Weed

[JaneV2.0]

On CNN tonight, Sanjay Gupta is airing Weed 3, the latest installment in his series on medical marijuana. He thinks it should be legalized immediately. As far as I'm concerned, he's doing the secular equivalent of God's work.

ETA: that's at 6/9 Eastern.

[Lainey]

and yet Chris Christie has said as president he would outlaw it. When is this country going to grow up and stop the madness?

[JaneV2.0]

Legalization would likely cut deeply into Pharma's profits. Not to mention the prisons would have to be cleared out, leading to less revenue for the prison-industrial complex.

[oldhat]

Hopefully we are approaching the same kind of tipping point with regard to the legalization of marijuana as we have with regard to gay marriage. The so-called War on Drugs is the very definition of insanity, and has probably wrecked more lives in the past half-century than anything other than the Vietnam and Iraq wars.

I think there are two main reasons that progress on this issue has been so slow. The first is that the decades of antidrug propaganda did have some effect, and especially among older people (who are more likely to vote) there's still a belief that taking a puff on a joint inevitably leads to lying in the gutter with a needle in your arm. (Don't laugh; I can remember in junior high school being shown a film with exactly that plot.) The facts--that marijuana is less harmful as a recreational drug than alcohol and has a number of legitimate medical uses--are much less sensational.

The second is the existence of a large bureaucracy that depends for its existence on the status quo. As Upton Sinclair observed, it's hard to get a man to understand something when his job depends on him not understanding it.

[catherine]

Legalization would likely cut deeply into Pharma's profits. Not to mention the prisons would have to be cleared out, leading to less revenue for the prison-industrial complex.

But wait! The profiteering doesn't stop there. Step back, Big Pharma; step up, Monsanto.

Argghhh..

http://www.the-open-mind.com/frankenweed-what-you-need-to-know-about-monsantos-patent-on-marijuana/

[JaneV2.0]

Nothing good can come of that.

[Packy]

I've got an idea that you kids should be VERY supportive of: Congress, and Legislatures across the country should all pass one new law. It would decree that everything that is legal now, be made illegal, and vice-versa. Put a 90-day sunset clause on it, in case there are unintended consequences:0! Now, how's that for Progress?

[Rogar]

Unfortunately the Reefer Madness mentality and war on drugs have made any objective scientific studies difficult to pull off, so just now some of the benefits and health risks are being studied. National Geo had a good recent article on where science is at with things. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/marijuana/sides-text

Also, Hampton Sides must be short on more significant writing as he has an article in the recent issue of Time, which isn't available online. Here in Colorado, pot use is nearly invisible to my age group, other than the preponderance of pot shops. Based on the sales figures, people are buying huge amounts, but they must be staying home and eating chips on the couch or it's a young group. I've been to a few social functions where people have joked about livening things up with a little toke, but it hasn't lost it's social stigma.

[kib]

But wait! The profiteering doesn't stop there. Step back, Big Pharma; step up, Monsanto.

Argghhh..

http://www.the-open-mind.com/frankenweed-what-you-need-to-know-about-monsantos-patent-on-marijuana/

:doh:Why should this come as a surprise. There are days when I feel like small scale human flourishing has become the equivalent of weeds on a fancy lawn. The answer to both being: bring in Monsanto!

[JaneV2.0]

The June issue of National Geographic is devoted to Marijuana, I read somewhere.

I still haven't made it to one of my local ganja marts. Maybe when I recycle the latest load of electronics down the street from one...