SIS: Explain your Memes; Why Jim Day blocked me on Twitter

it spreads beyond liberal/conservative ideological lines.

Arizona is incredibly conservative based on age and the illegal immigration problem. Ohio isn’t quite like that, but there is a large number of extreme conservatives out there. I find them from time to time, and the arguments get fun.

Like I said they will probably vote yes, but they will want their representatives dealing with other things. Everyone has their causes, and medical marijuana is usually very low on the list. Half of the time the General Assembly can’t even come out with the budget in a decent time (they aren’t as bad as Congress, but still pretty bad)

that the mj issue is less a liberal/conservative one and more a personal freedom one. There is a very strong libertarian wing of the the GOP, especially out west, that is all up ons the medical mj thing. That’s why you see it in staunchly conservative places like Alaska and Montana. Their GOPers are generally more socially liberal than the breed we have here in Ohio, but not incredibly so.

I think if the lazy stoners running the campaign can get off their asses and sober up for a good two week stretch they won’t have any problem gathering the requisite number of sigs.

You have to buy it from a lisensed dealer. I know a couple pot-growers, though. They’re good people.

So you can take your condescending attitude towards people who like to get high rather than drink and shove it up your hypocritical tight ass.

Tone it down, Yossi. That shit ain’t cool.

The rest of us are discussing medical marijuana.

The scholarly journal Addiction, recently published an article on a study that claims that most of the theories on the negative long term effects of cognitive functions is false. link.

A 2001 study preformed by the journal, General Psychiatry, found similar results, that users who have smoked pot for 10 years, after a week of abstaining demonstrated virtually no difference between people who never used marijuana.

Of course NORML has an agenda beyond medical use, but medical use is important. To deny that is just silly, and goes against a great deal of science. But what NORML has done in many states and is trying to do in Ohio only allows for medicinal use. Everybody who tries to get any political action on anything has an agenda beyond the legislation or ballot initiative that they are working on at the time.

But I argue the “we have more important things to worry about” is exactly why somebody should focus on decriminalization now. The federal government is facing a large deficit, and states and local municipalities are cutting more and more in attempts to balance their budgets.

So many resources are wasted at all levels of government in the War on Drugs, resources that can be redirected else where. One out of six federal prison inmates, are in prison for marijuana offenses. That is just at the federal level, so one would assume that there are a high number of inmates in state prisons and local jails for marijuana offenses as well.

Not to mention all the resources that are wasted by local law enforcement in marijuana raids and what not. The Butler County Ohio’s Sheriff’s office is constantly busting grow houses, those are resources that can be better directed towards other things.

Also the popular support is growing now, so now is the time to do it. You ride a tide when the tide is there.

Well, I’m glad you’re a snarky doctor who’s sharing all your years of medical training with us.

sigh

Your ignorance is daunting, but that doesn’t seem to hinder your expert commentary. Perhaps you should “get out of the house more” or should be “reading books instead” to improve your “knowledge to solve our problems.”

one does not simply smoke pot without intending to get high.

I do. You know less than nothing about this issue: you’re actually misinformed and are misinforming others. You have no training and no knowledge about this issue. Please stop. This isn’t the forum that people visit to be misinformed by ignoramuses. That’s what Fox News is for.

I will not deny that there are legitimate medical uses for marijuana. To think that an herb with physiological effects should automatically have no benefit simply because some people use it to waste their life is, well, rather foolish.

However, it’s pretty clear that many people (NOT all people) are using the “medical” part as an excuse, and not just for marijuana. This article in the Economist claims:

In 2000 pharmacies dispensed 174m prescriptions for opioids; in 2009 they dispensed 257m. Not all those prescriptions are phoney, of course, but presumably America did not become a 48% more painful place during those nine years.

These guys tried to figure out whether it was easier to get “medical” marijuana or “medical” viagra. Pretty good story. He gets his medical exam via Skype.

So, first we must dispense with the false dichotomy. Yes, there are plenty of people who benefit from medical marijuana. Yes, there are plenty of people trumping up excuses so they can get some pot and get baked.

IMHO, the legalization movement would do better to emphasize the freedom aspect, and the analogy to alcohol, than to try to dress it up in moral righteousness for medical use.

I’m sharp a fucking tack…
I admit to having done my share of experimenting back in the ‘60’….

Obviously you haven’t been hanging around any crackheads recently…
Marijuana is also good for the complexion:

This is almost exactly what my stance was like about 3 years ago.

“Doing LSD was one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life.”- Steve Jobs

I have never personally done LSD, (although if anyone in the area has a hookup, I am kidding i have even given up pot due to some recent applications I have sent). But Jobs said it helped open up his mind and demonstrate how interconnected the world is. Further he feels that Microsoft would be a better company if Gates had a few more drugs.

George Carlin said he did his best thinking, came up with some of his best and most important comedy bits when he was on LSD.

Many philosophers and important thinkers, drug users.

And my god, look at the music industry, if you eliminate drugs for the world music and art will suck, a lot. Seriously get high and listen to Led Zepplin, it is fantastic.

I am also not saying everyone needs drugs to be creative. I know plenty of smart people who have never drank or used drugs. I am not even saying the students I know who are drug users are good students because of that, but I am saying they have the self discipline to use drugs when in their free time, but still get their shit done and show up to class, and meet their teaching obligations.

The idea that all drugs make people burdens on society is untrue.