Anyways... I've lost track of the different "conspiracies" that have allegedly taken place during my life... at the moment, I can recall Watergate and Nixon.
What gets to me is that the government might be conspiring against us. In Iran, I'd believe it, and I know I'm not really free, but I'm freer than many countries to make my own choices. Fact is we elect our officials and they act independently - within reason, and in large part if you write to them, as frustrating as that may seem. They work for us.
Sure, if I was filming an episode of "24", by Fox Television, I could imagine all sorts of back-stabbing and espionage, but we're talking real-life. In real life what warrants a citizen like Mr. Bedell, to go to the Pentagon, armed and intending harm, to "shoot-out" over an idea of his that 9/11 was a government conspiracy?
He was "seriously addicted to marijuana"... according to the news... which may have fed his delusions. But to criminalize marijuana, because one person out of 990 estimated million worldwide users are delusional, is a bit far-fetched.
How many alcoholics have had a black-out while drinking? Add to that prescriptions for sleep, and you have quite the cocktail for trouble.
The question, is does marijuana use in private, constitute a public danger that warrants the current laws and regulations, and the impact on those who prefer it to other drugs? Legal ones - like alcohol? Or dangerous glues and aerosols? Or the newest craze - K2?
Are current laws prohibiting cannabis use and possession justified and a matter of "public safety", or are they a matter of "public good"? The latter being a moral issue, the former a genuine public concern?
Looking back at Prohibition of alcohol...
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States passed due to almost a hundred years of concern with regards to public safety problems with alcohol use. Alcohol has a tendency for contributing to violent behavior, and women especially were concerned. Almost overnight, passage of the 18th Amendment lost it's original purpose and became a moral issue. According to recently publicized accounts, alcohol consumption itself was never prohibited by the 18th amendment, but possession and distribution was.
In order to ensure and promote the federal government's laws and stance on alcohol, it literally poisoned, yes poisoned, known sources of alcohol being delivered to the public. Among federal law enforcement officials, the attitude in general was, it's illegal and therefore should anyone drink it they ask to suffer or even die; it's their own doing.
The story and following quote is from SLATE.COM - "The Chemist War" By Deborah Blum
Posted Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, at 10:00 AM ET
"Frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned, federal officials had decided to try a different kind of enforcement. They ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States, products regularly stolen by bootleggers and resold as drinkable spirits. The idea was to scare people into giving up illicit drinking. Instead, by the time Prohibition ended in 1933, the federal poisoning program, by some estimates, had killed at least 10,000 people."
Conclusion: Current laws prohibiting cannabis use by adults in this country are enforced, in my opinion, for the perceived public good, moral and special interests that have political and judiciary powers unwilling to understand a basic, essential condition that humans need - ESCAPE... whatever form it might take, as long as people aren't hurt.
To walk in a forest high on alcohol or cannabis, isn't a big deal. To drive is. Alcohol is regulated, cannabis is flat-out prohibited. Yet which is safer? You can refer to my list of my recommended reading for the book "Marijuana is Safer, So Why Are We Driving People to Drink" at the botom of my blog, for my media favorites.
I don't think this is at all a conspiracy, but I do believe the public has been largely misinformed, with regards to cannabis. The whole secret to legalized, regulated cannabis is the combination of two key chemicals in cannabis that create the high. The following links to the Wikipedia/ cannabis page. The key isn't THC... because, simply, pure THC isn't a fun ride! It's depressing... so IF THC levels are going up? What about the component of cannabis that makes it euphoric and pleasurable? It appears the following is the answer:
Cannabidiol (CBD), which has no psychotropic effects by itself [83] (although sometimes showing a small stimulant effect, similar to caffeine[citation needed]), attenuates, or reduces[84] the higher anxiety levels caused by THC alone.[85]
Fact of the matter is... cannabis/marijuana is much found by much research to be safer than alcohol use...
People suffered and many died as a result of alcohol prohibition, and more are dying and suffering as a result of what I feel are unjust regulations and excessive prohibitive actions against personal use of cannabis/safer alternative, to our only choice - alcohol. It's really a no-brainer which is less dangerous... unless you want to consider the moral implications :
Genesis by BobKat
My own interprtation of Genesis... Eve ate of the apple, the fruit she was forbidden to eat as it would bring "enlightenment", knowledge of "good and evil; temptation, and ultimately sin. But the apple Eve found was too good to pass up, so tempting...
After Eve ate of the apple, Adam stumbled by... by then Eve had become much aware of the world around her. It was so beautiful! So beautiful..
Adam, who had been drinking mosquito juice, asked her why she was acting so strangely? She handed him an apple from the tree... he accepted... now they were both seeing a world, a very beautiful world. Suddenly, they were cursed... just like that. Damn...
And here we are today... all of us descendants. How about we accept our differences? Respect personal choice as long as we're mature about it? The world we inherited is not "black and white"... it's multi-colored. Our survival as a species depends upon our ability to adapt. Not sure we're doing very well...
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