As yesterday was the infamous stoner holiday, "420" and I didn't post anything related in any way I thought I'd amend my mistake and bring it up today. I'm not part of the culture, but I'm not far from it either. It exists right here, on the street I live on, in the city I call home, in the state I love, and in this country I am part of. It exists world-wide and its existed through so many cultures, eras, life styles, and people that wherever I begin and end here will only be a a minute slice of the whole.
It's so unfair that there is so much misinformation and mis-education in the world, but I think that the case has never been so clear as it is with medical marijuana. Granted, there is so much being done right now that doesn't (and rightfully shouldn't) have a leg to stand on, as well as fallacies and improper usage.
The fact is that there are studies being ignored that should be headliners, there are more people than ever who have legitimate medical uses, and marijuana is the least harmful drug known to man. You cannot overdose as you can with things like aspirin, it is less harmful to your body than tobacco (which has NO medical use), and has anyone known a stoner to rob a bank? I didn't think so. For the most part, the culture isn't one that boasts of unmotivated slacker irresponsibility. Unfortunately, that's just a small part and it gives the whole culture a bad rap. For the cancer and AIDS patients who use MMJ (medical marijuana) to cope with the struggle that is their daily lives, and for the patients truly diagnosed with something that medicine can't yet cure I think that MMJ is something we should look at. It has the best long run set of pros and cons I've yet to see, and I pride myself on keeping up with medical updates.
Some people are going to read this and say, "But it causes cancer". My response is that smoke in general is pretty carcinogenic, but there are so many ways around that. There are people saying that creating edible versions of things with THC (the active compound for marijuana's effect) will just promote more recreational use. From my standpoint, things like edible goods and vaporizers cancel out the carcinogenic effects of the smoke and give the people who use MMJ for legitimate medical uses a safer way to use them. If we can say, "The only real medical reason to withhold product A is because of negative outcome B..." the way we do for other things, why don't we just accept that there are ways around cancer and allow marijuana to be used medically.
Another big issue that is becoming an excuse against legalization is public security and crime. According to recent polls, there is hardly anyone that believes that there is too little spending on marijuana control, and it has a lower statistical amount of violent crimes than regular burglaries,etc.
I guess it's all about the spin, so we should quit spinning and look at things the way they really are. When we stop spinning, things aren't so blurry, and we'll be able to see all the colors instead of a blur. Then we can make a decision that we can be informed and proud of making.
Love, Polly.
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