Drew Carey Defends Medical Marijuana

[Universe Prince]

Over at Reason's new project, reason.tv, here is a nice, 10 minute video of Drew Carey defending the use of marijuana as medicine.

http://www.reason.tv/video/show/57.html

[Universe Prince]

I should add that if you're using Firefox as your web browser, it might not render the reason.tv page properly. I find Safari works better for that site, which means Internet Explorer probably does too.

[Amianthus]

I should add that if you're using Firefox as your web browser, it might not render the reason.tv page properly. I find Safari works better for that site, which means Internet Explorer probably does too.

They should use compliant HTML, then.

Of course, telling Firefox to report itself as IE (fooling the server) usually works just as well.

[Amianthus]

And, BTW, I just went there with Firefox 2.0.0.9 and it rendered fine.

[Universe Prince]

Huh. I'm using the same version of Firefox and it never renders reason.tv correctly. Oh well.

[Religious Dick]

I'm using the same version (for Mac) and it's working ok for me.

[yellow_crane]

Over at Reason's new project, reason.tv, here is a nice, 10 minute video of Drew Carey defending the use of marijuana as medicine.

http://www.reason.tv/video/show/57.html

Well, let's tally.

The pharmetceutical companies are loathe to allow marijuana to enter the medical field.  Imagine the loss of profits.  If you are one who thinks pharms do not think like this, you are embarrassingly uninformed.  In Europe, the treatment centers for addiction give marijuana medicinally, on a psych level, to treat alcoholism and all other forms of chemical addiction, including the rarely mentioned one in America--addiction to prescription drugs--, while in America, people who smoke marijuana are given, in a medicinal modality, the very drugs addiction experts think are highly addictive.   

The liquor industry who, with the oil companies financed the fanciful, fear-filled, full-fiction hatchet job "Reefer Madness"  have arm-twisted behind the lines relentlessly to eliminate the plant from the phylla and the face of the earth.

In all three corporates, billions are involved.


With so much corporate opposition to marijuana, you begin to wonder the cornucopial potential of this plant.  If only a fraction of what the corporations fear is true of this little plant, it may well be considered something extra special.

Financially speaking, given all this condemnation, it is the burning bush.

[Richpo64]

>>Imagine the loss of profits.<<

Why wouldn't the evil pharmaceutical companies just start selling the stuff?

[Lanya]

Huh. I'm using the same version of Firefox and it never renders reason.tv correctly. Oh well.

Do you have that addition on Firefox that appears as an "S" at the bottom right corner of the browser window?  I couldn't play the video until I had clicked on the S and allowed it to play his video.

[yellow_crane]

>>Imagine the loss of profits.<<

Why wouldn't the evil pharmaceutical companies just start selling the stuff?

If they had plans to do so, they would first extract a patent to control it.

The bottom line of marijuana is that anybody can produce it.  

See?

They could not profit from it because everybody could make it.

But if it is illegal, they can.

See?

They may well be using it in camoflaged form--I say this because it is, after all the hoopla, an herb.

The percentage of drugs made from herbs approximates 80%.

[Richpo64]

So you think people would start growing it rather than going to the store and just buying the stuff?

If that's true, we should see more people growing vegetable in their backyard, or keeping cattle to butcher and eat themselves.

People prefer convenience.

See?

[Universe Prince]

The pharmetceutical companies are loathe to allow marijuana to enter the medical field.  Imagine the loss of profits.  If you are one who thinks pharms do not think like this, you are embarrassingly uninformed. [...] The liquor industry who, with the oil companies financed the fanciful, fear-filled, full-fiction hatchet job "Reefer Madness"  have arm-twisted behind the lines relentlessly to eliminate the plant from the phylla and the face of the earth.

You think the pharmaceutical companies and the alcohol industry are behind the the marijuana prohibition? Nonsense. The pharmaceutical companies would love to make the sure profits from selling such a useful and popular drug. And I seriously doubt Sam Adams and Budweiser are worried about marijuana cutting into their profits. You think people are going to smoke marijuana and give up drinking beer? Don't be so silly.

The bottom line of marijuana is that anybody can produce it. 

See?

They could not profit from it because everybody could make it.

More nonsense. Everyone can grow their own onions and rosemary too, yet most people instead choose to purchase such items from a grocery store. Duh.

[Xavier_Onassis]

More nonsense. Everyone can grow their own onions and rosemary too, yet most people instead choose to purchase such items from a grocery store. Duh.

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But marijuana is not like spices and vegetables. It has a very long shelf life.
The amount consumed by even a serious pothead is small. Certainly less in weight than most people's consumption of potato chips.
It is far easier to grow than even tobacco.

Growing potent pot, where legal, has evolved into a fun hobby for people, like gardening and model building.

Sure, some people might prefer to buy it from the supermarket for $100 a pound.

But then they have a cousin that grows his own and will sell it for $50. Perhaps more potent, and there will be no sales tax, either.

It is illegal for several reasons, and among them are several commercial reasons.

Employers do not want to have potheads operating their machinery.
Insurance companies don't want to insure cars or factories run by potheads.
People's views on everything, on which advertising and pretty much all of society is based, and altered seriously by pot.
Buying a nice matching ensemble MIGHT make someone feel good.
Getting high WILL make them feel great. Pot smoking is an antithesis to consumerism.

[Universe Prince]

Growing potent pot, where legal, has evolved into a fun hobby for people, like gardening and model building.

So has making beer, yet I see no lack of beer at any of my local grocery stores. Many people grow tomatoes and fresh herbs in their house or backyard. Yet, I notice the grocery stores have not stopped selling either one.

Employers do not want to have potheads operating their machinery.
Insurance companies don't want to insure cars or factories run by potheads.

Kinda like they don't want to have drunks operating machinery, et cetera. Yet, alcohol is perfect legal. I guess we should ban alcohol too. I'm sure that'll work out great. I wonder why no one ever tried that before. Oh, wait...

People's views on everything, on which advertising and pretty much all of society is based, and altered seriously by pot.
Buying a nice matching ensemble MIGHT make someone feel good.
Getting high WILL make them feel great. Pot smoking is an antithesis to consumerism.

Yes, because people who smoke pot never again care about clothes and appearance. Right. Sure. I wonder at what point you stop thinking about this and just start making up stupid reasons to try to blame capitalism.

[Richpo64]

I don't want to tip my hand here, but growing marijuana is NOTHING like growing tomatoes or cucumbers in your garden. You don't just just plant a seed and watch it grow. It's a bit more complicated than that.