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The stigma of Marijuana in this country started and has been carried through the decades with this statement:
It was later politicized when hemp and cotton industries collided and money was the topic of discussion. Just like most things in politics it boils down to the almighty dollar. At the time hemp was quickly becoming the America's largest export. It was marketed and sold to the public as a health concern and banned. This left cotton and those to profit to rake it in.
Nixon's own commission, Shafer Commission, recommended that marijuana be decriminalized. Nixon ignored their recommendation and reconfirmed its ban by adding it to the list of controlled substances anyways... again selling it to the public as a health issue with no known medical use, which of course we now know was a complete and utter lie. In 1969, Nixon was trying to shutdown immigrants coming in from Mexico for discriminatory reasons. In 1969, he signed the Controlled substance act (places marijuana on sched 1)... as one part of that effort to stop minority immigration from Mexico.
Nixon is and was no different than Anslinger....
The stigma of marijuana use is deeply rooted in racism and discrimination. Yes.... the views and opinions regarding marijuana have certainly improved over the years in part because (despite what we've seen on TV the past few years) racism and discrimination have improved in this country; More minority representation and as more open minded generations age into adulthood.
WOW! And just think, we have an agency that is exactly like that today...the DEA!
Its amazing that people today put up with this and continue to comply with such racist laws.
I think the biggest reason that there's so much resistance to cannabis legalization is that the plant has a very strong stigma. Cannabis users are widely stereotyped as burnouts and deadbeats and people view legalization as enabling people's bad behavior. People cannot wrap their minds around the fact that there are people who partake who don't fit the stoner stereotype and actually lead successful, productive lives. Likewise on the medicinal side, the common narrative from conservatives is that if it really was a medicine then a pill could be made and there's no reason to legalize the plant. They simply refuse to listen to the testimonies of the people who have been helped by the plant. They also probably don't know that there is a THC pill called Marinol but it's not very effective medicinally compared to real cannabis. I also think marijuana still has not moved beyond its association with the 1960s counterculture and the anti-Vietnam movement. Many conservatives believe that was the point when the moral and societal decline of the USA began and that is a factor in their opposition to legalization.
However, if you roll back the stigma and look at the facts, its indisputable that cannabis is actually less dangerous and less harmful to society than alcohol (though I will say it's NOT 100% harmless). Cannabis however has a stigma and alcohol doesn't. A person can guzzle down a bottle of wine per night and most people won't think anything of it but if they smoke a joint, they'll be seen as a deadbeat addict who shouldn't have kids and shouldn't be hired for a job and who belongs in jail.
Does anybody think we, as a society, will ever move beyond the stigmatization of cannabis and its users?
At some point, yes.
However, it's a bad idea to smoke it since particulants in the lungs is never a good idea.
Personally, I'm for the decriminalization of all drugs - yes ALL.
My one and only recreational drug of choice is alcohol.
It's all about money. Big pharma is in control of the republican party and as long as they have any control on the legalization of cannabis I doubt we will see it legalized.
We now have street drugs gone ballistic. Not because of marijuana use, but because of pain meds past out like candy by the big pharma. These pain meds are so addictive that even after a single regimen dose, (one week/ten days), many become addicted and when they can no longer get the prescribed pain meds they are forced to turn to street drugs.
The reason there is no crackdown is that big pharma is lining the pockets of politicians.
Trust me, if big pharma could find a way to patent cannabis you would see this product on every shelf, in every store, all over the world. That's the real problem.
In the meantime most pain meds users have turned to street drugs including the latest one flakka. What's next?
The pharmaceutical industry created this mess for nothing more than profit by pushing addictive pain meds.
WOW! And just think, we have an agency that is exactly like that today...the DEA!
Its amazing that people today put up with this and continue to comply with such racist laws.
So states can get around the DEA by decriminalizing drugs. In Oklahoma, nobody any more is going to go to prison for several years or more over possession of illegal drugs in small amounts.
It up to the people through grass roots level voter initiatives as well as voting out stubborn incumbent Republicans to persuade stubborn Republican legislators they better listen to the voice of the people for a change, which is what happened in Oklahoma. But it's highly unfortunate how people in some states can't petition for a vote to change or repeal state laws.
I suppose so, but the government set out to prove that smoking marijuana causes lung cancer, but long time research couldn't prove it.
Even if they did prove it caused lung cancer...why would that change anything, its been known for decades that cigarettes cause all sorts of health problems, but NO ONE has attempted to restrict access to them or penalize the industry.
With Marijuana, they seem to target the perceived negative 'societal' effects/problems, the association with satan worshiping, crime, stating that its mostly 'non-white' races that use it, etc, etc.
So states can get around the DEA by decriminalizing drugs. In Oklahoma, nobody any more is going to go to prison for several years or more over possession of illegal drugs in small amounts.
Not here in KY!
I read my county DAs list of all the cases they prosecute on a weekly basis, 75% are drug possession or trafficking, most are users caught buying small amounts, usually painkillers, heroin meth, the normal prison sentence is 3 yrs!
One guy I saw, that I used to work with years ago, he was caught with 5 Fentanyl pills...sentence was 3 yrs in state prison.
So, just because you personally disagree with their choice to use drugs, you think all drugs should remain illegal?!
Do you feel the same way about free speech, if someone says something you disagree with, it should be labeled as 'hate speech' or be banned? Have you ever heard the old saying " I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it"? Drug use is similar..." I may not agree with your choice to use drugs, but I will defend your right to do so"...thats the way I look at it.
How we feel personally about it, is irrelevant.
If drugs only affected the person taking them, I wouldn't care what they do. But they don't, it affects me to have stoned people in the community. I am not talking about pot, just about hard drugs like meth, coke, heroin. When people are on those they cannot work, or should not be working. How are they going to support themselves? It's either crime or welfare. Do you really want a bunch of stoned people hanging around the local park where kids are playing? Or driving cars?
With Marijuana, they seem to target the perceived negative 'societal' effects/problems, the association with satan worshiping, crime, stating that its mostly 'non-white' races that use it, etc, etc.
The thing is, none of this is even rooted any way in reality, yet it's used to justify the plant remaining illegal. People won't even consider the arguments for legalization because the stigma is just so strong and so ingrained in our collective psyche. Many people, especially boomers who grew up when Nancy Reagan was First Lady, group marijuana with heroin, cocaine, crack, etc rather than with alcohol and tobacco.
People have brought up that one hit off a bong makes you stoned while a person can have a beer and still be functional. I agree with this provided you have a lot THC tolerance. However, is that fact reason alone enough to justify keeping marijuana illegal?
The ONLY argument I can understand is that we still don't have a reliable way to test whether or not somebody is too impaired to drive. People will test positive for cannabis long after the "high" was worn off. Another way cannabis and alcohol are different is if you have a high tolerance for cannabis it takes a lot more to impair you. With alcohol, .08 is .08 no matter what.
I don't think so.
It doesn't really matter what form smoking takes. It's still a repulsive habit.
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