Marijuana News

Sh%t The Feds Say: Weed Becomes More Dangerous When Legal, Source: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/30/1401451924962/SOFT-DRUGS-MAN-SMOKING-MA-012.jpgThere is just something fundamentally unjust about demonizing a thing of which you have no experience. Indeed, much prejudice and bigotry is rooted in pure ignorance. Nora Volkow is the head of the National Institute for Drug Abuse – the most authoritative official in the land in this arena. Volkow openly admits that she has never had a personal experience using cannabis, yet feels completely justified in its vilification. To be sure, there are occasions where there is a strong body of evidence and a historical record from which we can make appropriate pre-judgements. For instance, I have never done meth or heroin, but I don’t feel it is unjust to spread word that meth and heroin are deadly, dangerous substances. There is a common knowledge and scientific record to back up that claim. The same could be said of alcohol and tobacco. There is strong evidence that tobacco use and too much alcohol can severely impact your health. But can we even begin to say that about cannabis? Volkow seems to think so:

“Look at the evidence. It’s not subtle — it’s huge. Legal drugs are the main problem that we have in our country as it relates to morbidity and mortality. By far. Many more people die of tobacco than all of the drugs together. Many more people die of alcohol than all of the illicit drugs together. And it’s not because they are more dangerous or addictive. Not at all — they are less dangerous. It’s because they are legal…. The legalization process generates a much greater exposure of people and hence of negative consequences that will emerge. And that’s why I always say, ‘Can we as a country afford to have a third legal drug? Can we?’ We know the costs already on health care, we know the costs on accidents, on lost productivity. I let the numbers speak for themselves.”

It doesn’t surprise me that a government official is acting more like a corporate shill than an impartial scientist. The danger does not lie in adding cannabis to the mix of legal drugs. The real danger is in people who hold positions of authority stating publicly that tobacco and alcohol are only dangerous because they are legal. She insinuates that cannabis will engender a loss of productivity and further burden our health care system, yet neglects the growing body of scientific fact supporting medical cannabis as a veritable cure-all for many heath ailments. There is a compositional difference between tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. You can kill yourself in one instance with too much alcohol. You can give yourself cancer with tobacco. Cannabis not only doesn’t cause cancer, it actively protects against it. How about overdose? That is physically impossible. Such comments are akin to the head of the NRA saying that guns and knives are only dangerous because they are legal. Wrong. Tobacco and booze are dangerous because they physiologically cause you harm. Despite what the fear-mongers want to say, that is just not true about cannabis and no amount of bullshit can turn a pillow into a rifle. Volkow doubles down on the nonsense parade:

“Nicotine does not interfere with cognitive ability. So if you are an adolescent and you are smoking marijuana and going to school, it’s going to interfere with your capacity to learn. So what is worse, as an adolescent right now? To have basically something that is jeopardizing your development educationally or to smoke a cigarette that when you are 60 years of age is going to lead to impaired pulmonary function and perhaps cancer?… I would argue that you do not want to mess with your cognitive capacity, that is a very large price to pay.”

Here, I have to wonder just how much Big Tobacco is paying Ms. Nora. I am literally dumbfounded by this veiled endorsement of teenage tobacco use. Ask anyone who has lost a loved one to a tobacco related condition if they would rather be talking to their stoned loved one or a gravestone. It it appalling that a person exhibiting such blatant ignorance and destructive logic can be allowed to hold a position of power. Again, regardless of my disagreement with Volkow’s thinking, I would find her lunacy much more palatable if she was also stating that alcohol and tobacco should be illegal. Her question is, “Can we as a country afford a third legal drug?” My counter to that is, “Can we as a country afford to keep cannabis illegal?” The costs of incarceration and prosecution aside, I don’t believe we are going to make it if we continue down this path. There are many legal, FDA approved drugs that have side effects ranging from anal leakage to cancer. Yet they are perfectly fine in the eyes of Volkow and her ilk. For fu#k’s sake, peanuts have wrought more havoc on our population than cannabis. Sadly, I fear that, once again, these claims are politically motivated and only serve those who profit from pain. My challenge to you, Ms. Volkow, is to smoke a joint and honestly tell me if you think that the only thing that differentiates cannabis from tobacco and booze is legality. She won’t do it. She’ll just pour herself a Jack Daniels and rest her head on her gold-plated Marlboro pillow. I don’t mind that people don’t want to use cannabis, but I do mind the prejudice and outright dishonesty that flows freely from our authority figures. Legality is not the culprit. It is ignorance that impedes the evolution of our drug policy.