Medical Marijuana for Oklahoma

[flybeech]

Keeping drugs illegal ensures high prices and profits for the bankers that launder the money, keeps the United States the global kings of incarceration, justifies the jobs of tens of thousands in the justice system and ensures the corporate prison system the world's largest supply of non-violent prisoners convicted of victimless crimes. Also, big-pharma gets to maintain their control prescription drugs, the assets of millions of families can be seized and the rights of millions of Americans can be stripped forever.

As the largest importer of illegal drugs, the Federal government is unlikely to allow states to continue to attempt to assert their 10th Amendment rights and I fully expect the Justice Department, under the direction of Eric Holder to take strong steps against any states and their citizens that dare to defy the department that sent thousands of firearms to destabilize Mexico under Fast and Furious and protect the interests of their narcotrafico partners South of the border. It's just too hard to tax a plant.

 

[SgtMojo67]

For people who can handle it, pot is just not that big a deal. What's the big deal? Most people don't take 'that next step."

Most people don't. What's the big deal, man?

The big deal is I grew up in a home where my dad smoked pot daily. Pot turned to cocaine, meth, and other things. Now he is just an alcoholic. That's my problem. Even pot can ruin lives. I've seen it, I've lived it. Just my opinion. No one has to like it. It wouldn't bother me if they banned alcohol either......just sayin

 

[ignerntbend]

The big deal is I grew up in a home where my dad smoked pot daily. Pot turned to cocaine, meth, and other things. Now he is just an alcoholic. That's my problem. Even pot can ruin lives. I've seen it, I've lived it. Just my opinion. No one has to like it. It wouldn't bother me if they banned alcohol either......just sayin

Much respect. You've earned your opinion.

 

[J.P.]

I voted "yes" and furthermore I support the decriminalization of all drugs...medical, recreational, whatever.

While I hold this opinion I certainly *do* recognize the dangers of their misuse and would strongly caution anyone desirous to partake.

 

[Danny Tanner]

I voted yes, however I'm a fan of legalizing period.

The problems with legalizing marijuana would be in the form of testing. Let's say I go and get roaring drunk tonight and then show up at work tomorrow sober as can be and take a urine analysis.... I pee clean and go on about my business. Say I go home and get stoned out of my ever loving gourd and then show up tomorrow sober as can be and take a urine analysis....I pee dirty but am as sober as the day I was born. This is due to the methods of testing for marijuana. You see the tests don't actually show THC that is in your system, only the enzymes that are present and stick around in your kidneys/bladder for a week or more after consumption. So even though I'm likely to be more clear headed the day after smoking than I would be the day after I went on my full bottle bender(hangover), I still pay the price for it.


Better testing is needed before Marijuana can legitimately be legalized. Testing for left over enzymes is bogus. Funny that a guy can go snort some cocaine and pee clean within 72 hours but if a guy were to smoke a bit of grass, he'll be peeing dirty for at least a week if not two.

Another danger to this is if someone gets into a fatal accident. They're tested and found to have marijuana in their system. They could have been in the middle of a milky bong rip when the accident happened or they could have ripped that bong two weeks prior. The latter is usually the case, but it still gets reported as "user had marijuana in their system" and it's tallied as a -1 for marijuana legalization because the general public doesn't know any better.

 

[ignerntbend]

Yep, as Captain Toke points out thc is fat soluable which means it remains in the system for weeks. Thanks for complicating things, Captain Toke.

 

[Danny Tanner]

I say nope......drug addiction starts (usually) with marijuana. Then they want to get MORE high, so let's try Meth, or Cocaine, or heroin. Just my experience. That is for the decriminalazation........Not sure how I feel about the medical portion. There is already drugs available for pain management.

Besides the whole argument of "I drank milk first and now I'm an alcoholic, let's criminalize milk since it's a gateway drug!", there's another way to look at this scenario:

An individual is told by public schools, police, and the government that marijuana kills -- This is your brain on drugs. This individual believes it until they become a teenager or adult. They decide to try it and realize that they're still alive and actually doing quite well. "Why didn't I die like the TV commercials said?" They then begin to question what they've been told about other drugs and then begins the journey down potentially dangerous paths.

Honest education is far more effective than scare tactics. You notice the changing trend in anti-pot ads now versus just 15-20 years ago? Today's anti-pot ads literally state, "I didn't get sick, I didn't die. I just sat here [on the couch]".

Too often, addictions to harder drugs don't come from illegal drugs, but legal drugs, and not just from junkies looking for the next fix. There are too many happy, healthy, law-abiding citizens who get injured in car accidents, work accidents, or come down with some form of illness or disease and are prescribed some random, man-made medication. All of the medications come with side effects, and all too often one of those is the chance of dependency. Their prescription runs out and yet their addiction remains. To deal with the pain, they seek illegally obtained prescription pills or more easily available, harder drugs.

 

[Danny Tanner]

The big deal is I grew up in a home where my dad smoked pot daily. Pot turned to cocaine, meth, and other things. Now he is just an alcoholic. That's my problem. Even pot can ruin lives. I've seen it, I've lived it. Just my opinion. No one has to like it. It wouldn't bother me if they banned alcohol either......just sayin

No offense, I'm not a doctor to dismiss this claim all you want, but it sounds like your dad had an addictive personality. I'm not going to claim that everyone needs to smoke pot, but I don't think it's the culprit in this case. But going off this logic, do you also support criminalizing alcohol? At what point do we ignore personal responsibility and accountability and start blaming inanimate objects? Isn't this the same political slap fight we're in right now with gun control?

 

[RickN]

The big deal is I grew up in a home where my dad smoked pot daily. Pot turned to cocaine, meth, and other things. Now he is just an alcoholic. That's my problem. Even pot can ruin lives. I've seen it, I've lived it. Just my opinion. No one has to like it. It wouldn't bother me if they banned alcohol either......just sayin

Several of my family members have done the same, and contrary to what seems to be the popular opinion here none of them had been on any prescription drugs. They would happily gobble them up later but that was after they already had a drug problem.

 

[Danny Tanner]

If you do not personally condone the use of marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes, then surely you're tired of tens of billions of your tax dollars being wasted on the investigation, prosecution, and incarceration of otherwise law-abiding, non-violent citizens who break marijuana laws. Our jails and prisons are overcrowded and too many of these people are locked up for the wrong reasons. Worse yet, our politicians don't want to consider decriminalization, they'd rather expand prison walls to make room for more dangerous criminals who smoke joints.

When do you stop and ask yourself which is more harmful to individuals, families, and communities -- marijuana or the War on Drugs? If you believe it's the former, then it's obvious you know absolutely nothing about either.