Looking at the police log can give people an idea of the state of the culture, and talking to young people can be even more enlightening. A lot of people are smoking pot, young and old. A lot of young people, whose parents smoke marijuana, will recognize the smell at their first illicit party at the home of parents who think their kid would never throw a party while they are in Maine vacationing from their parental duties; and they will smoke it.
What chance does a kid have when dad cautions "cops" to no one in particular while slowing down before passing the police cruiser on the side of the road. Or when dad takes the ten year-old shopping, but forgets to take the two cereal boxes out of his hands, and no one at the register notices, but, after opening the car door for his child and noticing the oversight, says "Look what we won."
So, if just to save children from their parents, an argument could be made for decriminalization of the leafy weed. The HopNews poll was 2-1 in favor of decriminalization of the illicit substance. And although the majority of respondents felt that way, would they have voted if the method of drug delivery, assuming the same amount of drug as in one joint, were by pill instead of smoke? A pill would be less dangerous, because smoke from a marijuana cigarette is said to deliver all of the evils of a cigarette, and much more.
Democratic Representative Barney Frank believes the government should stay out of people's lives. He favors decriminalization of marijuana.
But decriminalization is not the same as legalization.
If the government legalized the drug for adult use, it could make a bounty in taxes! And as an unintended consequence, the sales of "munchies" would also increase. People would drive more slowly. Of course, being a psychotropic drug, there would be some professions that marijuana use, even if legal and purchased over the counter, should be verboten. I can't imagine a police officer officer saying, "License and registration, dude."
Or the teacher starting the day with, "Yo, whaddup, Holmes?"
But the main problem with marijuana use, legal or illegal, is the lethargy that overcomes some of its users — and most of its abusers.
"Let's smoke a joint and lift some weights, and then do our homework together" I doubt it.
More like, "Let's eat some more Hostess cupcakes and drink another gallon of milk while we watch TV with the sound off and the radio blaring, and make really dumb YouTube movies featuring ourselves beating each other up and doing other dangerous things."
Of course the side effects of pot are legend, especially for young people. Unfortunately, 18 is the age when young people have the right to get addicted to nicotine and take years, not only off of their lives, but off of the quality of life. It really only takes one time, the first. And although marijuana is not as addictive as nicotine, it can cause more damage to a developing mind, because that is what it affects.
Cigarettes have never been attributed to influencing a person's mental development, but abuse of drugs has long been known to slow or even stop a young person's maturing process. It could be very well that if marijuana becomes readily accessible to the masses, legal or decriminalized, it should be kept out of the hands of anyone under 21 — or even 25.
Barney Frank wants to keep the government out of people's personal business. But our society isn't the same society that he envisions, with people doing whatever they want. It is a society that wants its children to have all of the tools it needs entering adulthood. It is a society where some children, more than other generations, need society, police, and the courts to take up the slack from absent parents, single parent homes, and the peer pressure that those kids are especially susceptible to.
I don't think kids need marijuana to complicate their lives. Hopefully, they will be well protected if any changes are made.
Please feel free to post. ~Robert
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15 comments:
Barney Frank is a clown. He is a United States Congressman representing Massachusetts, and a cause he choses to champion is the decriminalization of marijuana issues. First off, if I were in his district - this would be his last term. What a complete mockery. Is there no other more pressing issues that Barney could spend his time and our tax dollars on?
Barney the Clown could have insisted that Pelosi allow debate and a vote on increasing our country's oil production. Maybe the ivory tower congressman doesn't know that Americans are hurting. We're hurting congressman!
Marijuana will continue to enjoy widespread use, either legal or illegal. It's the second most commonly used drug in the United States (after Alcohol), and I think Robert's characterizations of the police officer, teacher, and students are unfair representations of the majority of (responsible) users.
If nothing else, legalization will lift the "taboo" factor, which could see a decrease in abuse by minors as the thrill of "acting out" becomes less intense.
anonymous, you're wacked. these "responsible" users are breaking the law.
Lots of people knowingly break the law -- While the speed limit on 495 is always <65, There are few who go slower than the posted limit.
Does that mean that going 67 is dangerous? It is most certainly illegal.
These "responsible" users I speak of do not abuse the substance, they know while under the influence which activities are "off-limits" (such as driving), and thus do not endanger others. They use no "hard drugs", and are generally respectable people.
The realities of society and our laws are not synchronized - and I think that while Congressman Frank certainly is known for his liberal actions, his goal is to approach the current situation more realistically. A lot has changed since the Controlled Substances Act was signed in 1970...
My $0.02
Alcohol isn't a drug its a poison (toxin/intoxication). The most abused drug in America is caffeine. Its amazing what a ew facts can do for an argument instead of made up information!
I had to remove a flamer's comment. Please, this page is for adults.
to "my $0.02", you seem to be the only one on here with your head on straight. i believe in legalization for many reasons, however,
i do not believe in debates over blogspot comments.
to each his own, and stay out of trouble.
I have several disagreements with your post.
You said that "smoke from a marijuana cigarette is said to deliver all of the evils of a cigarette, and much more"
You're being pretty vague for making such a bold statement. It's important to note that a marijuana cigarette, or a joint, would be wrapped in paper just the same as a cigarette. If you take away that commonality, as most marijuana smokers do by smoking with bowls or bongs, you'll find that the effects of smoking pot versus smoking tobacco are actually quite different. While smoking a joint's worth of pot puts more tar in your lungs than a cigarette does, the most recent and most comprehensive studies have shown that it *does not* lead to lung cancer.
Of course if you're actually smoking paper, that adds all sorts of carcinogens into the mix and changes things quite a bit. Decriminalization of marijuana might allow a more widespread sale of glass smoking devices that prevent users from using paper to smoke out of, as well as education on the topic. It's important that our kids know how to smoke their weed.
"Marijuana worsens breathing problems in current smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a new study." - The study goes on to say that the risk factor for this disease increases by 18.5 times for those who smoke both cigarettes and marijuana.
And this report from May of this year:
"May 9th, 2008 8:39 AM Eastern
New Report Links Teens, Depression and Marijuana to Mental Illness, Suicidal Thoughts
by Melissa Browne
Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday.
A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy."
Well, anonymous person, there are some facts for you. I am not in favor of a societal endorsement of marijuana, although I can see there are two sides. And although I may have been in favor of legalization at one point in my life, age and experience have a way of tempering a person's perspective. Bob Dylan said it well, even though in his youth.
A strange fan was at the window of Bob Dylan's limo demanding an autograph, which he refused to give her. "Please, I need your autograph. I need your autograph," she begged.
"No, your don't NEED my autograph. if you NEEDED it, I would give it to you," Dylan replied.
Children don't NEED to complicate their lives with a recreational drug that substantailly increases their risk for mental illness and lung disease. There is no reason for adults to facilitate that.
Robert,
Your views are biased. Beyond belief. I appreciate though that your thoughts stay on your blog, and not your main page, which is allegedly Hopkinton News.
Obviously you have your own views against drugs, but you must acknowledge the chance this could be a misunderstood generation gap.
You hint at the fact that a "stoner" cannot be a productive member of society. If that is true, and you dislike drug use, and truly hate everything about it, then please look at the average person's music collection. Bob Dylan introduced The Beatles to marijuana. Both parties seemed to have had success after that point, but of course you just make up your own quotes for a sect of the population of which you are not a part of, and with due respect it seems you do not want to be a member.
Which is fine.
The problem is that you use health effects regarding joints, not the alternative forms of smoking marijuana, or tobacco for that matter, there is a much healthier option for smokers. It is how much their health actually matters.
Water pipes such as bongs, bubblers, and hookahs are much easier on the lungs, not to say healthier, the only fully healthy smoke is no smoke of course.
There are more options, and healthier ones, but that is for another lecture on a different day.
Music, movies and life can all be affected by marijuana.
I think the key here should be to teach about moderation, as with alcohol and any other drug that the "lifestyle" is more addicting that the actual drug.
As a cigarette smoker, unfortunately, I know nicotine is a true evil. Its addictive properties are equivalent to heroine. And nicotine is legal...
I'll leave it at that.
t: I am not certain that you understood the compliment you paid me in your first paragraph when you said you are glad my thoughts remain on the blog and not the front page. That doesn't happen by mistake.
But the other parts, calling me biased and putting Hopkinton News in parentheses are directed to the person (ad hominem), something you may notice I did not do in my response to you.
I am pretty certain when you say that I make up my own quotes that you mean I pick and choose what to quote. You can''t believe that I actually fabricated quotes? I hope not.
I am not certain that Dylan introduced the Beatles to pot. I am cetain that the beatles introduced the drug to their listeners in 1967, asking them to turn on. 20 million kids did so that summer.
Both Dylan and the Beatles were hugely successful before then, and I would argue that their talents drove them to success, undoubtedly not the use of any drug. Bob Dylan was a genius who was a sponge for music. His various musical iterations came quickly on his way to stardom, which he never really contemplated on the way. He just did it.
And as for the Beatles, we'll never know if drugs helped their music, because we don't what it would have been like with them developing their music without drugs. You can't look back at older music and say, "See what they were like before?" They would have evolved nonetheless. They were geniuses.
And to your paper argument, the studies I pasted in a previous post did not even mention the use of paper. Hookahs and bongs, if you've ever seen them used, cause the smoker to cough up a lung.
But the main point I think is important is that pot be kept out of the hands of people under 21, even if it is decriminalized. Their brains are still developing. And if you get caught with pot, they deny your college loans, etc.
Last point: I quit smoking after seeing this guy about 15 years ago: Yefim Shubentsov, 1680A Beacon Street, Brookline,MA, 02445
(617) 232-3930. He now costs $65 and removes the urge to smoke from smokers. Some people call him the Mad Russian. It is the best thing I ever did for myself.
Peace
listen you bastard. why dont you stop stereotyping "potheads" becaseu you really have no fuckin idea what a pot head really is. look around its everywhere and will never stop. its like a partly inflated balloon. you squeeze on one side and it pops up on the other. you squeeze on that side and it pops up on the other. it is going to continue to be like that until there are no human life forms left on this planet.
STOP IT
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