What is WITH you, Paul?  Are you turning into a pink-tutu?

Marijuana was only declared a "devil weed" at the behest of the oil companies back when
hemp was a cheap (and much better) alternative to their new product, nylon, especially for
maritime rope.  Marijuana also competed with the cotton and lumber industries, since it made
more durable and cheaper paper.  Marijuana's "reefer madness" reputation was a completely
falsified piece of ridiculous propaganda put out by big corrupt corporate interests.

THC, the metabolically active ingredient in marijuana, naturally occurs in only very small amounts.
Only specially cultivated and crossed breeds have enough to provide any medical effectiveness at all,
much less any sensation of "getting high."  In fact, most of the "high" (more like "low") experienced by
marijuana users is primarily a psychological "placebo" effect, caused in part by tired people sitting
around and sharing an atmosphere of repose.  It has more to do with self-hypnosis than any
powerful involuntary drug effect.

It does stimulate the appetite, and suppress the vomit reflex by slightly slowing nerve impulses in the
nausea receptors, which is what makes it so valuable for people undergoing chemotherapy.  The mild
relaxation effect also assists in pain relief caused by combinations of chronic muscle tension and blood
pressure, without the contra-indications of stronger pain killers.  (This is the reason for the big-business
drug and medical industry's opposition to a cheap, versatile, and hardy weed:  it cuts into their profits.)

THC is neither physically nor psychologically addictive, unlike nicotine (the single most addictive drug
known to humans) and alcohol (in the top five).  THC has no harmful effects, "side" or otherwise,
mentally or physically.  The sole deleterious health effect is the concentration of smoke in the lungs.
Holding hot particulate matter of ANY sort in the lungs damages the delicate oxygen uptake tissue.
Ask anyone who has been around a wildfire.

THC shows up as a "persistent chemical" in the blood because it is a large organo-complex molecule.
Alcohol is a relatively simple molecule, quickly broken down.  If you were to test for, say, residue
from vitamin E capsules, you would get the same "persistent" effect dissolved in body fat.

There is no reason whatsoever to criminalize marijuana, except for its threat to the profits of the
synthetics, paper, and pharmaceutical industry monopoly profits.

A significant portion of our law enforcement and court system time is wasted on pursuing casual users
of marijuana.  Police time would be better utilized to arrest people yakking on their cell phones in traffic.
 Building and staffing prisons costs us far more than building and staffing schools, and half the people
in prison are no threat to anyone, not even themselves, but of course the penal industry is profitable
for a handful of campaigners and their donors.  "Justice" is a bad joke, and swift justice is a
contradiction in terms, but it's easier for a politician to say "I'm tough on crime because I arrested a
bunch of kids for loitering because they were in an area where you just know THOSE people are
dealing drugs" than for a politician to say "Here is a plan for having enough schools and enough
programs and enough good teachers to meet the needs of each and every one of our children."

People in high-skill positions like airline pilot or surgeon should not be allowed to use THC within a
day of performing their task, but then, they shouldn't come to work drunk or wiped out on
prescription drugs, either.  Driving While Impaired should include THC as well as alcohol and
prescription drugs.  It should also include falling asleep at the wheel and causing a wreck while
eating or putting on makeup.

That it should fall on the shoulders of sick people, often terminally ill people, to fight for their
own right to appropriate medication is a shameful, disgusting commentary on the bigotry and
obtuseness -- no, the outright vicious stupidity and psychiatric problems -- of those with a
knee-jerk opposition to medical use of THC.

Criminalizing THC in the first place is pure idiocy, when far more destructive drugs like tobacco
and alcohol are available at every corner store.  But refusing a sick person their medication just
because you "don't like the idea," just because it's cheaper than what the doctor and drug company
make their big money from, is exactly the same kind of assault as beating up and robbing at gunpoint
a blind person with no arms and no legs.  It is putting your own sociopathic selfishness and greed
ahead of the interests of another human being.

I personally have no interest whatsoever in THC.  I occasionally buy hemp clothing because of its
durability.  My best friend died of diabetes; marijuana would not have helped her.

But I am an engineer.  I deal in facts, not wishful thinking and preconceived prejudices and make-believe.
And the simple fact is that those who scream the loudest about the dangers of marijuana are actually the
ones who are far more dangerous to us as a society, as a nation, and as civilized and thinking human beings
than those who use it, even for recreation, much less for medication.

It would be interesting to see the nuttiest lawmakers with their holier-than-thou preaching about
"the evils of drugs" locked up in prison for three years without THEIR pills and booze and other
secret vices and props.
 

Dian Hardison