Medical Marijuana In Montana

[MissScripture]

[quote name='Amppax' timestamp='1307490876' post='2251061']
Why do we have to play this bs game? Either marijuana is legal or its not, none of this medicinal bs. I've heard from a number of sources that the california system has tons of fraud too, you really just need to say you have "chronic pain" and you can get a card. If they want to legalize it, legalize it and treat it the same as cigarettes, or alcohol. Done.
[/quote]
Then why not say the same about other medications, like morphine or oxycontin or ritalin or any of the other prescription medications?

[Guest]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1307491361' post='2251066']
Then why not say the same about other medications, like morphine or oxycontin or ritalin or any of the other prescription medications?
[/quote]
You can't compare marijauana to those drugs...alcohol is worse and far more dangerouse then marijana too...not even a question...

[Mr.Cat]

I don't do drugs, heightened drug tends to be detrimental to cultures and individuals.

However, I completely agree. Cannabis should be decriminalized and legalized for legitimate purposes.

[MissScripture]

[quote name='Delivery Boy' timestamp='1307491647' post='2251069']
You can't compare marijauana to those drugs...alcohol is worse and far more dangerouse then marijana too...not even a question...
[/quote]
So then what about NSAIDS? Why do I have to go to the doctor to get a higher strength of those than I can get over the counter? What about hormone medications? Those aren't going to impair anyone more than marijuana or alcohol. What about drugs for blood pressure or over active bladder or any number of other things? Why should marijuana be made legal without being medicinal but other drugs should not be?

[Era Might]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1307492038' post='2251071']
So then what about NSAIDS? Why do I have to go to the doctor to get a higher strength of those than I can get over the counter? What about hormone medications? Those aren't going to impair anyone more than marijuana or alcohol. What about drugs for blood pressure or over active bladder or any number of other things? Why should marijuana be made legal without being medicinal but other drugs should not be?
[/quote]
How many people die from marijuana overdose?

[dUSt]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1307492038' post='2251071']
Why should marijuana be made legal without being medicinal but other drugs should not be?
[/quote]
Because those other drugs are more dangerous.

[MIKolbe]

[quote name='dUSt' timestamp='1307484061' post='2250985']
Legalize!
[/quote]
agree

[Guest jim/john]

MM if used properly is a great thing ,but it opens the door for abuse as with painkillers for example.
As far as legalizing it i disagree, alcohol is legal and creates more problems and tragedies than
many of the illegal drugs. As i read earlier you will have more impaired drivers on the road. I mean
if you legalize pot more people will be doing it causing higher risk. I also know from experience
it will be like using tobacco highly habit forming, which can affect you financially and physically.
JUST MY OPINION!

Edited June 8, 2011 by jim/john

[Mr.Cat]

[quote name='jim/john' timestamp='1307574068' post='2251447']MM if used properly is a great thing ,but it opens the door for abuse as with painkillers for example.
As far as legalizing it i disagree, alcohol is legal and creates more problems and tragedies than
many of the illegal drugs. As i read earlier you will have more impaired drivers on the road. I mean
if you legalize pot more people will be doing it causing higher risk. I also know from experience
it will be like using tobacco highly habit forming, which can affect you financially and physically.
JUST MY OPINION![/quote]Would you agree with decriminalizing cannabis ([i]marijuana[/i]) and legalizing it for legitimate purposes ([i]such as medical purposes[/i])?

Because I think its clear that pot heads, while they can be a bit of a nuisance, are not criminals. Also that in some instances cannabis can be beneficial.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Mr.CatholicCat

[Sylvanna Imbris]

[quote name='dUSt' timestamp='1307484061' post='2250985']
Legalize!
[/quote]
[quote name='ParadiseFound' timestamp='1307489269' post='2251053']
I'm with you one hundred percent. I'd have really thought that the US would have learned from the prohibition period that making a substance illegal [i]does not help a thing[/i].
[/quote]

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Rational_scale_to_assess_the_harm_of_drugs_%28mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence%29.svg/380px-Rational_scale_to_assess_the_harm_of_drugs_%28mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence%29.svg.png[/img]
[size="2"]This image is from Wikipedia, but it is based on a study in a reliable peer-reviewed journal (The Lancet). I looked up the article--having access through my college library is amazing--and it seems like a reasonable study. They took into account not only immediate and chronic harm but also social harm and increased health care costs as a result of using these drugs.
[/size]
Cannabis looks like it is safer than tobacco and alcohol and ParadiseFound's point about prohibition is one I've heard before: making drugs illegal makes them more profitable and more attractive to some people. So cannabis should be legal, right?

Maybe, maybe not. There is danger here; the prohibition argument could be used to argue for making any drug legal. I've heard convincing economic arguments saying that legalizing these drugs will kill the market for them and thus end drug-related violence. If the drugs are made legal there is nothing to stop someone from giving it to your child and getting him/her addicted and possibly ruining his/her life. You, the parent, would be legally powerless against this type of attack on your child.

In this case, since it seems to be less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco, you may be correct about making it legal. My point is simply that the argument from the US experience with prohibition is not a safe argument for your point since it can be applied to other situations with terrifying results.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Sylvanna Imbris' timestamp='1307585124' post='2251503']Maybe, maybe not. There is danger here; the prohibition argument could be used to argue for making any drug legal. I've heard convincing economic arguments saying that legalizing these drugs will kill the market for them and thus end drug-related violence. If the drugs are made legal there is nothing to stop someone from giving it to your child and getting him/her addicted and possibly ruining his/her life. You, the parent, would be legally powerless against this type of attack on your child.

In this case, since it seems to be less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco, you may be correct about making it legal. My point is simply that the argument from the US experience with prohibition is not a safe argument for your point since it can be applied to other situations with terrifying results.
[/quote]
Well, you could decriminalize drug use without fully "legalizing" the drug trade. That would end our practice of putting non-violent drug users in prison, which would save a LOT of money for the state, and help end the disproportionate imprisonment of blacks and Latinos for drug crimes.

89% of marijuana arrests in the United States are for possession, not for manufacture or distribution.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Era Might

[Luigi]

An NPR story from June '10 about MM in Colorado and how it's hurting the average drug dealer.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127542758

Other related NPR stories about MM, including state-by state comparison of laws and so forth.
http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=medical+marijuana+colorado


Personally, I don't approve of the legalization of marijuana, for medical purposes or otherwise. It's already easy enough for too many people to get a hold of. My brother started smoking dope in fifth grade - at least, he was in fifth grade the first time he mentioned it - and he died in a drug-induced car wreck some years later. Needless to say, lots of really poor life choices along the way. Now, if he'd never gotten his grubby little hands on marijuana, he would probably have found some other mind-altering substance or another. But the fact remains that he started on marijuana. His buddies send plants that looked just like marijuana to the funeral home - my mother found it endlessly comforting and funny (and for those of you who struggle to interpret the written word, that last comment is a bit of SARCASM).

I also find it mind-boggling that some of the most liturgically conservative people on the board want marijuana legalized. So... what... you're planning to get high and then go chant Latin?

Edited for typos.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Luigi

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1307593742' post='2251559']
An NPR story from June '10 about MM in Colorado and how it's hurting the average drug dealer.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127542758

Other related NPR stories about MM, including state-by state comparison of laws and so forth.
http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=medical+marijuana+colorado


Personally, I don't approve of the legalization of marijuana, for medical purposes or otherwise. It's already easy enough for too many people to get a hold of. My brother started smoking dope in fifth grade - at least, he was in fifth grade the first time he mentioned it - and he died in a drug-induced car wreck some years later. Needless to say, lots of really poor life choices along the way. Now, if he'd never gotten his grubby little hands on marijuana, he would probably have found some other mind-altering substance or another. But the fact remains that he started on marijuana. His buddies send plants that looked just like marijuana to the funeral home - my mother found it endlessly comforting and funny (and for those of you who struggle to interpret the written word, that last comment is a bit of SARCASM).

I also find it mind-boggling that some of the most liturgically conservative people on the board want marijuana legalized. So... what... you're planning to get high and then go chant Latin?

Edited for typos.
[/quote]
Would you like to ban alcohol again too? Why or why not?

[Era Might]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1307593742' post='2251559']Personally, I don't approve of the legalization of marijuana, for medical purposes or otherwise. It's already easy enough for too many people to get a hold of.[/quote]
[quote]Fact: Marijuana use rates in the Netherlands are similar to those in the U.S. despite very different policies.

The Netherlands' drug policy is one of the most nonpunitive in Europe. For more than twenty years, Dutch citizens over age eighteen have been permitted to buy and use cannabis (marijuana and hashish) in government-regulated coffee shops. This policy has not resulted in dramatically escalating marijuana use. For most age groups, rates of marijuana use in the Netherlands are similar to those in the United States. However, for young adolescents, rates of marijuana use are lower in the Netherlands than in the United States. The Dutch government occasionally revises existing policy, but it remains committed to decriminalization.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-facts/marijuana[/quote]
[quote]Fact: Most marijuana users never use any other illicit drug.

Marijuana does not cause people to use hard drugs. Marijuana is the most popular illegal 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 and the vast majority of those who do try another drug never become addicted or go on to have associated problems. Indeed, for the large majority of people, marijuana is a terminus rather than a so-called gateway drug.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-facts/marijuana[/quote]

Edited June 9, 2011 by Era Might

[Sylvanna Imbris]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1307593742' post='2251559']
I also find it mind-boggling that some of the most liturgically conservative people on the board want marijuana legalized.
[/quote]

I think that support for legalized marijuana is based on the argument Era made about justice.

[quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1307586618' post='2251509']
Well, you could decriminalize drug use without fully "legalizing" the drug trade. That would end our practice of putting non-violent drug users in prison, which would save a LOT of money for the state, and help end the disproportionate imprisonment of blacks and Latinos for drug crimes.

89% of marijuana arrests in the United States are for possession, not for manufacture or distribution.
[/quote]

If marijuana really is less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco it seems unjust to mark someone for life with a felony conviction for possessing it. I would guess that a drug conviction would make it hard to get a job and make an honest living.

Even so, I still think it would take more information to convince most people that marijuana is less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol. I know I'm not convinced.