Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit

[AlecBGreen]

Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Are we really still living in the 50's?

Is Obama just trying to placate the the hard-liners or is this his true position on this issue?

link

[saltpoint]

1. Hostess Twinkies are dangerous are have no medical benefit. Marijuana

is far less dangerous and actually does have medical benefit.

[handmade34]

13. most of the food on the inside shelves

of the supermarket are dangerous. It's a moot point whether marijuana has medical benefits or not, there is no good reason to maintain its illegality.

[saltpoint]

14. Perhaps I need better joke writers.

[napoleon_in_rags]

15. Seriously. I don't mind an anti-pot stance if its coupled with a stance against other unhealthy...

...things, one of which is cigarettes (which he's doing a good job on) but the other is the JUNK food. I think the food that's available to us is probably the number 1 cause of heart disease after tobacco. Marijuana wouldn't even compete, even if it were legal.

[tucsonlib]

18. Re: I don't mind an anti-pot stance........

What are you saying? That you would like to see tobacco smokers and Twinkies nibblers arrested?

This isn't about "pro" or "anti". And it's not about "healthy choices". It's about the tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding Americans who are rotting away in prisons. It's about screwed-up priorities and wasted resources. Most of all, of course, it's about M..O..N..E..Y.

[napoleon_in_rags]

26. I would like to see cigarettes illegal.

I've never known a more damaging drug. I would like to see food that kills you illegal. I don't think anybody should be put in jail for hurting themselves, with anything like that its about providers, its about who's profiting.

[lefthandedlefty]

35. Remember prohibition how did that work out

I hate cigarettes as much as anyone but making them illegal won`t stop people from smoking if they want to it would most likely increase it`s use.Just like making abortion illegal won`t stop it only make it more dangerous.Look at the war on drugs that has only made it worse sure it has made drug dealers as rich as stock brokers and bankers.

[napoleon_in_rags]

36. You've got to be willing to draw the line somewhere.

for instance, neuroscience is moving forward a lot. What if a video game maker comes up with a game, using on of the new brain reading headsets:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23261794/
And works in a way to stimulate pleasure centers of players brains, so all they want to do is buy more time with the video game? Wouldn't you see that as clearly evil? That's just what cigarettes do at a chemical level, but if we don't draw the line these things in the 21st century could take on very, very dangerous forms, far more ingenious than crack or cigarettes. My point is that at some point, we will have to draw the line, we may as well get used to it.

[Rebubula]

34. LOL...

Pot is the only reason that I ever eat Twinkies...

:rofl:

[Mythsaje]

2. Only the country's biggest idiots still believe that...

Hell, not even a good portion of the RW believes that anymore.

[lindisfarne]

3. He's not reading the European research. Perhaps we need to bombard him with

journal article links.

He IS spouting the official US position - only drugs with "no medical benefit" are classified as Schedule 1. Cocaine is Schedule 2 - it has known medical benefits.

[Hugabear]

4. 'Tis true. I've seen Reefer Madness, I know what the wacky weed does to people

It turns them into murdering psychopaths, I tell you!

On a serious note, this really is quite disconcerting, to hear the new "drug czar" parroting right-wing rhetoric so effortlessly.

[Naturyl]

5. I don't smoke it, but this is obviously rubbish.

Weed is about as "dangerous" as water and it has many health benefits, at least anecdotally/psychologically.

[frog92969]

19. I do smoke it, and this is absolutely rubbish.

It helps my migraine headaches, cures my depression, and evens dries my sinuses when I have a cold.
It also keeps my wife from needing blood pressure medicine.

I never touch alcohol because it's poisonous and addictive, yet THAT'S legal.:shrug:

[Naturyl]

21. Good plan. I did touch alcohol... frequently.

And got some nasty health problems for my trouble.

[Alamuti Lotus]

6. He added: PS, THIS BUD's FOR YOU (the beer, that is)

This DRUG is for you..... this drug we TAX is for you. Thank you, end of briefing.

[sharesunited]

7. Barney Frank was trying to do something with decriminalization. How is that going?

[Flaneur]

20. The bill just might get a hearing this fall.

HR 2943

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:2:./temp/~bd1uvF::|/bss/d111query.html|

SUMMARY AS OF:
6/18/2009--Introduced.

Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009 - Prohibits the imposition of any penalty under an Act of Congress for the possession of marijuana for personal use or for the not-for-profit transfer between adults of marijuana for personal use.

Deems the possession of 100 grams or less of marijuana as personal use (one ounce or less for a not-for-profit transfer between adults).

Allows the imposition of a civil penalty under the Controlled Substances Act for the public use of marijuana if such penalty does not exceed $100.

[madinmaryland]

8. Huh? WTF?

I'll get back to you after I have my potato chips. I may have some corn chip also.

Muncha-Buncha!

[Chulanowa]

9. Well, technically it's the truth

Inhaling ANY smoke is going to cause health issues. Tobacco, marijuana, the tires you barbecue with, whatever, your lungs are made for clean air, not smoke.

Secondly, while marijuana has medicinal uses (EVERY plant has medicinal uses) the fact is... People aren't lighting up for the fucking health benefits. I mean c'mon, just 'cause you're stoned doesn't mean WE are. :lol: You're not toking up for medicinal purposes, and you're not growing that stuff in your basement just in case you want a couple feet of rope. All the touting of "side benefits" is mostly crap by people who are trying to convince everyone else they don't just want to get high.

Me, I'm all for legalization, don't mistake me. I believe I have a perfect right to apply whatever psychoactive chemicals to my skull-meats that I want, plain and simple. it just bugs me to see all these potheads garbling away about all the myriad uses of hempseed oil. Just say it. "I wanna get hiiiiiigh". It's justification enough for legalization :)

[Flaneur]

23. You are insulting lots of legitimate patients who benefit from pot.

The pile of research studies on pot's medicinal value is growing by the day. If you think that's "crap," you haven't been paying attention.

Most state medical marijuana laws are written so tightly that nobody but seriously ill people qualify.

California is different. Its law was written by crafty activists, not lawyers and politicians, and it's so wide open that basically anybody who wants a medical marijuana recommendation can get one. Hell, I have one. That doesn't mean I go around claiming it is to treat some illness; rather, I see it as a get out of jail free card. It'll have to do until pot is legal.

[Chulanowa]

29. Read my post again, hippy!

:rofl:

No, seriously. Read it again. I say right there, marijuana has medicinal uses. The trouble is? Most of the people touting it's medical uses... actually have no interest in them. it kind of undermines the whole damn point, if you're going "Yeah... medicinal... wink wink nudge nudge."

[ContinentalOp]

28. You're right. Weed should absolutely be legal, but come on...

pain relief? Really? I've smoked some good weed but, come on. I do think it helps with nausea. I don't know about appetite, seems like maybe an urban legend / placebo effect. But let's just legalize it because it's the right thing to do, not because it's a valuable medicine. Because really, it's not. And it only clouds the issue because there are a lot of valuable medicines that also make great recreational drugs but that are available by prescription only so their recreational use is criminalized. Is that what we really want for pot? You have to lie and pretend like it helps some illness or else what you're doing is just as illegal as using prescription amphetamines? I don't think so. It just needs to be legalized period.

[Oldenuff]

31. uhh..

You might want to talk to some bonafide med patients.I have a friend with MS,who benefits greatly from the use of MMJ,and for someone who doesn't suffer from one of these listed illnesses to be making statements like this is..well..not very kind.

Should we legalize period?Hell yes,I don't need some fatass bureaucrat in a $600 suit to tell me how to live my life...much less anyone else.

Should we be passing judgment on medical patients?..Nope


Take the time to research cannabis and the ailments it can be helpful in treating,and then get to us with that apology.

[eShirl]

30. "People aren't lighting up for the fucking health benefits." Absolute BS!

Tell that to all the cancer patients who use it to tolerate chemo.

[Jennicut]

10. His son has drug issues...it might cloud his judgement.

[kimmylavin]

22. I thought you were kidding.

Apparently not...
http://www.webofdeception.com/noyes.html

That guy's freaking scary - assault, cruelty to animals, battery, larceny.

[Jennicut]

27. I read about it when Gil Kerlikowske was first appointed.

I think part of it is an overreaction by parents who think they could have prevented their child from being this way. I don't think Kerlikowske is a bad man, just misguided.

[obliviously]

11. This is indeed a mystery!

[Uzybone]

12. hopefully its a case of speak loudly and carry a straw

[Life Long Dem]

16. The President is chief.

[tucsonlib]

17. Even If It Were True..

it wouldn't justify its illegality. Under those criteria we should ban cars, junk food and alcohol. How old is this guy? And where and when did he misplace his clue?

:hippie:

[Skip Intro]

24. Your mind is property of the US government.

You will not think the way marijuana makes you think.

You will not experience euphoria.

You will sit in jail if you try.

[Oldenuff]

25. So...Kerlikowske

has become just another Drug Czar,spouting the same old tired bs about how Cannabis is bad for you.I actually had hoped that the old standard Bla Bla Bla would end with this guy....Should have known better.

It sure didn't take him long to turn into another mindless bureaucrat did it?


It sure seems to me,that with very very very few exceptions,our elected officials are total idiots,and should not be trusted to ever speak the truth.

[marmar]

32. Kerlikowske's record suggests he doesn't he even believe that....

Sounds like placation to me.

[G_j]

33. and tobacco is good for you

...while we are turning science on it's head.

[otohara]

37. Madenss Returns

OMG we're all gonna die if we smoke the wacky weed.

Or in some cases, we gonna die, if we don't smoke...in the case of AIDS patients and others who are helped the munchies.