tagged w/ Legalize It
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Dr. Phil Leveque Salem-News.com
When I chose this title I thought I was being a smart aleck. I checked Google I found over 50 articles on the same subject.
Scene from the propaganda movie "Reefer Madness" from 1938
(MOLALLA, Ore.) - Response to February 4th 2008 editorial in The Oregonian.
This is not what you may think but it could be because marijuana acts like a comforting tranquilizer. But that is not exactly what I am writing about.
The Oregonian seems to be getting some perverse superpleasure writing about how bad it is with the pejorative words "abuse", "workplace hazard" and "out of control medical marijuana program" and that the Oregon Marijuana law is a "bad law".
They decry that Oregon has the highest rate of marijuana use and the highest rate of marijuana abuse. Both of these allegations are perversely false and they should know it. It reminds me of the "Reefer Madness" movie. Perhaps they saw it and believed it.
Oregon has possibly the toughest marijuana law. They do not mention that about 2,700 doctors have signed the applications for patients they certify are eligible for the about 20,000 patients who have permits. If the Oregonian thinks these patients are bamboozling the doctors they are totally mistaken.
The U.S. government estimated that there are 300 thousand Oregon marijuana users. It is a cheap, safe, quick-acting tranquilizer. These patients are getting to doctors as soon and fast as possibly and the number of permit card holders is increasing by about 100 per week.
The Oregonian's allegation that medical users use it to "get high" is ridiculous. It costs too much to be used so frivolously. I must admit some high schoolers do get high. How would they like to be in high school these days?
For the Oregonian to infer and publish that it was for "terminal cancer patients" shows their ignorance. However if it is good for a dying patient in pain, why should it not be good for a chronic pain patient with many years ahead? There is some strange perverse sophistry going on here.
The Oregonian fails to address the "on the job hazards" of Oxycontin use, alcoholic hangovers, heavy anti-depressant or tranquilizer use, all of which are far more dangerous than marijuana use which even with heavy use ceases its brain effects in about four hours.
The DEA's administrative judge, Francis J. Young, after hearing two weeks of testimony, wrote: "nearly all medicines have toxins, potentially lethal affects, but marijuana is not such a substance...Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care" (DEA Docket No. 86-22, 57)
By the way, marinol, the pure substance in marijuana, is an FDA approved prescription drug. If one is bad and dangerous, both are! In fact, marinol is worse than marijuana.
I hope the Oregonian writers can get over this obsessive-compulsive activity and get themselves educated. At one time cannabis medications were the most prescribed in the U.S. Furthermore, cannabis has been used as medicine for about 4,000 years and NEVER caused a death. Even aspirin is far more dangerous.Dr. Phil Leveque Salem-News.com
When I chose this title I thought I was being a smart... more
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Once again, conservatives get uptight over a little wordplay, I'm interested just because Im a micro-brew fanaticOnce again, conservatives get uptight over a little wordplay, I'm interested just... more
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Bill would end federal authority to arrest adults for pot possession. US Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced the bill to Congress. It is the first federal decriminalization legislation introduced in 24 years. Bill would end federal authority to arrest adults for pot possession. US Congressman... more
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PBS Travel Writer Rick Steves is teaming up with the ACLU of Washington State, to tackle the prohibition of Marijuana. They are comparing this prohibition, to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s. Rick Steves smokes marijuana when he is in Europe and has learned from their tolerant approach to the drug, "Marijuana use should be treated primarily as a health issue, not a criminal one. In Europe I've seen how more thoughtful approaches to social issues can really work. Our government's war on drugs sounds very tough and results-driven, but all it really succeeds at is being enormously expensive, tearing families apart and treating nonconformists as criminals."
Washington State is one of the more pro-marijuana states, so they thought this would be a natural location to start their campaign. PBS Travel Writer Rick Steves is teaming up with the ACLU of Washington State, to... more
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