PotShot

Marijuana's not very funny - just look at the statistics
David Hawpe | Courier-Journal | Sunday, May 21, 2006

Annoyed that the rabbits made a feast out of the pink petunia bed you just planted?

Irritated that another bunch of painters has been fired down at the Kennedy Bridge?

Mystified by atheltics director Mitch Barnhart's public scolding of Wildcat basketball coach Tubby Smith?

Worried you'll have to take a second mortgage on the house to pay for your daily commute from Pleasure Ridge Park to the Ford truck plant?

Depressed that your favorite actor, Tom Hanks, and your favorite director, Ron "Opie" Howard, made a $100 million mess of your favorite book, The Da Vinci Code, when they tried to turn it into a movie?

Afraid your name might show up on Bruce Gumer's Derby ticket books?

You need some good news, don't you? Well here it is:

The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center has come up with a way to measure how we're doing, and it shows we're doing better. Researcher Amy Watts reports that between 1990 and 2003, the State of the Commonwealth Index indicates that Kentucky lifted itself up from 46th to 42nd among the 50 states. If you want more details, see the latest issue of Foresight, at kltprc.net.

It's fun to josh about the issues, big and small, that beset us.

The candidate who was most interesting to me in the recent 3rd Congressional District Democratic primary, Jimmy Moore, didn't josh about pot, but he did discuss it more as nuisance than as nightmare.

He recounted a funny story about a famous tokester:

"Once upon a time, Bob Denver (may God rest his soul) was arrested at his home in West Virginia for ordering some marijuana through the mail. Not a bright move on Bob's part, but are we really fighting an effective war on drugs by going after Gilligan?"

"Legalize marijuana sales," Moore suggested, "but only through government channels. Tax the hell out of it. People will buy it, and in so doing some people may satisfy their desire for a 'recreational drug' through a legal means and thereby lessen the demand for more lethal, hard drugs. Legalization of marijuana will also help to free up valuable enforcement assets to go after the really bad guys."

Now I know Moore is a serious guy, and I'm sure he doesn't discount the serious side of the American pot problem. But I wonder if he read the recent piece in The Wall Street Journal by Kevin Helliker, who cites addicition-treatment statistics that show "dramatic growth in marijuana-related problems."

Helliker reports a study by the University of Maryland Center for Substance Abuse Research showing that, during the decade ending in 2003, the percentage of addicts who cited pot as the main problem more than doubled, from 7 percent to 16 percent, while those citing alcohol dropped from 57 percent to 41 percent.

If marijuana addiction were benign, Helliker points out, "thousands of Americans wouldn't be seeking to kick the habit each year."

And, "In treatment, many express a sense of being unable to move forward in their personal and professional lives while in a constant state of marijuana intoxication. Often, marijuana addiction damages relationships. Its illegality can get a user arrested."

Apparently about 10 percent of those who try the stuff become hooked at some point and "the typical absence of dramatic consequences can make marijuana addiction difficult to break."

It's bad stuff. No joke.

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dedbr

lets see another article about the addictive properties of marijuana.

How about an article about how much money is being made in the "lets all get sober" business. That would interest me more than this horse puckey.

I guess it's because they think all of us are so stupid as to believe all this crap without question. Maybe I would if I believed the whole party line in the first place, huh?

But to do that I'd have to stop thinking for myself.

I don't think thats going to happen.


Somewhere in Ded Land.....

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troublemaker_42

I doubt if people weren't forced to choose "treatment" or jail, those numbers would change drastically.

reggie_the_dog

"Apparently about 10 percent of those who try the stuff become hooked at some point and "the typical absence of dramatic consequences can make marijuana addiction difficult to break."

It's bad stuff. No joke."


ok, so one in 10 users can become "hooked", this is evidence that cannabis is "bad stuff"????

how many tobacco users out of 10 can be described as "hooked"?

Bowlblaze

Heck, what about coffee or any other substance for that matter? I mean seriously, think about it this way. I eat ketchup every day basically. It makes all my food taste better, but if I need to go without it, I can. I also smoke marijuana every day; it enriches my life. Same thing there. By this article's logic, it appears to me that I am addicted to ketchup and I need help.

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The government thinks we're all criminals. The people who are really the criminals are the people who view pot smokers as being no better than rapists, murderers, or corrupt politions
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KnowBuzz

The statistics on those trying to "quit" are way off. If people that were busted weren't faced with time in rehab centers or other forced government programs, this would be zero. I have never met anyone trying to quit.

I am addicted to salt - and everything else I like.
that article is pure bunk.

Is there such a thing as SaltAnon? . . . hope I never get busted for using too much.

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