Out with the pot propaganda, and in with the truth

[FruityBud]

Once upon a time, a doctor named James C. Munch testified, under oath, that smoking cannabis would make you grow six-inch-long fangs and, when he tried the substance, it turned him into a bat. The year was 1937, and following his testimony, Dr. Munch became the United States premiere expert on marijuana.

The year is now 2008, and while progress has been made, the most recent edition of "Life at LMU," a newsletter put out by LMU's Division of Student Affairs, makes me feel like we are still living in the late '30s. While I have all the respect in the world for Dr. Lane Bove, the author of this recent edition entitled "The Cannabis Conundrum," I feel that her "facts" regarding marijuana are highly unfounded, embarrassingly naive and, above all, simply not true.

In the section entitled "So you know a student with a problem…" we are given a list of so-called warning signs that should indicate that a student has a problem with cannabis. The overwhelming theme of this list is that pot makes you suicidal and depressed. I am utterly disappointed, and truly sad, to see that Dr. Bove has taken this route in her quest to combat cannabis. On the contrary, according to a study conducted by McGill University along with several hospitals in Canada, marijuana in low doses is a potent anti-depressant that increases serotonin levels in the brain similar to pharmaceutical drugs such as Prozac.

Granted, this is marijuana use in small doses. Those who must insist on ripping bongs the size of a baby elephant need not apply. But, according to Dr. Bove, any sort of cannabis usage is a black hole, a deadly substance that can drag a user into a pit of suicide and drug abuse. The truth of the matter is that, while I appreciate Dr. Bove's attempts at drug education, the facts prove otherwise. For example, a study conducted by a psychology professor at the University of Albany co-authored by a USC researcher showed that marijuana users actually exhibited far lower rates of depression than non-users.

OK. Let's play pretend for a minute and imagine that marijuana can't be used as treatment for numerous ailments such cancer and glaucoma. Forget that it was the primary pain reliever up until the invention of aspirin in 1897. If we look at cannabis usage to treat depression, (and it is, acting as one of the drug's primary medicinal purposes in the state of California) it is socially unethical for propaganda like Dr. Bove's recent newsletter to be in the hands of the Loyola community. Ancient stereotypes do not create education, they create problems, and I feel that these so-called facts are dangerous to the school community and act in sharp contrast as to why marijuana has been gaining the political, social and ethical respect it has deserved in recent years instead of vice versa.

Loyola Marymount has always had a policy regarding drugs that is extremely rigid. Probation, fines and drug testing are on the plate to anyone that is even remotely involved with cannabis use on campus. I say, fine, let Loyola set rules that they feel will best take care of the student body.

Disregard the blatant and highly dangerous binge drinking that has become a part of college life. Pretend for a second that there is not a very serious underground cocaine problem here at Loyola. And, teachers, rest assured that your students are doing their daily readings instead of reading your entire books the day before finals while powered by Adderall.

No, let's make believe that marijuana, proclaimed by DEA administrative Judge Francis Young himself, is not "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."

As a student graduating cum laude and someone who has recently completed a short documentary on marijuana (YouTube.com/WereOkay), I am ashamed and embarrassed by the most recent newsletter by Dr. Bove. It exhibits painful naivety, poor taste and a lack of factual knowledge on the part of student affairs. I wholeheartedly support the use of cannabis (albeit in a responsible manner) and hope that, in the future, education can triumph over propaganda.

hxxp://tinyurl.com/3vn87o

 

[bombbudpuffa]

The overwhelming theme of this list is that pot makes you suicidal and depressed.

More like giddy and hungry.

 

[headband]

Those who must insist on ripping bongs the size of a baby elephant need not apply.

:ciao:

 

[snuggles]

Good post, I agree. In fact I will go one step further and say that the drug policy in the US is evil. Also keep in mind all this propaganda has put up boundaries. Meaning, someone who believes the hype and says MJ is bad is never going to open up and say you know maybe we should be looking at this issue more closely. Or you may have people who suffer needlessly...like my mother. She was sick with cancer had been for 13 years, MJ was not the cure but it would have helped. MJ cause people on chemo to have better immune systems, you can believe that it weakens the immune system and it does to an extent, but chemo wipes out the immune system so you really aren't compounding the problem. I came to this conclusion as many of you can without any real knowledge. Just think MJ causes munchies, relieves discomfort/pain, and allows people to sleep. ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE KEY TO HELPING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM!!!! Which is key to people going through chemo. So while it wasn't a cure it would have been something to ease the suffering. They put her on one medication for one thing which led to another and then another and then another. After her 10th+ perscription I saw no improvement in my mother's quality of life, in fact I saw her losing everything, she was young. How much money is spent, how much suffering? Here's what I meant by boundries, I begged for my mom to try it, like I said I knew it wasn't the cure but she was in pain and had no quality of life and she would not try it. In her mind it was a drug a bad one LOL like crack or meth. She suffered til the end needlessly, because our gov't and the pharma companies have this sick view of medicine and money....and my mother suffered because of this alliance, this lie, this huge money making machine, western medicine failed my mother. This is not to say we haven't made medical advances but it is centered around money and IMO you can not rightfully say you are helping sick people. You are helping yourself more than the sick people. Many people believe the hype, people who don't believe a word the gov't says, but they think MJ is evil. These boundaries that were created by a bunch of greedy, racist politicians still are in place for one reason and that is the same reason as always MONEY AND POWER. Control is another word. Why do you think the treasury department is in charge of the Drug War? Why do you think we have the highest prison population in the world, half of which are non violent drug offenders. People say let the gov't tax the MJ they'll make money. Will they? Do people realize that they already make money off of it so why legalize it, you get the money and control...plus you keep the special interest groups and tax dollars rolling in from big Pharma. Do people realize LEO would be safer and be able to do his job better if there was no Drug War. The war kills, and of course ignorance kills...and the above mention individuals are ignorant not evil just not educated and I guarantee you anytime you encounter an anti MM or MJ person you can be pretty sure they have never smoked.

Sorry for the rant, I have been thinking long and hard lately and these post you put up just inspire me more and more. I have been planning a post for the 20th, it's the big day we all know that. I will be marching again, and once again we will not be taken seriously but I promised someone I would help her through her battle. I realized recently my mom's battle is over, but mine is not I did promise to help and all I have left is that promise. There was a guy in my area, he lost his wife to cancer, he went and got his medical degree and was going to be an oncologist...he was in his 80's. Now that's a human being showing compassion. We have a responsibility as citizens of whatever country we are from to educate people to get rid of these ignorant people. People need to know the truth, and the truth is not what we are being told. The truth is simple, too many big businesses have too much to lose. MJ is not a patentable thing, it's a plant. What does this mean....if it's not patentable it's not marketable and therefore there is no money to be made so they squash any kind of movement towards research or legalization. Once again sorry for the rant but these people spreading lies need to be stopped, not through violence but through a well prepared, knowledgable, and organized group of people. Through debate and discussion these people need to be embarrassed. They need to know that their ignorance is hurting our loved ones, and I take it personally. 4 years ago I had a big family, now I have no mom, no dad, only one surviving grandparent, a sister who just found out she carries the gene. In other words the past 4 years of my life have been hard, I am not the same person I was 4 years ago, but I do have a goal now....to help.

I am one of many, we all have lost loved ones. We need to start taking this personally. My mother was 56, and she died in a nursing home pumped full of morphine and I have to listen to these people. WE ALL NEED TO DO SOMETHING. Ignorance is the true evil and it must be stopped.

I can't write anymore, it hurts and I'm at work.

 

[youngbud]

In her mind it was a drug a bad one LOL like crack or meth.

This is what makes me so furious about all of the lies. People who could really benefit from bud are convinced that its going to make them trip like lsd or shrooms or something. What I'm getting at is that we have all of these people running around who, if the truth were told instead of lies, would be on the front lines for the cause. But instead they suffer needlessly.

What we need is a counter-campaign to the propaganda. A mass reaching, can't stop it, can't ignore it kind of something. The way to get a massive turn in the tide of the struggle for cannabis is to throw the truth in peoples faces more often than the government throws the lies.

They run this add where I live that shows a girl gathering up all of her awards she ever won, a boy digging his guitar out of the closet, and another guy standing in front of his car. The girl lights all of her awards on fire, the guy sets his guitar in a bbq pit and lights it on fire, and the other guy lights his car on fire. Then a voice says, "Marijuana costs you more than you think."

It's this kind of propaganda I hate most. It implies that smoking cannabis will ruin your life. Even if the government had gathered all of the empirical data it would have taken to figure that out,which they couldn't do I mean who's going to admit to the government that they smoke pot, you still couldn't conclusively say that that was the reason.

On a lighter note light up a :joint: and then pick up your guitar and see if you stop playing it the entire time your lifted. I can promise you you won't for a good hour at least.

Sorry about the rant but I have a feeling this thread is going to be full of them.

 

[snuggles]

This is what makes me so furious about all of the lies. People who could really benefit from bud are convinced that its going to make them trip like lsd or shrooms or something. What I'm getting at is that we have all of these people running around who, if the truth were told instead of lies, would be on the front lines for the cause. But instead they suffer needlessly.

Yeah think about this, some of them do suffer needlessly and they think they are doing the right thing by fighting MM cause they believe the lies. So they suffer and unknowingly perpetuate the cycle cause MJ is evil. I actually told my family at Easter my point of view...gmom thinks I'm Satan, her brother told me he's got some acres LOL, my cousin who is a chemist for Merck said she agreed with me. It's spreading the word but in such a way that we come across as good little boys and girls not pot heads LOL.

Also I don't like playing my guitar as much sober as I do high. You will hear this over and over...

"We don't know enough about it to make any changes"- OK so research it LOL, what's the big deal?

"It has not been shown to be effective in the treatment of _______"- well you have to actually give it to the sick to see.

"It's addictive"-OK so is everything, even your precious synthetic mairacle drugs, sex, food, cigs, booze, shopping, let's outlaw it all

"It's bad for you"-How is it bad for you, I wanna know exactly how. OK it may damage the lungs (cigs and vaporizer), ok it may make you lazy(so does TV). Let's lock up these lazy addicted *******s, surely Nixon had us all figured what a genius he was. And after we lock them up lets figure out a way to make more money, i.e. lets privitize the prisons. We can tell the people the war is working, but we need to keep the heat on, meaning we are going to continue to raise the budget every year for The Drug War, and talk how we need to build more prisons...but wait I thought you were privitizing prisons? They take our money and manage a campaign of terror and war on American citizens that doesn't work. How sick is that, you pay money to be terrorized and intimidated by the Federal Gov't. Let me work my butt off all year and then give you 25% of my wages and then you take say 5% of that and wage a war on me, sound like fun? Also last time I checked we were a democracy and if the majority was against something it changed. Why not with this? Could it be money? Find out how much money all the politicians get from special interest, from alcohol groups, insurance companies, BIG PHARMA, and even some crime types believe it or not. You won't find the crime numbers, obviously but I think we might be able to find out the other info, maybe does anyone know? And they take our money and then tell us what we can and can't medicate with....LOL.

It's all lies it's all just a mess. Like I said LEO supports this, they shouldn't IMO. It would make them safer, street crime would probably drop and they could do there real job PROTECT AND SERVE that's right serve.

I ranted a gain, LOL I'm usually pretty laid back. Can anyone else tell that this gets to me. Everytime I hear some little do gooder speak the evils (most w/o any first hand experience) of MJ I wanna walk up to them and punch them right in the face and tell them they helped my mom suffer thanks...now go picket the porn store you whiney do gooder. But this is the wrong approach we should all be doing what FruityBud does and do some research. I've learned a lot over the years. And it's not just MJ we need to learn about, we need to learn about all the perscription drugs used to treat certain illnesses/conditions and maybe find loopholes in them. So the next time they say, MJ doesn't treat ______ effectively we can pull something out of our butts like "OK so maybe it's not the most effective but I hear "insert drug name here" isn't effective and it kills people, or cause anal leakage LOL. Don't you guys love those commercials? "Are you depressed, try this" "side effects include, heart palpatations, seizures, limp weenies, kidney conditions, liver conditions, or istant death" I think I'll stay depressed, thank you very much. BTW whenever you here something about the liver, basically it's poison. The liver filters the body, removes poisons. IMO those drugs are horrible, they may fix the heart but now you gonna die of liver cancer, and if you beat liver cancer then you'll get a brain tumor from the liver cancer treatment and then you die. But the insurance company and the system did what it was supposed to do, prescribe drugs (generate money) for Pharma, insurnace company etc.

So I got a little carried away at the end there LOL. I have also heard that most Americans are over prescribed medication ALOT!!!!!

EDIT: and please excuse my grammatical errors it requires too much effort to fix...see I'm lazy and addicted...quick declare a Drug War, lock him up quick LOL.

 

[youngbud]

It's spreading the word but in such a way that we come across as good little boys and girls not pot heads LOL.

Thats the hard part for me. My friends tell me I'm the most obvious pothead ever. It's not my fault though, I was born a pothead :stoned:. My whole life people thought I was a pothead, even when I thought mj was a terrible drug people would come up to me and ask me where I got my bud from. But thats the key. If we show them that you can smoke pot and be an average, normal person then we have a chance to rationally talk about why mj shouldn't be illegal.

I have some friends who work for the cops, they know I smoke but not that I'm growing, so I might be able to find those numbers out. It might take a while but I'll post them if I can get them.

 

[smokybear]

Wow. Took me forever to read over all the posts! Lol. Good stuff though. Thanks again Fruity. Take care and be safe. Some more things to ponder over....

 

[Fretless]

MJ is what initially got me out of the manic-depressive cycle, no doubt about it. It is an effective treatment, but not a cure.

The #1 problem with MJ is the tar in the smoke. It's dirty, sticky stuff we inhale. Unless we vaporize.

 

[snuggles]

It hjelped this alcoholic from drinking...2 and a half years and I haven't been sick once since I quit boozing. I feel great mentally and physically. I got so well that I now own a house and run 2 businesses. So I know from experience that it helped me with my addiction and IMO it's the lesser of two evils. It also allows me to focus, I have adult ADD LOL. I call it scatterbrain, trouble organizing and focusing on one thing at a time I need structure and focus and it does help. But yes I agree it's not a cure all, it's about comfort, compassion, and relief. Also ask yourself this, if it does cause cancer which some claim how come we don't see people getting more cancer? Remeber 55 million use, not everyday but have or do use that's a large number. And if it lowers the immune system which it may why have I not been sick in years? Not even my sniffles. I think it does lower the immune system but I think alcohol is worse. it's how they present data...like it causes mental illness in certain individuals, what they don't tell you is that you have to have it in you first, genetically. Also alcohol does the same thing, alcohol actually chnges your brain chemistry and IT KILLS BRAIN CELLS. I'm not bashing alcohol, I just can't have it. I still go to bars and drink my soda I have no problem with it it's amazing. I would have never thought I could do it....life is long but I feel like I will never have another drink ever again. I got a new lease on life and I'm happier now. It's happy hour all the time now, and without any booze LOL.