it ever gets cloudy, throw it out). It's best to take tinctures on an empty stomach. The adult dose is 20 drops (1 ml) in a small glass of water (I have the doses for kids, but I feel like sharing would be child abuse, soo...). I don't recommend making tinctures at random because IT'S A GREAT WAY TO KILL YOURSELF. You're dealing with a highly concentrated form of... whatever it is you make it with in tinctures, so don't take it lightly.

If you're in the market, I'd suggest steering clear of extra dark and sticky hash because it usually has opium in it. If you're interested in hash oil, the dark stuff is usually low quality, so stick to the honey colored to pale "oils".

" Journalist Nicky Taylor travels to Amsterdam to investigate the
growing debate about the legalization of Marijuana " original air date
11/16/2008 via BBC America. I have the documentary recorded on my
Dish DVR files. The coolest thing about this vid is my Dutch breathren
heading the smokehouse where she visited with her camera crew. And
the high point of the documentary (realy don't mean to insert puns
here-they just come out that way) is when she gives her some royal
Persian brand of hashish crumbled into her spliff. That look on Nicky's
face when she got off is priceless. For other things-there's Mastercard.

Yes!

September 11, 1987...one of the saddest losses in music history. I often wonder how much closer to genuine reform we would be if we didn't lose Peter Tosh to such senselessness. May he rest in peace.