Police seize high-potency marijuana, arrest 2 men

[pipeman]

When it comes to the media I think the important point is to note when they deliberately use specific words in a specific way to try to demonise cannabis in the eyes of the public. Its not that you are denying cannabis is a drug.

 

Its an important issue because the language used in these articles play a big part in swaying public opinion. I mean you could technically argue that cannabis gardens are "drug labs" as they are commonly referred to in the media, but we all know they are using the term "drug lab" as a form of propaganda, its got nothing to do with being factually accurate.

 

Granny I get what you're saying but at the same time I don't think "it should be legal cause its natural" is a very strong argument as many poisonous things are found in nature.

 

On the other hand there is the moral argument of should any government have the right to legislate against people consuming unprocessed natural products? Such legislation is really saying the government owns nature, or owns control of our bodies, or both. Total legalisation of all things natural would be ideal IMO.

[DownUnderDoper]

Down under Doper has put what I was trying to say quite well.

 

The sooner we admit that what we're doing is drug use (and in some instances abuse) the sooner we'll get taken seriously. Pretending or playing semantics with cannabis isn't going to help our cause.

 

My apologies for the thread hijack.

 

exactly luke, in Australia we do at least have a government that recognises that alcohol is a drug, and I can think of probably 10 articles in national/state papers this year showing that in fact alcohol is more dangerous than was previously thought, not to mention the focus on communities with serious alcohol problems in the north.

 

The Australian Cancer Council has called for Alcohol to be classified as a carcinogen.

1 in 10 young adults are drinking at levels likely to cause brain injury.

1 in 100 babies born with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

 

The "Safe Drinking Level" has been driven down so far now that in essence if you feel the effect of alcohol you are "Unsafe".

2 standard drinks per day for a man (that's less than 2 cans of beer) 1 for a woman. And at least 2 alcohol free days a week, that's 1 bottle of wine for the week, or one 6 pack of beer.

 

Just how dangerous alcohol really is has started to become public knowledge in this country.

 

We don't need to deny the possible health (physical or mental) consequences of cannabis use, we need to make the wider public aware that:

 

1. All drugs are able to be either used or abused,

 

2. Even by worst estimation, cannabis is no more dangerous to the community (or the individual) than alcohol or tobacco,

 

3. Prohibition is not effective, and in fact is causing more harm than the drugs which are prohibited, and

 

4. Only a policy that deals with ALL drug use as a health issue rather than a moral/legal issue has a chance to succeed (ie minimise the harms caused by drug use/abuse)

[Pam]

Wow. This is one time I"m glad to be in the US... We have several states recognizing the need to allow medicinal use of cannabis. I feel that living in a "free" country should allow me the right to grow, or raise, on my own land, whatever I need to live. Maybe that's a "country" attitude as oposed to a "city" one that seeks to control everything within reach, but I'm content that this is the prevelant attitude in my community.

 

Every year I grow Castor Beans. They are huge plants. Ricin (sic?) which is a potent poison can be easily made from them.

I also grow papaver somnifernum (opium poppies) and tobacco. I can buy the seed from most catalogs. The castor beans keep the moles away, the tobacco kills bugs, and the poppies are just flowers unless one knows how to milk them for the raw opium. You need alot of flowers to get anything useable.

The point is, none of us is trying to grow plantations here. In a free country, people should be free like we were in the beginning before politicians got in bed with big business.

 

I just do not like the word drug. It has too many negative meanings. And the bottom line is money anyway. Too many jobs are tied into taking away our freedoms. I believe that's the main reason this battle has gone on for so long.

People can argue forever about all the different aspects,and technicalities, but it is nothing more than tail chasing. You need to get masses of people together to say the same thing often and loudly. That's how the states that have med pot did it. And I wonder if that recent article is nothing more than the death cries of a part of society that feels the need to control everyone and everything around them..(like the communities that tell you what color you are allowed to paint the house you own, and don't allow such trashy things like clothes lines and vegetable gardens).

So if the people of Pennsylvania actually believe that bullshit, maybe they won't vote to allow med pot! And everything will remain as it is. Personally I think that's all the article is. It's a scare tactic.