...cannabis! CANNABIS MARCH IN HARTFORD!? the government or education system seems to have people thinking that cannabis is more harmful then consuming alcohol, but cannabis remains illegal even though it could help cancer patients relieve pain and so many other problems. Besides that people will always look for some type of recreational drug so why not have it be marijuana and if it was legalized it could be controlled and completely safe.Medical Fact: Marijuana is Safer Than Alcohol
Ten states have passed "medical marijuana" laws. Now an even more embarrassing issue has arisen that makes governments look stupid -- rules and laws are badly inconsistent when it comes to penalties for marijuana compared to alcohol, even though alcohol is known to be less safe.
Here's a statement from our friends at drcnet.org
Last month, students at two Colorado universities voted overwhelmingly in support of referenda urging their schools to equalize school penalties for marijuana and alcohol infractions. That campaign was led by a group that argues frankly that marijuana is safer than alcohol, Safe Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER. Earlier that same month, students at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, passed a similar resolution, and while the argument that marijuana is safer than alcohol was not their main one, it was a prominent one. This weekend, people in cities around the country and the world will participate in the global marijuana marches, and this year, organizers of that event's signature march in New York City are also playing the "marijuana is safer" card.
Ironically, the new tactic comes as failed drug czar John Walters' campaign to demonize marijuana is taking on a shrill new intensity. This week, in the latest installment of the long-running, taxpayer-funded national media campaign against the weed, Walters falsely charged that marijuana use makes one more likely to suffer from mental illness.
But while Walters charges that marijuana is a dangerous, dangerous drug, leading experts on the plant say it is far less harmful than alcohol. "Is marijuana safer? The short answer is 'yes,'" said Dr. Mitch Earleywine, a University of Southern California psychologist who is the author of "Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence" and the just published "Mind-Altering Drugs: The Science of Subjective Experience." The evidence is clear, he told DRCNet. "Cannabis has no lethal dose, so you can't die from it. The impact on the brain structure for cannabis is nil, but there can be very serious brain function changes with alcohol abuse. Also, more dramatic liver functions are impaired with alcohol. Malnutrition, B-vitamin deficiency, and Korsakoff's Disorder are all linked to alcohol, but not cannabis."
The "marijuana is safer" argument went over big at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where student referenda based on it won by 86% and 65% respectively, said Mason Tvert, director of SAFER. "It was very effective," he said. "There is a large population of people who are dramatically affected by both substances. Alcohol is harmful to them in itself, while marijuana is harmful because of the penalties, and this was a situation where it was clear that alcohol was doing harm," he said, referring to various alcohol-related scandals including the deaths of five Colorado college students in the fall semester. "And in the university setting, people were open to it because they are far more worried about a student who is drunk than one who is using marijuana."
At Appalachian State University, while the "marijuana is safer" argument was not the central one in a student senate resolution calling for the equalization of university alcohol and marijuana penalties, activists made ample use it. "We did play it up, and I think it was a useful tactic, particularly because our school has had a lot of alcohol-related tragedies in the past few years," said Ian Mance, ASU ACLU co-president and a former Students for Sensible Drug Policy national board of directors member.
At Appalachian, the code of student conduct calls for a minimum penalty of probation, drug treatment, and drug testing for a first marijuana offense, while first offense alcohol violators face only a less severe form of probation and nothing more. One other difference in penalties was particularly grievous to students: For marijuana violations, the school would notify students' parents -- even if the students were legal adults -- while for alcohol violations, it would not do so until a second offense.
That was the main motivation for the resolution, said Mance. "We were picked as an experimental school in a statewide study of reducing student alcohol use because we've had a lot of alcohol-related deaths, yet we have the most extreme school policy in the state when it comes to marijuana," he said. "This is the Deep South. People get emotional about drug use here, and when parents are called
Ten states have passed "medical marijuana" laws. Now an even more embarrassing issue has arisen that makes governments look stupid -- rules and laws are badly inconsistent when it comes to penalties for marijuana compared to alcohol, even though alcohol is known to be less safe.
Here's a statement from our friends at drcnet.org
Last month, students at two Colorado universities voted overwhelmingly in support of referenda urging their schools to equalize school penalties for marijuana and alcohol infractions. That campaign was led by a group that argues frankly that marijuana is safer than alcohol, Safe Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER. Earlier that same month, students at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, passed a similar resolution, and while the argument that marijuana is safer than alcohol was not their main one, it was a prominent one. This weekend, people in cities around the country and the world will participate in the global marijuana marches, and this year, organizers of that event's signature march in New York City are also playing the "marijuana is safer" card.
Ironically, the new tactic comes as failed drug czar John Walters' campaign to demonize marijuana is taking on a shrill new intensity. This week, in the latest installment of the long-running, taxpayer-funded national media campaign against the weed, Walters falsely charged that marijuana use makes one more likely to suffer from mental illness.
But while Walters charges that marijuana is a dangerous, dangerous drug, leading experts on the plant say it is far less harmful than alcohol. "Is marijuana safer? The short answer is 'yes,'" said Dr. Mitch Earleywine, a University of Southern California psychologist who is the author of "Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence" and the just published "Mind-Altering Drugs: The Science of Subjective Experience." The evidence is clear, he told DRCNet. "Cannabis has no lethal dose, so you can't die from it. The impact on the brain structure for cannabis is nil, but there can be very serious brain function changes with alcohol abuse. Also, more dramatic liver functions are impaired with alcohol. Malnutrition, B-vitamin deficiency, and Korsakoff's Disorder are all linked to alcohol, but not cannabis."
The "marijuana is safer" argument went over big at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where student referenda based on it won by 86% and 65% respectively, said Mason Tvert, director of SAFER. "It was very effective," he said. "There is a large population of people who are dramatically affected by both substances. Alcohol is harmful to them in itself, while marijuana is harmful because of the penalties, and this was a situation where it was clear that alcohol was doing harm," he said, referring to various alcohol-related scandals including the deaths of five Colorado college students in the fall semester. "And in the university setting, people were open to it because they are far more worried about a student who is drunk than one who is using marijuana."
At Appalachian State University, while the "marijuana is safer" argument was not the central one in a student senate resolution calling for the equalization of university alcohol and marijuana penalties, activists made ample use it. "We did play it up, and I think it was a useful tactic, particularly because our school has had a lot of alcohol-related tragedies in the past few years," said Ian Mance, ASU ACLU co-president and a former Students for Sensible Drug Policy national board of directors member.
At Appalachian, the code of student conduct calls for a minimum penalty of probation, drug treatment, and drug testing for a first marijuana offense, while first offense alcohol violators face only a less severe form of probation and nothing more. One other difference in penalties was particularly grievous to students: For marijuana violations, the school would notify students' parents -- even if the students were legal adults -- while for alcohol violations, it would not do so until a second offense.
That was the main motivation for the resolution, said Mance. "We were picked as an experimental school in a statewide study of reducing student alcohol use because we've had a lot of alcohol-related deaths, yet we have the most extreme school policy in the state when it comes to marijuana," he said. "This is the Deep South. People get emotional about drug use here, and when parents are called