Slog
News & ArtsFriday, September 11, 2009
Drugs Outlaw Everything Unhealthy
Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 8:38 AM
John English, an anti-drug crusader in Portland, Oregon, is angry that people want to legalize pot. Here's a piece he posted this morning:
Just as alcoholics are known to be in denial, so too are marijuana users. They’re blinded to what has happened to them since they began using.There is little hope of reaching them with the truth, unless early on, a radical intervention is done by all their family and former friends. Confronting them with how they use to be, followed by showing them what they’ve turned into … how self-centered they’ve become, how they have become totally hedonistic … abandoning all their former loved ones … is worth a try. [...]
If children are using pot and are out of control, I recommend parents turn their children into police; it’s better that than waiting for them to kill someone while driving, like my friend’s son did, … or move on into other drugs that may snare and enslave them forever.
At the bottom of his article, English attributes his source: "Information comes from 'The DEA Position on Marijuana.'" It's shocking—is it not?—that the federal agency tasked with arresting drug users has plucked data that shows marijuana is dangerous? But there's no doubt that pot can be unhealthy, so let's go along with English and the DEA. (We could counter the claims that more potent pot is actually more dangerous, that pot users automatically become cocaine users, or that pot causes delinquency—but those points are irrelevant.) English insists that pot should be illegal because it's dangerous.
But that's illogical. Alcohol can be harmful, but that wasn't reason enough to keep it illegal. Fast food is tremendously harmful, but it doesn't require a prohibition. There is only one relevant metric in gauging whether pot should or should not be illegal:
Is pot more harmful on its own, or is pot combined with prohibition more harmful? Or to be more specific, which is worse: your teenager getting high in the basement with friends, or your teenager getting high and spending a few months in county jail? It seems an obvious disparity of risk, but lots of people—even reasonable people—scoff at pot legalization because stoned people can be boring. But that's too simplistic even for stoners.
1
That's the easiest question to ask a teenager in Portland.
"Do you know anyone who smokes pot?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
The anti-pot folks in Portland are really REALLY out there, too. Conversations typically deteriorate into ad hominems and (at least for me) really snotty questions like "So, you advocate arresting everyone in Portland that isn't you?"
"Do you know anyone who smokes pot?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
The anti-pot folks in Portland are really REALLY out there, too. Conversations typically deteriorate into ad hominems and (at least for me) really snotty questions like "So, you advocate arresting everyone in Portland that isn't you?"
2
"I recommend parents turn their children into police." My parents woulda refused to let me turn into police, though I was willing to become police if I coulda sat next to Martin Milner all day long.
4
The anti-pot zealots are going off the deep end as they realize there is a consensus developing for legalization. I have heard some even advocate that the First Amendment should not apply to those of us who think that what we put into our own bodies is none of the business of the governent.
Legalize now! And in fact it is none of the government's business what we put in our own bodies.
Legalize now! And in fact it is none of the government's business what we put in our own bodies.
6
@5:
I'd say more like the endorphin-rush he gets every time his self-righteous hackles are raised.
I'd say more like the endorphin-rush he gets every time his self-righteous hackles are raised.
8
How do you turn your child into Police? Is there magic involved? Maybe bleach their hair and have them appear in a Wrigley's Spearmint commercial?
9
I'll say this... John English is a disingenuous person. How can one seriously argue with a person who takes these kinds of extremist positions?...
- All cannabis users, INCLUDING medical users, are ALL criminals. Therefore, ALL should be arrested, because that will be good for them. (By the way, John, by his own admission, used to consume pot. However, we are still waiting for him to surrender to the police!)
- ALL cannabis users are trying to "enslave" our children into using drugs. (I assume that's what HE did when he smoked pot!)
- Cannabis IS a gateway drug. (Never mind several non-federal medical studies that have PROVEN otherwise.)
- Marijuana IS addictive. (Never mind several non-federal medical studies that have PROVEN cannabis is less addictive than caffeine.)
- Smoking cannabis WILL cause lung cancer. (Forget the study Dr. Donald Tashkin did over a 30 year period that shows ZERO causal effect of smoking pot to cancer or COPD. Suprising, but true.)
- Smoking cannabis WILL ruin your life, and that of your family (hmmm.... if you count the accomplishments of three United States Presidents, 80% of NBA players and an 8-time gold-medal winning swimmer, a Nobel prize winning physicist, etc. etc. John does have one piece of evidence... he was able to acheive personal career greatness as a LOCKSMITH, and he managed to destroy his own family, although I doubt pot had anything to do with either his lack of professional accomplishment OR his hoem life (see Personal Responsibility). No insult to all the locksmiths out there, but does that qualify you as an expert on cannabis?)
- EVERYONE in LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) are ALL either drug addicts, fired from their jobs for incompetence, or are on the take from the drug Cartels. (Really? All 20,000 of them? I guess he used his contacts from his locksmithing days to background check EVERYONE on the list!)
- Cannabis has NO medicinal value. (Ok, how do explain the presence of the FDA approved-drug Marinol, which is pure THC? And numerous studies showing the positive effects of cannabis on ill people, people with cancer, AIDs, chemotehrapy patients, insomnia, etc. etc. I guess they are ALL LYING, eh John?)
- Marijuana is DANGEROUS because it is stronger now than ever (ummm... THC has no known overdose point. It cannot kill you. No one has EVER died from a marijuana overdose. The ONE thing cannabis consumers must agree with is that smoking ANY kind of vegetative matter cannot be good for you... so, since the THC levels are higher, that means you end up smoking... LESS vegetative matter to get high. Doesn't that mean it LESS toxic? Hmmm...)
- Marijauna use will lead to MORE vehicle accidents (while I would never argue that driving stoned is a good idea, several recent studies have shown that while impaired, there is no relationship between driving high with increased vehicular accident rates... but John knows everything because he was a LOCKSMITH.)
- Marijauna causes schizophrenia and other mental illesses. (Based on a dubious BRitish study that show a minimally higher incidence in the number of schizophrenics in a tracking study. The number is still extremely low (under 1%), but causality was NOT proved. In other words, does smoking cannabis cause schizophrenia? Or do schizophrenics like to smoke marijuana? Based on any lack of any increases in the rate of schizophrenia in countries where cannibis consumption is high, I would suggest the latter is much more likely).
- Apparenty, John thinks it's ok for our country to have, by FAR, the highest incarceration rate in the world. (Do I really need to make a comment here?).
- John thinks that because growing marijuana requires fertilizer, it is ruining the environment and poisoning people. (Hmmm... use Miracle grow on my tomatoes. And farmers use fertilizer by the ton. I heard plants need FOOD to grow. Apparently, only marijuana fertilizer is the danger.)
John English is really no threat to the legalization movement. Only the narrow-minded, and the foolish believe him, and since they are narrow-minded and foolish, they won't be swayed by the incredible weight of scientific evidence that runs contrary to almost every opinion he has.
Unfortunately, many of those people run our government and law enforcement are either narrow-minded, foolish, or profit from the Drug Wars. Since he is a drug-counselor, my opinion is that he is one of those who profits on the misery of others. All the while acting like he really cares. Like I said, he is an incredibly disingenuous, dishonest person. I believe in karma, and his karma is really really bad.
More...
- All cannabis users, INCLUDING medical users, are ALL criminals. Therefore, ALL should be arrested, because that will be good for them. (By the way, John, by his own admission, used to consume pot. However, we are still waiting for him to surrender to the police!)
- ALL cannabis users are trying to "enslave" our children into using drugs. (I assume that's what HE did when he smoked pot!)
- Cannabis IS a gateway drug. (Never mind several non-federal medical studies that have PROVEN otherwise.)
- Marijuana IS addictive. (Never mind several non-federal medical studies that have PROVEN cannabis is less addictive than caffeine.)
- Smoking cannabis WILL cause lung cancer. (Forget the study Dr. Donald Tashkin did over a 30 year period that shows ZERO causal effect of smoking pot to cancer or COPD. Suprising, but true.)
- Smoking cannabis WILL ruin your life, and that of your family (hmmm.... if you count the accomplishments of three United States Presidents, 80% of NBA players and an 8-time gold-medal winning swimmer, a Nobel prize winning physicist, etc. etc. John does have one piece of evidence... he was able to acheive personal career greatness as a LOCKSMITH, and he managed to destroy his own family, although I doubt pot had anything to do with either his lack of professional accomplishment OR his hoem life (see Personal Responsibility). No insult to all the locksmiths out there, but does that qualify you as an expert on cannabis?)
- EVERYONE in LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) are ALL either drug addicts, fired from their jobs for incompetence, or are on the take from the drug Cartels. (Really? All 20,000 of them? I guess he used his contacts from his locksmithing days to background check EVERYONE on the list!)
- Cannabis has NO medicinal value. (Ok, how do explain the presence of the FDA approved-drug Marinol, which is pure THC? And numerous studies showing the positive effects of cannabis on ill people, people with cancer, AIDs, chemotehrapy patients, insomnia, etc. etc. I guess they are ALL LYING, eh John?)
- Marijuana is DANGEROUS because it is stronger now than ever (ummm... THC has no known overdose point. It cannot kill you. No one has EVER died from a marijuana overdose. The ONE thing cannabis consumers must agree with is that smoking ANY kind of vegetative matter cannot be good for you... so, since the THC levels are higher, that means you end up smoking... LESS vegetative matter to get high. Doesn't that mean it LESS toxic? Hmmm...)
- Marijauna use will lead to MORE vehicle accidents (while I would never argue that driving stoned is a good idea, several recent studies have shown that while impaired, there is no relationship between driving high with increased vehicular accident rates... but John knows everything because he was a LOCKSMITH.)
- Marijauna causes schizophrenia and other mental illesses. (Based on a dubious BRitish study that show a minimally higher incidence in the number of schizophrenics in a tracking study. The number is still extremely low (under 1%), but causality was NOT proved. In other words, does smoking cannabis cause schizophrenia? Or do schizophrenics like to smoke marijuana? Based on any lack of any increases in the rate of schizophrenia in countries where cannibis consumption is high, I would suggest the latter is much more likely).
- Apparenty, John thinks it's ok for our country to have, by FAR, the highest incarceration rate in the world. (Do I really need to make a comment here?).
- John thinks that because growing marijuana requires fertilizer, it is ruining the environment and poisoning people. (Hmmm... use Miracle grow on my tomatoes. And farmers use fertilizer by the ton. I heard plants need FOOD to grow. Apparently, only marijuana fertilizer is the danger.)
John English is really no threat to the legalization movement. Only the narrow-minded, and the foolish believe him, and since they are narrow-minded and foolish, they won't be swayed by the incredible weight of scientific evidence that runs contrary to almost every opinion he has.
Unfortunately, many of those people run our government and law enforcement are either narrow-minded, foolish, or profit from the Drug Wars. Since he is a drug-counselor, my opinion is that he is one of those who profits on the misery of others. All the while acting like he really cares. Like I said, he is an incredibly disingenuous, dishonest person. I believe in karma, and his karma is really really bad.
10
I think he's right. If we take all our children who smoke pot now, and turn them into police, maybe we'll end up with police who don't care about making pot arrests.
11
"- All cannabis users, INCLUDING medical users, are ALL criminals. Therefore, ALL should be arrested, because that will be good for them."
For that you'd probably get the default "It's AGAINST THE LAW therefore they SHOULD be arrested" speech these morons give to every consensual crime.
For that you'd probably get the default "It's AGAINST THE LAW therefore they SHOULD be arrested" speech these morons give to every consensual crime.
12
my parents turned me in to our now-disgraced child-molestor principal for smoking weed. round about 1980. i was jr. class president, and ranked 3rd in the class. i wouldn't name names, so an assembly famously known as "the entire junior class is on drugs" ensued. i was very popular after that.
13
Don't forget there are a lot of people who make a lucrative living by keeping pot illegal. You could say they are addicted to pot as well.
14
While I agree it's pretty ridiculous for parents to turn there kids in for using pot, there is a time when they should intervene and good ways to do so. When my brother was sixteen he was actively abusing alcohol, pot, cocaine, and acid. He would disappear for days and was later diagosed as rapid cycling bipolar. After talking to school counselors and psychiatrists my parents were able to set up an admission to an in-patient rehab and psych ward but did need the sherriff to bring him in as he was wicked strong and willing to throw himself out of a moving vehicle.
It's been several years and a lot of ups and downs but he's now a registered pot grower and medical user in Colorado and advocates for peopel to get off of the harder drugs. So this is my anecdotal story supporting parents who feel a need to take a hard line to avoid their kids killing themselves.
It's been several years and a lot of ups and downs but he's now a registered pot grower and medical user in Colorado and advocates for peopel to get off of the harder drugs. So this is my anecdotal story supporting parents who feel a need to take a hard line to avoid their kids killing themselves.
15
To BES:
Yes, of course, you are right. I think that the issue is the illegality of cannabis, which ultimatley leads to arrests, fines, and convictions that stick for life.
No one should argue that minors should have access to marijuana or any other drug, except those prescribed by a doctor.
My nephew was a college graduate who had the whole world in front of him. He got caught up using crystal meth, and making a long story short, and after MANY opportunities to clean up and turn around, he got back on it and is now in prison, not for drug charges but for burglary. And you know what? That's exactly where he should be. Jail is a place for those who harm others or their property, that's what he did and his addiction is no excuse.
But I digress... that is METH. Not pot. And he was an adult. Should he have gone to jail for doing meth? I don't think so... but he should be able to get help if he wants it. And he did, he got off a while, but he got back on. Like I said, long story, BUT if we are TRUTHFUL about the effects of drugs, then we can have some success, like we have had with smoking cigarettes. But if we continue to demonize pot, once kids find out it's not the boogeyman that all the adults and our government says it is, they will stop believing what they hear about the really insidious stuff like crack, meth, coke and heroin.
But pot... no brainer. Legalize the personal use and cultivation of it. Regulate the hell out of what's available at the store, just like liquor and tobacco products. And that will HELP keep it out of kids hands while not penalizing every responsible adult who makes the ADULT the choice to consume it.
Yes, of course, you are right. I think that the issue is the illegality of cannabis, which ultimatley leads to arrests, fines, and convictions that stick for life.
No one should argue that minors should have access to marijuana or any other drug, except those prescribed by a doctor.
My nephew was a college graduate who had the whole world in front of him. He got caught up using crystal meth, and making a long story short, and after MANY opportunities to clean up and turn around, he got back on it and is now in prison, not for drug charges but for burglary. And you know what? That's exactly where he should be. Jail is a place for those who harm others or their property, that's what he did and his addiction is no excuse.
But I digress... that is METH. Not pot. And he was an adult. Should he have gone to jail for doing meth? I don't think so... but he should be able to get help if he wants it. And he did, he got off a while, but he got back on. Like I said, long story, BUT if we are TRUTHFUL about the effects of drugs, then we can have some success, like we have had with smoking cigarettes. But if we continue to demonize pot, once kids find out it's not the boogeyman that all the adults and our government says it is, they will stop believing what they hear about the really insidious stuff like crack, meth, coke and heroin.
But pot... no brainer. Legalize the personal use and cultivation of it. Regulate the hell out of what's available at the store, just like liquor and tobacco products. And that will HELP keep it out of kids hands while not penalizing every responsible adult who makes the ADULT the choice to consume it.
16
John English keeps on deleting my posts from his Examiner web site http://tr.im/JohnEnglishArticle. Here it is:
*John English has now deleted this post 8 times. I wonder why?
John made the newspaper.
John admits to 14 years of drug use (abuse?) in 1998. Tell us, John, were YOU a ‘criminal’ ?
“I lived that lifestyle for 14 years. I care about not only children who see these people using dope, but I care about these people.”
Newspaper link:
http://tr.im/JohnEnglishDrugUse1
Text link:
http://tr.im/JohnEnglishDrugUse2
Here is another post that he deleted. LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. leap.cc. These are thousands of current and former officers, drug cops, DEA, and judges who, after many years of arresting and putting human being in cages for certain substances, now realize the utter obscene harm that Prohibition causes.
Here is one other post the John English deleted.
Irv Rosenfeld's HB 5470 Michigan Medical Marijuana Testimony
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvzX8aNwxgM
The man giving testimony on behalf of medical marijuana is provided marijuana from the federal government - for 25 years.
*John English has now deleted this post 8 times. I wonder why?
John made the newspaper.
John admits to 14 years of drug use (abuse?) in 1998. Tell us, John, were YOU a ‘criminal’ ?
“I lived that lifestyle for 14 years. I care about not only children who see these people using dope, but I care about these people.”
Newspaper link:
http://tr.im/JohnEnglishDrugUse1
Text link:
http://tr.im/JohnEnglishDrugUse2
Here is another post that he deleted. LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. leap.cc. These are thousands of current and former officers, drug cops, DEA, and judges who, after many years of arresting and putting human being in cages for certain substances, now realize the utter obscene harm that Prohibition causes.
Here is one other post the John English deleted.
Irv Rosenfeld's HB 5470 Michigan Medical Marijuana Testimony
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvzX8aNwxgM
The man giving testimony on behalf of medical marijuana is provided marijuana from the federal government - for 25 years.
17
John English is the best thing that prohibition has yet given us. He is an ignorant asshole who has no common sense of logic. He lacks everything and his life revolves around writing anti-drug (mostly marijuana) opinion articles on the Examiner.com
I urge all people to read John English's articles and see how ignorant this man is. He is unbelievably dense and censers his articles comments by deleting comments that show favor of pro-marijuana support.
***John English relates marijuana users to pedophilia. They are basically the same. Yeah... raping a child is just like smoking dope. Exactly someone I want to take advice from.
I urge all people to read John English's articles and see how ignorant this man is. He is unbelievably dense and censers his articles comments by deleting comments that show favor of pro-marijuana support.
***John English relates marijuana users to pedophilia. They are basically the same. Yeah... raping a child is just like smoking dope. Exactly someone I want to take advice from.
18
Marijuana does not cause you to murder your entire family with an axe and then not remember it, as the propaganda concerning it claimed in the 1930's. If we intruded on states' and individuals' rights on these sorts of false premises, perhaps it is time, almost 100 years later, to quietly back down, and become less intrusive.
19
I don't know, a piece like this probably has some good arguments, but every time I see a drug post on Slog with Dominic's name on it, I find it hard to tune in because I know the piece is written with such a blinded bias that the arguments write themselves whether or not the facts are there. Granted, this paper's had this problem across the board since day one, but it at least seemed that other writers past and present showed some willing to ask questions before they decided what the answers were and put proverbial paper to pen.
Dominic's gotten a little better at being an even handed voice as he's been handed a larger and larger portion of the weekly paper's content and editorial direction, but he's still prone to this sort of shrill agenda-driven textual shrieking that makes it hard for me to find anything constructive and objective in these pieces.
Dominic's gotten a little better at being an even handed voice as he's been handed a larger and larger portion of the weekly paper's content and editorial direction, but he's still prone to this sort of shrill agenda-driven textual shrieking that makes it hard for me to find anything constructive and objective in these pieces.
20
To Gomez:
I don't know anything about Dominic. I DO know something about John English. You can't make this stuff up. I invite you to read 5 or 6 of John's articles, then come back and tell me that anything written in this article is untrue.
I don't know anything about Dominic. I DO know something about John English. You can't make this stuff up. I invite you to read 5 or 6 of John's articles, then come back and tell me that anything written in this article is untrue.
21
I don't understand the mind of cats like Mr English due they ever think of how much of our taxes are blown on weed prohibition enforcement, eradication and imprisonment. as for pot leading to other things BS I have smoked a lot of marijuana in my life and I have never had an addiction to reefer or any thing else well maybe coffie and high fructose corn syrup
http://stillahippsblog.blogspot.com/
http://stillahippsblog.blogspot.com/
25
I know a friend who smoked pot from age 22 to age 29. He went to work and school full time. It was his little reward at the end of the day to smoke a small amount of weed and unwind from the stress of pulling a 16-hour day. He was committed to his wife and wouldn't cheat for shit. A very stand up guy with a very high sense of conscienceness, good values, and high moral expectations of himself. He finished his degree, got a massive promotion, and because things were starting to get better in his life, he put the pot down. Pot is just a tool to relax, but if you're just a lazy tool, then you're just a lazy tool. I know lawyers, doctors, and politicians that use it like a glass of wine at the end of the day. All of you hypersensitive, uneducated, idiots, need to find something better to do with your lives. At least know the facts before you open your dumb mouth and spew out whatever your retarded brain can conjure up at that particular second.
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