Yes sir. But not the reason you think.
It is illegal because voters are ignorant of the facts. And because they feel the need to try and control others who are not hurting anyone with their toking
or their growing.
The voters bought a pack of lies manufactured by the government and big business. They (government and big business) fear what legalization and cultivation would do to the agricultural industry, the logging industry, papermills, the pharmaceutical industry, alcohol distilleries, etc. This page has a ton of information for you, I hope you read it. Ignorance is not a bad thing, as long as you don't hold on to it intentionally. This is a very important issue, and every person (including you) is important. Please, please study the info on this page:
http://www.chanvre-info.ch/info/en/Cannabis-Hemp-FAQ.html
I don't really care if you read the following, but please study the info on the linked page above.
***
Not everyone's experience has been the same as your own. The vast majority of the marijuana users I know--and in 36 years living in a Texas city where it is both dirt cheap and widely available, I have known many--are recreational users who do not use daily. Most of them get high less than twice a week. I also know people with neuropathy from cancer treatments and complications from diabetes, people with glaucoma, people with lingering chronic pain from damage received in car accidents and in military operations, that use marijuana for medicinal purposes.
On the other hand, I know drunks. Oh boy, do I know some drunks. In fact, I used to be one. I can tell you, it is beyond all doubt more toxic to the body than weed. Smoking itself is not terribly healthy, but there is more than one alternate form of ingestion, which does not carry the perceived health risks of smoking.
I am not yet growing any cannabis, so I can't say much about it's cultivation. But I study it's known medicinal applications and it's potential medicinal applications. Did you know that most people who smoked a lot of weed back in the day have almost no chance of developing Alzheimer's disease in their old age? (I said 'almost' no chance.) It's true that pot smoking has been shown to cause decreased lung capacity, but the latest research also shows that there doesn't seem to be a link between smoking weed (no tobacco though), even every day, and lung cancer. Glaucoma patients see a reduction in intraocular pressure when they use marijuana regularly. Marijuana has been shown to be as effective for the management of mild to moderate chronic pain as vicodin and codeine for a high percentage of people. An extract of the plant has been shown to be effective in stopping the spread of breast cancer. Marijuana can stimulate appetite in sick people who have lost theirs and are wasting because of it. Marijuana has been shown to stop asthma attacks in some asthmatics. Marijuana has been proven to be a more effective acetylcholinesterase inhibitor than any prescription medication that can be dispensed in the United States to Alzheimer's patients. It outperforms Aricept by a fair margin. The list goes on and on, it is truly amazing.
The daily use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is not without side effects, but you'll never have to worry 'that regular use of this medication may cause temporary hair loss, suicide, burning itching asshole, etc.', or whatever the heck they say in those disclaimers in the commercials for prescription medications.
I don't use marijuana much, but I'm told that dosing marijuana is easy as pie. If you feel bad, you took too much. If you can't push the cat away when it starts licking your crotch, you took too much. If you can't get off the couch when your girlfriends husband comes home, you took too much. Finding an appropriate dose is purportedly a simple, straightforward matter, and it won't put you in the hospital if you take one too many hits off of a joint. This is not the case with most prescription medications, so some forced guidance when using [some of] them may well be appropriate. But it seems that even Forest Gump wouldn't really need any help finding the right dose of marijuana.
Someone here--I can't remember their handle right now, sorry--has a signature that says something like 'don't incarcerate self-sufficient sick people...'. Exactly! Why should a sick person who can improve their health by using marijuana have to get a card, or buy illegally what they can grow at home cheaply, and without hurting anyone? These unjust laws encourage more dependence on the government, and force many people to turn to Rx medications for their conditions. Medications which can often cause horrible side effects, medications that sometimes do more harm than good, medications that cost too damned much money.
Some folks do get psychologically addicted to marijuana. Certainly. But addiction is always going to exist, no matter what. I've known many addicts over the years, not only friends-coworkers-schoolmates-relatives, but people in treatment programs and groups. I grew up with a young man. Handsome, athletic and full of potential, but he started sniffing gas fumes to get high. By the time he finally got tired of it, his math skills, hand-eye coordination, and short term memory were that of an old man. My cousin, beautiful smart woman, was prescribed vicodin after a broken arm. She started doubling the dose and getting high on purpose. Became addicted. After awhile, the addiction cost her so much money to feed, she became a prostitute to support her habit. This pill to that pill, so-on and so-on, a few years go by and now she's on crystal meth, and her kids are all living in different homes in different cities, hardly ever get to see each other. My Uncle became an alcoholic when he came back from a military campaign abroad. He had blackouts where he was violent toward his wife. She put his head through the sheetrock, then put him out of the house. Years later at 55 years, he'd become a shrunken, tiny little whisper of a man. He said that he couldn't eat anything anymore, could only hold beer down, so the doctor told him to drink it. Alcohol had sucked all the health out of him, and it ended up becoming the only thing his stomach would accept toward the end. 4 days later, he died. A friend of mine who seemed to me to be a master guitarist, hurt his back and became addicted to the pills he was given. Oxycontin? Soma? I don't know what the hell they were called, or really what they did. But when he realized that it was furking up his daily life, he went cold turkey. Oops. Couldn't play the guitar anymore, loss of feeling or hand control. Something like that.
We all know, addiction is always going to exist no matter what we do. Keeping marijuana illegal may well deflect the interest of some of the individuals who are afraid to get arrested--many of those being people who seem destined to become addicted to
something. It seems to me that marijuana addiction is preferable to most, if not all the alternatives.
Also, if an adult person chooses to fuck up their lives with a drug, any drug including marijuana (if that's really possible), that is their right. And if they violate my rights, I have the legal right to defend myself with force. But honestly, I don't think some fiendish pothead here is going to try to steal my car. Then again, a pill head or a junkie might.
We shouldn't forget, if there is physical addiction to marijuana, withdrawal is minimal. It also cannot be said enough, that a person can use it recreationally without ever becoming addicted to it. In fact, that seems to be the norm in my neck of the woods.
Peace.
Cancer
Alzheimer's
Overdosing on marijuana
