TokeTillYouDrop

I was recently talking with my father in the car about cannabis. A very small part of the argument really made me believe that a negative view of cannabis is really some sort of societal or government propaganda.

One point my father brought up is that very few people who smoke cannabis at a fairly young age (16-21) are very unsuccessful. Unfortunately for both sides, there is no statistic or experience that could prove this theory. Any persons' experiences are not enough to make a statement about the effects of a drug that over twenty million Americans use on a regular basis. But that is besides the point. The diolague is as follows:

Dad: Very few people who smoke at a young age every amount to anything.
Me: Well think of Bill Maher, Barack Obama, Michael Phelps,...me
Dad: Barack Obama smoked a little bit in college.
Me: Obama "inhaled frequently" and admitted to smoking at a young age on national TV.

Here is the defining moment...

Dad: Well, you named a few out of millions that are successful...

This is what puts me at awe. He is willing to argue that Obama smoked the occasional joint without any concrete detail, then accept what he has been told and change his argument. He didnt care to research Obama (why would he?), but he decided to make a statement backed by nothing but what he had assumed. He didnt know about Obama's cannabis use, but acted as though he did. Why?

Thats why I am so confused. This is the kind of thing that would actually confirm an idea for me. This is a man who has admitted to smoking pot before, experimenting with acid, and drinking quite regularly. He also agrees that there are appropriate times to smoke pot as well. So why is pot engraved in his mind as generally, in most circumstances, negative?

This is my idea:
I now think that there is a simple answer. The government needs to keep pot legal to gain revenue from alcohol and tobacco taxes so it demonizes pot in many ways.
1. Its illegal!
2. Reefer Madness, D.A.R.E? Classic brainwashing. Educate from a young age that weed causes your lungs to die and your brain to become oatmeal. Next, have the government make it a part of the curriculum. Now the youth and parents think that smoking pot is equivalent to smoking ten packs of cigarettes a day.
3. Wrongly classify it. Call it a class-1 drug. Yeah, it's extremely dangerous and has no medical value. Call it a drug, not a plant. It's food, you can eat it!
4. Ad council, Above the influence. That government funded advertisement only demonizes pot. How about heroin, cocaine, ALCOHOL? No! Pot makes you a deflated person without a soul who can't look into the mirror. If you smoke pot, it will burn a hole into your brother's hand!

From a young age, people are taught this. Even my father, who used to regularly smoke pot, shot it down and demonized it. This proves society has a profound effect on people and simple personal experimentation isn't enough to change a mind.

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