I have no problem with the medical use of pot for legitimate treatments, in fact I sent the link to my congressman and suggested it may be time to rethink federal law on medical marijuana. I'm still undecided on the recreational use, I don't want anyone out there operating cars or other machinery while their high on anything and it's much harder to test for marijuana impairment than alcohol.
Please don't expect too much in the order of legalizing the use of medical marijuana, OK Texas. I researched a number of mind-altering substances while doing my studies in the 80s. Pot in particular rended my heart as it got into use by prepuberty children rather quickly in some societies in Central America decades ago. Little boys were affected in their sexual maturation, the younger the worse. Their organs were all but permanently damaged by the fact their testicles did not descend as they do in children not smoking the drug. It also made them regrettable scholars in school due to failure to care whether or not they answered their test scores.
As a matter of fact, the studies I did showed that even back in the 80s, medical drugs of many venues were better than Marijuana, which cleans the clock on human cognition and maturation. Not only that, but it makes people accident-prone, across the board.
In 2005, long after my studies were done, the French came up with a long-term look at marijuana use and fatal accidents that got the world's attention. Here's the long and short of their findings:
WebMD Health News (link to story)
Dec. 1, 2005 - People who drive after using marijuana are nearly twice as likely to be involved in a fatal car crash. French researchers studied all drivers involved in fatal car crashes over a two-year period and found 7% tested positive for marijuana, including nearly 3% who tested positive for a combination of marijuana and alcohol. Although marijuana's share of fatal crashes is much lower than those attributed to alcohol, researchers say the results show that marijuana use, even in low doses, significantly increases the risk of fatal car accidents.
More Pot, More Deaths
In the study, published in the medical journal
BMJ, researchers reviewed information on 10,748 drivers who were involved in fatal car crashes and took required tests for drugs and alcohol.
Twice as many drivers involved in fatal car accidents tested positive for marijuana compared with a group of other drivers.
Researchers say about 2.5% of the fatal crashes were attributable to marijuana compared with nearly 29% attributable to alcohol.
The study also showed that drivers who tested positive for marijuana were more than three times as likely to be responsible for the fatal car crash. Researchers say the likelihood of being at fault increased as the blood concentration of marijuana increased.
I hope you will reconsider your position on marijuana. Everything coming from the JAMA quarter in the 80s (I don't know about later) was telling us the consensus of medical people today--marijuana use is bad news, and it's almost never as effective against pain as are a number of prescriptions that may alleviate pain in the same diseases that marijuana growers claim are best alleviated by their sales product.
And because it is so deleterious to younger people's development of brain and genital tissues, it would be far better as completely unavailable on the streets of town and country.
