Legalization? An Insult-Free Discussion

Yeah, although I'm for it, it is shocking how prevalent it's been.

 

Coffee has no nutritonal value. Not that this means much to the debate...

 

What nutritional value does coffee or Mt. Dew have? They're only food because they are classified as such. They're devices to deliver caffeine. You could eat a cigarette and achieve the same nutritional value.

I'll be back with the TV shows, but you'll have to trust me that on the TV that young people watch, it happens all the time. The Daily Show and Colbert Report, for instance, while they don't depict the actors getting high, are chock full of stoner jokes.

 

You can quell a hunger pang from it. Helps soothe your stomach in the morning.
Obviously, there's also the flip side: Munchies. (But come to think of it, I don't know many fat potheads. Just saying.)

You can also use it to relieve stress. Just like people use cigarettes. Just like people use coffee or beer. I'm not talking medicinal marijuana. I'm talking about an everyday application to take the edge off. Definitely useful.

You can use it to relieve aggression. Puff, puff, pass, and you're calmer than you were before. Seriously. It mellows you a helluva lot better than caffeine does; that's a given.

There are plenty of benefits to day-to-day marijuana use in moderation, plus the medicinal benefits, of course. It's not just "to get high," unless you want it to be.

 

And for what it's worth, I had my LASIK surgery done on 4/20/06. Not to prove a point -- it was the best day available -- but that's when it was. Just saying. ;D

 

Among the shows mentioned in the article I found:
That 70's Show
Chappelle's Show
Weeds
Roseanne
Murphy Brown
Entourage
Six Feet Under
Comeback

Others I thought of that weren't mentioned:
The West Wing
The Sopranos

I'll grant that most of these are cable, but if you think many people my age (under 30) watch network TV, you're wrong.

The interesting thing about many of these portrayals is that the users aren't often portrayed as addicts or junkies as they would have been in the past. They're upper middle class, often white people who essentially smoke at home like other people would open a bottle of wine. Sometimes.

And sometimes they use it to get messed up, or enhance sex, or dull pain. Again, like other people would use wine or beer.


http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/FEATURES07/508130340/1011/SCENE

 

I found this from Aug. 2005 about weed usage in TV. It's actually hit network TV more since then, although again, I have no proof.  :'(

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/FEATURES07/508130340/1011/SCENE



Not that this is an argument for it, but I'll bet a lot more athletes smoke pot than cigarettes, if only to help their muscles relax after a long day. Didn't a guy win a gold medal after testing positive for pot as well?


EDIT: Nice work, zeke. Beat me to it.

 

Overrated....I have a hard time believing professional athletes smoke weed, especially NBA players.

I'm for the legalization of marijuana,...they could start by making it legal to possess small amounts for personal use to prevent the thousands of useless arrests and convictions of taxpaying citizens that choose to smoke a joint in their homes.

 

I never smoked anything. In fact, I think I've had fewer than 10 alcoholic drinks stronger than beer or wine in my life, and six or seven of those were margaritas that my wife introduced me to.

If it helps people medically, I'm OK with it. But it is a drug and drugs need to be regulated.

Taking one or two sleeping pills with a presciption - OK.

Taking five or six - that's a problem.

Also, I don't know if enough is known about possible effects - or maybe some people do know them but I don't know enough.

If cigarettes were not in common use and we know what we know now, should cigarettes be sold legally? I would say no, but that's a personal feeling rather than real thought-out logic.

The law says you can have alcohol (in most places) but you can't drive while under the influence of alcohol and there are public drunkeness statutes.

 

And all of them should -- and would -- apply to legal marijuana.

 

Overrated -- Only one problem with that.

After I smoked, I'd always get really sore cheek muscles the next day, from doing perma-stoner-grin face all night long.

 

Then I would suggest you never try 'shrooms. Either your cheeks will break from smiling too hard too long, or you'll trip out and have a horrible time. Man, 'shrooms were great.