Marijuana law just a political ploy, Letter to the Editor
Kirk said he thought the penalty for selling high-THC marijuana should be equivalent to that for cocaine. From a scientific perspective, that's laughable. Unlike cocaine, THC is essentially non- toxic. It is literally impossible to fatally overdose on even the highest-strength marijuana. And scientific experts remain unconvinced that higher-THC marijuana is any more dangerous.
A review published last year by the journal Addiction noted that warnings about escalating marijuana potency date back to at least 1975, and that the evidence for claims of major increases in potency is "fragmented and fraught with methodological errors."
The researchers concluded that "more research is needed" to determine whether increased potency increases risk at all. International experts report that when marijuana is more potent, users simply smoke less, just as they drink a smaller amount of bourbon than they would beer. Yet Kirk wants us to believe that marijuana is somehow magically different.
The scientific fact - as verified by another prestigious scientific journal, The Lancet - is that marijuana of any strength is far safer than either tobacco or alcohol: It's less addictive, far less toxic, and massively less likely than booze to provoke violence or aggression.
Over the years, Congressman Kirk has raked in thousands of dollars of campaign cash from the tobacco and alcohol industries, including the company that owns Philip Morris tobacco and the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
Meanwhile, he engages in empty political posturing about a nonexistent threat from high-strength marijuana. It's a cheap and dangerous political ploy that should be soundly rejected.
Bruce Mirken
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
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- groups:
- Culture, Cannabis Culture, CANNABINOIDS
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- copperdragon
- added this
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This kind of stuff just pisses me off. Another politician taking hand-outs from the highest bidder! He should immediately be voted out of office, he does'nt care about America, he only cares about his wallet.
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- lifeofajaybird
- 4 months ago
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Congressman Mark Kirk is nothing but a moron talking out his ass. This idiot needs to be removed from office for being a bald faced liar and blatant deceiver of the public.
As far as I've always been told, members of congress are supposed to be honest representatives of the will of the people of their state not whore for the lobbyists that pay for their beer, smokes (and I'm sure in a lot of cases these days hookers).
How can this clown even hold office when he spouts this ridiculous crap???
Of course, there's that Bachman moron too and she's still in office.
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someday soon we shall be free,release us from this tyranny.
