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Article Source: adn.com: AlaskaWhile she's honest and admits to smoking pot she would still throw people in jail for it. By her standard she should have a criminal drug record for her pot use.
To Palin's credit she doesn't recite the reefer madness lines traditionally promoted by social conservatives when she says that marijuana should not be the priority of the drug war.
Palin's statement about her marijuana use is also discussed with some commentary here:
#1 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:06 AM EDTA complete non issue in the Presidential race. Barack Obama has admitted youthful drug use, and not just once or twice.
I think Palin's social conservative stand for harsh penalties for marijuana use will be more of an issue than her admitting she's smoked a little pot.
Reportedly it was legal in Alaska when she did it.
The Office of National Drug Control promotes the idea that marijuana is a gate way drug that sends kids strait to the meth labs.
Palin's admitted use soundly proves that wrong.
Feldspar:
I think Palin's social conservative stand for harsh penalties for marijuana use will be more of an issue than her admitting she's smoked a little pot.
Excellent point!
Palin's admitted use soundly proves that wrong.
A single case neither proves nor disproves anything of the sort.
The ONDC promotes propaganda that claims one hit of pot will make any and every person kill their friends, rape people and move on to real drugs.
Palin's marijuana use and every other person on the planet that didn't go down that path is a sound repudiation of that claim.
It's not hard to prove propaganda as false. It usually is. But the average cool aid drinking social conservative isn't concerned with the truth, just sound bites that re-affirm their their agenda.
Do you seriously believe that Palin, by the miracle of God's grace was able to break from the norm and resist the temptation of the devil weed?
It's time social conservatives in America Grow Up.
The ONDC promotes propaganda that claims one hit of pot will make any and every person kill their friends, rape people and move on to real drugs.
Please provide proof.
The ONDC can't come up with credible evidence of the negative impacts of marijuana use but they lump all their statistics together with other drugs in the White House publication:
The ONDC 'What Americans Need to Know About Marijuana'
The DEA has the The DEA Position On Marijuana that quotes many of the established untruths about cannabis first promoted by the Reefer Madness movie.
Then, there is the tv commercials that the ONDC pays for that tell the whole story.
'Kid kills friend after they smoked pot PSA'
'oh dude what happened last night PSA '
You've seen them and you know the propaganda so don't pretend it doesn't exist.
Another way one can go about this is to be their own scientist, engage in some good natured empirical research which is so sorely lacking these days.
Hypotheses and experiment
A. Hypothesis: After Smoking a big fatty I expect I will: Kill, Kill, Kill.
B. Equipment:
1. Fatty
2. Bic Lighter
3. Surround sound system
4. Mood lighting
C. Process:
1. Play music of choice
2. Spark up fatty
3. Make notes of urges, homicidal or otherwise.
4. Crash
D. Review Data
1. Draw inferences
2. Correct assumption "A" if need be
E. Repeat Experiment.
1. Compare results with previous experiment.
I have not been able to read every single word of the 3 documents provided... yet. But I have read enough to be able to say that the ONDC does NOT say that "one hit of pot will make any and every person kill their friends, rape people and move on to real drugs."
It does say that prolonged, regular marijuana use can, and has, led to violent behavior and use of stronger illegal drugs. And just because you don't want to believe in the facts, or that the facts mean that you have to break the law to do what you want to do, doesn't mean that the facts, or the law, is wrong.
What gets me is that the pro-marijuana movement says "Hey, Dude! Alcohol and tobacco are legal, and they are just as bad as marijuana, so why shouldn't marijuana be legal too?"
I suggest that alcohol and tobacco be made illegal based on the evidence of the harm they cause people, not adding more fuel to the fire.
So, I ask you again, please provide PROOF for your statement.
Another way one can go about this is to be their own scientist, engage in some good natured empirical research which is so sorely lacking these days.
Ire, I have a few changes to your experiment:
A) Hypothesis: After smoking a big fatty I expect I will have short term memory loss, the munchies, decreased motor functions, and possibly other negative effects.
B) Since I don't want any of the motor effects, as well as the fact that I don't have to get drunk or high to have fun and enjoy myself, I am going to refrain from smoking a big fatty.
Of course, you don't have to use the drug yourself to prove a hypothesis. I have had a few friends who have gotten into drugs, specifically marijuana, and watched it ruin their lives. It didn't happen in a day, a month, or even a year.
After prolonged use they became useless at home and work, they were no longer really enjoying the "high" they got from smoking, they were just trying to keep from getting low. One of my friends even started using harder drugs until he finally ODed and died. Another was driving after smoking a "big fatty" and wrapped his car around a pole. The doctors said that if he had been sober, it would have killed him. (They also said that if he hadn't been smoking, he probably wouldn't have had the wreck either.) I guess pot isn't all bad, is it. He was fortunate enough to survive, and he didn't start smoking again when he got out of the hospital. He doesn't support the legalization of marijuana either.
So no, marijuana isn't just a bit of harmless fun.
So dandemacy you advocate another round of the successful alcohol prohibition experiment? Wow that's shows you are a serious scholar of history right there.
The proof of my statement above is that you yourself are so well versed in the phony propaganda just like I described. You quoted the ONDC propaganda to the letter.
"A friend smoked some pot and wrapped his car around a tree." Hmm, that didn't have anything to do with the six pack of Coors he drank with that joint did it? Did it have anything to do with the fact that your friend was an idiot who was probably driving too fast. Why was your friend driving under the influence? That proves he was plenty stupid right there.
What kills me is ignorant yahoos who feel as if they are some kind of authority about an issue because they once heard a teenager say something about it at their church group.
I know doctors, lawyers, scientists, nurses and dozens of other skilled tradesman and artisans that use marijuana on a regular basis. They don't fit into the phony stereotype that you describe.
Marijuana doesn't turn people into morons dandemacy. True morons are made by a lifetime of backwards thinking and intellectual cowardice and that is usually done with out the help of any drug.
dandemacy,
You are more than welcome to change the experiment all you want. Sounds like you're getting into "science mode" and that's a good thing.
In fact that's the beauty of science, ins't it, that that it saves us from living a life of preconceived and untested notions?
So spark up, kick back, check the mem loss.
Don't forget to keep us informed... heh
1. First of all one anecdote proves nothing and in fact the fact that a friend smoked marijuana and later died proves nothing more than that friend also might have drunk milk when young, or may have in fact had a undisclosed mental problem which was helped by marijuana use resulting in a prolonged life.
2. Smoking marijuana is a choice. To use the fact that it was legal or not really has nothing to do whether it was the right thing to do.
3. It is amazing how many politicians, and others, have "tried" marijuana (back to the addictive, etc. theory) and yet will do nothing about legalizing it now.
4. Perhaps it would be better to compare what the results of smoking marijuana are to the results of being arrested for smoking marijuana are. Is arrest, etc. really that much better of a result than an occasional smoke in the sanctity of one's home? How about all the illegal money slushing around? So many examples I don't really wish to continue.
5. It is mostly about hypocracy. Yes, smoking marijuana can be fun. So what? Is that why it should be illegal? I don't condone its use, but I certainly don't feel like paying the price for its illegality through loss of production, the building of prisons, ruining of young lives, etc. Get a life. Legalize Marijuana Now---LMN.
6. The downside of its illegality far outweigh the downside of its use.
7. Want to make it legal--Make it illegal to run for office if you have smoked it or known someone who has smoked it and failed to make a citizens arrest. Don't use it as a way to be "cool" and then arrest anybody else in sight. Get out of my face--and I don't even drink, but yes I have drunk in the past.
Not an issue. Actually, I wish McCain would smoke a joint or 2. It might chill him out a little.
#4 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:57 AM EDTLook, if you find Jesus, everything prior to that is canceled out. We know how it works.
#5 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:44 AM EDT"if you find Jesus" then seek the services of a professional mental health worker. cause the dude's been dead for 2000 years....
And, having found Jesus, there is none purer than the purified.
She'll make agreat spokesmodel for the dangers of drugs having treid them herself so that others won't have to. Wow, her parallels to christ are spooky. She climbed up on that weed cross and got stoned to the bejeezus belt for our sins.
I'm just waiting for the shameful photos of her "dominatrix" phase to appear.
this is what Ms. Palin is actually quoted as saying:
Palin doesn't support legalizing marijuana, worrying about the message it would send to her four kids. But when it comes to cracking down on drugs, she says methamphetamines are the greater threat and should have a higher priority.
She's right about making the harder drugs a priority over marijuana, which is baby's milk compared to the other more serious and dangerous drugs out there on the market.
'Hard' drugs are a totally different thing than ethnobotanicals like cannabis, sativa, blue lotus, kava. Most of these are perfectly harmless when used properly. Bizzarely, there are plenty of plants which are highly dangerous yet perfectly legal - such as jimsonweed, for instance. Criminalizing plants such as these only encourages their abuse.
Not only that, but many peoples' lives have been ruined by the baffling criminalization of cannabis in particular.
I imagine that the police, courts, and jails would run much more efficiently if cannabis were legalized. The dangerous drugs, their dealers and users, could get the attention they warranted.
Palin - and McCain - would gain a lot of votes if they publicly supported legalization of cannabis and other ethnobotanicals.
Palin - and McCain - would gain a lot of votes if they publicly supported legalization of cannabis and other ethnobotanicals.
I have to respectfully disagree. American citizens need to educate themselves on ethnobotanicals versus synthesized powerful addictive mood altering drugs like methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Too many Americans continue to be spoon-fed misinformation about drugs, with cannabis getting a truly unfair rap.
As well, if Americans understood that the uses of hemp/cannabis are far more ubiquitous than merely smoking the flower tops (especially in these environmentally conscious times), only then would any ticket supporting legalization of cannabis garner a slew of votes.
Well-stated. I agree that people need to become more informed about ethnobotanicals and their proper uses. I believe that their criminal status (for the most part) discourages - and outright disables - people from investigating these natural resources and learning as much about them as they can.
I think the first politicians that support responsibly ending the prohibition of cannabis would garner a lot of support and votes coming from both sides.
Massachusetts has a decriminalization initiative on the ballot right now with polls showing over 70% support for the initiative in Massachusetts. There are not very many political issues that get that kind of support.
Conservatives and Libertarians hate the intrusive big government attitude that results from the drug war and heavily support state's rights to govern themselves.
Social Liberals and Environmentalists hate the rampant destruction of civil rights and liberties of the drug war and favor the multitude of uses from sustainable hemp crops.
The first politicians that openly support responsible decriminalization of cannabis will see a huge win win.
Conservatives and Libertarians hate the intrusive big government attitude that results from the drug war and heavily support state's rights to govern themselves.
Social Liberals and Environmentalists hate the rampant destruction of civil rights and liberties of the drug war and favor the multitude of uses from sustainable hemp crops.
That we're still working toward this end, when it's clear marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol astounds me. I think the resistance to change goes pretty deep. For instance, what are many hypertrophied police agencies going to demonize, or use to justify their existence? Pot is ubiquitous and makes a great strawman. Especially to the everloving religious right. There has to be something out there to call "satan" otherwise they fall apart.
Legalizing it just makes practical sense on so many levels, not the least of which is intrusion and expense. We could get a whole new industry started with this stuff, hence further opposition. I recently bought some Hemp T-Shirts on-line and they are easily my favorites.
Knowing that Sarah Palin has smoked some reef shows the first inkling of humanity on her part. But I see a big group frown from the right wingers who believe smoking pot causes liberal thoughts.
#6 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 1:56 PM EDTSo she's smoked it, but supports the continuing criminalization of it.
Typical politician.
#7 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:41 PM EDTalkimija: see 5.3 above. I agree with Ms. Palin's drug criminalizing priorities.
Kori I think you maybe pretty far to the right of mainstream of America on that issue along with Sara Palin
She says Marijuana should have a lower priority than meth but still supported the re-criminalization of it even after her state voted to support medical marijuana.
If you want to see more information about the issue please visit an article I put up recently that lists many sources of credible information about the marijuana prohibition issue.
There's a poll too, maybe you can be the first to vote against decriminalization of cannabis.
Cannabis Prohibition - What was the Reason Again?
I'm very interested in having someone that's against it spell out their reasons.
Feldspar: I support the use of medical marijuana and have always believed that if alcohol is legal, marijuana should probably be too as both result in altered states of conscientiousness, with alcohol perhaps being the worst of the two.
I have several concerns with nationwide legalization of marijuana because I there remains unanswered questions medically and socially. As of right now, I wouldn't mind loosening restrictions at State and Federal levels and initiating some basic guidelines for personal use.
I will look at your poll ...... tomorrow! Thanks.
agnosticator,
Seems that her humanity is demonstrated in a few other minor ways.
She's had and is raising 5 children and married to the same person strange behavior. It seems she and her Husband actually have held non government jobs, more the Obama, McClain & Biden or most of the party "hacks" can say. They have become millionaires on a government pay check, amazing accounting practices I assume.
So I guess you are right, maybe there's hope for her.
#8 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:45 PM EDTAre the Republicans now going actively after the pro-pot vote?
So much for the "decadent sixties" culture that they revile at almost every breath.
#10 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:52 PM EDT30 years of occasional marijuana use destroyed my life. During that time I became a veteran, obtained 2 college degrees, Wrote numerous computer databases for hospitals, saved many lives cross-matching blood, wrote a book, remained calm and pacifistic, studied Buddhism and became a libertarian. OHHH the ruination of it all!
#11 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:16 PM EDTMy heart goes out to you,for I too was a victim of this evil weed of Satan.With just about the same results.God help us.
You know it's pathetic that libs are bringing this up. She smoked pot when it was LEGAL in Alaska! She didn't like it and to be honest I didn't either. Yes, another Conservative smoked weed. At least she didn't say "I didn't inhale" Like Bill . What a joke. Honesty is one thing that libs have a hard time with.
Libs are such hypocrite's.
#12 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:12 PM EDTShe didn't like it and to be honest I didn't either.
Dude! YOU got high with Palin?
It was legal in Alaska at the time but Federally it was still a crime. Federal laws supersede State laws.
I have to add this: I have noticed in this forum and elsewhere in life that liberals (although not always factually correct) seldom resort to hate speech or name-calling; the last stand defence of the intellectually challenged.
Keeping things on an even keel is always preferable.
And though I am a Liberal and support the legalization of weed, I never touch it. Tried it in high-school and it just wierded me out. That was enough for me.
Yet the whole idea of the resiliency and versatility of the hemp plant is really amazing so my take is there's something more to it than just "demon weed" hysteria.
Personally, I think her pot experience is a non issue. Try to find someone today who hasn't tried it. Those are the people we should be leery of placing in leadership positions.
Non-issue is correct. In this day and age experimental drug use of youth should not be held against them later in life. That applies to conservatives as well as liberals. I'm not a christian but it brings to mind the saying "let he who is without sin...pass the first doobie"
If her using pot is a non-issue, why should it be an issue for anyone else?
If it's ok for a republican VP nominee it should be ok for every responsible adult in the country.
One standard for political insiders and another for the rest of us is called hypocrisy.
It shouldn't be an issue for anyone, it shouldn't even be a crime. Nor should what church you attend, or what your spouse believes in, or what pins you wear, or what foods you like, etc. be an issue. These kind of political gimmics are a sad commentary on the state of our supposed democracy.
You know its kinda pathetic, the main steam media has had staff on overtime for 24 hours trying to find a "big Story' on Palin and they havent found it.
"Google" Biden,Carr, Rezko, or Obama,Rezko, Or Obama, Acorn, or Obama 96 election, or Obama Chicago Politics.
They arent finding much because she hasn't taken kickbacks and doesn't have long association with people of questionable character, hasnt been involved with disenfranchising black voters to win an election and her friends arent being sentenced in October for influence peddling.
Maybe thats why McCain Picked her? He wanted someone who has come a long way, worked hard, raised a family and hasnt walked all over people or twisted her personal principals to get where she is.
Hmmmm, Obama-Biden must be very afraid right now.
#13 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:39 PM EDTMaybe the republicans should run Her fine ass for president instead of that old ass.
They haven't found anything on her because no one knows who she is.
Hey Feldpar, you may borrow my disclaimer if you would like. It has been vetted and supported by the Newsvine staff.
It works too. Looks like it's needed on this thread.
Here it is:
***Please note: I intend to be vigilant in keeping the discussions of this seed ON TOPIC. I will delete any comments I believe to be of an intentionally derailing or thread-jacking nature without further warning.
Reading the article from the Anchorage daily news, they are misguided in not only their views on marijuana, but on everything else. And that's just in the state of Alaska! At least they have the excuse of being all the way in Alaska.
#14 - Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:06 AM EDTWhat I want to know is what she said on the 70-question survey she filled out for McCain's campaign on this issue. Did she say she did smoke pot and McCain took her anyway - now that would be hammering on his judgment again - or did she lie and say she didn't?
The question of legality "at the time" is not the point - the reps make this a huge social and moral issue all the time. she took federal funding to fight the "war on drugs" while admitting she smoked pot, for christ's sake!
#15 - Wed Sep 3, 2008 1:29 PM EDTI don't think her marijuana use is an issue to anyone.
Except maybe cool aid drinking social conservatives.
What is an issue is by her own standard of harsh criminal punishment for marijuana users she should have a drug conviction.
The hypocrisy is the issue.
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