Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney tried to avoid the question of medical marijuana during a campaign stop this week in Denver, but it didn’t work. In a campaign bus interview Oct. 1, Romney offered a less-than-deft non-sequitur to the Denver Post when asked how he would address Colorado’s burgeoning MMJ business.
“I oppose marijuana being used for recreational purposes and I believe the federal law should prohibit the recreational use of marijuana,” he said.
Um, ok. But what about medical marijuana? Well, the Washington Post followed up the question the next day, and a spokesman for Romney’s campaign offered a real answer:
“Governor Romney has a long record of opposing the use of marijuana for any reason,” a campaign spokesperson said. “He opposes legalizing drugs, including marijuana for medicinal purposes. He will fully enforce the nation’s drug laws, and he will oppose any attempts at legalization.”
So, don’t vote for Mitt Romney. Aside from being a wealthy prick who ran rough-shod over American jobs to line his own pockets, he is against MMJ. Mr. Smith does not approve.
This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2012.
This makes sense of the world. Always thought the left was strange, didn’t know why. Guess this is it, they’re all on pot. Studies show you reduce your IQ 10 percent when you smoke pot. Explains why there’s never a ration argument for the left’s position. Also, with kids, pot reduces ambition to nothing.
On the good side, if they don’t go to other drugs, they’re pretty passive, non-violent. This is why the brainwashing they get from the media works with them. Regards all my pot smoking friends, now I know where you’re coming from. And, thanks for not being much competiiton in the labor marketplace for good jobs and promotions.
Thanks, Mammey, for demonstrating the complete depth of the prohibitionist argument.
As for the IQ study, it was based on a grand total of ten people, and the difference found was about half the normal variation you would expect if one person took the test multiple times. That is, as opposed to lots of much larger studies which found no such effect. That’s not to mention that there was no real cause and effect determined. There was nothing in those ten people to say whether their problem (if any) was due to the marijuana, or to any number of other issues they may have had.
Not that this was ever a rationale for the drug laws, anyway. It never had anything to do with the marijuana laws, and there is no evidence presented to show that prohibition would be a good approach to the problem, even if the research was the absolute truth.
As for the “ambition” thing and the gateway idea, those were discredited long ago, at least as far back as Nixon’s US National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. You can find the full text of that commission report at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer under Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy. You can find the history of how that gateway idea got started at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/ga…
So why is marijuana illegal in the first place?
Marijuana was originally outlawed for two major reasons. The first was because “All Mexicans are crazy and marijuana is what makes them crazy.” The second was the fear that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana – exactly the opposite of the modern “gateway” idea.
Only one medical doctor testified at the hearings for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. The representative of the American Medical Association said there was no evidence that marijuana was a dangerous drug and no reason for the law. He pointed out that it was used in hundreds of common medicines at the time, with no significant problems. In response, the committee told him that, if he wasn’t going to cooperate, he should shut up and leave.
The only other “expert” to testify was James Munch, a psychologist. His sole claim to fame was that he had injected marijuana directly into the brains of 300 dogs and two of them died. When they asked him what he concluded from this experiment, he said he didn’t know what to conclude because he wasn’t a dog psychologist. He also testified in court, under oath, that marijuana would make your fangs grow six inches long and drip with blood. He also said that, when he tried marijuana, it turned him into a bat, and then described how he flew around the room for two hours.
Mr. Munch was the only “expert” in the US who thought that marijuana should be illegal, so he was appointed US Official Expert on marijuana, where he guided US marijuana policy for 25 years. You can read the short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/wh…
The marijuana laws were absolute lunacy, passed by lunatics. The only reason that you hear the kind of arguments offered by Mammey is that people stopped believing that marijuana will turn you into a bat.
Like intelligent people need even more proof that this “wealthy prick” shouldn’t hold the office of the Commander in Chief, at least he keeps saying stupid things to strengthen our cause. I thought it was hilarious when people kept saying how he won the first debate. Really? Does being a liar & an interrupting bully help you win? Well, I should know that in this country that a lot of people feel that way. Okay, Obama wasn’t very aggressive, but does that make him a loser or polite to a fault?
Anyways, even I can tell I’ve veered off course, but the simple fact is: this man comes across as someone who is trying to steer this country into a fascist state. He keeps demonstrating over & over again about how he doesn’t care for the “have nots” by whatever policies he chooses not to hide & whatever moronic sayings ooze forth from his corrupted tongue. God forbid someone who is in discomfort have something readily available to them that help their situation.
Keep up the good work Mittens! Most of the people I know already see you as a threat to the well being of this society. If you keep it up, hopefully you’ll convert most (if not all) of the others who do not.
AZ/DC The threat to this Country, number one…is Liberalism, for they are the ones promoting Big Government and an Unsustainable Debt, that is going to turn America into a third world Nation.
This election will be another, “Lessor of Evils” choice, but the difference is in someone who cares for America, and BO, who is trying to “Change” America into a Communist Utopia. Yes, the mind altered, Pot-Head 47%, will vote for their Drug doing, hero “Ruler”…reguardless of how he is Destroying the Greatness of America.
Enjoy!
To cempiremtn:
It’s not about the drugged-addled 47% and their drug using hero, it’s about someone not supporting something that helps a person who is in discomfort. Who are me, you, Mittens Romney or anyone else for that matter to arbitrate over something most of the medical community supports and something we the people voted in support of? If you haven’t been in their shoes, than you have ABSOLUTELY no right to judge or condemn. The views you display, as far as I’m concerned, are ignorant & archaic. Once you or Mittens are in the position of being approved for MMJ because of an ailment you have, then I’ll listen to you as to how you believe something better can be done; because at that point you have credibility. Until then (and probably beyond then), I will continue to believe the people who are there; not the people who are uninformed or trying to score points with the Far Right Teabagging moronic populace. Ya dig?
And the current administration is waging war on MMJ. I’m glad there are two other presidential candidates on the Arizona ballot who oppose the drug war.
I suspect if Romney wins, he will try to outlaw our Constitution. The Republicans are doing a good job at taking away our rights in the past few years. They are the new Taliban.
So Romney is in favor of handing control over to the states except for anything that he wants the federal government to be heavy handed while exercising Mormon religious beliefs.
China is the only country to date to have solved a drug problem, (Opium).
They did it by summary execution of drug dealers, something we have yet to try.
Lost a brother to “H.” Don’t see any value in having our kid’s minds erased, and
future lost. Minor or not, the argument doesn’t make sense to allow respite for any
drug usage, (including prescription drugs dispensed by a failed medical establishment).
Prozac, and the like, seem to be driving a terrible suicide rate in this country. To
stop all this wasted humanity, we need to tighten up our ship, and keep these loose
morality players in the background. So far, I’m losing a no-brainer argument. Go figure.
Mammey, here is your chance to make the plan for success. Here are the stats on the approximate number of people killed by drugs in the US in a typical year.
Tobacco – 400,000
Cheeseburgers (obesity) – 350,000
Alcohol – 100,000
All the illegal drugs combined, from all related causes – less than 20,000
Cocaine – 5,000
Heroin – 3,000
Aspirin/Tylenol – 3,000
Marijuana – 0
So tell us which drug problem you think we ought to tackle first. Then tell us how many people you think we ought to kill to solve the problem.
Sorry to hear about your brother. However, you will note that prohibition didn’t stop that problem. In fact, we had fewer deaths from drug overdose when we had no laws at all. Most of the heroin problems are due to factors that are brought about by prohibition, such as impure products. The problems were noted as soon as the opiates were outlawed.
Just FYI, heroin is just another form of ordinary hospital morphine. The only difference between the two is that heroin is three times stronger by weight. One grain of heroin equals three grains of morphine. Otherwise, they are identical and may be used interchangeably. They are both converted to the same form of morphine once they enter the body.
So why is heroin completely illegal while morphine is used routinely in medicine every day? It is because our drug laws are built on hysteria and ignorance, without an ounce of common sense.
You can read a good history of how the heroin problem came about in Licit and Illicit Drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/st… See the chapter titled “The Heroin Overdose Mystery” for a good discussion of what really kills heroin users.
Mammey said: “So far, I’m losing a no-brainer argument. “
If you will care to check it out, you will find that prohibitionists always lose the debate on the internet. The major prohibitionist groups said five years ago that they had completely lost the debate on the Internet. They haven’t won a debate for almost twenty years now.
The reason for that is that the legalizers went to the major research libraries back in the early 1990’s and transferred the most important research to the internet. Once that happened, the argument was over. The research is absolutely overwhelming. The difference between the two sides is that the legalizers have read the research and the prohibitionists haven’t. Read the links I have provided and see for yourself.
Good arguments people. If I was one to leave it at the surface, would probably be on your side. The world seems to swing left and right, and having been tossed to the left for the last 30 years, see it going the other way. That would preclude any legalization of drugs of any sort, except for the small percentage of prescription drugs that help not hurt the body. Would also end in institution of summary execution of drug dealers, and other disciplinary measures of the right. Not saying it’s correct, (any side, tend to be in the middle myself), just saying that’s where we’re going. Like it or not, the ship’s going to be tightened up a whole lot, and the far left will be purged. It’s a repeat of history we can’t avoid. Not my idea, i’m just watching from the sidelines, not involved myself.
Name calling is against the TucsonWeekly.com comments policy. If you want to engage in such a thing, Azstarnet.com is the place for you. Thanks!
Well at least you did right this time & removed the more damaging comment. Congrats to TW for not condoning suicide and the misguided individuals who advocate it.