A Legal Substitute??

There is all this fuss about a legal substitute for marijuana. This so called "fluff" or "spice," is a smoked substance that is supposed to give off a high similar to marijuana but is legal. I really didn't know much about the substance so I went and did a bit of research. "It was invented by Christopher Burmeister and the high it causes is believed to be caused by a mixture of synthetic cannabinoid drugs" (Synthetic Marijuana, 1). The ingredients attempt to mimic THC, but does it do the job? The answer is yes, politicians believe that the people of California that don't need marijuana for its medicinal uses should be satisfied smoking this instead because it is "less dangerous" and legal. They are right, it is legal, but it is unexpectedly dangerous. Some side affects include panic attacks, hallucinations, delusions, vomiting, increased agitation, and dilated pupils. Most politicians don't even know that the high gained from high grade spice is more than the high gained from regular marijuana. So my question is, why is this legal instead of marijuana. It has negative side affects and causes the same high as marijuana, at a heftier blow to the wallet than marijuana, but it seems to me that it is just as dangerous. more information can be found here: www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/23/synthetic.marijuana/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Basic Reasons for Legalization

There are some dumb reasons out there for legalizing marijuana but after reading some other blogs I have found a lot of legitimate reasons.
I never thought about the problem regarding teens smoking pot as an issue for legalization. If legalized of course there will be some under aged smoking just like what happens with alcohol, but there will be less high school drug dealers because as of right now there aren't any beer dealers in high school that I know of. One third of 16-17 year old kids say that marijuana is easy to buy now, and that it is actually much harder at that age to acquire alcohol.
Another thing I wouldn't have thought of before is the fact that violent drug dealers make a lot of their money off marijuana and use it as a gateway drug. With the legalization of marijuana, people will not have to search out these violent drug dealers who can urge them to test these more dangerous and more addictive substances.
California is also in need of jobs. Following the recession, California needs this potentially 14 billion dollar cash crop to open up a huge job market which can turn the state's financial situation around. It will also help some who do smoke marijuana keep their jobs. Some great workers have been fired regardless of their excellent work due to a company's random drug screenings

Heating Up for the Elections

In the upcoming elections in November, one of the most contentious ballot issues will be solved. If proposition 19 passes, California will become the first state to completely legalize marijuana. All adults over the age of 21 would be able to carry up to an ounce of weed without having to worry about the cops busting them. If legalized it is estimated that California could save up to 7.7 billion dollars on law enforcement and make 2.2 billion on the taxes they could apply to it. The amount of pot related arrests would drop by up to 60,000 per year. It has recently been backed by retired police chiefs, judges, and other state officials. Even if it passes, the Californians are probably far from being able to finally legally light up due to the Drug Enforcement Administration who will most likely persuade the government to make a legal challenge against the proposition. It could be years before this proposition could become a law.

Some believe that the costs of controlling marijuana production and sale will cost us more than it will benefit us. These people also believe there are many dangers in the decriminalization of weed. Alex Wodak and Colin Drummond explain that there are several social costs to this too. If it is legalized, they believe many will become less productive in their workplace which in the end will cause the economy overall to respond negatively. Policymakers in the US also agree that marijuana is a dangerous drug. They feel that it is a stepping stone to other, worse drugs which can cause real harm to the body, such as cocaine and heroine. Some other negative effects are short term memory loss, difficulty thinking and problem solving, lack of coordination making one prone to injury, inability to perform complex tasks for a limited time, distorted senses, reduced athletic ability, elevated heart rate, and anxiety/ panic attacks. The President opposes the legalization of marijuana. When asked if he thinks if the legalization of marijuana would benefit our economy he responded, "The answer is, no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy... I don't think it's the right route for the American economy."
for more information- www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DanBLgI_g0

The McLaughlin Group has a few thoughts about it. First of all they believe that it shouldn't be legalized on the federal level and should be approached state by state. The group thinks that wherever the debate comes up on the state level it will be passed and legalized for that state and so far this seems to be true. They don't think Obama will choose to show ant interest in this because the health care reform has enough complexity involved in it already. One lady thinks that Governor Schwarzenegger is the only one who could dare to take this on. They seem to like the idea of taxing marijuana to help the economy of California, and they go to point out how Milton Friedman thought it would benefit our economy. Lastly they point out that the legalization of marijuana would be safer than the underground sales which occur now. Other debates like this go on daily regarding this subject. There are thousands of people on each side of this heated subject.

GreenGro Technologies has their own views on medical marijuana. They grow medical marijuana in 14 different states, including: * Alaska * California * Colorado * Hawaii * Maine * Michigan * Montana * Nevada * New Jersey * New Mexico * Oregon * Rhode Island * Vermont * and Washington. These 14 states and DC all have different limits on how much medicinal marijuana can be possessed at each time. Just recently a study was done in Pennsylvania and it was found that 80% of the population supports the legalization of medicinal marijuana, so they might not be far behind. These regulations have to do with ounces of weed and the number of plants one has. Their company has done a lot of research regarding which diseases marijuana can help relieve the symptoms of of even help heal. These diseases include: * tourette syndrome * post-traumatic stress disorder * alzheimers * multiple schlarosis * parkinsons * glaucoma * autism * cancer * schizophrenia. This company obviously is pro-legalization because this is how the company runs. "The newest results showed that medical marijuana: helps prevent the natural neural degradation from neuro-degenerative diseases, inhibits/slows cancer cell growth, and its as effective as atypical antipsychotics in treating schizophrenia"(GreenGro, 6).

Here are some statistics I found regarding the subject:
= marijuana cannot cause permanent mental illness
= marijuana is not addictive
= marijuana is considered the #1 gateway drug
= the average age of experimentation is 14 years old
= 97.5 million Americans have tried smoking weed
= since 1996 the percentage of 8th graders who had tried marijuana has dropped almost six
= since 2005 over 300,000 people have used marijuana for its medicinal purposes

If you are interested and have a minute or two, these two videos really helped me develop a basis of information on this debate...
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ezdiwaaLI
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQPtZs5TP8&feature=related

Little Perspective

Following is an interview with a fellow student attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Q: What is so great about lighting up?
A: Well, food tastes great hahah. Really it just helps me relax; I'm a very energetic person and it mellows me out. Overall, everything that night just becomes more enjoyable.

Q: At what age do you think most people smoke their first blunt? How about your first time?
A: I did it first in my junior year of high school but most of my cannabis consuming peers had ripped the ganja prior to being in high school.

Q: Do you think marijuana is more harmful to prepubesent humans than those who are already fully developed?
A: I don't know, smoking at any age doesn't seem like a good idea. That being said, I haven't felt as if my physical wellbeing has been compromised because of inhaling this plant. In fact, I was a all american athlete in high school and I smoked pot before most practices; I was still beating the kids on the regular.

Q: Have you smoked the legal insence yet? And how does it compare?
A: Yea I have. I don't think you could ever imitate the way marijuana makes you feel. It has this weird balance of making you more sensitive to everything around you while also keeping you calm [this happens because it increases your heart rate while similtaneously lowering your blood pressure] The legal incense raise your heartrate and bloodpressure which scares a lot of first time users.

Q: Why do you think medical marijuana should be legalized?
A: I don't see how sick people smoking marijuana is any worse than sick people taking morphine or anti-depressents in fact it probably doesn't have as dangerous side effects as most prescribed medications do. In addition, people are more likely to get addictive to pain killers than pot and quitting has no withdrawls symptoms at all. I can vouch for that since I have been clean for 2 months since coming to college.

Q: Do you think agree that properly grown and sold marijuana would be significantlly healthier/safer than the reefer sold on the streets?
A: If it was monitored by the government with regulations than I think it would get healthier and safer. This is more of a regional question though because most people who live in states that have medical marijuana or in neighboring states end up smoking the same pot that is sold at dispensaries. Most lacing and tampering with pot happens with really low grade marijuana known as mersh or regs. I've personally never smoked that kind because it doesn't feel as good to be high on it. Its poorly grown pot with a low grade percentage of THC so its more harmful as you inhale a lot of other bi products.

Gropech... the Future in Medical Mary-J??

The growing of medical marijuana in California is currently done in clean, safe, and polished dispensaries. No one wants there medicine to be dirty, right? One factory, Gropech, which is in the approval process, which could take a long ass time, could produce up to 50 million dollars of marijuana per year in an eco-friendly, clean environment. That’s a lot of weed. “Gropech says their factory will be built to "medical laboratory standards," ensuring healthy weed that actually deserves the distinction of being called medicine” (The Atlantic). Outside weed for personal enjoyment is usually grown in unsafe, uncleanly areas, where the weed may be pest infested. Some studies have found mold that can be found on a lot of this street reefer. So basically it’s like eating moldy bread, and I don’t really know anyone who would do that so that seems dumb to me. Another big problem with this street cush is that it may be laced with portions of other drugs which can cause serious harm to the body. The Californians are most likely smoking this dirty hemp. My thought would be to sell the same marijuana that is used for medicine because one would know how potent what they’re smoking is. I mean, the police know people are lighting up everywhere, and they know it’s probably unsafe weed, so I just can’t comprehend why they won’t just legalize it to “protect” the people. I say protect like that because it’s just less unhealthy than it was before so I’d consider it protecting the hippies.