"Pedro: Hey how am I driving, man?
Man Stoner: [looks around] : I think we're parked."- Cheech & Chong in the 1978 movie "Up in Smoke"
"Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 80 million Americans. According to government surveys, some 20 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 11 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use." - NORML Faqs
(Hmmm, that's a lot of people who like pot)
"..,Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers do, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illnesses, a heightened risk of lung infections, and a greater tendency toward obstructed airways. Cancer of the respiratory tract and lungs may also be promoted by marijuana smoke. Marijuana has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because marijuana smoke contains 50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke." - ONDCP Marijuana Facts
(Our government is protecting us from the potential of cancer by arresting us for using or selling it.)
'The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer. The new (2006) findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.'
(Erm.... our government may not be 100% right about the health hazards of pot and may or may not make amends to those people who have been harmed by lengthy prison sentences for felony possession of mj.)
Earlier today, several internet blogtrackers (reddit, digg, fark) posted the news item above which was published in 2006. Why is this such a popular news item - two years later.
Hmmm.... maaybeee the public needs a little ray of sunshine to get past the pain of two horrendous U.S. invasions/occupations on top of a crap economy; or, maybe there is a growing interest in a lucrative home business which sells something that does not cause cancer; or, maybe plans are afoot (via Barney Frank and Ron Paul) to decriminalize weed and good pot PR might just be the assist needed. Or, all of the above!
I'm not crazy about the idea of FDA approval of more drugs and I dread adding more mind numbing clutter to the airwaves. Even if pot ads do not materialize on TV, my head is trying to wrap itself around billboards, bus benches, hell... buses with "killer weed" ads. What would be welcome is decriminalizing something less harmful that cigarettes and beer.
Bottom line....
“Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
William F. Buckley, Jr.
