Baptist Press: Medical Marijuana is “Legalizing marijuana incrementally”

Aw, you write that like it is a bad thing…

WASHINGTON (BP)–The decision by the Obama administration to surrender to bad state policies on so-called medicinal marijuana will have disastrous effects.

Medicinal marijuana is the Trojan horse of the marijuana decriminalization movement. The movement sees it as the means to appeal to people’s compassion in order to change public opinion about marijuana and ease the way toward decriminalization of marijuana. The Obama administration’s decision to cave on enforcement of federal drug laws against marijuana distribution represents the dropping of the first shoe on decriminalization of marijuana and signals the next one is coming.

I love the idea that we “legalizers” are meeting at Dr. Evil’s island lair to figure out how to pull a fast one over on the American people. Like we’re sitting there saying, “How are we ever going to convince the public that this dangerous killer plant is actually OK so we can get high legally?” We don’t have to appeal to anything to change public opinion that marijuana is medicine, we only have to show them the truth. Medical marijuana is not a “Trojan horse”, it is Galileo’s telescope proving the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth, not matter how much the religion of the day says it does.

With the federal government out of the way, we can expect to see a rapid rise in marijuana distributors and marijuana demand in states that have fallen victim to the medical marijuana scam. None of this escalation will prove especially helpful to the sick or to society. Those who use medicinal marijuana will pay the price first, and then everyone else will.

Yes, there will be more medical marijuana distributors, and as people realize they have a safe, legal, non-toxic alternative to the side-effect-laden killer pharmaceuticals shoved at them for pain and other conditions, there may be an increase in demand. But I’m still waiting for that medical marijuana patient to complain that we “legalizers” have taken advantage of them. I’m still waiting for those patients to protest the opening of another dispensary.

Marijuana is not a necessary or particularly effective pain-relieving aid. For years, the pain-relieving ingredient in marijuana has been available by prescription. So, one cannot make the argument that medicinal marijuana is a new addition to the pain-relief arsenal. In fact, it isn’t even that useful for pain relief. Most people who use marijuana to help them cope with severe pain take other stronger pain relief drugs in combination with marijuana because the pain relieving properties of marijuana are not that potent.

Sure, I can make that argument. Marijuana has been proven – not conjectured, proven – to be more effective in relieving neuropathic pain than conventional opioids. Also, pain patients who must use conventional opioids are able to reduce their intake when combined with cannabis, because the pain relieving properties of marijuana are synergistic. (If you’ve wondered why marijuana is still illegal, ask yourself if Big Pharma would like to see demand for opioid painkillers reduced by one-third to one-half.)

On the other hand, smoking marijuana threatens to make bad situations worse for many users. Marijuana introduces multiple toxic chemicals into the systems of people whose bodies are already weakened from their ailments. Not only might these toxic chemicals hinder people’s ability to fend off the cause of their pain by weakening their defenses, but users risk developing additional problems related to their use of marijuana, including respiratory ailments and addiction.

Yes, sure, doctors so often recommend marijuana for their HIV/AIDS patients because it will “weaken their defenses”.

The respiratory ailments related to heavy long-term marijuana smoking do not include lung cancer or emphysema, but rather persistent cough and in rare cases, bronchitis, and even these risks can be mitigated by vaporizing or eating cannabis.

Marijuana does have a possibility of clinical dependence. About 9% of its users may develop a problem. Compare that to 15% for alcohol and 32% for tobacco. Compare also that marijuana is not addictive in the sense of the physical withdrawals you’d get from cocaine, heroin, alcohol, or nicotine – most users battling this dependence suffer from irritability, sleep difficulties, and anxiety, much like you’d feel if trying to kick coffee.

In addition, the public’s acceptance of marijuana as a medicinal aid will weaken resistance to its recreational use. As it becomes more entrenched in our society, it will be perceived as less dangerous. This will likely lead to more experimentation with marijuana by our nation’s young people. Since marijuana is undoubtedly a gateway drug, we can expect to see even more of our nation’s youth lose their lives and their futures to drug addiction.

Yes, once people are exposed to people using marijuana medicinally, and those people don’t become raving drug-crazed lunatics desperate for a heroin fix while raping the white women, the public will perceive it as less dangerous and be more accepting of social use.

However, the gateway theory is so debunked now that it’s almost laughable you bring it up.  According to government stats, 100 million people have tried marijuana in their lifetime.  Those same stats tell us there are 2 million monthly cocaine users and 150,000 monthly heroin users.  So, even if we assume every cocaine and heroin user started down the road to ruin by smoking a joint, only 1/50th of the potheads become coke fiends and only 1/666th of the potheads become junkies.  Some gateway – that’s more like sixteen inch hole in a fence that only opens ten minutes a day.

The last shoe to drop will be the legalization of marijuana distribution for recreational purposes. As marijuana use becomes part of the culture, we can expect to see a movement toward decriminalization of all marijuana use and distribution. If marijuana is decriminalized, we will see the rise of every kind of drug related problem, from performance impairment to family disruption to addiction to crime to premature death. This is not the kind of change America needs. What we need is the enforcement of laws that protect the vulnerable and that help all Americans achieve their greatest potential. What we don’t need are more threats to that goal.

Because nobody is smoking any marijuana recreationally now, right?  Marijuana use is a part of the culture!  Have you seen any movies or TV shows lately?  The most harmful thing about marijuana is that a cop might shoot you over it!