Probably because marijuana use damages young brains. Potent strains, which are now commonplace -- if not the norm, cause psychosis. People end up in emergency rooms, especially with edibles. Long term users suffer from brain damage, mental, and behavioral disorders. It's perceived as harmless, and thus is easier to accept as a supposedly innocent long term habit, when the truth is that it silently robs long term users of their motivation and destroys dreams. People become enamored with the altered state of consciousness early on, to the point where it permanently interferes with their life path.
Marijuana is still strictly disallowed in the military, for clearance holders, and for employees of government agencies such as the FBI for good reason. It impairs judgment.
While I have personally used the substance in the past, I do applaud the current administration for banning anyone who has ever tried it from working in the White House. Many agencies have reasonable policies for past use. I believe the NSA allows for past use no more recently than 12 months, and the FBI for 36 months.
> It's perceived as harmless, and thus is easier to accept as a supposedly innocent long term habit, when the truth is that it silently robs long term users of their motivation and destroys dreams. People become enamored with the altered state of consciousness early on, to the point where it permanently interferes with their life path.
First, you need citations to support claims that extraordinary. Second, it isn't up to you to regulate other people's hopes, dreams, and personal fulfilment.
Thanks for the ref. I agree with you on the harmfulness in the cases referenced by this. Persistent / chronic use of marijuana can lead to developmental problems.
That said, this is true of many other substances as well. Childhood obesity and alcohol abuse also cause developmental issues, and perhaps these should all be age-restricted (sale of sugary foods in the case of childhood obesity).
However, I would not forbid any adult the right to do what they want with their body as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. If someone wants to ruin their life with drug abuse, while pitiable, it is their option. This has some negative externalities but, in my opinion, it is better than both government restrictions on personal freedom and the black market that has developed around illegal drugs.
Despite what some DARE aficionados might say cops aren't running around reading scientific research to understand the effects of weed on brains of different ages. A vast majority of them couldn't care less.
Weed is illegal because enforcing weed laws is immensely profitable for police departments and prison systems who lobby intensively to keep them illegal because they know many of their jobs would dissappear if weed was federally legalized.
So although Biden would probably love to federally legalize weed because its an easy voter win, it would put huge amounts of money from powerful lobbies at risk so its a catch 22.
I mean, it's a pretty well known fact that what the people want doesn't actually matter.
Putting people in to prison for drugs is very important to the huge prison industry (#1 prisoner population per Capita in the world, baby), so in order to keep some people employed, we have to enslave some folks. It's a beautiful balance.
1) The cops in the US are largely two types of people: straight-laced rule-followers and abusive bullies. The rule-followers support the rule because it’s the rule, and the bullies support the rule because it lets them continue to beat up theatre kids after high school.
2) Marijuana abuse leads to economic harm for capitalists. People can stay economically productive through tobacco or alcohol abuse but marijuana abuse tends to make people lethargic and low-output. While tobacco harms the individual tremendously and alcohol harms society tremendously, marijuana use, while on an absolute basis nowhere near as destructive as alcohol, hurts the tycoons who call the shots.
I would like some citations on #2. Hangovers, liver failure, and lung cancer do serious economic damage. I don't know of any evidence that pot decreases productivity though there has been plenty of DARE shit that says so. My unscientific study of every human I've ever met as an adult shows that 60% of people smoke sometimes with no ill effects and 10-15% of people I've meet are seriously blunted all day and turn out good work. Some of the people I know that are the best at their jobs consume amounts of cannabis that the average non user would find offensive.
If what you believe is that marijuana makes people lethargic and low-output, why is that alone not a good enough reason to keep it illegal? There's really no need to factor "the capitalists" into the equation. If you agree with the basic premise that marijuana makes people lethargic and lazy, then you also have to admit that smoking marijuana will have negative effects on virtually all aspects of someone's life.
The reason why everyone is taught that drugs are bad starting in the 1st grade is not because of "the capitalists."
Cannabis doesn’t make people lethargic. Having no opportunities in life does. Acknowledging cannabis use tends to take those opportunities away due to the attached criminal status.
There is a large economy built around policing weed and other drugs that may not be nearly as bad for you as they would have you believe. Legalization is an existential threat so they'll pull whatever strings they have to prevent it. The general public doesn't have this lobbying power, but when public opinion translates into getting voted in, that's when tides turn.
And let's face the facts here: people of color are most adversely effected by weed convictions. While I'm not buying that it's all a white supremacist conspiracy, if drug convictions and sentencing were distributed evenly across ethnicities enforcement of these laws would be measurably different.
Because trying to keep drugs banned makes criminals ultra-rich, corrupts entire societies, eats away at LEA resources and marginalizes otherwise innocent people?
Legalizing the crimes that the criminals are getting rich off of is not a good way to stop crime or save money. Do you see how this argument is backwards? The reason why we spend tax dollars on locking up drug dealers is because it's worth doing from a moral standpoint.
There is nothing backwards about the argument. By legalizing it we will see a reduction in real crime unrelated to drug use, like violent gangs.
Separately, marijuana being illegal while smoking, alcohol, and surgery foods are legal is a contradiction. If you want the government to regulate everyone's lives for the greater good, you might as well ban those as well.
If you could Thanos-snap every drug in the world from aspirin to beer to crack you'd have people huffing or spinning around in their yards until they puked just for the buzz. Proper education on the effects of all drugs will always trump prohibition.
I'll give you this, though: in many conversations weed is being made out to be totally benign. While I think it's more benign than alcohol or many prescription drugs, it still makes people lazy, contributes to poor health, can be carcinogenic if combusted, and can be abused in the sense that a user can rely on it to attain a sense of exhilaration or happiness.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 83.7 ms ] threadMarijuana is still strictly disallowed in the military, for clearance holders, and for employees of government agencies such as the FBI for good reason. It impairs judgment.
While I have personally used the substance in the past, I do applaud the current administration for banning anyone who has ever tried it from working in the White House. Many agencies have reasonable policies for past use. I believe the NSA allows for past use no more recently than 12 months, and the FBI for 36 months.
I'm literally in awe at the baseless fear mongering.
Stay away from these dangerous checks notes ...edibles...
You sure you ain't on edibles right now, boss?
Your whole post sounds like a bad 90s DARE commercial. 'this is your brain ...this is your brain on drugs '.
What if the White House administration decided anyone who ever tried alcohol would also become persona non grata?
First, you need citations to support claims that extraordinary. Second, it isn't up to you to regulate other people's hopes, dreams, and personal fulfilment.
It's legal in many states. The federal govt doesn't interfere.
That said, this is true of many other substances as well. Childhood obesity and alcohol abuse also cause developmental issues, and perhaps these should all be age-restricted (sale of sugary foods in the case of childhood obesity).
However, I would not forbid any adult the right to do what they want with their body as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. If someone wants to ruin their life with drug abuse, while pitiable, it is their option. This has some negative externalities but, in my opinion, it is better than both government restrictions on personal freedom and the black market that has developed around illegal drugs.
Weed is illegal because enforcing weed laws is immensely profitable for police departments and prison systems who lobby intensively to keep them illegal because they know many of their jobs would dissappear if weed was federally legalized.
So although Biden would probably love to federally legalize weed because its an easy voter win, it would put huge amounts of money from powerful lobbies at risk so its a catch 22.
Putting people in to prison for drugs is very important to the huge prison industry (#1 prisoner population per Capita in the world, baby), so in order to keep some people employed, we have to enslave some folks. It's a beautiful balance.
1) The cops in the US are largely two types of people: straight-laced rule-followers and abusive bullies. The rule-followers support the rule because it’s the rule, and the bullies support the rule because it lets them continue to beat up theatre kids after high school.
2) Marijuana abuse leads to economic harm for capitalists. People can stay economically productive through tobacco or alcohol abuse but marijuana abuse tends to make people lethargic and low-output. While tobacco harms the individual tremendously and alcohol harms society tremendously, marijuana use, while on an absolute basis nowhere near as destructive as alcohol, hurts the tycoons who call the shots.
In an ideal world everyones belief would be rationally motivated, and be able to change if new evidence comes up, but that is not often the case.
The reason why everyone is taught that drugs are bad starting in the 1st grade is not because of "the capitalists."
Separately, marijuana being illegal while smoking, alcohol, and surgery foods are legal is a contradiction. If you want the government to regulate everyone's lives for the greater good, you might as well ban those as well.
I'll give you this, though: in many conversations weed is being made out to be totally benign. While I think it's more benign than alcohol or many prescription drugs, it still makes people lazy, contributes to poor health, can be carcinogenic if combusted, and can be abused in the sense that a user can rely on it to attain a sense of exhilaration or happiness.