Sunday, October 21, 2012

It's funny that you say that I live under a rock, because I’m a pretty big stonehead.




From a study[1] done by McGill University, research found that "Smoking cannabis from a pipe can significantly reduce chronic pain in patients with damaged nerves".  Consequently, those who lobby for the continued criminalization of medical marijuana are preventing access to patients who are in need of the drug.  Therefore the lack of access to the drug averts people with conditions such as  multiple sclerosis[2], cancer[3] and spinal cord disease[4] from alleviating chronic discomfort.  

Using the link below, it can be seen how the use of medical marijuana can make drastic improvements in people’s conditions.

Drastic Improvements in People’s Conditions

Misconceptions about Pharmaceuticals versus Medical Marijuana

The video below introduces common misconceptions people have about drugs such as marijuana:
One of the concerns lobbyists for the continuation of the criminalization of marijuana have is that people will fake symptoms for the use of medical marijuana.  Sociologist Craig Reinarman, in his report for the Journal of Psychoactive Studies[5]shows that what some people consider “faking” symptoms for medical marijuana is equivalent to, if not better than, the government giving doctors consent to “commonly prescribe psychoactive pharmaceuticals to treat not only paint but also sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression.

Economy on the Rise Due to Medical Marijuana 

 
The regulation[6] of medical marijuana is required to keep an inventory of the distribution of the drug.  Consequently, since the government knows how much marijuana is being produced it can be prohibited from being sold on the black market.  Thusly, since its not being sold on the black market, all of the sold marijuana is being taxed.  Cooper, in his article Struggling Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash[7]states The city [California] has raised taxes on marijuana dispensaries several times in the past few years, and last year it collected $1.4 million in taxes from them nearly 3 percent of all the business taxes it collected.  Thusly, the higher the consumption of medical marijuana, the more tax money that can be collected.

[1] http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/08August/Pages/cannabis-and-chronic-nerve-pain.aspx -Oct 23,    2012
[2] http://www.letfreedomgrow.com/cmu/can_cannabis_help_ms.htm -Oct 23, 2012
[3] http://www.articlesbase.com/cancer-articles/the-benefits-of-medical-marijuana-for-cancer-patients-1581285.html -Oct 23, 2012
[4] http://medicalmarijuana.ca/learning-center/conditions/spinal-cord-disease- Oct 23, 2012
[5] http://reason.com/blog/2011/08/05/how-many-medical-marijuana-pat- Oct 23, 2012
[6] http://medicalmarijuana.ca/for-growers/grow-marijuana-legally- Oct 23, 2012
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/cities-turn-to-a-crop-for-cash-medical-marijuana.html?_r=2&- Oct 23, 2012

7 comments:

  1. I won't go in depth on how the "Study done in France" was not even on the subject of alcohol consumption with age. I will also let go for the fact that you neglected to mention that the legal age for buying alcohol in France is 18 (which clearly is a major confounding variable in the issue). And let’s just assume that what you claimed about how drinking age and underage drinking is true.
    My question would be – if "regardless of whether or not something is legal, people of pre-university age are going to have the highest occurrence of alcohol usage”, then why do we have a drinking age at all? Moreover, if we replace alcohol with marijuana in the paradigm, will the action of imposing a legal age for marijuana really result in a significant reduction in teenage smoking? Because according to what you said, the answer is clearly no, yet in your original post you claimed that by imposing a legal age limit “the youth will not be exposed to the drug”. If you’re going to advocate something, then pick a side and stick with it!

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  2. Firstly your source regarding "the regulation of medical marijuana" is a canadian source, this has no effect on the United States. Being that we may set up a system regarding medical marijuana differently than Canada, this has no impact on us. Also, the source you provided does not discuss how they control the distribution of medical marijuana in general, the site provides you with the process needed to become a grower. With this being said there is no source to back your claim that "since it's not being sold on the black market, all of the marijuana is being taxed" . Also demonstrate how gaining the taxes from medical marijuana is a reason for it to be legalized.

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    1. Considering amendment 64 in Colorado, one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana, is based upon the system found in Canada then showing how that system helps users, growers and doctors in prevalent to the argument. Dismissing it because it's not American is narrow minded, if you were following that path then why didn't you repute our initial evidence because that was also from Canada, published in Britain and last time I looked neither of those places are America...

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    2. Gaining the taxes from medical marijuana is definitely a reason for it to be legalized. The amount of money gained via taxes would help the economy tremendously. More money could be increasingly be paying off out debt as a nation, as well as the amount of money feeding into schools.

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  3. Through your attempt to explain that “the lack of access to the drug [marijuana] averts people with conditions such as multiple sclerosis[2], cancer[3] and spinal cord disease[4] from alleviating chronic discomfort,” you fail to demonstrate why marijuana should be used to treat these diseases. Consequently, the roadmap of your argument fails to link the legalization of medical marijuana to the “Economy on the Rise”. Well, by proposing that medical marijuana is possibly inexpensive compared to other medicines, you could introduce its benefits. Such as, benefits with the economy.

    Also, you say “since the government knows how much marijuana is being produced it can be prohibited from being sold on the black market. Thusly, since it’s not being sold on the black market, all of the sold marijuana is being taxed.” In reality, marijuana is going to be sold on the black market even if it is legal, just like other legal things that are sold on the back market, such as DVDs.
    Find more credible, scholarly media that supports your view. Although this video is lengthy, it has loads of information. Check it out for more ideas pertaining to your blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBIxA0CqNx4

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    1. Surely if you had watched the video It would of been a clear demonstration on how the use of medical marijuana can affect people's condition. I agree that not all marijuana will be able to kept from the black market however the use of regulation on medical marijuana would mean that drug wars within the U.S would be less prominent, that more money would flow into the economy due to taxation and this would then lead to a better economy.

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    2. B. Hall-

      You stated, "In reality, marijuana is going to be sold on the black market even if it is legal, just like other legal things that are sold on the black market even if it is legal, just like other legal things that are sold on the BACK market, such as DVD's". First of all, maybe if you are attempting to make an argument you should spell check. Next, I would hardly compare DVD's to marijuana. There is absolutely no comparison between the implications of the these two objects. Last, the blog never said that the black market would not continue. I agree with you that it would continue, however, this is not a good argument against taxes. We claimed that there would be an improvement in taxes, not that every single drug that was sold would be taxed.

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