Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010
A
Time to move away from marijuana
myths and fears
Al
By Kayla Berge
CorEditor in Chief
1W
▼ V hat turns a “drug” into a
“bad drug”?
Is it the mind-altering effects
that have the user seeing fly
ing badgers sailing through burn-
T ing hula hoops "while screaming,
“Throw the cat up here; he can fly
too!”? Is it because the user devel-
w ops bad habits causing him to be
?shady,” a thief and a murderer?
What makes a substance that
has been put on the market to
help people deal with pain,
anxiety and other health
Ignorant abusers
that’s
another story. Just like the down
side of every goddamn thing we
do in this world, there is some
poor schmo who hasn’t figured it
out that maybe, just maybe, one is
not invisible and, that this world .
has. a kaleidoscope of things that
kick you oh your ass without a
hesitation. These users are the
ones giggling like “school girls”
in the corner, reeking of cologne
and distrib class. ■
>
s
is
where the pro
paganda comes
in (to be fair, on
both sides).
“Propaganda the user say, “Hey, you know
l ” - America’s
what? I’ve had so much fun with
favorite slogan, my Mary Jane, I think I’m going to
‘Don’t do (fill in go fuck with Crystal now, because
the blank), it will damn it, Mary is just not hard
kill you!” Really? core enough for me.” The user
Do you really think who wants to play with metham
a drug like marijua phetamine is probably already an
na is more likely to abuser and is looking for the next
kill than a common thrill. A user is going to know
household drug like their limits and stick to that.
Advil?
Even the Drug Policy Alliance
“There are hun Network admits that “Marijuana
dreds of alcohol over does not cause people to use hard
dose deaths each year, drugs.”
yet there has never
DPA Network continues to
been a marijuana state, “What the gateway theory
overdose death in presents as a causal explanation
history,”
claims is a statistic association between
SAFERchoice.org common and uncommon drugs,
an association that changes over
time as different drugs increase
and decrease in
prevalence.
Marijuana
is the most
popular ille
gal drug in the
United States today.
Therefore, people who
have used less popular
drugs such as heroin, cocaine
and LSD, are likely to have also
used marijuana. Most marijuana
users never use any other illegal
drug. Indeed, for the large major
ity of people, marijuana is a termi
nus rather than a gateway drug.”
“Propaganda B” - The other
Granted,
too much of any side of the fence. This is where I’d
thing could overload classify dealers who feed lines to
our already delicate the teetering possible consumers.
system and the abundance/ An example would be, “Smoking
abuse of anything (including marijuana while pregnant will
food) could shut it down and actually help the baby become
we would die. However, I’m smarter” or any of those outra
answer is pro
not naive enough for the govern geous claims that can be cast like
ment to convince me that “smok a net over the unsuspecting and
paganda and abusers.
.Sou can give me all the sad,
ing a bowl” with some friends reel them in along with some of
their friends.
sappy, terrible, you (fill in the will have us falling over dead.
blank) stories you want, but the
However, a “good dealer” is
Another propaganda ploy was
point that remains is when it comes a movie called “Reefer Madness” rarely a user or abuser. They are
to drugs, it won’t effect you the that was filmed to “enlighten” the shrewd business men or women
same way as the living, breathing public and inform the youth of the and/or propaganda masters who
carbon life form sitting right next dangers of “Marihuana.” As far as know more about the consumer
to&ou. This is the reason why we propaganda goes this was the most and how they tick than the
have competent users and ignorant poorly put together, yet ironically, consumer knows about him
abusers, and no, they are not the somehow most effective piece tun or her.
same.
But abusers and propa
neled into the American homes.
Competent users can sit down, The movie shows how after a few ganda artists won’t just
use the drug, let it run its course puffs from a joint of this “violent go away with some
and then get up and be produc narcotic” will turn the user into a silly ban or'outlaw
of the drug; rather
ed, again without bumbling up paranoid, raping murderer.
the non-user’s day. These kinds of
Another well versed anti-mari the better plan of
usdfs currently keep their affairs juana myth is “Marijuana is a action is legalizing
lowio the ground and quite pos- gateway drug.” People, please. it. Or we can take the
S1bly have already come to class Marijuana is not something that is route that Amsterdam did.
Amsterdam.info states the
without you even knowing that going to drown the brain in some
they are “high.”
mind control hogwash that makes uniqueness of Amsterdam laws, “It
is directed by an idea that every
human being may decide about the
matters of its own health.”
/ If marijuana was legal, we
could treat it like alcohol, regulate
and tax it. In fact, when it eomes
right down to it, alcohol has more
damaging effects on the brain than
marijuana.
It is Amsterdam.info that I return
to make this point. In Amsterdam
they have strict laws that limit
the quantities of the soft drugs
such as marijuana. There are also
conditions of sale and use. And
just like alcohol, driving under the
influence of the soft drugs is taken
seriously.
It’s like picking your “poison” in
this life. Everyone develops a vice
that hinders the ability to function
the ideal way in society, whether
that is drugs, relationships, eating
.disotders or a “freaky fetish” and
unless we want to be living autom
atons manipulated by the clever
artist, let’s stop the slandering and
let us teach our youth how to have
moderation in our vices. After all,
it’s not the gun; it’s the hand that
pulls the trigger.
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