Upstream | August 07, 2009 | 10 comments

Marijuana is SAFER

source: http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v09/n770/a05.htm

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a_d_4_m
So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?

A new book explains how we're steering people away from cannabis and toward the use of a very harmful and deadly substance: alcohol.

The following is an excerpt from the just-released book, Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert ( Chelsea Green, 2009 ).

Dateline: February 1, 2009. It's Super Bowl Sunday and throughout the nation millions of Americans have stocked their shelves and refrigerators with alcohol for the big game. In living rooms across the country, guests will enjoy the libations and gawk at the humorous beer commercials sprinkled liberally throughout the telecast. Like the Fourth of July and fireworks, the Super Bowl and booze are an American tradition. There is no societal stigma associated with this excessive drinking. It is all part of the celebration. Like the old saying goes: "We don't have a drinking problem. We drink. We get drunk. No problem."

Sure, all Americans know that marijuana is illegal, and most are aware that the government purposely spreads misleading information about the drug's allegedly adverse effects. But how many of you have stopped to think about the ways that other entities are directly or indirectly involved in maintaining cannabis prohibition? After all, the government could not uphold the status quo all by itself. It requires the assistance of private and public employers, athletic associations, and the mainstream media. Each of these groups, by acting according to ( assumed ) societal norms, their leaders' own personal biases, or perhaps, as we discuss later, their own financial interests, take actions that reinforce the government's criminalizing of cannabis.

While these coercive actions and public policies have certainly not eliminated the drug from our society, there is little doubt that collectively they have produced an artificially low level of marijuana use among U.S. adults.
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10 comments // Marijuana is SAFER

  • a_d_4_m
    • 0
      a_d_4_m  

    • the mother who drove down the wrong side of the rode was DRUNK, bad example. You can be high as a kite and drive all day, probably more attentive to your surroundings due to paranoia, Get real :p

    • 2 years ago
  • jkudurog
  • alivein85
    • 0
      alivein85  

    • I dont know how we can get it through the thick skulls out there, Personal Responsibility, Set and Setting, Moderation.
      I guess some people just don't listen.

    • 2 years ago
  • alivein85
    • 0
      alivein85  

    • Its all about personal responsibility, people. If you choose to drink, you should know better than to drive. Its the same with marijuana, although I don't think it is AS dangerous as it it foolish. In the movie, "Smiley Face" with Anna Faris, she consumes a whole plate of pot brownies or something and she cant even get her car out of the garage! The end of that movie actually makes a good point and I suggest you see it. As in my first comment,the book "Saying Yes" discusses average Americans who use drugs in the privacy of their own homes.The PRIVACY of their homes! People have the right to relax with a joint just as much as they do with a beer. The important thing to remember is taking responsibility for your actions! The woman mentioned by charlie had no right to get behind the wheel of a car. I think you all are missing the point.
      In addition, I just moved from Wisconsin to Colorado and both states recently have had the drug salvia in the news. In Wisconsin, it was a boy who commited suicide and his parents found he had written about using salvia in his journal. Of course, they use this to blame the suicide on the drug and are now trying to have it outlawed in that state. Here in Colorado, I seen on the news that teens are discovering salvia and apparently are using it and getting behind the wheel of a car and doing other stupid things. I don't think this substance should be criminalised, but I KNOW there is a proper time and place to use it. When I bought it for the first time at a head shop in Wisconsin, it actually came with an information sheet with instructions to be sitting down when using it. Just as in the book "Saying Yes" explains, "SET AND SETTING". Responsible drug use starts with SET AND SETTING and should only be used by responsible consenting adults in MODERATION.
      I dont know how we can get it through the thick skulls out there, Personal Responsibility, Set and Setting, Moderation.
      I guess some people just don't listen.

    • 2 years ago
  • iamaman
    • 0
      iamaman  

    • guns dont kill people.........they help people kill themselves (if they cant figure out how to tie a noose).

      who cares about the weed! where was Child Welfare and Protective Services before the lady left the house?

      why didnt her "freinds and family" report her way before?

      its all about taxes and lobbyists!!!!!

      you cant control the supply of marijuana like you can booze and tobacco. you could not legally brew your own beer until 20 years ago. if you were black and brewed your own beer, you were 2x screwed. you cant legally grow your own tobacco. why?

      TAXES!!!! the new marijuana taxes will be scrutinized a year from now. once the data is (finally) allowed to back up the argument, under the protection of the IRS, pot heads will be liberated!

      ignorance is not bliss!!!!!!

      unless your an alpaca?

    • 2 years ago
  • unclecharlie
    • 0
      unclecharlie  

    • Both are dangerous- like the mother who drove down the interstate in the wrong direction, killed herself, her children, and the people in the other minivan she crashed into- leaving her own minivan a burned out hulk. She was impaired from alcohol AND she was higher than a kite from smoking marijuana. She had a history of such behavior. It's probably a good thing she killed herself- but the tragedy here is she killed (if I remember correctly) 6 other people. Safer? I would have to disagree.

    • 2 years ago
  • iamaman
    • 0
      iamaman  
    • unclecharlie:

      get your facts strait. she had 2x the legal level of booze in her system and a "trace of marijuana".

      ive done both, and got sick on the booze, on more than one occasion.

      most "low brow" people prefer booze over weed because it makes them feel less retarded, compared to more.

    • 2 years ago
  • alivein85
    • 0
      alivein85  
    • unclecharlie:

      Would you mind providing the name of this supposed woman and the date of her death as well as the name of the city and state where this occured and your source? Without that information you just sound like your blowing alot of hot air.

    • 2 years ago
  • alivein85
    • 0
      alivein85  
    • unclecharlie:

      Just for the record, I only just saw this story on HLN just now. I didnt catch the state but I saw footage of the burned out van. So I just wanted to come back to this thread and say that.
      Apparently the husband of this woman claims she wasnt drinking even though her BAC is said to have been .19.
      There seems to be an ongoing dispute.

    • 2 years ago
  • alivein85
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