Marijuana "Dangerous Narcotic" All Propaganda

[radha]

"The propaganda that caused people to believe that Germans were a master race and Jews were an inferior race and needed to be exterminated has an exact parallel in the war on marijuana. You create false evils, create fear and hatred for a certain class of people and proceed to inflict horrific punishment on the targets of your lies. All the while seizing totalitarian power for yourself and your cronies based on the need for people to abandon their normal concepts of right and wrong and leave those decisions entirely to the propagandists." -- Daryl Verville, in his documentary The Naked Queen

In a recent example, the US FDA indicates it has bought the propaganda about medical marijuana which it claims has no benefits. At the same time, the FDA has historically allowed SSRI anti-depressants go on the market while pharmaceutical companies have hidden data which shows risk of suicide amongst patients, especially teenagers.

Meanwhile, marijuana has been considered a dangerous narcotic which causes anxiety and paranoia, but only among one out of four people who have used it since they were teens. This means that among people who use it occasionally (less than once a week) as adults, more than 75% of them will experience no ill effects, apart from mild intoxication, increased ability to get to sleep at night and associated changes in sleep patterns. In short, for the majority of users, marijuana is a non-addictive alternative to habit-forming benzodiazepines, used by consumers by prescription as sleep aids and sedatives.

Does the propaganda against marijuana indicate the relative harmlessness of the drug when compared to cigarettes (nicotine) and alcohol? No, most anti-marijuana literature addresses the health risks, including cognitive deficits and especially high use side effects, and claims marijuana is addictive. Indeed, most anti-marijuana literature uses subtle scare tactics and promotes abstinence.

However, neither the pro-marijuana nor the anti-marijuana proponents advocate moderation of use. It is barely brought up in debates for or against the drug.

Quite possibly, moderation of use may be covered under harm reduction. If moderation works for some alcoholics, it can work for marijuana users.

"Because let's face it: there's no bigger pusher than the state. There are far more dangerous and mind-altering drugs than marijuana being pushed on us every day by huge pharmaceutical companies, with the blessings of our doctors and the government. And no one's raiding the drug companies." -- Bonnie Burstow, senior lecturer at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

[radha]

My own GP has steadfastly resisted giving me any addictive drugs, thankfully.

The intake clinician at the Mental Health & Addictions centre basically said I should see a new doctor.

I thought to myself, "Something is wrong when the State encourages doctors to be drug pushers just so a social worker can 'help' you. Even worse is when a social worker subtly suggests one would have to become addicted by one's doctor's hand before they would even 'treat' you."

Just before anyone here jumps to the conclusion that I am chronic and/or constantly drunk.stoned.high, it's been 9 days since 4-20 and even when I drink, one drink is my limit.

Oh, and the Whalley Wheat beer at City Centre Pub is intoxicating!

[radha]

Despite the copious amounts of pot smoked by at-risk youths, it's doubtful pot could be considered a factor in Reena Virk's death.

Hormones and alcohol are more likely the cause, and negligence by the MCFD, considering how long it took to get youth programs in place in Saanich (almost ten years).

If anything, if marijuana was legal and available, as the gentle alternative to alcohol, a lot of senseless school violence could be avoided.

It's precisely because alcohol is legal that such violence is present at all, especially amongst teenaged girls.

More girls indulge in use of binge drinking at private parties in parking lots and under bridges than boys. They also tend to get stoned and get high more often than boys.

However, men are more violent than women. 3/4 of murder victims are men with the other 1/4 women, and about 90% of perpetrators are men.

Thus violence against men is more of a problem than violence against women.

And quite possibly for most murderers, alcohol is a factor.

[lildonkey]

You're comparing the war on marijuana, to the holocaust?!

I don't think marijuana gave you any negative effects... like perhaps brain damage judging by your comparison of the war on weed to the holocaust... maybe that just developed from you playing that game where you choke yourself till you pass out, clearly one too many times.

[radha]

Hey marijuana wasn't made illegal because it was dangerous.

It was just made dangerous so that the military industry complex could profit from dangerous but legal pharmaceuticals etc.

No doubt if cocaine is profitting black ops, marijuana is profitting black ops too.

[.Promoter]

you can only sort of call it "the military industrial complex"

Because its not actually the military, but the police.

And in all reality, it is the conservative christian government electorates that continue to push the issue. As it is now they have succeded so fully in their war on drugs that they have been carrying on since the 80s, that the majority of people have actually been brain washed into believing that drugs are the problems and that the only way to win is to ban and regulate.

The american government is actually loosing money on the war on drugs. Its is an expensive waste of money. The problem doesnt come in the crime fighting itself, but the massive prison sentences handed down. Prisoners cost money.

The profits to industry come in the firearms industries ect. Sure they put pressue, but no where near as much as an artillery manafactuer asking for mor jobs in 30 states.

This is why it can be changed. With enough public opinion the issue can be swayed more like it is now in Canada. However with the ongoing propaganda campaigns in the USA that will likely never happen. And as a result we are seen as the bad drug addicted partiers, and they are seen as the gun toting hot heads.

But for our own good lets remeber to be less like the states. LEGALIZE IT and crime will go down :)

[decypher]

Marijuana doesn't fit into their paradigm. It's way more socially exceptable to push klono's and ativans on anyone with a few wrestless nights then give them weed.

And since we are talking about industrial complexes then you would know the US pharmaceutical system is a joke. High prices and low coverage.

The taxpayers subsidize research for the drugs but they are priced high out of their reach. Canadian companies have made a fortune sending drugs down there. So really it's about "intellectual property" and "monopoly."


edit:
That whole comment that guy made about the holocaust was complete sensational rhetoric. Equating the holocaust to weed propaganda is quite the jump. It is the same on way different levels but his use is simply to draw someone into his argument.

[radha]

Well, it's more like a genocide. DEA will co-ordinate a no-knock on hash dealers.

In Christiana, Danmark, the new left hippies and anarchists documented all the junk (heroin) dealers and the junkies for the police, but the police just went in and busted all the hash dealers.

In the recent takedown of hash dealers in 2004, hash dealing came under the jurisdiction of crime gangs in clubs, along with hard drugs like cocaine and meth as well as the junk.

People of all ages in Christiana went around harrassing all the heroin dealers and the junkies were told, Get out or endure our form of rehab!

Yet still the Danish cops came in to harrass the hash dealers.

Very little was done about drug trafficking. All they wanted to do was close all the hash booths, which they did.

2001 was when the rightwingers got control of Danmark and Copenhagen.


They're the ones who moralize about hash, while ignoring the growing meth and heroin epidemic.

Ironically, substance use is originally a luxury of the rich, including tobacco and alcohol.

Drug laws impoverish us all.

[decypher]

So now we are talking about Denmark hmmm. Same old dialectic. I don't see your point to all this? Was it the US "military-industrial complex"? Or was it conservative fight against hash in Denmark? Most of the time these big drug busts in hash/heroin/opium are used as propaganda fuel for a larger clash of ideology in the "War on terrorism."

I just don't see how your critical assessments really relate to your armchair smoking? We live in Vancouver where you can freely walk outside and smoke somewhere reasonable and not get hasselled. You're more likely to get slammed with a drinking ticket.

[radha]

It's not American military-industry complex, it's State military-industry complex.

Right-wingers tend to hate the smell of pot. They see nothing wrong with gangsters selling hard and soft drugs at all, because most of them do not smell.

My guess is, the cops were sent in to close the hash shops cos the right-wing elite of Copenhagen couldn't stand the skunk.

Sadly though, the message is: GO ABUSE A MORE DANGEROUS DRUG THAT DOESN'T STINK.

Hence the meth epidemic.

And sadly drug education rarely states that the side effects of stimulants simulate behavioral and mental disorders consistent with "mental illness".

Most of the time they just say that psychosis sucks.

Heck, even the anti-cholinergic psychosis of high (over 100 mg) doses of diphenhydramine (Benadryl, also found mixed with theophylline in gravol) mimicks a behavioral / mental disorder.

Yes, that's what a drug "high" is: a temporary, transient form of psychosis almost indistinguishable from a mental disorder, except that usually when a person is "clean" of the drugs, they return to normal behavior.

"A mental disorder due to substance disorder" is the catch-all all phrase for behaviors which range from depression with psychosis and/or hypomania to schizotypal with bipolar syndrome.

While not all psychiatric disorders are due to substance use, substance abuse does mimick a whole range of psychiatric disorders.

The iroinic thing is, seroquel, an anti-psychotic, if taken in the morning, may cause "hallucinations" e.g. "waking dreams" as does Remeron.

Seriously, in some cases, meds are just legitimate forms of "getting high" when "abused".

Yet pot is safer than both hard drugs & psychopharmaceuticals when used as directed i.e. two puffs, wait until head clears and repeat.

I personally have found that one puff, for me, is more effective than the recommended dose of benzodiazepines (Ativan) and less habit forming as sleep aid.

However, the State would rather I get addicted to Ativan than occasionally smoke marijuana to relieve insomnia.

Or, risk anti-cholinergic psychosis from taking Benadryl or Gravol as an OTC sleep aid.