Hello Alan:
Alan Fletcher wrote in a message to Alex Vasauskas:
 > 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.
 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.  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.
In fact, fishing vessels have been confiscated due to police
finding a just-measurable amount of marijuana in the possession
of a crew-member but unknown to the owner and captain.
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.
 > [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.
Bests,
Alex
--- 
---------------