Honesty is the best policy

I say this with full disclosure in mind. I have been a casual user of drugs ever since I graduated from college. By casual, I mean that when I want to relax or spend time on a recreational weekend, a dube is a great way to go. I say this though I actually haven't used any drugs besides Excedrin for the occasional headache and Tylenol for the sinus attacks in quite a while. I say this also because even though I don't actively use, I totally support those who do and admit it. Bill Maher comes to mind, Tommy Chong, and now my personal hero, Nick Diaz.


I have written before about how I feel about people who use and then run away when caught. I have also pointed out the obvious mistake in President Obama's comment that he didn't think that legalizing was the way to go. But this story is just great. Not only does he admit his use and explain how it works, he also talks about how he is going to continue to use it. Meanwhile, the reporter clearly is trying to show all sides but misses an important point when he quotes Nevada State Athletic Commissioner, Keith Kizer. "The drug is banned because of the damage it does to the person taking it. It could make you lethargic, slow your reflexes, and those are dangerous things in a combat sport."

Obviously, the commish never used the drug himself when he argued that Diaz' use of the drug before a fight made him "numb to the pain because of excessive marijuana in his system." What are these commissioners on drugs.

No, that's actually my point. Rather than take a face value the honest information of a real pot user, they always, always, fall back on the "it's illegal" excuse. Well, this time it didn't work. Diaz plans to keep on keepin' on. And I'll toke to that.

Pot Laws Finally Under Attack

Today's Sunday LA Times sports section featured this article on page three. In "The Sports world goes to pot" writer Chuck Culpepper reviewed the spate of current and recent acts of "unlawful" use of marijuana in the sports world and did a more than adequate job of referencing the literature and research that would support a real change in the way the US deals with this natural substance. First, he covered the recent cases of use by athletes. Second, he reached out to reseacher Roger Roffman, a prof at the U of Washington, who has been writing and studying marijuana use over the last 40 years. Pot has a history and a confusing story.

That’s because as the debate has roiled on and Roffman has followed it, he
has detected four sides, all of which, he said, don “blinders” when regarding
the other three. Group 1 emphasizes that most adults who smoke marijuana do so occasionally and “without really any harm,” Roffman said, “and that’s a very hard thing for us to publicly acknowledge.” Group 2 stresses that “a substantial number of marijuana smokers get into real trouble” and “derail” from functionality. Group 3 considers marijuana central to life on Earth and tends to live alternatively both culturally and politically, yet manages to function. And Group 4 entails medical users, whose approval in various states – California in 1996 – has helped soften
the stigma over time.

Meanwhile though Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, says the time for the cheap joke puns maybe past. Our writer couldn't resist cheapening his own arguements with a few snipes of his own. To my mind this is one of the main reason this has gone on so long. No one takes the complaint seriously. After all, pot isn't addictive so we could just stop toking and the problem would just go away, so goes the arguement.

The writer then goes on to discuss the way the advertising world, the Kellog and Subway and Omega sponsors, have chosen to respond to this gathering storm of a situation. Finally, he takes a serious look at the real way real people through their achievements have blown the mythology about the harmfulness of this particular drug completely out of the water.

Pot, the potential harvest . . .

from all the news about role model athletes suddenly being caught using pot to relax is arousing an amazing response from a wide spectrum of adults across the country and in the blogosphere. Take this one for example, which I found at my http://www.alternet.org/ site this morning. It would appear that the vast underground of pot smokers is finally ready to join their brethren by coming out of the grow lit closet. It has already been noted that the overwhelming change asked for at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ is for the President to change the federal position in regard to the legalization of pot. And even though the response there was negative in one sense, "the President is not in favor", in quite another it was positive, as to enforcement the DEA will be instructed to stand down from its raids on medical marijuana distributors. One can only hope.

Meanwhile, my favorite story about this issue is from Japan where a group of Sumo wrestlers have been allegedly suspended for using pot to enhance their appetites.