Joint Therapy

If you live in the United States today in more places you can legally light up a marijuana joint. Public opinion about the legalization of marijuana seems to have shifted around the nation and state by state (currently, pot is legal in some form in 16 of the 50 U.S. states).  It appears America is becoming a nation that's increasingly tolerant of the use of marijuana. Advocates of legalized pot smoking want to equate it with alcohol, saying it is equally "harmless". Hmmmm Last time I looked alcohol ruined or took the lives of a lot of people. Yet alcohol is a socially accepted drug. So pot legalization advocates try to tie the two together to make smoking marijuana appear "normal". Strange they don't also link smoking cigarettes to smoking pot, given that they are both ways of smoking. But then, smoking cigarettes is seen here as evil, so the pot heads never mention the link between the two.

Even President Obama now says he sees nothing wrong with legalizing pot. But then, that guy changes his position (his positions "evolve") as often as the wind changes direction when doing so is a political benefit to him.  It's apparent that there is no stopping the legalization movement here. My own state of Oregon is expected to be the next to make the public use of marijuana legal, but even now there are many "marijuana medical clinics" here where one can smoke joints (when a doctor's prescription is furnished)  to his or her content.

Having written that, there is no sense in presenting for and against positions for legalization. But as one who is against the idea I am interested to see what happens when some of the negatives of legalizing marijuana comes to fruition. First, smoking gives you that "cancer thing". No doubt smoking pot will bring with it, just as much as  conventional smoking,  more diseases and that will increase health care costs. Will health insurers raise policy prices for pot smokers, or even on non smokers too, in order to pay for the necessity of increases in drug, doctors and hospital visits that increased smoking pot would create? And what about auto insurance costs. With millions of people smoking pot while driving their automobiles, I would expect auto insurance policies (and deaths and injuries from the accidents they cause) to go up...way up. Driving while intoxicated on pot is about the same as driving drunk on alcohol. Both can be deadly.

Pro legalization advocates say that legalizing marijuana will drive drug dealers out of the pot selling business. But there is no guarantee that the underground market would significantly diminish. In a legal market, where marijuana is taxed, the well established illegal drug trade has every incentive to remain because it can sell the pot more cheaply. Marijuana legalization would also do nothing to stop the drug cartels' control on other illegal trades such human trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, piracy, and selling all those other illicit drugs the pot heads admire.

I also anticipate a whole lot more kids using and becoming addicted to pot. Sure, many kids already use it. But making it legal and knowing that even mom and dad can puff greatly lessens the idea that smoking pot is not good for a young mind. Research says that constant pot usage before the age of 25 (the brain is not fully developed until about that age) can decrease the person's IQ (No, I am not a pot smoker. I was just born with a low IQ). Sanctioning another intoxicant that kids want to use is probably not a good thing for the society at large. Problem solving, concentration, motivation, and memory are negatively affected by habitual pot smoking. Teens who use marijuana are more likely to engage in delinquent and dangerous behavior, and experience increased risk of schizophrenia and depression, including being three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts.

I asked my physician here in Oregon about  how many medical marijuana prescription use she gives out. She can't tell me how many of her patients ask for those prescriptions, but when I asked if marijuana really is a good way for those with pain to get relief from it she said it is indeed a way for them to feel less pain, but that there are many other pain relief prescriptions that are as good or better than using marijuana. Too, some of their pain relief is because smoking may be a placebo to the users.  I suspect that many of those who get marijuana prescriptions today do it not so much for pain relief, but simply so they can legally smoke joints.  Otherwise, there would be other kinds of legal drug clinics besides those for marijuana drug use. At present there are not. It seems that smoking joints as "medical therapy" has been given special treatment by the governments that regulate it. Hmmmm I wonder if pot smokers would accept marijuana therapy only in pill form, with puffing on joints banned. I doubt it.

Anyway, I am departing . You may light up when ready...