Due to back pain I had been taking morphine for 6 years. Even though currently illegal, marijuana got me off the pills and helps my pain dramatically. I am currently thinking about moving to a state where it is legal. I’d rather pay taxes in a state that benefits my well being.
Mic - 6 years ago
This little girl Buttpymples is triggered on every poll.
Makung nothing but false statements like "pitheads are 3x's more likely to use heroin" stop taking such a shortcut to thinking. The science behind each are completely different.
There is zero correlation between the two.
Your brain has CBD 1 and 2 receptors for a reason. This chick is truly fuctioning on 40 not 46.
ATGuy - 6 years ago
Alcohol, tobacco, and sugar are far more addictive than cannabis. And all 3 are more dangerous. There is nothing beneficial about alcohol, tobacco, and sugar (other than sugar making things sweet). Cannabis is beneficial for so many illnesses. And as far as recreational, that's fine too. Most people who use cannabis for recreation are less likely to get behind the wheel of a car and possibly kill someone. They would rather be home enjoying the relaxation.
Where someone who drinks might feel empowered and more confident and think they drive just great while drunk, or even buzzed. People who smoke tobacco are busy looking for and lighting cigs while driving down the road, dropping them and trying to keep from burning their crotch while doing 55 mph. Even cell phones are more dangerous than cannabis. People texting and talking and not paying attention to what they are doing. Even hands free is dangerous because your mind is not on the road, but the conversation.
Please stop saying cannabis is a slippery slope to addiction. You don't get addicted to cannabis, you might want it if you don't have it for medication or even recreation, you won't go knock over a drug store or convenience store to feed your cannabis habit. As far as we've come in understanding cannabis, far too many people are still in the dark ages about it.
Devon - 6 years ago
SOURCES:
1. Joy et al. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Institute of Medicine. 1999.
2. Morral et al. Reassessing the marijuana gateway effect. Drug Policy Research Center, RAND. Addiction. 2002.
3. Cleveland HH & Wiebe RP. Understanding the association between adolescent marijuana use and later serious drug use: gateway effect or developmental trajectory? Dev Psychopathol. 2008.
4. O'Connell TJ & Bou-Matar CB. Long term marijuana users seeking medical cannabis in California (2001–2007): demographics, social characteristics, patterns of cannabis and other drug use of 4117 applicants. Harm Reduction Journal. 2007.
5. Wen et al. The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana, Alcohol, and Hard Drug Use. The National Bureau of Economic Research. 2014.
6. Tristan et al. Alcohol as a Gateway Drug: A Study of US 12th Graders. Journal of School Health. 2012.
7. Oliere et al. Modulation of the Endocannabinoid System: Vulnerability Factor and New Treatment Target for Stimulant Addiction. Front Psychiatry. 2013. Review.
8. Choo et al. The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Legislation on Adolescent Marijuana Use. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2014.
9. Lynne-Landsman et al. Effects of state medical marijuana laws on adolescent marijuana use. Am J Public Health. 2013.
10. Harper et al. Do medical marijuana laws increase marijuana use? Replication study and extension. Ann Epidemiol. 2012.
11. Anderson et al. Medical Marijuana Laws and Teen Marijuana Use. IZA 2012.
12. Williams J, Bretteville-Jensen AL. Does liberalizing cannabis laws increase cannabis use? J Health Econ. 2014.
13. Single EW. The impact of marijuana decriminalization: an update. J Public Health Policy. 1989.
14. Tarter et al. Predictors of Marijuana Use in Adolescents Before and After Licit Drug Use: Examination of the Gateway Hypothesis. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 2006.
15. Van Gundy K & Rebellon CJ. A Life-course Perspective on the "Gateway Hypothesis". J Health Soc Behav. 2010.
16. Tarter et al. Predictors of marijuana use in adolescents before and after licit drug use: examination of the gateway hypothesis. Am J Psychiatry. 2006.
17. Hughes C E and Stevens A. What Can We Learn From The Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs?. Brit J Criminol. 2010.
18. Reiman A. Cannabis as a substitute for alcohol and other drugs. Harm Reduct J. 2009.
19. Vanyukov et al. Common liability to addiction and "gateway hypothesis": theoretical, empirical and evolutionary perspective. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2012. Review.
20. Simons-Morton et al. Cross-national comparison of adolescent drinking and cannabis use in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. Int J Drug Policy. 2010.
21. Hasin et al. Medical marijuana laws and adolescent marijuana use in the USA from 1991 to 2014: results from annual, repeated cross-sectional surveys. The Lancet. 2015.
22. Bisaga et al. The effects of dronabinol during detoxification and the initiation of treatment with extended release naltrexone. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015.
23. Barry et al. Prioritizing Alcohol Prevention: Establishing Alcohol as the Gateway Drug and Linking Age of First Drink With Illicit Drug Use. J Sch Health. 2016.
24. Degenhardt et al. Evaluating the drug use "gateway" theory using cross-national data: consistency and associations of the order of initiation of drug use among participants in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2010.
25. Walsh Z et al. Medical cannabis and mental health: A guided systematic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017. Review.
Devon - 6 years ago
The gateway concept is frequently brought up. Over the years I have collected much information on the subject.
If prohibition has any effect in this regard, it makes cannabis a gateway to other illicit drugs.
The gateway drug theory, that a unique pharmacological effect of cannabis causes the use of hard drugs, has been discredited by the many peer reviewed studies which have examined it.[1,2,3,4,5,6,14,15,16,19,24]
If the gateway theory were to have any merit, then alcohol and tobacco would be the true gateway drugs as nearly all have tried these before cannabis.[1,6,23] There are many factors that determine which illicit substance will be used first, including availability and culture. In Japan, where cannabis use is not popular and largely frowned upon, 83% of illicit drug users did not use illicit cannabis first.[19] In the U.S., since cannabis is by far the most popular and available illegal recreational substance, it is unlikely that one would find many illicit hard drug users who did not encounter and use illicit cannabis first.[1] This does not mean that cannabis caused their hard drug use. Rather, it was their pre-existing interest in recreational substances combined with their willingness to try illicit substances and cannabis was simply, and predictably, the first encountered.[3,14,19]
On a related note, studies have shown that cannabinoids can help treat those addicted to hard drugs and alcohol, and that it is an "exit drug" for some.[4,7,18,22,25]
If anything, the prohibition of cannabis makes the hard drug problem worse. Once someone breaks the law to try the very popular and relatively safe drug cannabis, their reluctance to try another illegal substance diminishes. This is both because of their newly increased doubts of government honesty regarding the harmful effects of those substances as well, and their newly reduced respect for laws against drugs in general. Cannabis prohibition also connects cannabis consumers to the hard drug market. Imagine if beer merchants also sold heroin, cocaine and meth. This is the situation that the prohibition of cannabis creates for its consumers. It places a very popular substance into these otherwise unpopular markets, strengthening them and expanding their reach. Also, with no legal avenue to resolve disputes, cannabis prohibition increases the crime associated with these markets.
Efforts to prevent hard drug abuse are undermined and resources misspent when gateway theory is accepted as valid. A recent extensive review on the subject concluded that: "The promotion of the erroneous gateway theory ultimately does the public a disservice, including the hindering of intervention."[19]
Regardless, one major concern is that relaxed laws will lead to significantly increased teen usage, but this has not been the case.[20] Legalizing medical cannabis in the U.S. has not increased cannabis usage in teens.[8,9,10,11,21] Decriminalization does not result in increased cannabis consumption, for any age group, except for a small, temporary increase during the first few years.[12,13] Portugal eventually saw reduced adolescent cannabis use after decriminalizing all drugs in 2001.[17]
David - 6 years ago
On a closely related subject, The Drug War is The Inquisition of our age.
David - 6 years ago
Excellent piece of writing, James Tripp.
So Buttpymples, you didn't read Tripp's piece? Instead of taking two minutes to read it, you just decided to go ahead and condemn it, right? And why not? That's as sensible and as intelligent as your other posts.
Buttpymples - 6 years ago
@James Tripp (oh, the irony): brevity is a virtue. I slept after the second sentence.
Cannabis has been ignored as the potent medicine it truly is due to the pharmaceutical industry’s failure to successfully isolate and synthesize any successful cannabinoid compounds; They have ignored the synergy and entourage effects of the complex of over 100 Cannabinoids and 100s of terpenes in the Cannabis plant due to the industry wide fixation on the current 'Isolate, target, and Patent for Profit' system of pharmaceutical research.
There is an Institutionalized Pervasive Negative Bias against all forms of Cannabis Use that is rampant in virtually all institutions that form the structure of our society and those who populate those agencies are institutionalized to think ideologically and only in terms of addiction and harm reduction, crime and punishment, Patent and Profit…; In the case of Cannabis they are completely ignoring the abundance of positive heath benefits that the various forms of Whole Plant Cannabinoid Therapy could provide a multitude of Canadians, all because it conflicts with their established ideological mentality or they could not profit.
Our Medical Institutions, and the professionals within them that make up part of our society, have been either complicit, or at the very least, had blind faith in the claims of the Pharmaceutical industry while simultaneously ignoring the abundance of scientific studies, and evidence, indicating Cannabinoids have multiple health care applications from treating depression, to curing Cancer (Cannabinoids kill cancer cells via apoptosis and anti-angiogenesis. Know since 1974), to preventing and treating Alzheimer’s.
They ignore the positives of medicinal cannabis and continue to perpetuate the same false narrative that ‘Cannabis is inherently dangerous’, that has perpetuated for decades with essentially no valid foundation in scientific reality; I believe they do this because they would first have to admit that Cannabis works as a treatment for many Human Ailments, and second they would also have to admit they do not know how it works; Add to this that they would also have to admit that they should have been studying Cannabinoids for at least 5 decades, if not more, and they would essentially have to admit that not only they, but society as a whole, has completely failed on the issue of cannabis and Public Health.
Until our Governments, Our Public Institutions, Our Medical professionals and the institutions they represent, Our Law Enforcement Agencies, and society in general, abandon the decades of misinformation and misunderstanding on how the phytocannabinoids in the cannabis plant interact with the Human Endocannabinoid System, we will continue to spend more resources on unnecessary legislation and continued delays instead of implementing proper legislation providing access to the vast medicinal potential of this very safe and effective medicinal plant and health supplement.
Pam Jackson - 6 years ago
#WeDontWantToGetHighWeWantToGetBetter
So many people think it doesn't impact them one way or another.. but, if they don't already, they will eventually know someone (maybe even themselves) who could benefit tremendously from medicinal marijuana. People with chronic, incurable medical conditions like mine just want the ability to legally use this plant to end our suffering
Pam Jackson - 6 years ago
How could it be considered a gateway drug when medicinal marijuana doesn't even get you high?
Billy - 6 years ago
Alcohol and tobacco is the only gateway drugs they should be illegal
Jeff - 6 years ago
Saying Pot is a gateway to anything is like saying milk is a. Gateway to beer and toothpicks are a gateway to cigarettes. Anyone opposed is either delusional, lying or ignorant. Crime only exists because it is illegal and only Jeff Spicoli sound alikes give pot a bad name.
lea - 6 years ago
Your poll results were wrong. They were transposed from website results.
John Walker - 6 years ago
Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It’s an herbal remedy. It only makes sense to make it available, not to mention the benefit to the local economy for local growers.
Don’t be naive...people are already using it. Why not take it away from the criminal element?
Kimberly Russell - 6 years ago
Your poll on TV does not match the results here. Which is correct? On the 5:00 p.m newscast you gave the results as being 84% yes, thinks it is a gateway drug, with only 16% believing it wasn’t. Yet your poll results here show the almost exact opposite.
Jonathan - 6 years ago
I am a disabled veteran diagnosed with PTSD anxiety severe depression sleep apnea and I have been on 7 pain meds a day and 4 benzos a day for the last 9 years from the VA and they are taking away half if not all our meds away from us. If this will help I’m so for it. I’m tired of always taking meds but I also know my meds do help more than none. I don’t abuse mine in anyway but when they took my Xanax away from me cold turkey made my life just harder and worse. It’s simple logic to
Me. If so many other states have passed it and has great outcomes why are we even questioning this. Hmmm hope it passes. Semper Fi and God bless. USMCVET.
Mat - 6 years ago
Buttpymples, I posted a link to an actual analysis. You posted an opinion column. Let's read more about the author of your opinion column...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_DuPont
"He has described marijuana as "the most dangerous drug", a description at odds with current scientific consensus."
Well, yeah, that's kinda putting it mildly... 60,000+ people died just last year of an opioid overdose. Meanwhile, not a single person in the entire history of the human race has ever died of a marijuana overdose.
Buttpymples - 6 years ago
@Mat: even the leftist NYT admits that heroin addicts start with pot. I get it—you love getting high, and do not want to be arrested. But, your rationalization is a result of your pot addiction, not of science.
"Getting high will be rationalized in 8th-grader fashion" says the man who goes by "Buttpymples". I have had a heart issue since birth that nothing has been able to help with except for pot. I was one of the haters at one time, but now I see the benefits!
Mat - 6 years ago
Dear Buttpymples...
> Fact: potheads are 3 times more likely to become heroin addicts. Watch the collateral damage in Colorado, CA, Washington, and all the other states that voted to get high 24/7.
No. See "facts" are objective truths which are universal. This would be more like "personal opinion that you pulled out of your derriere."
It's actually been found to *reduce* opioid deaths.
Fact: potheads are 3 times more likely to become heroin addicts. Watch the collateral damage in Colorado, CA, Washington, and all the other states that voted to get high 24/7.
Rome did the same thing.
TJ Snodgrass - 6 years ago
The only things marijuana are a gateway to are pizza, Taco Bell, Doritos, and Haagen Dazs.
Buttpymples - 6 years ago
Of course it is, but people want to get high so they will rationalize it in true 8th-grader fashion.
Haywood - 6 years ago
Of coarse it’s a gateway drug. Last thing nashville needs is more zombies walking to the titans games. Society has gotten really soft, always needing a remedy for something, or to help with their anxiety. Free advice, wake up early, strap on your work shoes, and go to a fulls day work. Our grandparents and most of our parents did it.
Lisa H. - 6 years ago
I started smoking pot at 14 years old and I gave up sports and school to smoke it. Luckily I saw the light at 25 years old and got sober. I was mentally broken yet knew I had a purpose in life. Today one day at time I have been sober for 25 years. Pot was my gateway- it changed my thinking and lead me to much more when it stopped being enough. Delusional thinking to think one drug legal will stop abuse. Uh hello. Alcohol and prescription pills are legal. And they are abused! Let’s get to the core instead of creating more addiction.
Sergeant Major H - 6 years ago
I believe that cigarettes are the gateway drug.
Jeff Sessions - 6 years ago
Gateway to the fridge .
DianeBlackSmokesMid - 6 years ago
Marijuana helped me get off of Oxycottin and Xanax. I no longer take pills to cope with my
Problems. Hate that it’s illegal as but pills that can kill you / cause seizures are perfect legal. Cannabis got me OFF the pills
david - 6 years ago
Fifty years of personal use and simple observativeness is enough to qualify me to state unequivocally that weed is not a gateway drug. And by stating unequivocally I mean to make it clear that I am stating fact, not opinion. However, pharmaceutically manufactured and doctor prescribed drugs are statistically verifiable as being gateway drugs, both to even more powerful and addictive pharmaceuticals and to banned "street drugs".
Beth - 6 years ago
People who think marijuana is a gateway drug needs to do their research. My looking at all the votes over 80% of Tennessee Annes want medical marijuana brought to this state our congressman are senators all of them need to take this into account. Marijuana has been proven to save lives shrink tumors take pain away for the people who have chronic pain issues they're not looking for a high they're looking for something other than the stupid opiates that do not work. People open your eyes bring medical marijuana to Tennessee.
Due to back pain I had been taking morphine for 6 years. Even though currently illegal, marijuana got me off the pills and helps my pain dramatically. I am currently thinking about moving to a state where it is legal. I’d rather pay taxes in a state that benefits my well being.
This little girl Buttpymples is triggered on every poll.
Makung nothing but false statements like "pitheads are 3x's more likely to use heroin" stop taking such a shortcut to thinking. The science behind each are completely different.
There is zero correlation between the two.
Your brain has CBD 1 and 2 receptors for a reason. This chick is truly fuctioning on 40 not 46.
Alcohol, tobacco, and sugar are far more addictive than cannabis. And all 3 are more dangerous. There is nothing beneficial about alcohol, tobacco, and sugar (other than sugar making things sweet). Cannabis is beneficial for so many illnesses. And as far as recreational, that's fine too. Most people who use cannabis for recreation are less likely to get behind the wheel of a car and possibly kill someone. They would rather be home enjoying the relaxation.
Where someone who drinks might feel empowered and more confident and think they drive just great while drunk, or even buzzed. People who smoke tobacco are busy looking for and lighting cigs while driving down the road, dropping them and trying to keep from burning their crotch while doing 55 mph. Even cell phones are more dangerous than cannabis. People texting and talking and not paying attention to what they are doing. Even hands free is dangerous because your mind is not on the road, but the conversation.
Please stop saying cannabis is a slippery slope to addiction. You don't get addicted to cannabis, you might want it if you don't have it for medication or even recreation, you won't go knock over a drug store or convenience store to feed your cannabis habit. As far as we've come in understanding cannabis, far too many people are still in the dark ages about it.
SOURCES:
1. Joy et al. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Institute of Medicine. 1999.
2. Morral et al. Reassessing the marijuana gateway effect. Drug Policy Research Center, RAND. Addiction. 2002.
3. Cleveland HH & Wiebe RP. Understanding the association between adolescent marijuana use and later serious drug use: gateway effect or developmental trajectory? Dev Psychopathol. 2008.
4. O'Connell TJ & Bou-Matar CB. Long term marijuana users seeking medical cannabis in California (2001–2007): demographics, social characteristics, patterns of cannabis and other drug use of 4117 applicants. Harm Reduction Journal. 2007.
5. Wen et al. The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana, Alcohol, and Hard Drug Use. The National Bureau of Economic Research. 2014.
6. Tristan et al. Alcohol as a Gateway Drug: A Study of US 12th Graders. Journal of School Health. 2012.
7. Oliere et al. Modulation of the Endocannabinoid System: Vulnerability Factor and New Treatment Target for Stimulant Addiction. Front Psychiatry. 2013. Review.
8. Choo et al. The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Legislation on Adolescent Marijuana Use. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2014.
9. Lynne-Landsman et al. Effects of state medical marijuana laws on adolescent marijuana use. Am J Public Health. 2013.
10. Harper et al. Do medical marijuana laws increase marijuana use? Replication study and extension. Ann Epidemiol. 2012.
11. Anderson et al. Medical Marijuana Laws and Teen Marijuana Use. IZA 2012.
12. Williams J, Bretteville-Jensen AL. Does liberalizing cannabis laws increase cannabis use? J Health Econ. 2014.
13. Single EW. The impact of marijuana decriminalization: an update. J Public Health Policy. 1989.
14. Tarter et al. Predictors of Marijuana Use in Adolescents Before and After Licit Drug Use: Examination of the Gateway Hypothesis. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 2006.
15. Van Gundy K & Rebellon CJ. A Life-course Perspective on the "Gateway Hypothesis". J Health Soc Behav. 2010.
16. Tarter et al. Predictors of marijuana use in adolescents before and after licit drug use: examination of the gateway hypothesis. Am J Psychiatry. 2006.
17. Hughes C E and Stevens A. What Can We Learn From The Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs?. Brit J Criminol. 2010.
18. Reiman A. Cannabis as a substitute for alcohol and other drugs. Harm Reduct J. 2009.
19. Vanyukov et al. Common liability to addiction and "gateway hypothesis": theoretical, empirical and evolutionary perspective. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2012. Review.
20. Simons-Morton et al. Cross-national comparison of adolescent drinking and cannabis use in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. Int J Drug Policy. 2010.
21. Hasin et al. Medical marijuana laws and adolescent marijuana use in the USA from 1991 to 2014: results from annual, repeated cross-sectional surveys. The Lancet. 2015.
22. Bisaga et al. The effects of dronabinol during detoxification and the initiation of treatment with extended release naltrexone. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015.
23. Barry et al. Prioritizing Alcohol Prevention: Establishing Alcohol as the Gateway Drug and Linking Age of First Drink With Illicit Drug Use. J Sch Health. 2016.
24. Degenhardt et al. Evaluating the drug use "gateway" theory using cross-national data: consistency and associations of the order of initiation of drug use among participants in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2010.
25. Walsh Z et al. Medical cannabis and mental health: A guided systematic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017. Review.
The gateway concept is frequently brought up. Over the years I have collected much information on the subject.
If prohibition has any effect in this regard, it makes cannabis a gateway to other illicit drugs.
The gateway drug theory, that a unique pharmacological effect of cannabis causes the use of hard drugs, has been discredited by the many peer reviewed studies which have examined it.[1,2,3,4,5,6,14,15,16,19,24]
If the gateway theory were to have any merit, then alcohol and tobacco would be the true gateway drugs as nearly all have tried these before cannabis.[1,6,23] There are many factors that determine which illicit substance will be used first, including availability and culture. In Japan, where cannabis use is not popular and largely frowned upon, 83% of illicit drug users did not use illicit cannabis first.[19] In the U.S., since cannabis is by far the most popular and available illegal recreational substance, it is unlikely that one would find many illicit hard drug users who did not encounter and use illicit cannabis first.[1] This does not mean that cannabis caused their hard drug use. Rather, it was their pre-existing interest in recreational substances combined with their willingness to try illicit substances and cannabis was simply, and predictably, the first encountered.[3,14,19]
On a related note, studies have shown that cannabinoids can help treat those addicted to hard drugs and alcohol, and that it is an "exit drug" for some.[4,7,18,22,25]
If anything, the prohibition of cannabis makes the hard drug problem worse. Once someone breaks the law to try the very popular and relatively safe drug cannabis, their reluctance to try another illegal substance diminishes. This is both because of their newly increased doubts of government honesty regarding the harmful effects of those substances as well, and their newly reduced respect for laws against drugs in general. Cannabis prohibition also connects cannabis consumers to the hard drug market. Imagine if beer merchants also sold heroin, cocaine and meth. This is the situation that the prohibition of cannabis creates for its consumers. It places a very popular substance into these otherwise unpopular markets, strengthening them and expanding their reach. Also, with no legal avenue to resolve disputes, cannabis prohibition increases the crime associated with these markets.
Efforts to prevent hard drug abuse are undermined and resources misspent when gateway theory is accepted as valid. A recent extensive review on the subject concluded that: "The promotion of the erroneous gateway theory ultimately does the public a disservice, including the hindering of intervention."[19]
Regardless, one major concern is that relaxed laws will lead to significantly increased teen usage, but this has not been the case.[20] Legalizing medical cannabis in the U.S. has not increased cannabis usage in teens.[8,9,10,11,21] Decriminalization does not result in increased cannabis consumption, for any age group, except for a small, temporary increase during the first few years.[12,13] Portugal eventually saw reduced adolescent cannabis use after decriminalizing all drugs in 2001.[17]
On a closely related subject, The Drug War is The Inquisition of our age.
Excellent piece of writing, James Tripp.
So Buttpymples, you didn't read Tripp's piece? Instead of taking two minutes to read it, you just decided to go ahead and condemn it, right? And why not? That's as sensible and as intelligent as your other posts.
@James Tripp (oh, the irony): brevity is a virtue. I slept after the second sentence.
War and Peace was already written.
Cannabis has been ignored as the potent medicine it truly is due to the pharmaceutical industry’s failure to successfully isolate and synthesize any successful cannabinoid compounds; They have ignored the synergy and entourage effects of the complex of over 100 Cannabinoids and 100s of terpenes in the Cannabis plant due to the industry wide fixation on the current 'Isolate, target, and Patent for Profit' system of pharmaceutical research.
There is an Institutionalized Pervasive Negative Bias against all forms of Cannabis Use that is rampant in virtually all institutions that form the structure of our society and those who populate those agencies are institutionalized to think ideologically and only in terms of addiction and harm reduction, crime and punishment, Patent and Profit…; In the case of Cannabis they are completely ignoring the abundance of positive heath benefits that the various forms of Whole Plant Cannabinoid Therapy could provide a multitude of Canadians, all because it conflicts with their established ideological mentality or they could not profit.
Our Medical Institutions, and the professionals within them that make up part of our society, have been either complicit, or at the very least, had blind faith in the claims of the Pharmaceutical industry while simultaneously ignoring the abundance of scientific studies, and evidence, indicating Cannabinoids have multiple health care applications from treating depression, to curing Cancer (Cannabinoids kill cancer cells via apoptosis and anti-angiogenesis. Know since 1974), to preventing and treating Alzheimer’s.
They ignore the positives of medicinal cannabis and continue to perpetuate the same false narrative that ‘Cannabis is inherently dangerous’, that has perpetuated for decades with essentially no valid foundation in scientific reality; I believe they do this because they would first have to admit that Cannabis works as a treatment for many Human Ailments, and second they would also have to admit they do not know how it works; Add to this that they would also have to admit that they should have been studying Cannabinoids for at least 5 decades, if not more, and they would essentially have to admit that not only they, but society as a whole, has completely failed on the issue of cannabis and Public Health.
Until our Governments, Our Public Institutions, Our Medical professionals and the institutions they represent, Our Law Enforcement Agencies, and society in general, abandon the decades of misinformation and misunderstanding on how the phytocannabinoids in the cannabis plant interact with the Human Endocannabinoid System, we will continue to spend more resources on unnecessary legislation and continued delays instead of implementing proper legislation providing access to the vast medicinal potential of this very safe and effective medicinal plant and health supplement.
#WeDontWantToGetHighWeWantToGetBetter
So many people think it doesn't impact them one way or another.. but, if they don't already, they will eventually know someone (maybe even themselves) who could benefit tremendously from medicinal marijuana. People with chronic, incurable medical conditions like mine just want the ability to legally use this plant to end our suffering
How could it be considered a gateway drug when medicinal marijuana doesn't even get you high?
Alcohol and tobacco is the only gateway drugs they should be illegal
Saying Pot is a gateway to anything is like saying milk is a. Gateway to beer and toothpicks are a gateway to cigarettes. Anyone opposed is either delusional, lying or ignorant. Crime only exists because it is illegal and only Jeff Spicoli sound alikes give pot a bad name.
Your poll results were wrong. They were transposed from website results.
Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It’s an herbal remedy. It only makes sense to make it available, not to mention the benefit to the local economy for local growers.
Don’t be naive...people are already using it. Why not take it away from the criminal element?
Your poll on TV does not match the results here. Which is correct? On the 5:00 p.m newscast you gave the results as being 84% yes, thinks it is a gateway drug, with only 16% believing it wasn’t. Yet your poll results here show the almost exact opposite.
I am a disabled veteran diagnosed with PTSD anxiety severe depression sleep apnea and I have been on 7 pain meds a day and 4 benzos a day for the last 9 years from the VA and they are taking away half if not all our meds away from us. If this will help I’m so for it. I’m tired of always taking meds but I also know my meds do help more than none. I don’t abuse mine in anyway but when they took my Xanax away from me cold turkey made my life just harder and worse. It’s simple logic to
Me. If so many other states have passed it and has great outcomes why are we even questioning this. Hmmm hope it passes. Semper Fi and God bless. USMCVET.
Buttpymples, I posted a link to an actual analysis. You posted an opinion column. Let's read more about the author of your opinion column...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_DuPont
"He has described marijuana as "the most dangerous drug", a description at odds with current scientific consensus."
Well, yeah, that's kinda putting it mildly... 60,000+ people died just last year of an opioid overdose. Meanwhile, not a single person in the entire history of the human race has ever died of a marijuana overdose.
@Mat: even the leftist NYT admits that heroin addicts start with pot. I get it—you love getting high, and do not want to be arrested. But, your rationalization is a result of your pot addiction, not of science.
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/04/26/is-marijuana-a-gateway-drug/marijuana-has-proven-to-be-a-gateway-drug
"Getting high will be rationalized in 8th-grader fashion" says the man who goes by "Buttpymples". I have had a heart issue since birth that nothing has been able to help with except for pot. I was one of the haters at one time, but now I see the benefits!
Dear Buttpymples...
> Fact: potheads are 3 times more likely to become heroin addicts. Watch the collateral damage in Colorado, CA, Washington, and all the other states that voted to get high 24/7.
No. See "facts" are objective truths which are universal. This would be more like "personal opinion that you pulled out of your derriere."
It's actually been found to *reduce* opioid deaths.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/16/legal-marijuana-is-saving-lives-in-colorado-study-finds/?utm_term=.3661c6599cdc
Fact: potheads are 3 times more likely to become heroin addicts. Watch the collateral damage in Colorado, CA, Washington, and all the other states that voted to get high 24/7.
Rome did the same thing.
The only things marijuana are a gateway to are pizza, Taco Bell, Doritos, and Haagen Dazs.
Of course it is, but people want to get high so they will rationalize it in true 8th-grader fashion.
Of coarse it’s a gateway drug. Last thing nashville needs is more zombies walking to the titans games. Society has gotten really soft, always needing a remedy for something, or to help with their anxiety. Free advice, wake up early, strap on your work shoes, and go to a fulls day work. Our grandparents and most of our parents did it.
I started smoking pot at 14 years old and I gave up sports and school to smoke it. Luckily I saw the light at 25 years old and got sober. I was mentally broken yet knew I had a purpose in life. Today one day at time I have been sober for 25 years. Pot was my gateway- it changed my thinking and lead me to much more when it stopped being enough. Delusional thinking to think one drug legal will stop abuse. Uh hello. Alcohol and prescription pills are legal. And they are abused! Let’s get to the core instead of creating more addiction.
I believe that cigarettes are the gateway drug.
Gateway to the fridge .
Marijuana helped me get off of Oxycottin and Xanax. I no longer take pills to cope with my
Problems. Hate that it’s illegal as but pills that can kill you / cause seizures are perfect legal. Cannabis got me OFF the pills
Fifty years of personal use and simple observativeness is enough to qualify me to state unequivocally that weed is not a gateway drug. And by stating unequivocally I mean to make it clear that I am stating fact, not opinion. However, pharmaceutically manufactured and doctor prescribed drugs are statistically verifiable as being gateway drugs, both to even more powerful and addictive pharmaceuticals and to banned "street drugs".
People who think marijuana is a gateway drug needs to do their research. My looking at all the votes over 80% of Tennessee Annes want medical marijuana brought to this state our congressman are senators all of them need to take this into account. Marijuana has been proven to save lives shrink tumors take pain away for the people who have chronic pain issues they're not looking for a high they're looking for something other than the stupid opiates that do not work. People open your eyes bring medical marijuana to Tennessee.