Marianne
New Member
If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.
The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.
The reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug war gravy train to spend millions of tax dollars on politicized research, trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant. Meanwhile, research that might demonstrate medical marijuana's efficacy has been consistently blocked by the Food and Drug Administration. By raiding voter-approved medical marijuana providers in California, the very same Bush administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street dealers. Apparently, marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the country from terrorism.
News Hawk: Happykid - 420Times.com
Source: Ventura County Star (CA)
Author: Robert Sharpe
Copyright: 2006 The E.W. Scripps Co
Contact: letters@venturacountystar.com
Website: Ventura County Star
The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.
The reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug war gravy train to spend millions of tax dollars on politicized research, trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant. Meanwhile, research that might demonstrate medical marijuana's efficacy has been consistently blocked by the Food and Drug Administration. By raiding voter-approved medical marijuana providers in California, the very same Bush administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street dealers. Apparently, marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the country from terrorism.
News Hawk: Happykid - 420Times.com
Source: Ventura County Star (CA)
Author: Robert Sharpe
Copyright: 2006 The E.W. Scripps Co
Contact: letters@venturacountystar.com
Website: Ventura County Star
