Let’s Legalize Cannabis Responsibly

“We regulate the production of alcohol and tobacco; we should do a better job with marijuana. So, yes, I still favor state and federal marijuana legalization, maybe even more so, but with provisos as we further consider the health effects of marijuana.

Aristotle’s principle of moderation in all things applies to use of marijuana as it does to alcohol.”

“After 5 months of cannabis treatment I am so happy to report the I no longer take any prescription medications for my conditions which are sciatica, major depression, general anxiety disorder with panic attacks and insomnia. In the past I had a medication for each of those conditions that had bad side effects and addiction problems from the opiates to the benzos as well as the anti-depressants causing mania. After dealing with some of these for 20+ years it is AWESOME to have these conditions finally under some control that seems reasonable. Frankly, I haven’t had a quality of life this good in a very long time.”

“Many of the chronically ill have successfully sought relief with the use of medical cannabis, an age-old remedy that now shows real scientific efficacy. Hundreds of thousands of the sick have replaced disabling narcotics and other psychotropic medications with nontoxic and benign cannabis. The anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. Folks with spinal injuries able to give up their walkers, AIDS patients able to gain weight and keep their medications down, cancer patients finding relief from the terrible nausea of chemotherapy, chronic pain patients once again functional with their consciousness restored from narcotic lethargy, and folks once disabled from crippling psychiatric disorders and addictions, returned to sanity and society with the assistance of a nontoxic herb with remarkable healing powers.”

“Legalization of marijuana in both Colorado and Washington shows that there is a large constituency that believes that prohibition doesn’t work and that our laws towards drugs must be revised.”

“Many social ills that opponents warned about a decade ago have not come to pass, DUIs and crime did not explode following legalization. And several studies have shown that opioid use and deaths actually decline in states following legalization.”

“It is irresponsible not to provide the best care we can as a medical community, care that could involve marijuana. We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that. Marijuana doesn’t have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works…”

“Marijuana legalization’s income may help fund education, prevention and treatment programs for harder drugs. What’s clear is that the four-decade-old U.S.-backed war on drugs is not working, and that it’s producing tens of thousands of dead across the hemisphere, without significant gains in reducing consumption. Experimenting with new weapons to weaken the cartels may be better than doing nothing.”