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Columnist Marcos Breton proposes that a significant portion of the 3.3 million Californians who use marijuana are addicted to pot ("Pot people are in denial about Prop. 19"; Our Region, Sept. 29). He bases this supposition on the following premise: "Answer this question: If you had to stop smoking marijuana forever, could you? My guess is that many couldn't quit if they tried."
To which I'd reply, "So what?"
No doubt some people may have difficulty arbitrarily halting an activity — particularly a fairly innocuous one like consuming cannabis — that provides them pleasure. Most Americans would have trouble giving up a scoop of ice cream after dinner, surfing the Internet, having sexual relations with their partner, or any number of similarly pleasurable behaviors or indulgences. Does that make them addicted? Does Breton really believe that society would be better off outlawing television because tens of millions of Americans enjoy tuning in week after week to "Dancing With the Stars"?
Further, if given the option, most adults would likely have a much harder time withdrawing from television or ice cream than they would pot. Tens of millions of Americans have voluntarily ceased their use of cannabis, including (by his own admission) columnist Breton. According to the federal government's survey data, nearly one out of two Americans has experimented with weed at some point in their lives. Yet only about 10 percent say that they've used cannabis in the past year and only 6 percent of the population define themselves as consumers in the past month. In short, many people try pot, but very few keep on using it. After all, does anyone really think that President Barack Obama still "joneses" for an occasional toke?
That said, all of us are probably aware of someone who we believed smoked too much pot. But there is certainly a difference between doing something too much and being clinically addicted. Are marathoners addicted to running? Would Breton argue that Oakland A's ticket holders are addicted to baseball?
Breton's fear-mongering aside, Californians have no legitimate reason not to embrace Proposition 19 this November. It recognizes the reality that millions of Californians consume cannabis privately and responsibly, and acknowledges that it makes no sense to continue to spend limited law enforcement resources to target and prosecute them. Let's stop stigmatizing and criminalizing those adults who make the objectively safer decision to consume marijuana instead of alcohol or tobacco.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:sacbee.com
Author: Paul Armentano
Contact: Contact Us - sacbee.com
Copyright: The Sacramento Bee
Website:Viewpoints: Addiction argument is just fear-mongering over pot initiative - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee
To which I'd reply, "So what?"
No doubt some people may have difficulty arbitrarily halting an activity — particularly a fairly innocuous one like consuming cannabis — that provides them pleasure. Most Americans would have trouble giving up a scoop of ice cream after dinner, surfing the Internet, having sexual relations with their partner, or any number of similarly pleasurable behaviors or indulgences. Does that make them addicted? Does Breton really believe that society would be better off outlawing television because tens of millions of Americans enjoy tuning in week after week to "Dancing With the Stars"?
Further, if given the option, most adults would likely have a much harder time withdrawing from television or ice cream than they would pot. Tens of millions of Americans have voluntarily ceased their use of cannabis, including (by his own admission) columnist Breton. According to the federal government's survey data, nearly one out of two Americans has experimented with weed at some point in their lives. Yet only about 10 percent say that they've used cannabis in the past year and only 6 percent of the population define themselves as consumers in the past month. In short, many people try pot, but very few keep on using it. After all, does anyone really think that President Barack Obama still "joneses" for an occasional toke?
That said, all of us are probably aware of someone who we believed smoked too much pot. But there is certainly a difference between doing something too much and being clinically addicted. Are marathoners addicted to running? Would Breton argue that Oakland A's ticket holders are addicted to baseball?
Breton's fear-mongering aside, Californians have no legitimate reason not to embrace Proposition 19 this November. It recognizes the reality that millions of Californians consume cannabis privately and responsibly, and acknowledges that it makes no sense to continue to spend limited law enforcement resources to target and prosecute them. Let's stop stigmatizing and criminalizing those adults who make the objectively safer decision to consume marijuana instead of alcohol or tobacco.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:sacbee.com
Author: Paul Armentano
Contact: Contact Us - sacbee.com
Copyright: The Sacramento Bee
Website:Viewpoints: Addiction argument is just fear-mongering over pot initiative - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee
