Smoking Leafy Insanity: Is marijuana the soma of life?

The mantra is “I think marijuana should be legalized.” “Thought” must be based on knowledge. A person's emotional opinion is a path to destruction!

Is marijuana safe to ingest? Who knows? Should marijuana be legalized? That's the question! Colorado and Washington are flagrantly violating federal law by legalizing the use of marijuana for recreational purposes and nineteen other states for “medicinal purposes”. Federal law banning marijuana is the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Yes, regardless of where you live, the use of marijuana is still illegal! Those who continue to use marijuana are aiding and abetting criminal activity including drug wars!

Many of us remember the “town drunk” rationalizing his inebriation by saying “It's for medicinal purposes!” Since, marijuana has become legal in California (commencing with Oakland California Proposition Z) for medical use, the term “town pothead” has replaced “town drunk”. However, it's not just one eccentric, but a society of misfits, around the arsenal-like dispensaries which have flooded urban street corners. As the abortion excuse “for the mother's health” became meaningless, so too has “for medicinal reasons” in the drug culture!

I'm a libertarian. The Declaration of Independence, which resulted in the Constitution declares freedom as: “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. However, any ideology in the extreme infringes on the liberty of others. Libertarianism in the extreme is anarchy! While I cherish my right for personal pleasure and freedom, it must never infringe upon the rights or endanger others. Marijuana use is not victimless!

The main ingredient, THC has known effects including sedation, relaxation, euphoria and acts as sort of an anti-Viagaraê; and THC remains in the brain up to one year. There are in excess of 60 cannabinoids in marijuana and the effects are manifested by THC interacting with them (Gales Medical Dictionary). While I have empathy for those who can't face life, I have resentment toward those who negatively impact me and the good of society! Furthermore, the undesirable side effects are yet to be fully studied and cannabinoid knowledge is obscure. Just as Nancy Pelosi said about Affordable Health Care "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.", the same outcome is likely for legalizing marijuana!

There are effects on society. Marijuana is psychologically addictive, is a gateway to harder drugs and stunts emotional growth when used regularly, hence the term “burnout”. Furthermore, marijuana use creates a dysfunctional family since one member of the system has an imbalance. The entire family gets “sick” because one person is emotionally sick! Drug control, which keeps some of it out of the hands of youngsters, is expensive! By legalizing it and non-enforcement, marijuana will be readily available to our children.

I've never used marijuana (In contradiction to the words of Bill Clinton) and few of my friends have. We were serious about our futures and “You can't soar with the eagles when you fly with the turkeys.” It's just common sense that we should live as alert as we can to enjoy life to it's fullest. I've known marijuana users who took little time for their families and a typical evening was lying comatose on the sofa in a euphoric state. For a sane person, most consider that type of life insane!

When marijuana is legalized who bears responsibility for damages to society? Who pays for the health care of users since marijuana has the same destructive outcomes as cigarettes, only magnified? What happens to my insurance rate when those “high” cause accidents? What happens to my life when “potheads” injure my children due to euphoria? Who pays for enforcement to keep users off the streets? Who pays for crime committed by those who steal to pay for marijuana. Who pays for the loss in efficiency in society since marijuana robs motivation? The answer is "you"! Would you like your surgeon to be a marijuana user? Of course not, but the odds increase with legalization that he may be!

A child I know was robbed of his life. He died at eleven years old! His heart still beats and he still speaks, but his words and emotions are not his own. He has gone through life “high” (just marijuana) and although an adult, his emotions are as if he's still a teen! He can't keep a job nor even a girlfriend. He has lived often by stealing the innocence of the young to whom he sold marijuana. When he's caught, he lives by manipulating others. He's smart, but not wise! He could have been anything! When many his age succeeded, he failed! He's still flying with the turkeys! His motis operandi is blame. That lifestyle has cost his family thousands of dollars, bailing him out of emotional and financial troubles! Marijuana users don't deal with life. They circumvent life. Somatic euphoria is indeed the onset of spiritual and emotional death!

 

Lack of joy leads to a road more traveled. Those seeking fulfillment look in all the wrong places. Mankind needs something to fill that void, a tier neglected on Maslow's "Need" Pyramid. There is a need for "hope". Without hope joy isn't possible and the adventurer is unfulfilled. The feeling of "lacking" must be filled by "something". Those enlightened fill that void with hope. "Hope" that there is something beyond the futility of this life. Those living in darkness seek solace elsewhere. Many turn to drugs. Marijuana is the drug easily justified and readily obtained. One teen moved to a new community and by the first day's end, had found the vertulac willing to suckle life from him by peddling his illicit wares; notably marijuana. Lackadaisy was his lady. Motivation remained unkindled.

Sane people deal with life rationally. Drug use is irrational and self-defeating. Joy in life is shattered by drugs. Others deal with life through hope! My hope is when there will be no sickness nor pain and no sorrow at all. However, there are things we must do for that reward: 1 Peter 1:13 “... with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”

Rationally consider the effects of legalization, which is tacit approval for use of the drug and is enabling the user. Do you truly like where we're headed? Say “no” to marijuana legalization! Even the legalization of industrial cannabis (hemp) confounds eradication by camouflaging marijuana!

If marijuana is legalized we have conceded failure, but also, those we love lose the promise of “grace” which is available to all who are alert enough to receive it.