Reefer Madness 2012
"Have a marijuana."
-David Peel
This morning I'll be taking some pot shots - quite literally. I am refering to America's mind-numblingly stupid laws with regard to the possession of marijuana....
BUT FIRST A DISCLAIMER:
I don't smoke pot. Nor do I advocate its usage - unless for medicinal purposes of course. I haven't touched the stuff since my nineteenth birthday - August 16, 1977 - which, coincidentally, was the day that Elvis Presley died. I always tell people that Elvis and I quit drugs at the very same moment, the only difference being that I did so voluntarily.
Having said that, let me say this:
Three-quarters-of-a-century after it was made illegal; a half-a-century after it was proven to be practically harmless - why is it still a crime to possess and smoke marijuana?
I have something for you to ponder: Here is a list of ten famous people - heavy smokers all - who died too soon of lung cancer or other diseases related to their addictions to nicotine:
Humphrey Bogart
Edward R. Murrow
Nat King Cole
George Harrison
John Huston
Noel Coward
Betty Grable
Walt Disney
Gary Cooper
Peter Jennings
Here is another list. Ten famous people who died from alcoholism:
Tennessee Williams
Jack Kerouac
Truman Capote
Lorenz Hart
Veronica Lake
Bix Beiderbecke
Montgomery Clift
Dylan Thomas
John Barrymore
Errol Flynn
Now I'm going to ask you to name for me one celebrity who has died from too much grass.
Go on, I'm waiting.....
You cou
ldn't do it, could you? Don't feel bad, neither could I. Not only have I never heard of any famous person dying in that matter, I am not aware of it happening in all recorded human history! And don't let anyone bring up the late Bob Marley as an example of a victim of the excesses of weed. I have heard this done more times than I can count. Here's the myth:
BOB MARLEY DIED OF BRAIN CANCER BECAUSE HE SMOKED POT!
Here are the facts:
Bob Marley died from the exact same thing that my father died of - malignant melanoma that spread to his brain. Myth shattered.
FUN FACT:
The first time I ever got high was one night in February of 1974. I was in Stowe, Vermont on vacation. The two guys who first turned me on are today airline pilots. Isn't that a hoot? How do you think those friendly skies got so damned friendly anyway? On this particular evening the film, "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" starring Cicily Tyson, made its debut on American television. That famous scene where the 110-year-old Miss Jane defiantly takes a sip from the "Whites Only" fountain had the entire nation deeply moved....Well, almost the entire nation. My brothers and sisters couldn't figure out what I found so funny about so touching a moment.
Marijuana should have never been made illegal. Why in 2012 are we still having this same, idiotic conversation?
Is it a "gateway drug" as they never tire of reminding us? Quite possibly an argument can be made there. But if it is a gateway drug, so is Miller High Life - the Champagne of Bottled Beer. Let's get a grip here.
-David Peel
This morning I'll be taking some pot shots - quite literally. I am refering to America's mind-numblingly stupid laws with regard to the possession of marijuana....
BUT FIRST A DISCLAIMER:
I don't smoke pot. Nor do I advocate its usage - unless for medicinal purposes of course. I haven't touched the stuff since my nineteenth birthday - August 16, 1977 - which, coincidentally, was the day that Elvis Presley died. I always tell people that Elvis and I quit drugs at the very same moment, the only difference being that I did so voluntarily.
Having said that, let me say this:
Three-quarters-of-a-century after it was made illegal; a half-a-century after it was proven to be practically harmless - why is it still a crime to possess and smoke marijuana?
I have something for you to ponder: Here is a list of ten famous people - heavy smokers all - who died too soon of lung cancer or other diseases related to their addictions to nicotine:
Humphrey Bogart
Edward R. Murrow
Nat King Cole
George Harrison
John Huston
Noel Coward
Betty Grable
Walt Disney
Gary Cooper
Peter Jennings
Here is another list. Ten famous people who died from alcoholism:
Tennessee Williams
Jack Kerouac
Truman Capote
Lorenz Hart
Veronica Lake
Bix Beiderbecke
Montgomery Clift
Dylan Thomas
John Barrymore
Errol Flynn
Now I'm going to ask you to name for me one celebrity who has died from too much grass.
Go on, I'm waiting.....
You cou
ldn't do it, could you? Don't feel bad, neither could I. Not only have I never heard of any famous person dying in that matter, I am not aware of it happening in all recorded human history! And don't let anyone bring up the late Bob Marley as an example of a victim of the excesses of weed. I have heard this done more times than I can count. Here's the myth: BOB MARLEY DIED OF BRAIN CANCER BECAUSE HE SMOKED POT!
Here are the facts:
Bob Marley died from the exact same thing that my father died of - malignant melanoma that spread to his brain. Myth shattered.
FUN FACT:
The first time I ever got high was one night in February of 1974. I was in Stowe, Vermont on vacation. The two guys who first turned me on are today airline pilots. Isn't that a hoot? How do you think those friendly skies got so damned friendly anyway? On this particular evening the film, "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" starring Cicily Tyson, made its debut on American television. That famous scene where the 110-year-old Miss Jane defiantly takes a sip from the "Whites Only" fountain had the entire nation deeply moved....Well, almost the entire nation. My brothers and sisters couldn't figure out what I found so funny about so touching a moment.
Marijuana should have never been made illegal. Why in 2012 are we still having this same, idiotic conversation?
Is it a "gateway drug" as they never tire of reminding us? Quite possibly an argument can be made there. But if it is a gateway drug, so is Miller High Life - the Champagne of Bottled Beer. Let's get a grip here.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
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Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
we're okay you are not exceptionalism xenophobic faux-Christianity. the profits of the war on drugs. excuse to lock up black and Latino people. outsourcing work production to uber cheap non-violent and unjustly incarcerated prison labor in US by the obscene prison-industrial-complex (who needs sweatshops in third world countries?). people like Obama who want to keep an always hand out to non-progressives (willing to cherry pick issues on which to throw liberals under the bus yet again) on issues like this -- why would Obama really want to change the status quo unlike his handy dandy slogan proclaimed? why go to the mattress over an issue that is clearly ripe for reform when you opportunistically don't want to lose any political points with anyone if you have to. Ego uber citizen welfare. he won't even budge on medical marijuana. that is a gateway to social justice and sanity. don't want to go there.
Obomney. Slogan for 2012... STILL NO CHANGE!!!
best, libby