Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Rest In Peace, Prince
Speculation at this point is that Prince died from an overdose of Percoset which is a combination of acetaminophen and oxycodone. Oxycodone is an addictive opioid pain medication and Prince had been taking it because he had been suffering from chronic pain for quite a while.
Had Prince been able to use marijuana for his pain, he might still be alive today. Marijuana is non addictive, has no side effects (other than the munchies), does not cause death and has been proven to be an effective pain relieving herb. However, the government has deemed the herb marijuana to be a drug and Prince lived a clean life and would not do drugs. They can kill you or get you arrested.
What other artists have died from pharmaceutical prescription drug overdoses? Elvis, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith, Chris Farley, Kurt Cobain, Margeaux Hemingway, Freddie Prinze, Bruce Lee, Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix, Judy Garland, Brian Epstein, Marilyn Monroe, Tommy Dorsey and Sigmund Freud.
Back in the 1930's, marijuana was a successful treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Today, you can spend thousands at a rehab center.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
"Healing" with Marijuana
A friend of mine is
suffering from cancer and, the treatment thereof. She is in great pain
and the medications she is taking are accompanied by debilitating side
effects. Surgery is out of the question because her platelets are low
from the cancer and she has to watch her sodium intake. She continues
receiving chemo treatments but then immediately she gets a skin
infection (cellulitis). Then her doctor gives her antibiotics which work
against the chemo. Everything is working against each other. Now she
can't walk and she's gotten even weaker from lying in bed. Since she is
taking so many different drugs, they cancel out the good effects of
each other and she can't eat. It is too bad she won't consider cannabis
(pot or marijuana) as a treatment but she has been brainwashed into
thinking that marijuana is a "drug" and that the pills she is popping
are treatments. If only she would consider pot as a treatment she could
not only re-gain her appetite which would be beneficial to her health
and well being but she would also be relatively pain free and
conscious. The drugs she takes now renders her into a zombie estate and
do not give her the benefit of sleep. One of her drugs inhibits
getting a good night's sleep which she desperately needs and marijuana
could provide that. But, she is a good girl and doesn't do drugs.
NY recently passed medical marijuana laws and our next door neighbor, Massachusetts, is looking into legalizing it across the board which will of course destroy NY's medical marijuana industry and, bwahahahaha . . . all the wasted time and tax payer dollars that went into the planning for the medical marijuana industry. Hah!
Not only can marijuana be used for physical, mental, and emotional well being, it can be used for "healing." First, consider the meaning of the word "healing." There is a difference between healing and curing. To cure means to make the disease go away. Healing has to do with an expression of greater wholeness and acceptance rather than curing. Healing is about discovering what is hurting us in the first place and helping us to come to terms with it.
A long time ago a friend was dying of cancer. She sought every treatment and nostrum available, draining her bank account and only getting physically and emotionally worse at the same time. She was in denial. I don't know what precipitated her change in attitude but when she accepted the fact that she was going to die, she "healed." She was able to talk about it, make amends with friends and family whom she transgressed in the past. She was able to live life a little more fully and finally be happy. I beleive it was the edible pot that she illegally obtained from her son who traveled to Colorado and risked arrest and decades in prison for its procurement, but gave his mom a new outlook on life and death. Healing is about discovering what is holding us back in the first place. Pot helped my friend look at life differently and die with dignity and comfort rather than denial, failure and shame - and she had a healthy appetite, too.
Diabetes, obesity, autism, anxiety, cancer, autoimmune conditions, thoughts of suicide and other expressions of imbalance are increasing in society as are prescription drug treatments for all of those ailments and the downward spiral which comes with them and their treatments. A pharmacist friend told me that she believes all the cholesterol medication people take causes diabetes and the medication for diabetes causes weight gain and kidney complications leading to heart issues.
Cannabis could play a much larger role in most people's lives by helping them maintain a balanced, healthy outlook and diet. Dying with dignity, comfort and acceptance should be the primary focus of "healing." It is time for doctors to incorporate medicinal marijuana into their regular treatment practices in addition to traditional medical treatment in order to spare people the harsh side effects of pharmaceutical drugs.
I recently watched the History Channel's movie "Marijuana Revolution" and I discovered that cultivators of this plant are able create strains to achieve goals and outcomes far more advanced than the dangerous prescription drugs mired with side effects that profit hungry pharmaceuticals are creating and pushing onto doctors to prescribe. I have no doubt that in the future, cannabis combined with other treatments will actually lead to a cure for many maladies which afflict us. It is definitely a cure for alcohol and drug addiction because pot itself is not addictive but is an alternative to those other addictions. Working on the suicide hot-line I had many callers who were in mental and physical pain because of their addiction to pain killers. I'm sure pot would ameliorate their conditions on the first day of use.
Thank you to states like Colorado and Washington who of course are making billions in tax revenue each year but, are also providing people with the option to heal, even to their death. It is very exciting that marijuana cultivators are exploring uses of various strains in an effort to find cures and treatments and these people are not even medical practitioners. They are simply lovers of the plant. Too bad medical science and pharmaceutical companies are overlooking what has been in front of us for centuries. Ultimately, there is no profit in curing cancer and other diseases, there is profit however in treating symptoms.
If you are on the fence about this natural God given herb, watch the History channel's movie "Marijuana Revolution." If you can't watch it on the history channel (http://www.history.com/shows/the-marijuana-revolution/about) or find it in the tv guides, you can probably find it on the torrent sites. Write to your law makers and ask them to re-legalize this herbal drug and support the hundreds of companies already cultivating, infusing, testing, marketing and selling cannabis-related products.
NY recently passed medical marijuana laws and our next door neighbor, Massachusetts, is looking into legalizing it across the board which will of course destroy NY's medical marijuana industry and, bwahahahaha . . . all the wasted time and tax payer dollars that went into the planning for the medical marijuana industry. Hah!
Not only can marijuana be used for physical, mental, and emotional well being, it can be used for "healing." First, consider the meaning of the word "healing." There is a difference between healing and curing. To cure means to make the disease go away. Healing has to do with an expression of greater wholeness and acceptance rather than curing. Healing is about discovering what is hurting us in the first place and helping us to come to terms with it.
A long time ago a friend was dying of cancer. She sought every treatment and nostrum available, draining her bank account and only getting physically and emotionally worse at the same time. She was in denial. I don't know what precipitated her change in attitude but when she accepted the fact that she was going to die, she "healed." She was able to talk about it, make amends with friends and family whom she transgressed in the past. She was able to live life a little more fully and finally be happy. I beleive it was the edible pot that she illegally obtained from her son who traveled to Colorado and risked arrest and decades in prison for its procurement, but gave his mom a new outlook on life and death. Healing is about discovering what is holding us back in the first place. Pot helped my friend look at life differently and die with dignity and comfort rather than denial, failure and shame - and she had a healthy appetite, too.
Diabetes, obesity, autism, anxiety, cancer, autoimmune conditions, thoughts of suicide and other expressions of imbalance are increasing in society as are prescription drug treatments for all of those ailments and the downward spiral which comes with them and their treatments. A pharmacist friend told me that she believes all the cholesterol medication people take causes diabetes and the medication for diabetes causes weight gain and kidney complications leading to heart issues.
Cannabis could play a much larger role in most people's lives by helping them maintain a balanced, healthy outlook and diet. Dying with dignity, comfort and acceptance should be the primary focus of "healing." It is time for doctors to incorporate medicinal marijuana into their regular treatment practices in addition to traditional medical treatment in order to spare people the harsh side effects of pharmaceutical drugs.
I recently watched the History Channel's movie "Marijuana Revolution" and I discovered that cultivators of this plant are able create strains to achieve goals and outcomes far more advanced than the dangerous prescription drugs mired with side effects that profit hungry pharmaceuticals are creating and pushing onto doctors to prescribe. I have no doubt that in the future, cannabis combined with other treatments will actually lead to a cure for many maladies which afflict us. It is definitely a cure for alcohol and drug addiction because pot itself is not addictive but is an alternative to those other addictions. Working on the suicide hot-line I had many callers who were in mental and physical pain because of their addiction to pain killers. I'm sure pot would ameliorate their conditions on the first day of use.
Thank you to states like Colorado and Washington who of course are making billions in tax revenue each year but, are also providing people with the option to heal, even to their death. It is very exciting that marijuana cultivators are exploring uses of various strains in an effort to find cures and treatments and these people are not even medical practitioners. They are simply lovers of the plant. Too bad medical science and pharmaceutical companies are overlooking what has been in front of us for centuries. Ultimately, there is no profit in curing cancer and other diseases, there is profit however in treating symptoms.
If you are on the fence about this natural God given herb, watch the History channel's movie "Marijuana Revolution." If you can't watch it on the history channel (http://www.history.com/shows/the-marijuana-revolution/about) or find it in the tv guides, you can probably find it on the torrent sites. Write to your law makers and ask them to re-legalize this herbal drug and support the hundreds of companies already cultivating, infusing, testing, marketing and selling cannabis-related products.
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Lies, Taxation and Pot, Oh My
A friend of mine suffers from
nerve pain and has great difficulty sleeping. When she sits in a chair,
she hangs her head down, folds her arms in her lap and sits slumped
over with her legs together as if trying to get in a fetal position.
The only time she can sleep is when she takes prescription muscle
relaxants but they give her a hang over the next day. The pain
medication doesn't really work and presents some undesirable side
effects on her.
She was complaining to me that she wished there was a natural, homeopathic or herbal medicine which would help her with her nerve pain and not have any side effects. I immediately suggested marijuana. Despite actually being a natural, homeopathic and herbal medicine, her voice rose with indignation saying that pot was an addictive drug with dangerous side effects. It ills brain cells and she would never take that. I told her that Steve Jobs was a pot smoker. Look what it did to his brain.
It is amazing how Harry Anslinger's lies about this natural, homeopathic and herbal plant have endured over the decades despite medical research and thousands of my and your neighbors and friends "testing" it on a daily basis. They themselves, in secret, have been proving the lies to be wrong. It is easy to beleive a lie when so many people say it is so.
I looked up my friend's nerve pain medication and here are the possible side effects:
difficult or labored breathing, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, , chills, cough, diarrhea, difficulty with swallowing, dizziness, fast heartbeat, hives, itching, joint or muscle pain, puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, skin lesions often with a purple center, skin rash, sore throat, unusual tiredness or weakness, accidental injury, bloating or swelling of the face, blurred vision, numbness or pain in the hands, change in walking and balance, clumsiness, confusion, delusions, dementia, difficulty having a bowel movement, difficulty with speaking, double vision, dry mouth, fever, headache, hoarseness, lack of coordination, loss of memory, lower back or side pain, painful or difficult urination, weight gain, seeing double, sensation of pins and needles, shakiness and unsteady walk, problems with muscle control or coordination, unusual weight gain, anxiety, bloated or full feeling, chest pain, cold sweats, coma, feeling of discomfort or illness, loss of appetite, loss of bladder control, loss of strength or energy, muscle aches and pains, muscle twitching or jerking, muscle weakness, nausea, nervousness, nightmares, noisy breathing, pain passing gas, rhythmic movement of the muscles, runny nose, seizures, shivering, slurred speech, sweating, trouble sleeping, twitching, uncontrolled eye movements, vomiting, thoughts of suicide, suicide.
Here are the side effects for marijuana:
munchies, mellow, sound sleep.
I shared with her my two experiences with marijuana. Personally I would never smoke it. I wouldn't do that to my lungs and beside that, I can't stand the smell of smoke and hate to be around people who do smoke. So my first experience with marijuana was when I was in Washington State. I went camping up to a glacier and since marijuana is legal in WA, at the suggestion of a friend, I purchased a few doses in pill form and took one before I went to sleep on the glacier. I slept the whole night through while my hiking mates suffered the whole night freezing in the 20 degree temperature. I took one final pill on my return flight back to NY. As my plane took off I put my head down. Six hours later I awoke to the sound of the pilot saying "We are making our final decent to Albany . . . " This stuff is amazing.
It is too bad when my mother was suffering from nerve pain, her options were a concoction of three pain medications and one antidepressant or, as an alternative: morphine. All that suffering she endured and at the expense to the insurance company could have been avoided if marijuana were legal. You can bet that if she were alive today and still in that amount of pain, I would personally risk arrest and prison to find her relief from all the pain and suffering she endured in her final years.
For those who beleive in the fairy tales passed down by word of mouth, I am sorry you have been lied to and you beleive those lies; survival of the fittest. Go ahead and take those lab created pills with all those aforementioned side effects. For those of you wondering why marijuana was given a bad rap in the first place, our first drug czar, Harry Anslinger, who was in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies, alcohol and tobacco distributors, and the lumber and print media industries, he made up stories about it. Coming out of the prohibition, marijuana couldn't be taxed and was cutting into alcohol and tobacco sales. Both the government and above mentioned industries were losing money. His facts changed regularly and despite the scientific findings in LaGuardia report, issued the following quotes:
...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.
Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing.
There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.
Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men.
Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.
You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother.
Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.
Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.
Colored students at the Univ. of Minn. partying with white female students smoking marijuana and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result pregnancy.
Two Negroes took a girl fourteen years old and kept her for two days in a hut under the influence of marihuana. Upon recovery she was found to be suffering from syphilis.
-----
Yup, your call. Hopefully it will be to your elected representative demanding that marijuana be made legal AND, everyone languishing in our prisons today for past pot possession will be released and their records sealed or expunged. Hey, it is your tax dollars keeping them there at $30,000 per person per year. It all started with Harry Anslinger. Who will it end with?
She was complaining to me that she wished there was a natural, homeopathic or herbal medicine which would help her with her nerve pain and not have any side effects. I immediately suggested marijuana. Despite actually being a natural, homeopathic and herbal medicine, her voice rose with indignation saying that pot was an addictive drug with dangerous side effects. It ills brain cells and she would never take that. I told her that Steve Jobs was a pot smoker. Look what it did to his brain.
It is amazing how Harry Anslinger's lies about this natural, homeopathic and herbal plant have endured over the decades despite medical research and thousands of my and your neighbors and friends "testing" it on a daily basis. They themselves, in secret, have been proving the lies to be wrong. It is easy to beleive a lie when so many people say it is so.
I looked up my friend's nerve pain medication and here are the possible side effects:
difficult or labored breathing, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, , chills, cough, diarrhea, difficulty with swallowing, dizziness, fast heartbeat, hives, itching, joint or muscle pain, puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, skin lesions often with a purple center, skin rash, sore throat, unusual tiredness or weakness, accidental injury, bloating or swelling of the face, blurred vision, numbness or pain in the hands, change in walking and balance, clumsiness, confusion, delusions, dementia, difficulty having a bowel movement, difficulty with speaking, double vision, dry mouth, fever, headache, hoarseness, lack of coordination, loss of memory, lower back or side pain, painful or difficult urination, weight gain, seeing double, sensation of pins and needles, shakiness and unsteady walk, problems with muscle control or coordination, unusual weight gain, anxiety, bloated or full feeling, chest pain, cold sweats, coma, feeling of discomfort or illness, loss of appetite, loss of bladder control, loss of strength or energy, muscle aches and pains, muscle twitching or jerking, muscle weakness, nausea, nervousness, nightmares, noisy breathing, pain passing gas, rhythmic movement of the muscles, runny nose, seizures, shivering, slurred speech, sweating, trouble sleeping, twitching, uncontrolled eye movements, vomiting, thoughts of suicide, suicide.
Here are the side effects for marijuana:
munchies, mellow, sound sleep.
I shared with her my two experiences with marijuana. Personally I would never smoke it. I wouldn't do that to my lungs and beside that, I can't stand the smell of smoke and hate to be around people who do smoke. So my first experience with marijuana was when I was in Washington State. I went camping up to a glacier and since marijuana is legal in WA, at the suggestion of a friend, I purchased a few doses in pill form and took one before I went to sleep on the glacier. I slept the whole night through while my hiking mates suffered the whole night freezing in the 20 degree temperature. I took one final pill on my return flight back to NY. As my plane took off I put my head down. Six hours later I awoke to the sound of the pilot saying "We are making our final decent to Albany . . . " This stuff is amazing.
It is too bad when my mother was suffering from nerve pain, her options were a concoction of three pain medications and one antidepressant or, as an alternative: morphine. All that suffering she endured and at the expense to the insurance company could have been avoided if marijuana were legal. You can bet that if she were alive today and still in that amount of pain, I would personally risk arrest and prison to find her relief from all the pain and suffering she endured in her final years.
For those who beleive in the fairy tales passed down by word of mouth, I am sorry you have been lied to and you beleive those lies; survival of the fittest. Go ahead and take those lab created pills with all those aforementioned side effects. For those of you wondering why marijuana was given a bad rap in the first place, our first drug czar, Harry Anslinger, who was in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies, alcohol and tobacco distributors, and the lumber and print media industries, he made up stories about it. Coming out of the prohibition, marijuana couldn't be taxed and was cutting into alcohol and tobacco sales. Both the government and above mentioned industries were losing money. His facts changed regularly and despite the scientific findings in LaGuardia report, issued the following quotes:
...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.
Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing.
There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.
Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men.
Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.
You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother.
Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.
Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.
Colored students at the Univ. of Minn. partying with white female students smoking marijuana and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result pregnancy.
Two Negroes took a girl fourteen years old and kept her for two days in a hut under the influence of marihuana. Upon recovery she was found to be suffering from syphilis.
-----
Yup, your call. Hopefully it will be to your elected representative demanding that marijuana be made legal AND, everyone languishing in our prisons today for past pot possession will be released and their records sealed or expunged. Hey, it is your tax dollars keeping them there at $30,000 per person per year. It all started with Harry Anslinger. Who will it end with?
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Monsters Under the Bed
I haven't blogged in a while because I've been busy but, recently an
event that happened which perturbed me enough to pick up my sententious
and pugilistic pen. The 20 year old son of a friend was recently
arrested with drugs. Drugs are scary. Just as a drunk driver can hurt
or kill themselves or others, drugs can hurt and kill. Well, most drug
users use them in the privacy of their own home and are less likely to
harm others but, they do run the risk of damaging their own bodies and
creating issues in their normal day to day living. If someone has a
drug problem, arresting them does nothing to assuage their addiction.
It will be far from mollifying but intensifying any problem they may
have. Punishment takes away his life. Only treatment and support from
family, friends and the community will help unencumber him from the
appetite of chemical dependency. People with support, mercy, compassion
and purpose are more amenable to discipline and healing.
Take the scary and often moniker-ed "gateway drug" marijuana. Most everyone I know uses it or has used it and I bet that most everyone you know falls into the same category - or they're lying. So why isn't most of our population drug addicts? Because they don't have that addiction gene? I have alcohol in my house and I rarely consume it. I do drink but I don't have to. I have no need or strong desire to imbibe in it. I'm not a drinker but I enjoy the product on occasion with friends.
I have several fiends who admit to doing cocaine, heroin or ecstasy in their pasts (I work in the church. I run across these people a lot. What is the church for if not for sinners?). Once they got the fad of drug experimentation out of their systems, they went on to lead productive and professional lives, raising families and leaving drugs behind them. Would they like to indulge again once in a while? I'm sure but, they "grew up" and recognized that it affects their productivity and living a real life.
Many of our politicians and technological geniuses have indulged in temporary drug use: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Steve Jobs. If any of those men were ever caught and thrown into prison, none of them would be the men they are today for they would be convicted felons and not eligible to work in the professions they have chosen. Can you imagine what our world would be like if Steve Jobs was given a forty year prison sentence instead of freely practicing his craft in pursuit of genius and perfection?
Assemblyman Steve Katz (R) who is an outspoken state assemblyman who serves on the chamber's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee — and had the effrontery to vote against medical marijuana — was recently busted for possessing pot. He was pulled over on the state Thruway for going 80 miles an hour in a 65 mph zone when a trooper detected a palpable odor redolent of pot wafting from his car. Katz was on his way to Albany to vote on legislation while under the influence, BTW. All charges were dropped against him. Hmmph. Membership has its privileges.
Even our best athletes in the world have smoked weed. "Disgraced U.S. Olympian Nick Delpopolo " is what the headlines read last summer after he failed a drug test. Why is he disgraced when so many other people use the drug with impunity? The Bureau of Statistics doesn't even research marijuana deaths each year because the number is so insignificant. Our government has lied and frightened the public for decades about this safe, natural medicine. Nobody beats their wife or kids, loses their job, gets in accidents, rapes or murders, or blows their paycheck on pot. Alcohol? That's a different story. Nick's life, career and dream of greatness in service to our country through sports is now ruined by societal prejudice due to the unjust prohibition laws of cannabis.
Here are just a few of the many highly motivated athletes who have used drugs:
* Usain Bolt, the 2008 World Record holder of the 100 and 200 meter sprint.
* Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer ever with 14 Olympic gold medals.
* Tim Lincecum, the National League baseball’s Cy Young Award winner for 2009.
* Santonio Holmes, the Super Bowl XLII’s MVP.
* Mark Stepnoski, two-time Super Bowl champion. "I'd rather smoke than take painkillers."
* Randy Moss, NFL single season touchdown reception record (23, set in 2007), and the NFL single-season touchdown reception record for a rookie (17, in 1998). Moss has founded, and financed many charitable endeavors including the the Links for Learning foundation, formed in 2008.
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's all-time leader in points scored (38,387), games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots and defensive rebounds. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season MVP Awards. He has a prescription to smoke marijuana in California, which he says he uses to control nausea and migraine headaches. He has been arrested twice for marijuana possession.
* "Most of the players in the league use marijuana and I have and do partake in smoking weed in the off season" - Josh Howard, forward for the Dallas Mavericks. Howard admitted to smoking marijuana on Michel Irvin's ESPN show.
* "You got guys out there playing high every night. You got 60% of your league on marijuana. What can you do?" - Charles Oakley (Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets)
* "I personally know boxers, body builders, cyclists, runners and athletes from all walks of life that train and compete with the assistance of marijuana," —WWE wrestler Rob Van Dam
* Some of the best cricket players of all time, like Phil Tufnell and Sir Ian Botham, have admitted to regularly using marijuana to deal with stress and muscle aches. In 2001, half of South Africa's cricket team was caught smoking marijuana with the team physiotherapist. They were celebrating a championship victory in the Caribbean.
Where would any of those un-convicted criminals be today had they been caught and arrested before they achieved greatness? Yes, drugs are bad and I would not encourage anyone to take or abuse them. However, are they as bad as we have been led to beleive or are we just not able to make money off of them as well as say, alcohol which kills tens of thousands of people each year? Are those deaths acceptable to our predominately Christic society?
My biggest complaint here is not drugs. It is the arrest of this twenty year old. Millions of people before him, right now and in the future will do drugs and not get caught. They will then go on to lead normal and productive lives without incident. They either lead a life so boring that they are easily enchanted or they lead a life so full of stimulus that are are easily bored so, drugs were a temporary experiment. This twenty year old will most likely become a convicted felon, do prison time, have the stigma of a conviction on his record, have difficulty procuring housing because of background checks and drug registries, endure numerous desultory attempts at finding a job, he'll have zero credit and he will most likely live off the largess of the social services and the taxpayer's dime. He will be judged differently from normal, phantasmagorical good people with a prepossessing Christian artifice. He will be labeled with the delineating modifier of "criminal" and his productivity to society will be a patent waste. His life will be larded with more problems than an algebra textbook. Most likely he is no different than anyone else. He just got caught.
Nobody is the worse thing that they've ever done. A conviction and doing prison time will not help this kid if he has a problem. It will certainly not help him when he gets out and tries to put his life back in order. If he has a drug problem, then he should be treated for it, not punished. Our entire justice system is designed for punishment and profit. Prisons should be for people who are a threat to others and not a warehouse for politicians, judges, DA's and law enforcement people to win elections and win grant money.
A story I often like to tell is about a friend who as a teen would ensconce himself on a bridge and throw pumpkins onto a highway below. Fortunately he never hit a car and he was never caught. Had he been caught or had he hurt anyone, he would have done many years in prison. He wasn't caught, he went on to college, got married, became very active in his church, had kids and now works for corporate America as a manager of a nationally recognized chain. Should he have been punished? I don't know. Had he been caught, his life would be drastically different today. With a felony conviction on his record, he wouldn't have gone to college, probably not be married and his kids wouldn't exist. He does more good for society today than society would have gotten out of him by punishing him.
Winston Churchill once said that “One of the most unfailing tests of a civilization is how a country treats its criminals.” Most criminals return to the streets in a worse state than when they were arrested. Prison turns good people bad and bad people worse. A better solution for crime would be a restorative justice approach.
In The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace, Jack Kornfield describes an African forgiveness ritual: "In the Babemba tribe of South Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman, and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the accused individual. Then each person in the tribe speaks to the accused, one at a time, each recalling the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in his lifetime. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy, is recounted. All his positive attributes, good deeds, strengths, and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. This tribal ceremony often lasts for several days. At the end, the tribal circle is broken, a joyous celebration takes place, and the person is symbolically and literally welcomed back into the tribe."
Too bad for those of us who profess to be Christians, that Jesus didn't show us another way. Maybe those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear, know that way. But, not to act is to act.
-Malcolm Kogut.
Take the scary and often moniker-ed "gateway drug" marijuana. Most everyone I know uses it or has used it and I bet that most everyone you know falls into the same category - or they're lying. So why isn't most of our population drug addicts? Because they don't have that addiction gene? I have alcohol in my house and I rarely consume it. I do drink but I don't have to. I have no need or strong desire to imbibe in it. I'm not a drinker but I enjoy the product on occasion with friends.
I have several fiends who admit to doing cocaine, heroin or ecstasy in their pasts (I work in the church. I run across these people a lot. What is the church for if not for sinners?). Once they got the fad of drug experimentation out of their systems, they went on to lead productive and professional lives, raising families and leaving drugs behind them. Would they like to indulge again once in a while? I'm sure but, they "grew up" and recognized that it affects their productivity and living a real life.
Many of our politicians and technological geniuses have indulged in temporary drug use: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Steve Jobs. If any of those men were ever caught and thrown into prison, none of them would be the men they are today for they would be convicted felons and not eligible to work in the professions they have chosen. Can you imagine what our world would be like if Steve Jobs was given a forty year prison sentence instead of freely practicing his craft in pursuit of genius and perfection?
Assemblyman Steve Katz (R) who is an outspoken state assemblyman who serves on the chamber's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee — and had the effrontery to vote against medical marijuana — was recently busted for possessing pot. He was pulled over on the state Thruway for going 80 miles an hour in a 65 mph zone when a trooper detected a palpable odor redolent of pot wafting from his car. Katz was on his way to Albany to vote on legislation while under the influence, BTW. All charges were dropped against him. Hmmph. Membership has its privileges.
Even our best athletes in the world have smoked weed. "Disgraced U.S. Olympian Nick Delpopolo " is what the headlines read last summer after he failed a drug test. Why is he disgraced when so many other people use the drug with impunity? The Bureau of Statistics doesn't even research marijuana deaths each year because the number is so insignificant. Our government has lied and frightened the public for decades about this safe, natural medicine. Nobody beats their wife or kids, loses their job, gets in accidents, rapes or murders, or blows their paycheck on pot. Alcohol? That's a different story. Nick's life, career and dream of greatness in service to our country through sports is now ruined by societal prejudice due to the unjust prohibition laws of cannabis.
Here are just a few of the many highly motivated athletes who have used drugs:
* Usain Bolt, the 2008 World Record holder of the 100 and 200 meter sprint.
* Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer ever with 14 Olympic gold medals.
* Tim Lincecum, the National League baseball’s Cy Young Award winner for 2009.
* Santonio Holmes, the Super Bowl XLII’s MVP.
* Mark Stepnoski, two-time Super Bowl champion. "I'd rather smoke than take painkillers."
* Randy Moss, NFL single season touchdown reception record (23, set in 2007), and the NFL single-season touchdown reception record for a rookie (17, in 1998). Moss has founded, and financed many charitable endeavors including the the Links for Learning foundation, formed in 2008.
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's all-time leader in points scored (38,387), games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots and defensive rebounds. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season MVP Awards. He has a prescription to smoke marijuana in California, which he says he uses to control nausea and migraine headaches. He has been arrested twice for marijuana possession.
* "Most of the players in the league use marijuana and I have and do partake in smoking weed in the off season" - Josh Howard, forward for the Dallas Mavericks. Howard admitted to smoking marijuana on Michel Irvin's ESPN show.
* "You got guys out there playing high every night. You got 60% of your league on marijuana. What can you do?" - Charles Oakley (Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets)
* "I personally know boxers, body builders, cyclists, runners and athletes from all walks of life that train and compete with the assistance of marijuana," —WWE wrestler Rob Van Dam
* Some of the best cricket players of all time, like Phil Tufnell and Sir Ian Botham, have admitted to regularly using marijuana to deal with stress and muscle aches. In 2001, half of South Africa's cricket team was caught smoking marijuana with the team physiotherapist. They were celebrating a championship victory in the Caribbean.
Where would any of those un-convicted criminals be today had they been caught and arrested before they achieved greatness? Yes, drugs are bad and I would not encourage anyone to take or abuse them. However, are they as bad as we have been led to beleive or are we just not able to make money off of them as well as say, alcohol which kills tens of thousands of people each year? Are those deaths acceptable to our predominately Christic society?
My biggest complaint here is not drugs. It is the arrest of this twenty year old. Millions of people before him, right now and in the future will do drugs and not get caught. They will then go on to lead normal and productive lives without incident. They either lead a life so boring that they are easily enchanted or they lead a life so full of stimulus that are are easily bored so, drugs were a temporary experiment. This twenty year old will most likely become a convicted felon, do prison time, have the stigma of a conviction on his record, have difficulty procuring housing because of background checks and drug registries, endure numerous desultory attempts at finding a job, he'll have zero credit and he will most likely live off the largess of the social services and the taxpayer's dime. He will be judged differently from normal, phantasmagorical good people with a prepossessing Christian artifice. He will be labeled with the delineating modifier of "criminal" and his productivity to society will be a patent waste. His life will be larded with more problems than an algebra textbook. Most likely he is no different than anyone else. He just got caught.
Nobody is the worse thing that they've ever done. A conviction and doing prison time will not help this kid if he has a problem. It will certainly not help him when he gets out and tries to put his life back in order. If he has a drug problem, then he should be treated for it, not punished. Our entire justice system is designed for punishment and profit. Prisons should be for people who are a threat to others and not a warehouse for politicians, judges, DA's and law enforcement people to win elections and win grant money.
A story I often like to tell is about a friend who as a teen would ensconce himself on a bridge and throw pumpkins onto a highway below. Fortunately he never hit a car and he was never caught. Had he been caught or had he hurt anyone, he would have done many years in prison. He wasn't caught, he went on to college, got married, became very active in his church, had kids and now works for corporate America as a manager of a nationally recognized chain. Should he have been punished? I don't know. Had he been caught, his life would be drastically different today. With a felony conviction on his record, he wouldn't have gone to college, probably not be married and his kids wouldn't exist. He does more good for society today than society would have gotten out of him by punishing him.
Winston Churchill once said that “One of the most unfailing tests of a civilization is how a country treats its criminals.” Most criminals return to the streets in a worse state than when they were arrested. Prison turns good people bad and bad people worse. A better solution for crime would be a restorative justice approach.
In The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace, Jack Kornfield describes an African forgiveness ritual: "In the Babemba tribe of South Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman, and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the accused individual. Then each person in the tribe speaks to the accused, one at a time, each recalling the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in his lifetime. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy, is recounted. All his positive attributes, good deeds, strengths, and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. This tribal ceremony often lasts for several days. At the end, the tribal circle is broken, a joyous celebration takes place, and the person is symbolically and literally welcomed back into the tribe."
Too bad for those of us who profess to be Christians, that Jesus didn't show us another way. Maybe those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear, know that way. But, not to act is to act.
-Malcolm Kogut.
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