This week, we talk about HBO's Rome and what types of Americans sound like Canadians. D-Rock does a rad Fire Marshall Bill impression, and my husband is emotionally healthy.
They say cannabis has no medical value. Yet they make synthetic THC (Marinol).
I think legalization could be an effective way to stymie the international drug war; people would go for good ol' 'merican cannabis rather than shop the black market. Does no one in the government study history and how the alcohol prohibition didn't work out as hoped? Same thing. More crime is created by making the substance illicit.
Legalize it, tax and regulate it like cigarettes and alcohol and use the funds for national health care. I think it's ridiculous that tobacco and alcohol are deemed legal, yet cause more direct death than cannabis. The irony astounds me.
I had an ex who worked at a now-defunct dispensiary in the SF Bay Area. To work there, he had to have a doctors recommendation. That wasn't hard to do, if one had the cash. Not to say that his medical "reasons" weren't valid, but the doctor didn't go over any past medical records verifying the claims made (although nowadays in the area I'm in, there is a clinic that requires two years documented "traditional" medical treatment before they'll write a 215 prescription).
There are people who go and get a 215 prescription so they can grow plants for sale on the black market-- once had a neighbor who exploited it. It's assholes like that which ruin it for valid medical cases.
However, if it were legalized, it'd create jobs in a viable industry, both for cannabis and hemp. It'd generate legitimate revenue that could be used to better the lives of all American citizens, such as my aforementioned health care idea. Money will be made whether its legal or not. Seems rather dumb not to capitalize on something millions of people use (hey, just like alcohol and tobacco!) on the sly. Take power away from the Mexican cartels ruining the forests with their grow operations by letting Americans grow or buy their own from dispensaries and be taxed for the luxury... just like cigarettes.
. . .
Yes, people in favor of recreational use legalization should cop to the fact they want to get high. I mean, is that not the reason alcohol is legal? So people can get intoxicated and the government make $$$? It serves no benefit (well, other than the infamous "beer goggle phenomenon", but the morning after can easily rule that as debatable.) Is it not one of the most widely advertised substances? Bright neon lights emblazoned with logos and all, stuck on walls of restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores alike, no discretion for young eyes. Personally, I think alcohol is much, much worse than cannabis.
When one makes something illegal, it creates a black market. Supply and demand. People will do it regardless of laws. That is a fact. US government could profit off the revenue generated by taxation of cannabis and chooses not to so that the "war on drugs" can be waged even against the ill and dying shows me that they don't care about the people and the issues they voted for.
I think that aside from Big Pharma's influence, there's the logging, cotton and even house insulation industries that would be impacted were hemp/cannabis legalized. That's a lot of pissed off lobbyists and oh! there goes campaign funds.
Hearst's propaganda machine did it's work. Pot is evil! Makes the most sane into a psycho-Norman-Bates-wannabe! It's been vilified. And that's sad because aside from the munchie-inducing giggle fits, the drug does have valid and legitimate uses for medical applications. A person dying of cancer shouldn't fear being arrested by feds for taking something that helps them live with dignity when its no where as toxic as legal intoxicants.
Hey Jan and D-Rock. I have a sordid history with pot. My father died of a heroin overdose when I was little and I grew up knowing that drugs killed my daddy, vilifying all drugs, even pot.
Now as an adult I suffer with chronic pain that is so bad that I can't get out of bed some days but I had maintained that all drugs are bad. Recently I reconnected with a friend who is a cannabis patient for similar pain. She gave me my first tastes of medical marijuana and it was the first time in 8 years that I had no pain at all. Now I find myself reconciling a lifetime of fear around drugs and the intense desire to not hurt everyday.
This is only sort of related to the weed legalization discussion, but have you ever heard of what Canadians do in Ottawa on 420? A bunch of us get together, sit on the lawn at parliament hill and smoke weed. It's really interesting because depending on the day of the week 420 falls on, the house is sometimes in session. There are also tons of federal cops standing around just watching but not doing anything (they'll actually chat nicely to you WHILE you smoke weed). I filmed the event a couple of years in a row. Unfortunately the video I posted on Youtube is from the first year when there were far fewer people. The next year it was super packed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idBT9So1ngQ
I'm only a few minutes into the video, but I'm wondering why Mr. Jen is hiding behind DRock and staring at the wall. Mr. Jen, what are you doing back there?
Love the togas! I really need to finish this show, but first I need to finish Justified. I really can't keep up with television. It's going to be the end of me. Did you ever keep up with Vampire Diaries? I remember you initially disliked it on a blog post long ago in a galaxy maybe not so far away, but I don't remember it coming up since...
As far as marijuana goes I find it horribly demonized compared to cigarettes and alcohol which seem to be much more harmful in the long run and are legal. They say it's the gateway drug, but it can't be much more gateway than smoking and drinking. Probably in the case with alcohol and smoking cigarettes there are people who do too much and will take it too far, but if its long term effects are lesser compared to alcohol and cigarettes it seems ridiculous to continue to ban it, especially in the medicinal field. I'm not against it, but I see why people would be against it. However, I feel like those same people might have a penchant for banning cigarettes and alcohol and gambling and the like if they could get the chance. I feel like marijuana could be compared to alcohol in the prohibition era minus the speakeasies. Also in a time when the government claims financial hardship I'd legalize it and tax it and enjoy the extra revenue from a purely capital standpoint. Interesting times for sure, but considering there are some states who have now legalized it we may not be far off from mass legalization. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Yeah I remember those Vampire Diaries posts! I really got a kick out of them, because I read and loved the books when I was younger and was really excited when the show came out. They changed a bunch from the source material, but overall I found it really fun.
As for this episode, I haven't watched Rome, but this definitely perked my interest. Also- awesome togas!
I agree that marijuana should be legalized, as much more dangerous substances are legal here already. People drink and then go out and cause trouble/get into accidents, but smoking pot rarely makes you more ambitious than maybe making a sandwich then going to sit on the couch for the next 8 hours... not really being a danger to society. Plus when it's legal and you're getting it from reputable sources you don't have to worry about something being sprinkled on top that you didn't bargain for.
I never read the books unfortunately, but I've really enjoyed the show until this season/last season. I just need some consistent characterization please and thank you. I'm watching for Caroline and Klaus and the return of Elijah at this point. Still not as crazy as True Blood though at least... for now? ;-; *prays for my TV*
Thanks for answering my question! Jen, I'm very sorry to hear you have fibromyalgia, I agree with you, I think it's an autoimmune disease as well. I wonder if the topic for the next video has anything to do with your condition. At least here in WA, you can qualify for medical marijuana with fibromyalgia.
Speaking of marijuana, I'm all for ending the prohibition on weed. My state, WA, has ended the prohibition on weed, which goes into effect in a couple of days. It's no longer illegal to smoke marijuana, and there will be marijuana stores where you can buy the drug, much like many states have liquor stores.
I agree with what other people have said. It's MUCH less harmful than smoking cigarettes or alcohol. And our government could be making a lot of much needed money off of weed, by legalizing it and taxing it. Also, I think that what people do in their private lives is up to them. Like Cartman from South Park, "it's my body, I'll do what I want!" I don't think the government should have control over our bodies, and what we do with them.
I also see weed from the patient perspective. This year, after I had a really bad flare-up of my Crohn's disease, and since I have yet to find any treatment that actually works to help my disease (I'm currently doing a drug trial), I got a prescription for marijuana. In WA state, it's fairly easy to do. A "marijuana" doctor looked over my medical history pertaining to my Crohn's disease, and decided if I was eligible, which I was. He then talked to me about how often to take marijuana, and it's medical benefits with regard to Crohn's.
I get livid whenever someone says that marijuana has no medical benefits. Marijuana helps with my pain (which often times pain killers do not even help, stomach pain is very hard to control pain killers), and helps slow down my digestive system, much like prescription anti-diarrheal drugs I've been prescribed, yet does not have a painful side effect, like the prescription drugs do. Marijuana is also supposed to help with inflammation. And best of all, marijuana is not physically addictive, like the pain killers that my GI doctors prescribe me.
Living in WA, I actually didn't know for awhile that some states do not even have medical marijuana, and I find this to be completely ridiculous. Marijuana, at the very least, should be allowed in every state for its medical benefits, period. I suspect the pharmaceutical companies have something to do with the fact that this hasn't happened, but don't get me started on that!
So, I'm very pro-legalizing, or ending the prohibition, of marijuana. Wish all states would follow Washington and Colorado's lead!
Would have to undo the propaganda machine. Halt the war on drugs (ha, as if that's going to happen. That's revenue to various law enforcement agencies, and I bet they will not go gracefully in the night) and then deal with all the assholios that will say, if you legalize weed, why not meth, coke, dog shit and heroin? These particular people are the same ones that think the USA is already going down the drain for not stoning (the bad kind of getting stoned, too) gay folks and non-christians.
I'll say this...
I've seen drunken brawls. At a bar, on the street and in the parking lot of my old apartment complex.
The closest thing I've seen to potheads fighting is limited to the following a)"Hey jerkwad, gimme the bag of chips," and an empty bag got passed. b) "Let's roll a spliff... no, no bong rips!" after the purchase of a Zong. c) "You dropped my fucking hookah and blamed it on the cat??" Hey, that hookah was a wedding gift!
They say cannabis has no medical value. Yet they make synthetic THC (Marinol).
ReplyDeleteI think legalization could be an effective way to stymie the international drug war; people would go for good ol' 'merican cannabis rather than shop the black market. Does no one in the government study history and how the alcohol prohibition didn't work out as hoped? Same thing. More crime is created by making the substance illicit.
Legalize it, tax and regulate it like cigarettes and alcohol and use the funds for national health care. I think it's ridiculous that tobacco and alcohol are deemed legal, yet cause more direct death than cannabis. The irony astounds me.
I had an ex who worked at a now-defunct dispensiary in the SF Bay Area. To work there, he had to have a doctors recommendation. That wasn't hard to do, if one had the cash. Not to say that his medical "reasons" weren't valid, but the doctor didn't go over any past medical records verifying the claims made (although nowadays in the area I'm in, there is a clinic that requires two years documented "traditional" medical treatment before they'll write a 215 prescription).
There are people who go and get a 215 prescription so they can grow plants for sale on the black market-- once had a neighbor who exploited it. It's assholes like that which ruin it for valid medical cases.
However, if it were legalized, it'd create jobs in a viable industry, both for cannabis and hemp. It'd generate legitimate revenue that could be used to better the lives of all American citizens, such as my aforementioned health care idea. Money will be made whether its legal or not. Seems rather dumb not to capitalize on something millions of people use (hey, just like alcohol and tobacco!) on the sly. Take power away from the Mexican cartels ruining the forests with their grow operations by letting Americans grow or buy their own from dispensaries and be taxed for the luxury... just like cigarettes.
. . .
Yes, people in favor of recreational use legalization should cop to the fact they want to get high. I mean, is that not the reason alcohol is legal? So people can get intoxicated and the government make $$$? It serves no benefit (well, other than the infamous "beer goggle phenomenon", but the morning after can easily rule that as debatable.) Is it not one of the most widely advertised substances? Bright neon lights emblazoned with logos and all, stuck on walls of restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores alike, no discretion for young eyes. Personally, I think alcohol is much, much worse than cannabis.
When one makes something illegal, it creates a black market. Supply and demand. People will do it regardless of laws. That is a fact. US government could profit off the revenue generated by taxation of cannabis and chooses not to so that the "war on drugs" can be waged even against the ill and dying shows me that they don't care about the people and the issues they voted for.
I think that aside from Big Pharma's influence, there's the logging, cotton and even house insulation industries that would be impacted were hemp/cannabis legalized. That's a lot of pissed off lobbyists and oh! there goes campaign funds.
Hearst's propaganda machine did it's work. Pot is evil! Makes the most sane into a psycho-Norman-Bates-wannabe! It's been vilified. And that's sad because aside from the munchie-inducing giggle fits, the drug does have valid and legitimate uses for medical applications. A person dying of cancer shouldn't fear being arrested by feds for taking something that helps them live with dignity when its no where as toxic as legal intoxicants.
That's bullshit.
that said, this is funny as all hell.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M58kGCQLwxU
Hey Jan and D-Rock. I have a sordid history with pot. My father died of a heroin overdose when I was little and I grew up knowing that drugs killed my daddy, vilifying all drugs, even pot.
ReplyDeleteNow as an adult I suffer with chronic pain that is so bad that I can't get out of bed some days but I had maintained that all drugs are bad. Recently I reconnected with a friend who is a cannabis patient for similar pain. She gave me my first tastes of medical marijuana and it was the first time in 8 years that I had no pain at all. Now I find myself reconciling a lifetime of fear around drugs and the intense desire to not hurt everyday.
This is only sort of related to the weed legalization discussion, but have you ever heard of what Canadians do in Ottawa on 420? A bunch of us get together, sit on the lawn at parliament hill and smoke weed. It's really interesting because depending on the day of the week 420 falls on, the house is sometimes in session. There are also tons of federal cops standing around just watching but not doing anything (they'll actually chat nicely to you WHILE you smoke weed).
ReplyDeleteI filmed the event a couple of years in a row. Unfortunately the video I posted on Youtube is from the first year when there were far fewer people. The next year it was super packed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idBT9So1ngQ
I'm only a few minutes into the video, but I'm wondering why Mr. Jen is hiding behind DRock and staring at the wall. Mr. Jen, what are you doing back there?
ReplyDeleteI wondered why, too. As if it were a Blair Witch reference in the making.
DeleteAnd here I was thinking I couldn't love you anymore, and you do a vlog about Rome, my favoritest show of all time? Alkajsdkfja.
ReplyDeleteLove the togas! I really need to finish this show, but first I need to finish Justified. I really can't keep up with television. It's going to be the end of me. Did you ever keep up with Vampire Diaries? I remember you initially disliked it on a blog post long ago in a galaxy maybe not so far away, but I don't remember it coming up since...
ReplyDeleteAs far as marijuana goes I find it horribly demonized compared to cigarettes and alcohol which seem to be much more harmful in the long run and are legal. They say it's the gateway drug, but it can't be much more gateway than smoking and drinking. Probably in the case with alcohol and smoking cigarettes there are people who do too much and will take it too far, but if its long term effects are lesser compared to alcohol and cigarettes it seems ridiculous to continue to ban it, especially in the medicinal field. I'm not against it, but I see why people would be against it. However, I feel like those same people might have a penchant for banning cigarettes and alcohol and gambling and the like if they could get the chance. I feel like marijuana could be compared to alcohol in the prohibition era minus the speakeasies. Also in a time when the government claims financial hardship I'd legalize it and tax it and enjoy the extra revenue from a purely capital standpoint. Interesting times for sure, but considering there are some states who have now legalized it we may not be far off from mass legalization. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Yeah I remember those Vampire Diaries posts! I really got a kick out of them, because I read and loved the books when I was younger and was really excited when the show came out. They changed a bunch from the source material, but overall I found it really fun.
DeleteAs for this episode, I haven't watched Rome, but this definitely perked my interest. Also- awesome togas!
I agree that marijuana should be legalized, as much more dangerous substances are legal here already. People drink and then go out and cause trouble/get into accidents, but smoking pot rarely makes you more ambitious than maybe making a sandwich then going to sit on the couch for the next 8 hours... not really being a danger to society. Plus when it's legal and you're getting it from reputable sources you don't have to worry about something being sprinkled on top that you didn't bargain for.
I never read the books unfortunately, but I've really enjoyed the show until this season/last season. I just need some consistent characterization please and thank you. I'm watching for Caroline and Klaus and the return of Elijah at this point. Still not as crazy as True Blood though at least... for now? ;-; *prays for my TV*
DeleteThanks for answering my question! Jen, I'm very sorry to hear you have fibromyalgia, I agree with you, I think it's an autoimmune disease as well. I wonder if the topic for the next video has anything to do with your condition. At least here in WA, you can qualify for medical marijuana with fibromyalgia.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of marijuana, I'm all for ending the prohibition on weed. My state, WA, has ended the prohibition on weed, which goes into effect in a couple of days. It's no longer illegal to smoke marijuana, and there will be marijuana stores where you can buy the drug, much like many states have liquor stores.
I agree with what other people have said. It's MUCH less harmful than smoking cigarettes or alcohol. And our government could be making a lot of much needed money off of weed, by legalizing it and taxing it. Also, I think that what people do in their private lives is up to them. Like Cartman from South Park, "it's my body, I'll do what I want!" I don't think the government should have control over our bodies, and what we do with them.
I also see weed from the patient perspective. This year, after I had a really bad flare-up of my Crohn's disease, and since I have yet to find any treatment that actually works to help my disease (I'm currently doing a drug trial), I got a prescription for marijuana. In WA state, it's fairly easy to do. A "marijuana" doctor looked over my medical history pertaining to my Crohn's disease, and decided if I was eligible, which I was. He then talked to me about how often to take marijuana, and it's medical benefits with regard to Crohn's.
I get livid whenever someone says that marijuana has no medical benefits. Marijuana helps with my pain (which often times pain killers do not even help, stomach pain is very hard to control pain killers), and helps slow down my digestive system, much like prescription anti-diarrheal drugs I've been prescribed, yet does not have a painful side effect, like the prescription drugs do. Marijuana is also supposed to help with inflammation. And best of all, marijuana is not physically addictive, like the pain killers that my GI doctors prescribe me.
Living in WA, I actually didn't know for awhile that some states do not even have medical marijuana, and I find this to be completely ridiculous. Marijuana, at the very least, should be allowed in every state for its medical benefits, period. I suspect the pharmaceutical companies have something to do with the fact that this hasn't happened, but don't get me started on that!
So, I'm very pro-legalizing, or ending the prohibition, of marijuana. Wish all states would follow Washington and Colorado's lead!
Would have to undo the propaganda machine. Halt the war on drugs (ha, as if that's going to happen. That's revenue to various law enforcement agencies, and I bet they will not go gracefully in the night) and then deal with all the assholios that will say, if you legalize weed, why not meth, coke, dog shit and heroin? These particular people are the same ones that think the USA is already going down the drain for not stoning (the bad kind of getting stoned, too) gay folks and non-christians.
DeleteI'll say this...
I've seen drunken brawls. At a bar, on the street and in the parking lot of my old apartment complex.
The closest thing I've seen to potheads fighting is limited to the following a)"Hey jerkwad, gimme the bag of chips," and an empty bag got passed. b) "Let's roll a spliff... no, no bong rips!" after the purchase of a Zong. c) "You dropped my fucking hookah and blamed it on the cat??" Hey, that hookah was a wedding gift!