Having grown up in Nebraska I can tell you where the "bad pot" of the 70's came from. August was the month for arrests of out of state entrepreneurs that came to harvest hemp in my former state. You could smoke a truck load of the stuff and only get a headache. It was leftover from the early railroad days when hemp rope was in high demand and was found in abundance along railroad right of ways. Those plants grew well over twenty feet under the right conditions. I suppose the entrepreneurs cut it into other, higher quality grass. Hell, I don't know what they did with the stuff but it went to some market somewhere.
I haven't bought the stuff in years but still partake on occassion when offered. Having grown up on Panama Red, Columbian Gold, Thai Stick and Mexican Bud, I will state in no uncertain terms that the California, Canadian and Hawaiian stinky stuff is fine but not better than the other offerings I've had since 1964. The "much more potent" comment is an urban legend that would never stand up under close inspection. The same can be said of most of the studies cited here. Liars figure and therefore figures can be made to lie.
Before you write me off as being biased in favor of people being stoned please consider the basis of my opinion. Experience has shown me that the biggest threat to non-users is not being able to find any potato chips in the convience store on a Friday or Saturday night since all the pot heads snarfed them up early. I've never known anyone that was ripped committing and act of violence or causing any kind of harm to others. And, for this threat to the public we are given an enormous machine that costs beyond what anyone can actually estimate? Again, think: Jails, prisons, courtrooms, judges, police, gaurds, probation officers, parole officers, lawyers, lawyers and more f***ing lawyers.
Even William F. Buckley considers legalization the only rational remedy. I'm at a point in my life where I don't care if I ever see another bud again and have been there for more than a decade. I do oppose the burden being borne by taxpayers to support an industry that serves no real purpose.
Humans and most other animal species seek substances that provide a temporary escape from reality. Elephants seek out fermented fruit. Horses and donkeys seek out loco weed. Cats crave catnip. Even bees get drunk. Staggering drunk. Confused drunk. Mankind has been fermenting alcohol and consuming halucinogens since long before the pyramids. Even the oldest discovered societies in France and South America left evidence of use. The need for a temporary escape from reality is part of the human condition and to fight it is folly. How much more evidence is needed? The war on drugs is one that will never be won.
Addiction is the emotional hot button that continues to drive the parasitic industry that costs more than we can compute. Treatment for addicts would cost society a fraction of what we now spend and yield real results. It is the addictive personality that concerns us and yet we pay dearly to incarcerate rather than treat. It doesn't make any sense to me, but then again I may have damaged my brain copping a buzz now and again.
Roughly 50% of middle age males in North America have used pot at one time or another. If it were not for lawyers entering politics, writing legislation that only provides work for their growing legions, we would not be where we are today. Give me no LIP (lawyers in politics).
