by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
So... happy 4/20.
So I am watching this History Channel show about pot. It shows all the dispensaries in the states who have legalized the medical use of marijuana. It talks about both sides of the issue and how it affects everything from the people taking it to the tax payers who pay to prosecute those who are arrested for it.
I'm not a pot user. I have never gotten high so I am obviously coming from the anti-pot side. That is my disclosure for this blog post today.
I must say that pot is a big industry. I am guessing it make some major money (from what I saw on the show). My brother lives in Colorado and there are a lot of pot shops there (or medical marijuana dispensaries... easier to say pot).
I have had opinions about marijuana for a long time. I grew up with a friend who's parents smoked it regularly. I know what it smells like (there is no smell quite like it). It makes me wanna puke if the truth is known. It is not a pleasant smell. I have noticed at various points when out in a busy public place like a mall someone will walk by and you can smell it on them. Anyway my opinion of it is that it bad. I guess all that anti-marijuana propaganda thrown at me as a child stuck. What probably turned me against it was the fact that those who smoke it just seem dumb. Now, if smoking marijuana could make people physically fly, calculate pie to ten decimals, or allow them to see into the future then I would probably be a big pot head... but it doesn't. It just makes the person think they can fly, makes them eat a lot of pie, and only think they can see into the future. Most of your pot heads are rather pathetic.
Now I know a lot of normal people smoke it. I can think of one right now that functions rather well in society but since I know that person smokes it, to me they are pathetic. They can't get enough out of life without having to alter their perception of it (btw that's how I feel about alcohol as well). They probably got into smoking it the same way kids get dragged into a life of smoking or beer drinking, by their peers. I can only feel sorry for them. Ok, ok back to the post...
The one thing that can make marijuana a more accepted substance is it's medicinal uses. I am sure there was a massive outpouring of happiness from the pot crowd when it was discovered that pot could be used as a proper drug. Although it has this going for it, marijuana has yet to be accepted by the masses as a legitimate drug.
I believe there is only one thing standing in the way of it's acceptance... those who are it's standardbarers... or those who promote the plant as a medical remedy. While watching this show everyone... lets get this straight... EVERYONE who was connected to this industry (from the dispensary owners to the customers who where in the stores) look like pot heads. The are nothing but a bunch of tattooed hippies. That is the big reason (for me) but more than likely the real reason is that the industry is so unregulated. They show the customers browsing the different buds of pot, picking them for their potency or whatever. Each of these dispensaries are basically some one's business where they are growing pot in the back and selling it at the front. That's not the way to make this a legitimate business and an accepted drug.
There needs to be just a few FDA approved growers who supply the dispensaries, they need to ditch the 60's hippies running the storefront, loose the pot laced brownies and other 'laced' items and more importantly... loose the smoking part of pot. If this truly is the wonder drug that all these people claim wouldn't it be 1000% more legitimate if it was a pill? One of the people on the show even said the future of pot was ingesting it, not smoking it. Oh, btw it needs to have the same taxes levied on it as cigarettes do... the government would make a fortune!
I wrote that last paragraph as totally tongue in cheek because I know that sort of thing will never happen. Marijuana is a gateway/recreational drug and those who are trying to make it legitimate don't want to make it legitimate to help those who need it's medical qualities, they just wanna get high... end of story. Happy 4/20.
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