End the War on Pot

[Abd Al-Azrad]

The thing about Bill Hicks talking about what's good and bad for you is that Bill died of cancer which was caused by...  you guessed it if you said SMOKING.

Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is hereditary and is not caused by smoking. Look it up, if you doubt me.


Incidentally... comedian Andy Kaufman died from lung cancer... and he never smoked a day in his life.

When it comes to cancer, the world is not as cut-and-dried as you apparently believe it to be.

As a matter of f act, the majority of cigarette smokers do NOT die from smoking. That's the truth.

The number one cause of cancer is... genetics. 

I did look it up.  Pancreatic cancer in 20-30% of cases is caused by smoking.  Smoking is a cause for all forms of cancer.

[Tessera]

I did look it up.  Pancreatic cancer in 20-30% of cases is caused by smoking.  Smoking is a cause for all forms of cancer.

So is diet coke. So is automobile exhaust. Do you drive..? 

And I can take what you said and flip it around, by saying that 70-80% of pancreatic cancers are not caused by smoking.

Seriously... you're reaching. Bill Hicks had a family history of pancreatic cancer. That is why he was afflicted with it. In his case, smoking had nothnig to do with it.

[Will Never]

Abd: I have my medical surgical nursing book open and it mentions nothing about smoking as a risk factor for pancreatic cancer.  Tessera is right. 

However, one very important risk factor for pancreatic cancer is alcoholism.  Alcoholism in the long term leads to chronic pancreatitis, raising your chance of developing pancreatic cancer significantly. 

[Tessera]

Arnold smoking a joint for real.

Circa 1975.

[Abd Al-Azrad]

Arnold smoking a joint for real.

Circa 1975.

Meh, I never understood why everyone loved Schwarzenegger, his acting is so bad.  The only two movies of his entire career where he might have been considered a good actor were Predator and Terminator.  I think the Terminator franchise might have been a better franchise, however, if they skipped the whole going back in time to change the future and instead featured just 2 hours of mankind fighting the machines.  The story would have been no less underdeveloped, and it wouldn't have the thirty minutes of suck that is Sarah Conner having her inner struggle that means nothing to the audience.

[Tessera]

The best part about that photo is that Arnold wasn't acting.

That's a still photo taken from a documentary film called "Pumping Iron."
It was all about bodybuilding... and it was also the film that introduced
Arnold Schwarzenegger to most of us.

Arnold is seen smoking a joint in Pretoria, South Africa... after winning
the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding contest for the sixth time in a row.

[Cylnar]

This just in after a week and a half of ballot counting...

Voters approve Arizona medical marijuana measure

By BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press
Saturday, November 13, 2010
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_arizona_medical_marijuana

PHOENIX – Arizona voters have approved a measure that will legalize medical marijuana use in the state for people with chronic or debilitating diseases.

Final vote tallies showed Saturday that Proposition 203 won by a tiny margin of just 4,341 votes out of more than 1.67 million votes counted. The measure had started out losing on Election Day by about 7,200 votes, but the gap gradually narrowed in the following 10 days.

"Now begins the very hard work of implementing this program in the way it was envisioned, with very high standards," said Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project. "We really believe that we have an opportunity to set an example to the rest of the country on what a good medical marijuana program looks like."

Arizona is the 15th state to approve a medical marijuana law. California was the first in 1996, and 13 other states and Washington, D.C., have since followed suit.

The Arizona measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and any other "chronic or debilitating" disease that meets guidelines to buy 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks or grow plants.

The patients must get a recommendation from their doctor and register with the Arizona Department of Health Services. The law allows for no more than 124 marijuana dispensaries in the state. After ballots are canvassed Nov. 29, the state has 120 days before the law goes into effect.

Backers of Proposition 203 have argued that thousands of patients faced "a terrible choice" of suffering with a serious or even terminal illness or going to the criminal market for pot. They collected more than 252,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot — nearly 100,000 more than required.

All Arizona's sheriff's and county prosecutors, the governor, attorney general and many other politicians came out against the measure.

Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep AZ Drug Free, the group that organized opposition to the initiative, said her group believes the law will increase crime around dispensary locations, lead to more people driving while impaired and eventually lead to legalized pot for everyone.

She noted that the major financial backer of the new measure, the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, makes no bones about its ultimate goal: national legalization of marijuana for everyone.

"All of the political leaders came out and warned Arizonans that this was going to have very dire effects on a number of levels," Short said after the measure pulled into the lead late on Friday. "I don't think that all Arizonans have heard those dire predictions."

Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana law in 1996 and 1998, but it never went into effect because of problems with its wording. Then in 2002, voters rejected a sweeping initiative that would have decriminalized possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana for any user and required state police to hand out the drug to seriously ill people.

The measure that went before voters this month began Friday losing by about 1,500 votes, then surged ahead by 4,421 votes.

Maricopa was the only Arizona county with ballots still outstanding on Saturday. The county finished counting all the remaining provisional and early ballots by late in the afternoon.

The final, unofficial count was 841,346 in favor of the measure and 837,005 opposed.

[GameOn]

Nice, hopefully it will put another dent in the illicit drug wars with Mexico.

[Schu]

It just might, most of the pot in Washington state comes from Wa. state and we have had medical use for a while now

[mrmark]

I say let's end the way on pot. I feel we are ruled by a bunch of uptight pricks who only have self interest at heart. How many politicians are, sooner or later, found with their hands in the cookie jar, or somewhere else , and get off very easy with a slap on the wrist ? Many more than we know engage in behaviors that they rail against publicly and legislate against only to put us in jail and keep us down when we get discovered doing something . I could go on about the two-tiered justice system and selective enforcement of the laws , the ever increasing intrusion of big brother into our lives and so forth . I think we ought to give term limits a try after we round up these career politicians and dump them in the sea .I am not advocating violence against them, I am however just disgusted with politicians in general. They tend to leave our wallets slimmer and our futures bleaker.

[Tessera]

I told you why pot is illegal. And the late, great comedian Bill Hicks likewise identified the true reason:

Pot can't be taxed. That's why. And the reason it can't be taxed is because once it is legalized, any bozo can grow excellent pot in his or her own backyard. Pot is a weed... and as such, it requires little to no care to grow great big bushels of the stuff.

Alcohol and tobacco, on the other hand, require more work. Booze needs to be fermented and distilled. Tobacco needs to be cultivated, maintained and harvested. For most people, that sort of procedure is simply not possible, or else it is too much hassle. Hence the reason why it is easier to tax booze and tobacco than it is to tax pot.

So just think of it: millions of people have been designated as criminals... simply because your government can't make any money from their recreational drug of choice. So instead, they keep pot illegal and then to make things even worse, they not only legalize... but actively promote... the use of two other drugs (alcohol and tobacco) which are far more unhealthy than pot.

Don't believe any of the bullshit that you hear from ANYONE regarding marijuana. Pot isn't illegal because it is dangerous... pot is illegal because your government can't tax it.

It is as simple as that... and it's also immoral as hell.

[Tarbos]

I know a lot of people who smoke a pot and a lot of people who drink an alcohol. I've never done any of it, so I should be objective.

None of pot smokers I know never did anything bad to people around while high.
Nearly everyone who drinks regularly is aggressive sometimes just because of alcohol. I personally was involved few times in fight (physical) which I didn't provoke (one time I clearly provoked it because skinheads do not like my long hair) with drunk people.

So my opinion is obvious. Ban the alcohol and do whatever you want with marijuana.

[Sorry my terrible english ]

[Ratcatcher]

Pot beer... *drools*

[GameOn]

I like alcohol.  It's sexy.  Literally. 

[Tarbos]

I saw once druken couple kissing at bus stop. She puked into his mouth It was sexy like hell

[Ratcatcher]

Sad as it is to say, there are some that get off on that. Urg!

[GameOn]

Only pussies puke when they drink. 

[BazYat]

I'm in the UK, where it was reduced to class C, the lowest, then raised back to class-B.

I have multiple personalities. My doctor told me, in no uncertain terms, that I could take six different antipsychotics or smoke pot.

The side-effects of the LEGAL option include but aren't limited to:

• Cluster headaches: Headaches that have been rated, BY WOMEN, as WORSE THAN CHILDBIRTH and come in groups.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headaches - one of their nicknames should tell you how bad they are: Suicide Headaches
• Anal seepage: Just... ew!
• Here's the kicker, though: If this drug does not help me, it WILL make me worse

The side effects of the ILLEGAL option:

• I get really gorram hungry
• I laugh a lot
• I talk utter, utter bullshit sometimes.

Which would you pick?