MARIJUANA - KEEP IT ILLEGAL

Is marijuana use less harmful than alcohol or tobacco consumption?

Such arguments throw back to the 1960s, when its long-term effects were
unknown. Why is a belief, outdated for almost 30 years, now being assumed
current and factual?

We know - we know- that tetrahydrocannabinol, marijuanas psychoactive
property, impairs brain functions. Loss of memory, loss of motivation and
ambition, loss of present and future best efforts. And look what it does
to critical thinking!

The immediacy of an idea- "Let's get it legalized!" - translates into
demands that are not being thought through, just buoyed on an emotive rush.
Where is the second thought, the harder look?

Some glaucoma patients smoke marijuana because they say it can reduce
pressure in the eyes. For this effect to be consistent, they must be
constantly smoking. But smoking up also constricts the blood supply to the
optic nerve and reduces the blood's oxygen content, two of the last things
a glaucoma patient needs. A once- a-day eyedrop called Xalatan produces
relief without such complications.

Then there's the case of Terry Parker, epilepsy sufferer.

His claims drew the immediate scorn of both a Calgary specialist and her
Lethbridge-area patient. It was explained to me that epilepsy is caused by
chemical imbalances in the brain. The patient has no memory of having had
a seizure, and can best reconstruct it by deducing how much time appears to
be missing. Marijuana, with its distortion of time perception and attention
span, interferes. A person under its influence may have a seizure and not
be aware of it at all. Neither accept Parker's medical claims. Forget not:
he is a
trafficker.

So why does the misguided crusader come out in pro-legalization advocates?
Ignorance or mendacity. Or the megalomanic mindstate the drug induces. The
spiritual vacuum, temporarily masked with a giggler's euphoria.

Established findings about the long-term harm of cannabis consumption are
not being refuted. They're being ignored. Not one word about carcinogen
intake or free-radical release throughout the body. No acknowledgment of
cardiovascular erosion. Advocating narcotic use as health enhancement is
exactly the sort of decay in meaning that George Orwell wrote so profusely
against.

By the way, there is a tax on marijuana: $150. for your possession of it.

Why keep it illegal? Because everyone trying to kick the stuff needs help,
which often comes in the transient nature of narcotic supply lines. Given
time, drug connections dry up and blow away.

The legalization movement has only a psycho-spiritual and intellectual
desert that it calls peace. Its strength is emphatically not forensic.

by Tom Yeoman Community Comment