Okay, so now it's personal. Isn't it past time we take the stigma of Cannabis use away? Isn't it time we legalize the recreational use of Marijuana for adults?
A friend of mine, who is a responsible working adult, got random drug tested yesterday. He never has gone to work high, but he does use Cannabis to relieve some of the stress that his job entails. Now the question is, will he keep his job?
One thing that bugs me is that if he were dying of liver disease because he drank a bottle of whiskey each night, that would be totally fine.
The fact that some of the folks above him in the corporate structure most likely use other drugs that don't stay in the bloodstream as long as THC will never be discovered. How many of them abuse pain killers or maybe do a line of cocaine, just for fun.
The fact that substances that are MUCH more harmful (as if Marijuana has many harmful effects) are either legal or less detectable seems to slide right by most people. Why is there no outcry about the terrible toll alcohol brings? Why is there little concern about those who calm their nerves with tobacco?
This young man is in a very high stress position. If he keeps his job, I am sure they will test him more often. That means he can no longer use Marijuana as a stress reducer. In the past, he used alcohol. He is not a nice drunk and that's what led him back to using Marijuana now that he is an adult. He can smoke and relieve stress and then go to work the next day. He isn't hung over and he didn't make an ass of himself or piss anyone off. He just got high, mellowed, ate some ice cream, and forgot about his day.
If he returns to using alcohol is will not be good.
Now some might say that he needs to buck up and not let things get to him. Many that might say that will say it after their third drink, or after finishing their cigarette. We all have some stress and not all of us are the Dali Lama and can just chant OM an few hundreds times and come away floating on a cloud.
It is time to legalize. It is time to take away the stigma. Now it's personal!
Stoney
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Marijuana Creates Jobs
Marijuana creates jobs. Yes, you heard me. Marijuana creates jobs. Now, how can I say this? It's easy.
My state just recently passed a medical Marijuana law. It is so new that, in my neck of the woods, there aren't any grow farms or dispensaries. In the local paper this last week there was a story about a grow/dispensary going up in a small town near me. At first I was really surprised. After reading the article, I understood a lot better.
The article quoted one of the town supervisors as saying he was pleased that this facility was going up because the jobs were desperately needed.
My state just recently passed a medical Marijuana law. It is so new that, in my neck of the woods, there aren't any grow farms or dispensaries. In the local paper this last week there was a story about a grow/dispensary going up in a small town near me. At first I was really surprised. After reading the article, I understood a lot better.
The article quoted one of the town supervisors as saying he was pleased that this facility was going up because the jobs were desperately needed.
What?
That's right. This little conservative town doesn't give a shit about devil weed coming into their little slice of heaven. They want the jobs!
This is why it is so hard to fight against fracking. Fracking, IMHO, destroys the environment, but when you have an area that is depressed by lack of jobs, working a drill site looks pretty good. Hell, raping and stealing from old ladies looks good when your kids are going hungry.
Now I do not want to imply that the Marijuana industry is the same as fracking.
It isn't.
Not by a long shot!
What I am saying is that our country, on the whole, needs jobs. With an industry waiting in the wings to put billions of tax dollars into the system and create thousands of jobs, why would the political/corporate machine be against it?
Well, it cuts into their greed.
It's either that or they're just fucking stupid!
I have been listening to the Cannainsider podcasts. Listen to just a few of those and you will begin to see the amazing opportunity the burgeoning Cannabis industry brings to the table. It seems the only barrier is your own imagination.
Yes, boys and girls, Marijuana creates jobs. Let's take it away from the drug lords and cartels and make it legal. Then we can all benefit!
Stoney
Friday, May 15, 2015
It's About the Medical Uses
I am not a medical marijuana user. I just like to get high now and then. Mostly now. I am 100% for the legalization of the substance. It has nothing to do with my getting high. Well, okay, maybe a little. It's about the medical uses!
I will admit it, it only take seeing one video of some kid having a seizure or suffering in pain and I'm in tears. To know that this substance that I use to just make me feel better, could be used to help them or maybe even save their lives, makes me mad and sad all at the same time.
It makes me mad to know that our politicians are so uninformed as to still believe all that 1930 bull shit about cannabis turning you into a murderous addict. If they don't believe it, then they are so in the pocket of big pharmaceutical or the liquor lobbies that they don't care about anyone but themselves. To know that our country is run by greed instead of compassion and reason just makes me want to puke.
It makes me sad to know that these children, old people, people suffering from pain that either won't go away with traditional drugs or those drugs make them sick have to suffer. So many illnesses can be eased or maybe even cured by the sensible use of Cannabis. My mother suffered from Alzheimer's and her life could have been so much more pleasant at the end then it was. She suffered mentally horribly. Cannabis could have helped. Instead it was declared an illegal substance.
I don't hesitate for a minute to confess that I want weed to be legal so I don't have to worry about going to jail for its use. However, that isn't the main reason I want to fight for its legalization.
It's about the medical uses.
Stoney
I will admit it, it only take seeing one video of some kid having a seizure or suffering in pain and I'm in tears. To know that this substance that I use to just make me feel better, could be used to help them or maybe even save their lives, makes me mad and sad all at the same time.
It makes me mad to know that our politicians are so uninformed as to still believe all that 1930 bull shit about cannabis turning you into a murderous addict. If they don't believe it, then they are so in the pocket of big pharmaceutical or the liquor lobbies that they don't care about anyone but themselves. To know that our country is run by greed instead of compassion and reason just makes me want to puke.
It makes me sad to know that these children, old people, people suffering from pain that either won't go away with traditional drugs or those drugs make them sick have to suffer. So many illnesses can be eased or maybe even cured by the sensible use of Cannabis. My mother suffered from Alzheimer's and her life could have been so much more pleasant at the end then it was. She suffered mentally horribly. Cannabis could have helped. Instead it was declared an illegal substance.
I don't hesitate for a minute to confess that I want weed to be legal so I don't have to worry about going to jail for its use. However, that isn't the main reason I want to fight for its legalization.
It's about the medical uses.
Stoney
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Greed Killed Mary Jane
Let me begin this post by saying that I have no idea how valid this story is. Having said that, I don't really doubt it. Greed has run this country since it's discovery. I read this not long ago and thought that it made perfect sense. It is how greed killed Mary Jane.
Years ago, this country had a thriving hemp crop. The colonists were ordered by King James, you know, the one the bible is named after, to grow hemp and ship it back to jolly old England. Why? Because they used it for a multitude of things.
Now remember, this is hemp, used for clothing, rope, food, and many other uses. The smoking type is something else. Still, they are related. Good old George Washington grew it. Thomas Jefferson grew it. Hemp was a money maker. It grew well here and made money for those who grew it.
Fast forward a century or so.
William Randolph Hearst owned nearly every newspaper in the country. He also owned vast holdings in timber. The reason was he could make money from selling newspapers and from making the paper it was printed on. Hemp makes great paper! Good old Willie didn't want people making paper out of hemp. It cut into his millions and he wouldn't be able to put on another wing to his castle. He started lobbying (read buying politicians) to make hemp illegal.
About the same time, there was a family named Du Pont. They had holdings in many synthetic products such as nylon. These products were made from petroleum products. The country was just beginning to toy with petroleum as a fuel instead of using a product invented by a fellow named Diesel that he made from hemp oil.
The Du Ponts didn't like the idea that you could make things from hemp. They didn't make any money off of that. They began to "lobby" politicians as well.
What was helpful to these special interest groups was the fact that hemp was related to Marijuana, a substance known to make someone who smoked it high.
Suddenly we had people coming out of the woodwork claiming that the high produced by Marijuana, an evil relative of hemp, made especially Blacks and Mexicans murderous devils who want to have sex with white women and prey on the innocent. You know, the same things the rich were doing.
Although there were many who stood up for hemp and marijuana as being not only benign but helpful, there were many more paid to tell the horror stories of this "devil's weed" and sway those in power to ban the substances.
This has been a pretty poor telling of the story. There is a much better article on it here.
So what about today?
Same shit, different day.
You think the medical/pharmaceutical complex wants you to be able to grow in your back yard a plant that could do better than their money making drugs do? Do you think that the petrochemical industry wants a plant to grow that could replace their money making fuels?
The answer is, Fuck No!
Do you think the plastics companies want hemp to be available to make comparable products? In 1941, Ford built a car with the body made out of hemp. Here's a video of it.
As I said in the beginning, greed has everything to do with why Cannabis, Mary Jane, was made illegal and still is. It has nothing to do with it being a dangerous substance. It is not addictive and there are many studies that show that it is not harmful physically. Not only that, in many cases, it is helpful in bringing about cures.
Greed killed Mary Jane and it is keeping her in the grave! We have to fight to resurrect her so that she can take her rightful place in making this a better world.
Whoa, I really sound preachy there!
Stoney
Years ago, this country had a thriving hemp crop. The colonists were ordered by King James, you know, the one the bible is named after, to grow hemp and ship it back to jolly old England. Why? Because they used it for a multitude of things.
Now remember, this is hemp, used for clothing, rope, food, and many other uses. The smoking type is something else. Still, they are related. Good old George Washington grew it. Thomas Jefferson grew it. Hemp was a money maker. It grew well here and made money for those who grew it.
Fast forward a century or so.
William Randolph Hearst owned nearly every newspaper in the country. He also owned vast holdings in timber. The reason was he could make money from selling newspapers and from making the paper it was printed on. Hemp makes great paper! Good old Willie didn't want people making paper out of hemp. It cut into his millions and he wouldn't be able to put on another wing to his castle. He started lobbying (read buying politicians) to make hemp illegal.
About the same time, there was a family named Du Pont. They had holdings in many synthetic products such as nylon. These products were made from petroleum products. The country was just beginning to toy with petroleum as a fuel instead of using a product invented by a fellow named Diesel that he made from hemp oil.
The Du Ponts didn't like the idea that you could make things from hemp. They didn't make any money off of that. They began to "lobby" politicians as well.
What was helpful to these special interest groups was the fact that hemp was related to Marijuana, a substance known to make someone who smoked it high.
Suddenly we had people coming out of the woodwork claiming that the high produced by Marijuana, an evil relative of hemp, made especially Blacks and Mexicans murderous devils who want to have sex with white women and prey on the innocent. You know, the same things the rich were doing.
Although there were many who stood up for hemp and marijuana as being not only benign but helpful, there were many more paid to tell the horror stories of this "devil's weed" and sway those in power to ban the substances.
This has been a pretty poor telling of the story. There is a much better article on it here.
So what about today?
Same shit, different day.
You think the medical/pharmaceutical complex wants you to be able to grow in your back yard a plant that could do better than their money making drugs do? Do you think that the petrochemical industry wants a plant to grow that could replace their money making fuels?
The answer is, Fuck No!
Do you think the plastics companies want hemp to be available to make comparable products? In 1941, Ford built a car with the body made out of hemp. Here's a video of it.
As I said in the beginning, greed has everything to do with why Cannabis, Mary Jane, was made illegal and still is. It has nothing to do with it being a dangerous substance. It is not addictive and there are many studies that show that it is not harmful physically. Not only that, in many cases, it is helpful in bringing about cures.
Greed killed Mary Jane and it is keeping her in the grave! We have to fight to resurrect her so that she can take her rightful place in making this a better world.
Whoa, I really sound preachy there!
Stoney
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