Responsible Marijuana Use

There are many States right now having a hard time reaching their budget this year. Some of them are looking to Alcohol to create more revenue for their State. Some of the states do not allow the sale of alcohol on Sundays, well change that and you will have 52 more days a year to gain the tax money. Some other states just want to raise the Alcohol tax. One thing that I have always believed was Alcohol is always the business to be in. When the economy is good people tend to want to celebrate, who can celebrate without a beer or two. When the economy is bad people tend to try and drink their blues away. I am one of those wierdos that does not drink. I do not like the drunk feeling and the feeling of losing control of myself. There for my recreational drug of choice if it was legal would be Marijuana. A nice slow sip of Marijuana Tea or Hot Chocolate with a marijuana Brownie, who would that hurt???

The problem is it is illegal, but here are a couple of my rules. Only use Marijuana when:

1. it is all adults, just like alcohol I believe it is only for those old enough and responsible enough to handle it. However, I do believe as a Disabled Veteran that 18 should be that age. I risked my health younger than 21 I should have been able to drink younger than 21.

2. Designate a Driver. Also like Drinking if you are going to have a nice calm evening of Marijuana use then don't drive. Marijuana like alcohol does affect people differently and those responsible users do not need to jump in a car. make sure you have enough munchies where you are.

3. Setting, Unlike Alcohol, Marijuana seams to mellow out a group of friends. make sure the setting is conducive to an evening of Marijuana use. Music, and Movies. Some games would make it an enjoyable evening.

4. Treat your friends like friends. This rule stands for now because of the laws of marijuana. be a buddy, don't sit there and try to push the parinoid feeling. People get that parinoid feeling for the repricusions that may happen if they are found to be a Marijuana user. There is no need to sit there and every five minutes say, "Look, Cops!!!"

Responsible Marijuana users will tend to abide by these rules without any thought to it. Know what, when and who when you are using marijuana. What = the plan of action. This includes where you are going how you are getting there and back and what you are going to do while you are there.

When = Responsible users know how the marijuana affects them and the how long it will effect them. Know when it is a good time or not. This is going to relate to your surrounding also, Most responsible users will recognize thier surrounding and realize that it is the correct environment and timing.

This leads to Who: Know who you are with. If you know you are with one of those people that will make it uncomfortable for you then take a step back and skip out on this pass.

Marijuana Abuse is done by those who are not responsible with their use. The War on Drugs was created for those who were not responsible in their use, they unfortunatly ruined it for the rest of us.

Drinking - The Acceptable Drug

I say that drinking is acceptable but I am totally confused right now. It is not only acceptable but encouraged. This is the end of the holiday season, the time where friends and family get together to celebrate many different things. The time where companies take some of their profits and throw parties for those that have made them have a profit. This is a time where stores carry more beer than usual and liquor stores look forward to. Why is it that most people feel the need to drink alcohol during this time of year? Thanksgiving, a holiday for Americans to celebrate the pilgrams having a plentiful harvest to make it though the winter. Do you think the Pilgrams were thinking, "Lets throw a huge feast and see if Aunt Tonya will dance on the table with Running Dog." Christmas, the holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I have not fully read the bible but did the three wise men bring, a Keg, Bottle of Scotch and Jello Shots? New Years, time to celebrate the end of one year and the begining of a new one. Was your year so horrible that you want to forget it? Is the view of the future year so grim that you don't want to remember how it came in? I enjoyed a New Years party this year with a few people all of which feel drinking alcohol is a requirement. As I sat their drinking my soda I heard every crack on me about being anti-social. However by the time the ball dropped in Time square I was the one that had the kids in PJ's, in sleeping bags and helping them regain control after all the excellent Sugar treats they were able to eat until late at night. While most of them had parents that by that time were running around in a drunken state and not realizing how many of them were so loud the kids were laughing at them. I talked to one of my friends that was at a different party and he told me today that out of the people at that party, two had to leave before midnight because they got into a fight, one missed the ball drop because he was hugging the porceline, and another spend the first day of the new year in jail for driving after the party. How is this not only acceptable but encouraged? I am not Anti-drinking but the way I see it is why can my friends and family act this way but I am the one that is looked down at because I would prefer a drug that is currently illegal. I am the uncle, nephew, son, grandson, cousin, etc... that you need to stay away from because my drug of choice makes me want to sit on the couch and ponder the universe, wake up the next day functioning correctly, be able to remember the old year and enjoy the New Year. Most of them can't even tell when I have been doing my drug of choice but believe me they all make idiots of themselves and look like fools to their kids, nieces and nephews, and younger cousins. And because of society, these are the drunken animals that these kids are suppose to look up to. I am a burn out druggie that can not function in society because the drug I like is illegal.

Marijuana is not the Gateway Drug

The myth of the gateway drug has been determined not by statistics that are incorrect but by the wrong statistics. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, in cooperation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the White House Office of Drug Control Policy released the "Gateway Drug" theory as a campaign against Marijuana. They state that marijuana users are 85 times more likely than non-marijuana users to try cocaine. We need to look at how they came up with this Statistic. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse taken in 1991 is useless when it comes to the statistic on Marijuana users likelihood of using "Hard" drugs. It was calculated by dividing the proportion of marijuana users who have ever used cocaine (17%) by the proportion of cocaine users who have never used marijuana (.2%). The high risk-factor obtained is a product not of the fact that so many marijuana users use cocaine but that so many cocaine users used marijuana previously. When you think about it, Marijuana is the most common illicit drug for many decades so chances are that a user of a less popular drug has tried a more popular drug. This goes for even more popular drugs as well, for example most cocaine users also smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. Now my opinion on legalization of marijuana will also cut down on use of other drugs. I do believe that there are a lot of users that started off with Marijuana and because of the way they have to go about getting marijuana they come in contact with hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. Because of my stance on Marijuana but do not have experience with it illegally I have talked to a few people in the Marijuana crowd. I have heard certain things that encourage my belief that legalization of the substance. I was talking to a Marijuana dealer. He was explaining to me that he loves dealing with marijuana because he has never had to deal with weapons when taking the product to his customers. He does however deal with other substances where weapons were required and shown as a threat. When he is dealing with customers of the other substances he is always worried about it "going bad" He also told me that when ever he deals with his marijuana customers he offers them the high profit drugs. If a marijuana user was able to buy this substance legally they would not be put in the situation that they are being offered harder drugs.

The Gateway Drug - Blame the Right Drug

The other day I was listening to a speach that a mother was giving about her son in his early twenties that overdosed on Heroin. It is a very upsetting situation and I strongly believe that no parent should out live their children. On the other hand she said one thing that after I thought about it I got kind of upset. During her speach about keeping Marijuana illegal, She said, "Marijuana is the gateway drug, My son started smoking cigarette's then drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and it was all down hill from there." Now the reason this upset me is because out of the three drugs she mentioned and the drugs that her son was known to take and eventually overdosed on Marijuana was the safest one. Then I started thinking about it even more. At what point does she consider the Gateway? Was she worried about her son when he started smoking cigarettes? That was the gateway from not having an addiction to having an addiction. His life was the same but he added the addiction to it.How about when he moved from cigarettes to Drinking Alcohol? Her son went though the gateway of reality to an escape from reality. Now if you follow the path she is saying her son took the next step was no change just a different way of getting to where he wanted to. He was dealing with an addiction by smoking cigarettes, he went on to drinking alcohol to escape reality and forget about his worries. After that he went to smoking Marijuana, The least addictive drug including Nicotine and Alcohol. Marijuana also gives you a relief from reality but nothing more than alcohol, (and you have to remember your actions the next day). So here she is talking about Marijuana being the Gateway drug but that seams like the only step her son has taken that didn't change the effects he was receiving from his drugs at the time. I believe you can say that Tobacco or Alcohol were the Gateway drugs. I feel sorry for this woman that she has dealt with the pain of losing her child and my thoughts and prayers reach out to her, but please Blame the Right Drug.