Locut0s
Lifer
Here's my point of view, you are free to disagree:
The problem with the current "war on drugs" is they have their heads in the sand. They spend billions of dollars trying to demonize marijuana, all the while hunting after a completely unrealistic ideal, the complete eradication of drugs. They can't, or don't want to, get their heads around the idea that drugs are here to stay. They already are here in the form of alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, pain killers etc... Too much of the anti drug movement is focused on morals, and not enough on scientific facts. Hence alcohol goes almost unnoticed, while pot, arguably less dangerous than alcohol, gets demonized into something 10 times worse than cocaine. While few would argue over the dangers of cocaine and heroine the debate over marijuana is much less clear. From what little I know it seems the science on both sides is somewhat suspect with large government funded studies sometimes clearly overselling the dangers of pot while other independent ones clearly underselling it. I would not be surprised if when the dust settles it turns out the dangers of smoking pot are significant in the long run, in the form of increased risk to lung cancer and the like, but less dangerous than cigarettes. In my opinion they need to start looking at this realistically, concentrate on the drugs that cause the greatest harm while putting out a level headed and truthful message about pot, in the long run it will help far more people than hurt. Kids know when they are being lied to, they know friends and parents of friends who have smoked for years without dying or loosing their job and becoming bums, so when they see an ad telling them this stuff is as dangerous as can be they naturally ignore it, along with the potential real dangers posed by marijuana. There also needs to be a stronger focus on those suffering from drug addiction, the current message almost seems to be "drugs are the most evil thing on the planet and will completely destroy you if you take them, so don't because if you do you're beyond hope and we won't even try helping you". Ok that's too strong but there does need to be a stronger emphasis on rehabilitation and less on heavy handed moral messages.
Just my 2 cents.
Oh and no I have never smoked it.
Here's a link to a site with some interesting figures (while some may find the site has too strong a liberal slant for them it's the numbers that are interesting):
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
The problem with the current "war on drugs" is they have their heads in the sand. They spend billions of dollars trying to demonize marijuana, all the while hunting after a completely unrealistic ideal, the complete eradication of drugs. They can't, or don't want to, get their heads around the idea that drugs are here to stay. They already are here in the form of alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, pain killers etc... Too much of the anti drug movement is focused on morals, and not enough on scientific facts. Hence alcohol goes almost unnoticed, while pot, arguably less dangerous than alcohol, gets demonized into something 10 times worse than cocaine. While few would argue over the dangers of cocaine and heroine the debate over marijuana is much less clear. From what little I know it seems the science on both sides is somewhat suspect with large government funded studies sometimes clearly overselling the dangers of pot while other independent ones clearly underselling it. I would not be surprised if when the dust settles it turns out the dangers of smoking pot are significant in the long run, in the form of increased risk to lung cancer and the like, but less dangerous than cigarettes. In my opinion they need to start looking at this realistically, concentrate on the drugs that cause the greatest harm while putting out a level headed and truthful message about pot, in the long run it will help far more people than hurt. Kids know when they are being lied to, they know friends and parents of friends who have smoked for years without dying or loosing their job and becoming bums, so when they see an ad telling them this stuff is as dangerous as can be they naturally ignore it, along with the potential real dangers posed by marijuana. There also needs to be a stronger focus on those suffering from drug addiction, the current message almost seems to be "drugs are the most evil thing on the planet and will completely destroy you if you take them, so don't because if you do you're beyond hope and we won't even try helping you". Ok that's too strong but there does need to be a stronger emphasis on rehabilitation and less on heavy handed moral messages.
Just my 2 cents.
Oh and no I have never smoked it.
Here's a link to a site with some interesting figures (while some may find the site has too strong a liberal slant for them it's the numbers that are interesting):
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
