Hi Alex,
 >> Actually, marijuana can have significant health benefits.  This
 >> is why states have passed laws permitting medicinal marijuana use.
 >  AF>  This is where I would point out that there is a distinct
 >  AF> difference  between "significant health benefits" (meaning a high
 >  AF> nutrient  content) and any drugs used as a mere "treatment" of the
 >  AF> symptoms  of an illness. Your terminology up there is thus correct.
 > I think you mean *incorrect* ;-)    Good point.
 Your terminology is correct if you meant the consumption of the raw
 seeds...and incorrect if you meant smoking the stuff...OK?
 >  AF>  I'm sure that nobody would claim that marijuana is more dangerous
 >  AF> (or even at least as dangerous) as either tobacco or alcohol. The
 >  AF> Dutch have legalized it for this very reason.
 > Unfortunately, there are many people in the U.S., who through a
 > vested interest in maintaining public anti-drug hysteria or by
 > having bought into that hysteria, maintain that marijuana is an
 > absolute evil.
 I get the sneaky feeling that you misunderstood or misinterpreted
 my former reply to your post. Marijuana..to me...is an evil..and
 only hempseed (very nutritious) and hemp textiles (extremely healthy
 and long-lasting) are beneficial to humans.
 >  Unlike tobacco and alcohol, which are legal,
 > the federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I
 > substance -- equivalent to heroin, and people are sentenced to
 > prison for decades and have their property confiscated by the
 > government for growing or possessing less than a pound of it.
 Here I would agree that it is useless to jail any junkies (at
 public cost) and all drugs should be made legal to avoid the
 crimes perpetrated by both the "pushers" (both between themselves
 and in attempting to produce more junkies and also demanding a
 high price for their wares) and the junkies themselves who are
 largely reliant on criminal activities in order to secure their
 expensive daily fix(es). IOW...I am of the opinion that all
 drugs are both dangerous and an answer to nothing but that these
 self-same drugs should be legalized and thus made cheaper to
 stamp out both the criminal activities of the pushers and the
 junkies. As to the junkies themselves, they should not be
 treated as criminals but allowed to "go to pot" ('scuse the pun)
 or cure themselves under their own steam (natural selection)
 and out of their own pockets..as the case may be. Drugtaking
 is a self-inflicted injury which should cost the state (and
 hence the non-drugtaking population) absolutely nothing. The
 Dutch have taken the first step in this direction and are
 achieving remarkable results.
 > Prohibition has helped government grow, become more powerful,
 > and been very lucrative for it.  Consequently, there is a
 > substantial interest in demonizing marijuana and other substances.
 I would totally disagree that prohibition helps a government grow
 and become more powerful. It merely breeds people like 'ol Al
 Capone and his mob.
 >> [However,] _the criminalization of
 >> marijuana use may itself be a health hazard, since it may expose
 >> the consumer to violence and criminal activity._
 >  AF>  Here I would agree 100%. All narcotic drugs should be legalized
 >  AF> (and the proceeds used to treat those who want to be treated and
 >  AF> to bury those who don't). I wonder how much of the alcohol or
 >  AF> tobacco taxes are used for this purpose.
 > Here in Alaska (which now has the highest tobacco tax in the U.S.)
 > the tobacco tax statute directs that all taxes be used to fund
 > public education -- and then the politicians make self-righteous
 > noises about how those who smoke tobacco, do not have private
 > health insurance, and have health problems are a drain on the
 > public health treasury.
 In Germany, where health insurance is mandatory (and the smokers
 etc. pay the same dues as everybody else) as a set a percentage of
 earnings, the cost of medical treatment for smokers and illnesses
 attributed to smoking is said to be only about a THIRD of the
 income from the cigarette tax alone (i.e. never mind the health
 insurance payments)!
 Best regards,
 Alan
--- GEcho 1.00
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