No Logical Reason to Punish Adults for Using Marijuana Over Alcohol

[qWERTY]

Boo!

That's a preview of the strongest argument opponents of Amendment 44 - the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative - will put forth in the last two weeks of the campaign.

Don't expect an open and honest discussion about the merits of making marijuana possession legal for adults. Instead, expect every possible scare tactic related to children you can imagine. Before our opponents are done, you will think we are trying to make marijuana part of the free lunch program at elementary schools.

And why are our opponents hiding behind children? Perhaps it is because there is no logical reason to punish adults for making the rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol. Here are just a few reasons why:

• Alcohol is deadly; marijuana is not. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 20,000 Americans die every year as the direct result of alcohol consumption. The number for marijuana is zero. In addition, alcohol overdose deaths are not just possible, but an all-too-frequent occurrence in Colorado, as the on-campus deaths of students like Samantha Spady and Gordy Bailey have made tragically clear. Marijuana, on the other hand, has never caused an overdose death.

• Alcohol increases the likelihood of violent behavior; marijuana does not. This is not a surprising statement to individuals who have been around users of each substance. But it is also backed up with statistics. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice has reported the following about crime in the United States: "Two-thirds of victims who suffered violence by an intimate (a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a factor. Among spouse victims, three out of four incidents were reported to have involved an offender who had been drinking." Every objective study has concluded that marijuana use does not contribute to violent or aggressive behavior.

• Alcohol is especially problematic on college campuses. Drinking by college students, ages 18 to 24, contributes to an estimated 1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assaults or date rapes each year, according to a 2002 study commissioned by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Task Force on College Drinking.

While these numbers are staggering, some statistics are even more powerful when conveyed as percentages.

For example, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health College found that nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of all college female rape victims experienced rape while under the influence of alcohol.

Our opponents, including the top elected officials in the state, will completely ignore these facts and recklessly defend a system designed to punish people for using marijuana, which only pushes more people toward alcohol.

To justify this irrational policy, our opponents will claim they are protecting our kids. In doing so, however, they ignore even more statistics.

Marijuana is already "universally available" to teens. Our opponents make it seem as if marijuana prohibition is needed to keep marijuana away from kids. Yet today, 86 percent of high school seniors say it is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get marijuana. Moreover, the authors of the Monitoring the Future report on teen substance use reported, "Marijuana has been almost universally available to American high school seniors over at least the past 30 years."

Anti-marijuana propaganda is pushing kids toward a more dangerous drug. As a result of anti-marijuana propaganda, 12- to 17-year-old Americans believe smoking marijuana once or twice a week is more dangerous than having five or more drinks at a time once or twice a week, according to a federal government survey. Yet binge drinking can kill these kids in one night; marijuana cannot.

For better or worse, alcohol and marijuana are a permanent part of our society. Young people determined to use alcohol will probably find alcohol, and those determined to use marijuana will probably find marijuana. Nevertheless, reducing teen use of either substance requires honest and open conversations with our kids.

Pushing adults (with our laws) and kids (with misinformation) toward alcohol instead of marijuana is not a solution to the problem. Rather, it is making societal problems worse.

Don't let our opponents scare you into maintaining the current, failed system. Help reduce alcohol-related harms and make Colorado safer by voting yes on Amendment 44.


NewsHawk: _qWERTY - 420 Magazine
Source: Rocky Mountain News
Pubdate: Saturday, October 21, 2006
Copyright: 2006 The E.W. Scripps Co.
Contact: letters@RockyMountainNews.com
Website: Rocky Mountain News - Denver and Colorado's reliable source for breaking news, sports and entertainment

[IshmarRodriguez]

Perfectly written. Go Colorado!!

That is a great piece of writing. And sooooo true. Basically America's "leaders" are telling ADULTS that they themselves are too dumb to decide what they want to put into their bodies.

[420AM&PM]

Our opponents, including the top elected officials in the state, will completely ignore these facts and recklessly defend a system designed to punish people for using marijuana, which only pushes more people toward alcohol.

Are they retarded? I dont understand how they think ...

[thepothead]

ya i agree that alcohol is worse...I cant drink but I sure can smoke..

[medMUser]

Originally Posted by 420AM&PM

Are they retarded? I dont understand how they think ...

They are not retarded, though they act like it. They very carefully plan their campaingn of BS, but God knows why. It is based on lies, misrepresentation, mis-handled stats...not to mention they ignore that cannabis has caused no over dose deaths like alcohol has (as stated in the lead).

There was a guy in the Nevada legalization debate Marijuana Policy Project's site, (link to the Nevada clips of the TV news stories on You Tube) who said his wife was killed by a MJ user who was driving high. If that is true, I mourn his loss. We must NEVER use MJ & drive. I very seldom use my medicine during the day. I use it to insure a good nights sleep most often. Though not making any suggestions to others, we must be responsible adults & exercise some smarts. We do not want to give the anti's any ammo. I think getting real high & driving is not the norm for most of us, but the few who do use & cause problems will be dis-proportianlly used to say how dangerous MJ is while they ignore how may thousands have died from alcohol related over use or from legal script drugs whose "side affects include...". We MUST set a good example of responsible use!!

Some of the school kids who shot up their schools were on script drugs or had been. How much do you hear about that in mainstream media? If they cared about America's children they would not put them on synthetic drugs for ever reason they can think of. They selfishly sacrifice kids to increase their bottom line. Then they want to punish responsable adults for MJ. Hippacrites!!!

To me the put down of cannabis & hemp is to protect the big money syn-chem producers. Now the alcohol industry also?

It is a sad day when opponants of something must resort to Reefer Madness style propaganda. Yeah these people are thinking all right. They are thinking if MJ is legalised they will lose a lot of $$$! because MJ is comparitvly benign.

They ignore that hemp & cannabis has a history thousands of years in the making that does not include a lot of deaths from it. They ignore US history in that regard also. Many if not all our founding documents were written on hemp paper.

I repeat a bit of another post: Read Jack Herer's "The Emporer Wears No Clothes", the DVD 'Grass' narrated by Woody Harrilson & DVDs from the History Channel web site. Join NORML, Americans For Safe Access, LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), Drug Policy Alliance, Freedom Activist Network...each of these sites has links to other groups. If we could get all the groups to join forces...??

medMUser

[herbatonist]

With this passing age, will come the downfall of the anti-marijuana propaganda. More and more kids today are not only trying Marijuana (and finding it isn't as bad as the government and their policies make it out to be), but their becoming more intelligent, and researching things before experimenting. It is becoming more and more frequent, with each passing year to to find a cannabis user. And there is a reason for that! People like us, who believe in speaking out and voicing our opinion, put the government in the spotlight! We reveal their lies and deceptions. We use real tests and accurate numbers and percentages.

All good things will come in time.

Also, IMO, the reason they are hiding behind children, is because children is where it all starts. For example, there's a higher chance (no pun intended hehe) that a person the age of 16 will try smoking than say, a 30 year old. It's a common tactic: Cut off the head, and the rest of the body dies.

[thepothead]

I smoke pot through out the day. Ill roll a blunt with about 1 gram in it 1.5

That blunt will last me through out the day may be even the next day. I wake up eat, smoke and chill. Then at dinner time I eat and then smoke. Also before sleep so I can just watch tv in my bed. I got chronic pain through out my back and I hate taking RXs. They Rxs dont work and mess up my ulcer. Tryed almost every pill and none work like oxycontin. Im not doing that shit though unless the doc says so.. I dont drive and smoke either. Too risky uless its like at 12 midnight. most people in Fl love doing that. I rather sit at home and do it at home. Plus I cant drive...

[medMUser]

Originally Posted by herbatonist

With this passing age, will come the downfall of the anti-marijuana propaganda. More and more kids today are not only trying Marijuana (and finding it isn't as bad as the government and their policies make it out to be), but their becoming more intelligent, and researching things before experimenting. It is becoming more and more frequent, with each passing year to to find a cannabis user. And there is a reason for that! People like us, who believe in speaking out and voicing our opinion, put the government in the spotlight! We reveal their lies and deceptions. We use real tests and accurate numbers and percentages.

All good things will come in time.

Also, IMO, the reason they are hiding behind children, is because children is where it all starts. For example, there's a higher chance (no pun intended hehe) that a person the age of 16 will try smoking than say, a 30 year old. It's a common tactic: Cut off the head, and the rest of the body dies.

Good post! If we don't speak out no one else will.

be safe!

medMUser

[Ghandi]

Lke herbatonist said All good things will come in time. They can only hide the facts for so long. If Nevada, and Colorado get legalized what do you think will happen. Other states are gonna want to be legalized also. So for any Nevadians out there, PLEASE VOTE TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA!

[Apollo]

Actually I found some stats that prove driving high doesnt normally cause many accidents or problems... I believe i found them off of a link from NORML but it might have been another site, i search so many i dont even know anymore. But I agree, if Alcohol can be legal, why cant Mary Jane?

FREE THE FUCKING PLANT ALREADY:D