Saturday, November 6, 2010

Reefer Madness?

One thing people ought to know about me is that I'm pro-legalization when it comes to all forms of cannabis, marijuana, pot, what have you. I don't use it myself (I have no reason to), but I find it completely inoffensive. My reasons are simple: the pros of marijuana HUGELY outweigh the cons. The most it does is give you a cough and makes you act stupid.

The more I read about it, the more it amazes me that we demonize the drug at all. To paraphrase Paul McCartney (who I imagine still has a dealer) from his book Many Years From Now, pot makes you want to fall asleep rather than go out and commit acts of violence, like alcohol can do. It's incredible that things like alcohol and cigarettes are legal, when they're so effing dangerous! Heck, you know what drugs terrify me the most? Commercial medications! So many of them are obviously improperly tested, and they all seem to have wince-inducing side effects like stomach ulcers and having trouble breathing. I've seen several studies that show that pot doesn't have any more danger potential than caffeine, while alcohol and cigarettes are more dangerous.

And the astonishing array of benefits the drug has just takes the cake. And that doesn't just include inducing relaxation, a peaceful mood, and an increased appetite. I could probably sing its praises, but I really only know about things like that from some cannabis magazines I've read, and not from personal experience. That, and modesty forbids (they tend to be things I feel awkward talking about).

That's why it really surprised me that Prop 19 didn't pass here in California- we have enough of a casual attitude towards it already, so why not get it over with? I'm told that there were some problems with defining its taxation, but I have to wonder whether or not we just got cold feet.

(UPDATE: I have recently learned that McCartney no longer does pot, simply because he doesn't need it anymore. Perfectly reasonable, really.)

No comments:

Post a Comment