IDAHO - When you hear about marijuana in the news, it usually consists of high speed chases, drug busts, and menacing. But this story is different – there’s a new idea for legislation in Idaho, an idea to legalize medical marijuana.
Representatives plan to introduce the legislation as soon as 2011. Republican Representative, Tom Trail, is hoping to get folks talking about the possibility now, a possibility with very different opinions.
“I can prescribe drugs that have a much greater addictive potential and yet marijuana, that has many benefits for cancer patients, I can’t prescribe it,” said oncologist, Dr. Christian Schull. ”It’s never made sense to me.”
“You know, I’m a conservative person,” said Dr. Schull. “But when you sit down and rationally think about it, marijuana is a much less bad drug than morphine would be – which I prescribe a lot of everyday for management of cancer pain.”
But not everyone is convinced. Local officers only see it as another loophole to abuse the drug.
“It’s a big concern to me because I think it’s already having an impact in the way our youth view drug use,” said D.A.R.E. officer, Deputy Brad Miller.
Deputy Miller is afraid marijuana will become too common, too easy to get a hold of.
“It’s going to change attitudes towards marijuana and make people perceive that it’s safer than it really is,” said Miller.
I think Deputy Miller is more concerned that he might have to go back on the streets and solve real crime instead of the easy gig of scaring schoolkids about weed in a cozy classroom. But yes, Deputy, when you recognize the medical utility of cannabis and stop feeding them reefer madness, people do perceive of it as safer than you claim it is. Because it is the truth!
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I AGREE WITH 110% MY SON CAM HOME AFTER EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SAID WE HAD dare TODAY DAD I WAS LIKE COOL. WELL COME TO FIND OUT CALDWELL dare VEHICLE IS A CADILAC ESCALADE FOR 1. AND B. WHEN HE GRAUATED UM CERTIFACATE A WRIST BAND A TEE SHIRT SOME OTHER SUCK BUT STUFF. I asked him so what did you learn his replay was, well they talked about tobacco, MARIJUANA, and I think alcohol. I almost S!#T my pant I said did they talk about METH, NO. NO CAN YOU BELIVE THAT!!!!!!!! Out of all the poisons out there and one he will eventually come across in his life, boy that pissed me off, I’m a 11 yr. and counting Pain Patient and a passionate activist. So he had to write a report about what he learned his whole report was about how tobacco is bad for you NOW LISTEN TO THIS and IF PRESCRIBED MARIJUANA IS OK! I was so happy that he wrote this I never once told him or taught him about it maybe they did I doubt it but he is one hella of a smart 5th grader.
TODAY @ 1:30 SICC IS HOLDING A DISSCUSION ABOUT LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
IDAHO PIZZA COMPANY
IT’S @ 1677 S BROADWAY BOISE IDAHO.
Wow… until I read the comments today I, too, was baffled as to why any police force would argue in favor of continued marijuana prohibition. It appears that, in spite of my typical person-who-got-burned-by-the-system disdain for the police, somewhere deep down I had enough respect for them to believe that most of them would rather actually help people. That they would prefer not to devote valuable resources and manpower to persecuting peaceful potheads and instead spend more time solving real crimes; you know, the ones that have victims? It was honestly suprising to think that it could all be based on laziness… look like you’re doing your job, build a nice arrest record… on the innocent backs of nonviolent, generally otherwise law-abiding people who like to get high & fly instead of drink & drive. People who probably never hurt anyone, just like me when I got chewed up in The Machine. (Speaking of that… this past week, I discovered that the people who put me through the hell called “drug court”, after beating me over the head with the contract I signed with them for over 3 years in order to force me to do whatever they told me to, failed to uphold their end of the contract and expunge the charges from my record after I graduated almost 3 years ago. I discovered this when I got a call back after a job interview that went very well from a disappointed HR person telling me that there was a drug-related felony on my record and I couldn’t work there with it. Who knows how many other people got my resume, ran a background check, assumed I lied on my application and just never called? I’ve been looking for a job for almost a year. But I digress and whine. For anyone who cares, I got it taken care of and got the job anyway on sheer force of personality; I start tomorrow.)
;_; This gives me a big fat sad. Shame on you, lazy police. You should have gotten jobs where you’re not responsible for people’s safety if you just wanted a paycheck. You should be doing something where your poor work ethic and lack of motivation wouldn’t hurt anyone. You’re a disgrace.
I am seriously very disturbed and upset about this. Time to go relax and contemplate. =(
For example, http://dare.procon.org/#4:
“D.A.R.E.’s 2008 budget was $6.6 million; however, in 2001, economist Dr. Edward Shepard estimated that D.A.R.E. costs $1-1.3 billion annually (about $173 to $268 per student per year) to implement nationwide once all related expenses, such as police officer training and services, materials and supplies, school resources, etc., were factored in. [4]
4. Edward Shepard, PhD, “A New Study Finds… We Wasted Billions on D.A.R.E., ReconsiDer Quarterly, Winter 2001-2002?”
Now, who on earth would want a gravy train like that to ever end?
No-one needs to suggest it (cutting police budgets) because it’s such an obvious consequence. Eliminating or considerably reducing the proportion of cannabis on the black market would not make the black market any less violent. The most significant result for police would be to increase the concentration of hard-core and long-term violent criminals working with cannabis on the black market. When middle-class stiletto stoners and other such types have an alternative to dealing with unsavoury characters on illegal markets, those markets will become more competitive and accordingly violent.
Now, personally, I think the police are great. Legislators aren’t, but they’re a representation of the people, so we can’t complain too much about that until the openly refuse to implement the people’s will and a revolution begins. For the time being, long-term manipulation and deception have enabled them to avoid being open about their disgust with the people who they represent and their absolute lack of any intention to fulfil the people’s will with regards to cannabis.
The police, like everyone else, are essentially frightened and lazy. They know how easy it is to spend their time with college kids and armchair philosophers. And they get loads and loads of money thrown at them to do it. It’s probably good fun – makes an entertaining sideshow – to interview cannabis criminals for a change, rather than e.g. domestic violence disputes. Who would you rather talk to: a drunkard or a stoner? It could give an officer, who might otherwise not be taken very seriously, an opportunity to claim morally higher ground, give lectures, spout patronising platitudes, spew venom and just generally make him/herself (NOT ‘hermself’) bolster an artificially inflated sense of self-esteem and feel good about his/herself (also NOT ‘heirself’).
From what I’ve heard, the economic climate in the United States became complicated a couple of years ago and a lot of people had to start worrying even more than they might have done previously about their jobs’ security. Why would the police be any different? They get paid and use money, don’t they? Why would they want that to stop? It’s in their interests to do as much as they can to make as many as possible believe that they deserve their salaries (and more). As they see it, few things can do as much to make them look good as cannabis prohibition. It’s become such an essential part of their system and strategy that any idea of working without it must simply be quite incomprehensible to (many/most of) them.
If you had a choice, who would you rather try to arrest, subdue and coerce: a) a cannabis criminal, or b) any other criminal? Every now and then it might actually be difficult to deal with a stoner and even less often it might be more simple and fun to deal with some other type of criminal. I shouldn’t think such cases are very common, though.
I found it amazing that police aren’t more supportive for legalization, as a whole. I’ve never heard the suggestion that we would cut police budgets due to the inevitable decrease in resources used on cannabis busts. So why wouldn’t they want to make their jobs safer by eliminating, or seriously reducing, that entire violent black market system?
“I think Deputy Miller is more concerned that he might have to go back on the streets and solve real crime instead of the easy gig of scaring schoolkids about weed in a cozy classroom.”
Dear, oh dear, Russ – surely, you can’t be implying that your home state’s police are more concerned about their livelihood and minimising the effort required to do their jobs than they are about the welfare of their communities and, ultimately, the health of their nation (and humanity)?