J.W.
Well-Known Member
Hey all,
Hope everyone's doing great! I just wanted to share something that I wrote and emailed today. As I said in my introduction to this site, I am an active member of Norml. In my deeply indebted state, Illinois, medical marijuana has already passed the Senate, and will be up for vote in the House of Representatives later this year. Naturally, there is a buzz throughout the media gathering thoughts from both sides of the argument, and many journalists encourage people to write in. I'd like to share an email I forwarded in response to one such writer's article, and see what you folks think. His article is here:
http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v10/n190/a02.html
Here's my response, somewhat edited on here for identification purposes, of course:
Mr. Dial,
I apologize if the follow-up to your March 15 column on marijuana laws has already been written, but I saw your column on the Norml website, and would like to share my opinion with you. While I see that there are many people who fear the repercussions of decriminalized "drugs", I feel that the majority of people -- especially non-smokers of marijuana -- are simply misinformed about what marijuana is and does. I'm not even going to begin the played-out argument of comparing illegal cannabis to legalized home-wreckers like alcohol and tobacco, as I think just mentioning the comparison really says it all. I also am not going to rant about what percentage of tax money dedicated to the "War on Drugs" is spent just on marijuana crimes and convictions, and how much money could be made for states that need that money back as well as a new form of taxable state income . . . Hmmm. . . . Instead, I will tell you that I am in my mid-20s, and consider myself a fairly intelligent and successful individual; I smoke pot regularly, am a supporter of an educated, progressive change in marijuana laws, and am a member of Norml. I live in @#^&, and If you saw me walking down the street, you probably wouldn't even guess that I was a "drug" user. The fact of the matter is, most people that I know that smoke pot are like me; people who use it responsibly, and know that there's a time and place for everything. If the cops caught me with this "drug", my career and my life would probably be ruined, and all my hopes and dreams of being a positive member of society would be gone, as I would be fined, possibly jailed, and have a drug conviction on my record. As part of the huge majority of people that have at least tried pot and know how harmless it really is, I can attest that this punishment is not only extreme, but in this day and age, is downright ridiculous. The legitimate medical benefits alone of this drug can't be denied, much less the whole tax thing, which, frankly, if our state governments can't figure out how to solve a simple problem like regulating legal marijuana, then they probably need to take a Political Science 101 course, because they're making a mountain out of a mole hill. When smoked through a vaporizer or ingested in baked goods, cannabis literally has NO adverse health effects, and I don't know of any of the "safest medications in the world" that go through Mr. deputy director's "enviable process" that can boast that. Legal prescriptions are far more dangerous than the profit-based government-represented pharmaceutical companies --- ahem, drug pushers -- would lead you to believe. They'd love for you to pump their "prescriptions" into your body for normal everyday feelings such as having a bad day, a headache, or just wanting to relax, rather than using something natural and harmless that keeps your money out of their pockets. Also, saying that letting popular vote decide something "is dangerous" sounds very un-American to me, and I wonder why I served in Operation Enduring Freedom as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom if that's how our White House representation feels about Americans' rights and abilities to decide our own freedoms. That's my opinion, and I feel that many Americans probably share it. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
J.W.
I also went to the actual newspaper's website to read the article, and it had a poll attached to it. . . . Check out these results:
POLL RESULTS ::
Would you support legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational uses?
Neither
9% 18 votes
Medical use
7% 15 votes
Both
82% 159 votes
Total Votes: 192
Power to the People!!!!
_____________
Hope everyone's doing great! I just wanted to share something that I wrote and emailed today. As I said in my introduction to this site, I am an active member of Norml. In my deeply indebted state, Illinois, medical marijuana has already passed the Senate, and will be up for vote in the House of Representatives later this year. Naturally, there is a buzz throughout the media gathering thoughts from both sides of the argument, and many journalists encourage people to write in. I'd like to share an email I forwarded in response to one such writer's article, and see what you folks think. His article is here:
http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v10/n190/a02.html
Here's my response, somewhat edited on here for identification purposes, of course:
Mr. Dial,
I apologize if the follow-up to your March 15 column on marijuana laws has already been written, but I saw your column on the Norml website, and would like to share my opinion with you. While I see that there are many people who fear the repercussions of decriminalized "drugs", I feel that the majority of people -- especially non-smokers of marijuana -- are simply misinformed about what marijuana is and does. I'm not even going to begin the played-out argument of comparing illegal cannabis to legalized home-wreckers like alcohol and tobacco, as I think just mentioning the comparison really says it all. I also am not going to rant about what percentage of tax money dedicated to the "War on Drugs" is spent just on marijuana crimes and convictions, and how much money could be made for states that need that money back as well as a new form of taxable state income . . . Hmmm. . . . Instead, I will tell you that I am in my mid-20s, and consider myself a fairly intelligent and successful individual; I smoke pot regularly, am a supporter of an educated, progressive change in marijuana laws, and am a member of Norml. I live in @#^&, and If you saw me walking down the street, you probably wouldn't even guess that I was a "drug" user. The fact of the matter is, most people that I know that smoke pot are like me; people who use it responsibly, and know that there's a time and place for everything. If the cops caught me with this "drug", my career and my life would probably be ruined, and all my hopes and dreams of being a positive member of society would be gone, as I would be fined, possibly jailed, and have a drug conviction on my record. As part of the huge majority of people that have at least tried pot and know how harmless it really is, I can attest that this punishment is not only extreme, but in this day and age, is downright ridiculous. The legitimate medical benefits alone of this drug can't be denied, much less the whole tax thing, which, frankly, if our state governments can't figure out how to solve a simple problem like regulating legal marijuana, then they probably need to take a Political Science 101 course, because they're making a mountain out of a mole hill. When smoked through a vaporizer or ingested in baked goods, cannabis literally has NO adverse health effects, and I don't know of any of the "safest medications in the world" that go through Mr. deputy director's "enviable process" that can boast that. Legal prescriptions are far more dangerous than the profit-based government-represented pharmaceutical companies --- ahem, drug pushers -- would lead you to believe. They'd love for you to pump their "prescriptions" into your body for normal everyday feelings such as having a bad day, a headache, or just wanting to relax, rather than using something natural and harmless that keeps your money out of their pockets. Also, saying that letting popular vote decide something "is dangerous" sounds very un-American to me, and I wonder why I served in Operation Enduring Freedom as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom if that's how our White House representation feels about Americans' rights and abilities to decide our own freedoms. That's my opinion, and I feel that many Americans probably share it. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
J.W.
I also went to the actual newspaper's website to read the article, and it had a poll attached to it. . . . Check out these results:
POLL RESULTS ::
Would you support legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational uses?
Neither
9% 18 votes
Medical use
7% 15 votes
Both
82% 159 votes
Total Votes: 192
Power to the People!!!!
_____________
