The on a talk given by聽Dr. Godfrey Pearlson, the director of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center and a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Yale University about marijuana.
It turns out that even though the cannabis plant has been used by humans for thousands of years and nobody has died from it, according to Dr. Pearlson, we just don鈥檛 know enough about it.
Let鈥檚 knock these softballs out of the park, shall we? Dr. Pearlson, you say鈥�
鈥渢here鈥檚 a lot we just don鈥檛 know about marijuana鈥�
A search of will yield you 31,044 published studies. If you , it鈥檚 24,496. gives you 20,092. brings back just 197 studies.
Just what is it you think we don鈥檛 know about marijuana?
鈥渕arijuana鈥檚 effect on developing adolescent brains鈥�
We know about that. It鈥檚 bad for them . Which is why we propose taking the market for marijuana out of the hands of criminals who do not check IDs. Alcohol is ; that鈥檚 why we make its sellers check ID and run stings to catch those who fail to check ID.
If you鈥檙e worried about teenagers on pot, you鈥檇 better check showing at least 4-out-of-5 12th graders have had 鈥渆asy鈥� or 鈥渇airly easy鈥� access to marijuana during the entire War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs.
鈥渋ts public health implications, such as driving while stoned鈥�
Legalization does not invent cars and marijuana. Both have existed for quite some time and even as the use of marijuana has increased and decreased, the roads have gotten safer and safer.
But please, go on about why we must cage people over marijuana use while I slam this shot of tequila and smoke a Cuban cigar鈥� something about public health implications?
鈥渃ommercial and drug policies鈥�
I鈥檓 not even sure what you mean. Advertising and imaginary Drug-Free Workplaces? So far, every state that has passed legalization has heavily regulated the advertising into questionable anti-free speech territory and allowed employers to continue to discriminate against workers over the content of their piss.
鈥渓ong-term health and cognitive effects鈥�
Lemme ask 83-year-old Willie Nelson what he thinks about marijuana鈥檚 long-term health聽and cognitive effects. Wait, sorry, he鈥檚 busy talking to 78-year-old Tommy Chong about 84-year-old Dr. Lester Grinspoon鈥檚 publishing of an essay by daily pot smoker and .
A photo posted by Russ Belville (@radicalruss) on
Sure, I know, those are just anecdotal examples. So I鈥檒l just wait聽while you think of four comparable anecdotes about four active, accomplished senior citizens and an astrophysicist who drank liquor on a daily basis.
鈥渁nd what medical roles it might play鈥�
If only we had somebody using marijuana for medical purposes in 28 different states, we could just ask them.
鈥淧ot contains hundreds of chemicals, and some of them have opposite effects.鈥�
And yet, in seven thousand years of people using all those chemicals in whole plant form, nobody has died!
鈥渢here鈥檚 no simple, reliable driving impairment test for pot, as there is for alcohol鈥�
Huh. I wonder, then, how there have managed to be thousands and thousands of convictions nationwide for the past forty years for driving under the influence of marijuana?
If someone is driving in a way that makes you suspect they are impaired, you pull them over and give them a field sobriety test. If they fail it, you arrest them. If they aren鈥檛 driving in a way that makes you suspect they are impaired, what, exactly, is the problem you鈥檙e trying to solve here?
鈥淭he risk of a motor vehicle accident probably doubles after someone uses pot 鈥� compared with a five-fold risk for drinking alcohol.鈥�
Well, that鈥檚 not true. A聽large portion of regular pot smokers are males between the ages of 18 and 25. Guess who, statistically speaking, are the worst drivers? Males between the ages of 18 and 25. It turns out that when you correct for that, you find no discernible difference in risk of accident between drivers with THC in their system and those without.
鈥渨e don鈥檛 know how long it is until it鈥檚 safe for a pot smoker to drive again鈥�
We accept that drinkers can drive their cars to bars and then we trust that they鈥檒l judge their own impairment level based on some color-coded chart of their weight and consumption. But we can鈥檛 extend that trust to pot smokers who ?
鈥淟ong-term users might have developed compensating strategies鈥�
It鈥檚 called 鈥渢olerance鈥�.
鈥淎nother complication is the recent development of synthetic marijuana鈥�
Yes, synthetic cannabinoids that were developed because the natural ones are Schedule I, and are now abused because the natural ones are detected on drug tests. We really ought to do something about that, huh?
鈥淢arijuana was used as a medicine, prescribed by doctors, up until the 1930s. That鈥檚 when federal lawmakers outlawed it, over the objections of the American Medical Association.鈥�
One thing about reefer mad鈥� wait, what? Yes, that is absolutely true! Let鈥檚 leave this post on a bright note!
I like this article鈥o get em鈥� Russ
Yeah he did a good job of demolishing this evil toad. The demagoguery of cannabis haters is unrelenting, we saw that in Arizona, where their lies managed to block the tide for one last time.
It is even better when we come back and defeat them.
Arizona is bordered by California,. Nevada, and Colorado.
First Arizona, then New Mexico and Montana, then the only holdouts in the West will be cowboy heaven in Wyoming and the Mormon strongholds of Utah and Idaho