Legalization? An Insult-Free Discussion

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If you ever want to do something fun, skip the weed and go over to pub med.  It's basically a google for medical studies.  Ok.  So I went over there searching for an answer and found that most of the studies about this were conducted by men...

... who wanted to study women.

;D

I did find this interesting single-case study:

Persistent sexual arousal syndrome associated with increased soy intake.

Amsterdam A, Abu-Rustum N, Carter J, Krychman M.
All Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center-Surgery, Division of Gynecology, New York, NY 10021, USA. amsterda@mskcc.org

INTRODUCTION: Persistent sexual arousal syndrome is an uncommon sexual complaint. Patients with this disorder can be distressed by the escalation of tension in the pelvic region and the prevailing necessity to diminish the pressure by self-stimulation. Patients frequently suffer from guilt or shame and often do not seek medical care. There are many potential causes of this disorder; however, a definitive etiology has yet to be elucidated. CASE: The patient is a 44-year-old female who presented to her gynecologist for evaluation of dysmenorrhea and menometrorrhagia. During the review of systems, the patient reported 5-6 months of increased pelvic tension, not associated with an increase in desire that required her to self-stimulate to orgasm approximately 15 times daily. Upon further inquiry, the patient disclosed that her dietary regimen included soy intake in excess of 4 pounds per day that began approximately 1 month prior to the onset of symptoms. RESULTS: Treatment consisted of supportive counseling and dietary modification. At the 3-month follow-up visit, the patient's menstrual difficulties and sexual complaints resolved. CONCLUSIONS: Although no known cause or cure of persistent sexual arousal syndrome has been identified to date, the success of reducing dietary of phytoestrogens in this patient may provide insight into the etiology of the disorder and suggest potential treatments.

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You'll now be spiking your wives' and girlfriends' drinks with soy sauce.

 

It's not intentionally silly, zeke. Saying things like "eating too many fried eggs is bad for you, so why is that legal but pot isn't?" is intentionally silly.

I see your point, but like I said, I'm ambivalent about all this. I dabbled in pot years ago, haven't touched the stuff in probably 15 years. I think there's an argument that can be made for legalization, but you can make one for the status quo as well.

Is some of the impetus for this, perhaps, because of guilt regular pot-smokers feel about what they do being illegal? And that making it legal will remove the stigma and make themselves feel better about their habit? (OK, flame away.)

 

The current criminal/jailtime situation is where the status quo argument fails. And fails miserably. Too many people's lives are ruined for simple possession charges. Yes, the law is there and perhaps people should follow the law and all would be fine. But just because the law is there doesn't mean it's right. Laws can be changed -- even, ahem, repealed.

EDIT: And I think the last line in "The Untouchables" is kind of the idea I'm going for with this point.

"Mr. Ness, did you hear they're going to repeal Prohibition? What are you going to do now?"
Reply: "I think I'll have a drink."

Maybe. But for educated pot users, I don't think it's as much about the stigma as it is that it's ridiculous to use these arguments for pot and ignore them for alcohol or cigarettes -- which are perfectly legal, and should be. But so should pot. IMO.

 

If you'd read some of my earlier posts, we aren't talking about a societal stigma here -- one that doesn't exist in my generation BTW (see professional characters on all kinds of TV shows and movies smoking grass casually) -- we're talking about people being jailed, having their lives ruined, careers ended, for smoking pot.

There is no argument that can be made for the status quo, in my opinion. There is an argument to be made for decriminilization, where posession of a small amount on one's person is not penalized and police departments are directed to spend their time elsewhere. It's not a very intellectually honest argument, but, sadly, it's probably the one that would resonate most with the American people.

Because while you chose to pick eggs out of my (admittedly silly) list, what about coffee. Caffeine fits pretty much all the same criteria as marijuana, and it's more physically addictive.

 

Soy beans = Spanish fly

 

I'm putting soy sauce on my wife's food from now on. I don't care if its eggs or pizza - she's getting it with soy sauce.

 

Soy! SOY!!!

 

There are all kinds of TV shows that show characters smoking pot? Where?

Put it this way: What can marijuana be used for other than to get high? (Aside from the medical applications.) Things like coffee and eggs are foodstuffs. Can you eat pot? Can you derive nutrition from it?

 

I can back zeke up on the TV part, although I have no proof. There have been a bunch of shows lately where pot has been involved. I think most of 'em are on Fox.

 

I don't watch much TV, so I'm not one to ask. I'd think there would be a lot of protest from the usual suspects about it if it was prevalent, however.