Patterico's Pontifications

9/8/2012

Guy Has to Get Baked to Enjoy His Children

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 4:46 pm



And writes about it in the New York Times:

THE youngest of my three daughters was born around the same time I became a card-carrying medical cannabis patient. Even though I was only 44, I’d been suffering from occasional back pain. I also suffered bouts of stress, compounded by anxiety. The causes were unknown, but there seemed to be a correlation with work deadlines and flying coach with three children under the age of 5. Sometimes it got so bad I had trouble falling asleep at night, leaving me groggy and irritable.

So, in 2010, I resolved to seek medical help. I received a thorough physical examination from my CannaMed doctor, who checked not only my pulse but my blood pressure as well. Examining the results, he concluded that I would benefit enormously from a cannabis-based treatment regimen and recommended that I use a brownie-based form of the drug to avoid the lung irritation associated with other modes of dose administration.

Verdict? It did nothing for the back pain — but that’s OK, because (we are told) pot makes for better parenting!

I swear I am a more loving, attentive and patient father when I take my medication as prescribed. Perhaps this isn’t surprising. As anyone who inhaled during college can attest, cannabis enhances the ability to perceive beauty, complexity and novelty in otherwise mundane things (grout patterns in your bathroom floor, the Grateful Dead, Doritos), while simultaneously locking you into a prolonged state of rapt attention. You not only notice the subtle color variations in your cat’s fur, you stare at them in loving awe for 20 solid minutes.

I submit that this can be enormously salutary to the parent-toddler relationship. Beyond food, shelter and clothing, what do small children need most from their parents? Sustained, loving, participatory attention. Thank you, Doctor.

. . . .

But for me, at least, the benefits clearly outweigh the risks. I find the time I spend with my children to be qualitatively different and simply more fun when I take my medicine (always in private, never in front of them, never too much).

I’m glad he does it in private. That way, his children will never be able to find out. Unless . . . dude, before I ate this brownie, I had this weird feeling that somehow they might be able to find out.

But the feeling passed. Gimme another brownie, man.

107 Responses to “Guy Has to Get Baked to Enjoy His Children”

  1. I remember when I had the feeling. It was when I hit the send button on the email sending this to the New York Times. But for the life of me I can’t remember what I was thinking.

    Anyway. Man, that’s good brownie!

    Patterico (83033d)

  2. That’s like, I don’t know, like so, I don’t know man, like so, man, like that’s a beautiful story.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  3. His CannaMed doctor checked his pulse and his blood pressure. That’s it? The entire physical? And I didn’t know there was such a thing as a CannaMed doctor. Guess I was too busy making a living back in the hippy dippy 60s to be into that scene.

    PatAZ (d48407)

  4. Now we know what is in the pill that President Obama wants to give people instead of actually treating their condition.

    This presents a dilemma. Clint Eastwood says that President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. Far be it for me to argue with Clint, but medical marijuana is a close competitor.

    I received a thorough physical examination from my CannaMed doctor, who checked not only my pulse but my blood pressure as well.

    Wow, checked not only his pulse but his blood pressure as well; must have been a thorough exam. :-O

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  5. There is more to being a parent than being “mellowed”. I am sure there is.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  6. The CannaMed doctor checked his pulse AND his blood pressure … wow what a comprehensive medical exam.

    F’ing potheads piss me off.

    SPQR (df9a08)

  7. He must be getting some weak stuff of its not helping with his back pain. When I smoke, I’m only a better parent because I can play with them more than I could if I was in my normal state of pain.

    And honestly, if the schools and government would stop lying to my children about the dangers of marijuana, it would be a hell of a lot easier to let them know that daddy’s stinky medicine has a name. I mean, they don’t freak out thinking that mommy is a drug addict because she had a bottle of Percocet after her surgery. If the DARE program actually focused on the “education” part instead of the “let’s scare these kids with BS propaganda!” part, we’d all be better off.

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  8. By the way, in Oregon, you need actual doctors to document your condition, and then the “CannaMed Dr” or whatever prescribes it if your condition can be eased by using marijuana.

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  9. Per my recollection, teh mota increases a user’s heart rate, let alone making said user more and more stupid.

    Colonel Haiku (ccd885)

  10. From the article,

    No doubt some of you are tut-tutting that I should use meditation or yoga or Zen mindfulness to achieve this.Point taken, and if I had a full-time staff of cooks and nannies, I’m sure I’d give all that a whirl. But the reality is that my wife and I are raising multiple tots on modest incomes in a small space in a very expensive city. No time for Tantra.

    What a weenie-load of excuses he is. Firstly, who *chose* to live in a very expensive city? Secondly, who *chose* to have three children back to back? Thirdly, who *chose* to make a living as an ‘art dealer’ as opposed to, I don’t know, something more stable and with bennies?

    Unfortunately for him is that eventually his daughters will figure him out: they simply weren’t enough for him to make the endless sacrifices that children by default require and demand – you know, the enormous sacrifices like getting your fat ass on the ground and making a Q without being stoned because these precious blooms were simply and delightfully worth it.

    Choice is such and ugly word…unless it has to do with abortion, of course.

    Dana (292dcf)

  11. Now we know what is in the pill that President Obama wants to give people instead of actually treating their condition.

    This presents a dilemma. Clint Eastwood says that President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. Far be it for me to argue with Clint, but medical marijuana is a close competitor.

    Comment by MD in Philly — 9/8/2012 @ 4:57 pm

    I think the idea that to get marijuana you have to go through a doctor in the first place is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated. The War on Drugs have thoroughly destroyed liberty in this country.

    Matt B (095766)

  12. Perma-fried people are just more fun!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  13. It’s not that pot is devoid of utility, it’s that excessive application results in more maladies than it’s capable of alleviating.

    ropelight (e18203)

  14. My other thought regarding this weenie dad is, what the heck is he going to do when life gets actually does get tough – and instead of 3 tots he has 3 teenagers? If he’s crumbling now, what then? Those can be notoriously stressful years in child rearing. Will he be sharing his stash with them?

    Dana (292dcf)

  15. Fure
    sure
    man

    mg (44de53)

  16. “My other thought regarding this weenie dad is, what the heck is he going to do when life gets actually does get tough – and instead of 3 tots he has 3 teenagers?”

    Dana – Hard drugs, duh.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  17. I did a lot of mind-altering drugs back in the day, and here’s my two cents.

    I would never let someone watch my kids if they were stoned (moot point now because my kids are all in their 30s, but still…).

    You can’t do ANYTHING as well when you’re stoned, and that’s just the way it is.

    At least that’s my experience.

    Dave Surls (46b08c)

  18. I had to take a drug test before I was hired at my current position. And from what I understand, it is quite common, even in that lefty-loon world called California. My company could and would terminate my employment if I tested positive for pot or any other controlled substance. Of course, it sounds like this clown loser isn’t thinking about working anyway. Why bother, the state probably pays his rent, daycare, groceries and gives him free pot. What else is there?

    WarEagle82 (1907f0)

  19. If you go for the full work up, they’ll also count respirations and take your temperature, but it’ll cost ya.

    JLS (aae9ba)

  20. Most of the long-term pot addicts smokers I’ve known would be better parents, moistly due to all the time they have being unemployable. If they’d ever get around to it.

    Doesn’t mean it should be illegal, though.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  21. So, Dave, you never crawled into the sack with one of those frisky hippie chicks.

    ropelight (e18203)

  22. Every other medicine in the world gets studied to determine the active ingredient, which then undergoes clinical trials, which then result in standardized prescriptions, specific indications, etc. When you take a 100mg tablet of aspirin, you (and more importantly, your doctor) knows exactly what you are taking.

    The variability in strength of THC in different strains of plants, different growing conditions, different preparation methods, etc., means that no one can scientifically say that one brownie has the same amount of “medicine” as a brownie from another batch. This isn’t modern medicine, it’s pre-scientific herbalism.

    Can anyone tell me why this stuff doesn’t get the full big-Pharma treatment like every other promising molecule of natural origin? If marijuana was a helpful medicine, wouldn’t real doctors want to apply science to it’s prescription?

    Pious Agnostic (ee2c24)

  23. “So, Dave, you never crawled into the sack with one of those frisky hippie chicks.”

    Sure, and I still do.

    Dave Surls (46b08c)

  24. Pious,
    THC has been given the pharmaceutical treatment. There’s a drug called Marinol that has the medicinal effects of marijuana without the euphoric sensation.

    My question is, why don’t they remove the euphoric sensation from Vicodin, Percocet, Morphine or the other pain killers?

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  25. I cherish every gray hair I’ve gotten from being a parent, wouldn’t want to medicate away a moment of it.

    The Sanity Inspector (93bc4f)

  26. I am a California resident. I also know several people with “medical” cannabis cards. NONE of them have any legitimate medical reason for having them. They are all just stoners and found doctors who basically made a living issuing the cars to people. You can find the ads for them in the back pages of the free papers that clutter up the coffee shops.

    I would be willing to speculate that less than 1% of the people who have “medicinal” cannabis cards actually have a medical condition that could potentially be helped by it.

    If it were left up to me, I would have done the issuing if the cards differently. I would have allowed hospitals from academic institutions to issue the cars as part of medical studies and the person issued the card would be followed up on as part of the study. I would have required the patient to already be under medical treatment for the condition and have shown no improvement under conventional treatment paths or be under care for such things as chemotherapy for cancer or some other condition requiring appetite enhancement.

    It should also be supplied only through a regular pharmacy and not through private sales in neighborhood pot bazaars.

    If you are going to make it for medicinal use, fine, make it for medicinal use. If you are going to make it for general use, then do so and don’t pretend it is for “medicine”.

    crosspatch (6adcc9)

  27. We used to grow the shit as kids back in the early 70’s.
    And now it’s the no. 1 cash crop in many states. Hmm.

    mg (44de53)

  28. What a “complete” physical! Must have taken what, 2-3 minutes?

    I can think of one thing right off the top of my head that’s more important than being mellow–how about being capable of handling an emergency, like one of his toddlers falls and hits her head?

    Where’s his wife, BTW, out talking to a divorce lawyer?

    Patricia (e1d89d)

  29. Oddly enough, the stoner admits that the pot didn’t help his bad back at all…

    Free pot! If we could just get all the loser stoners to go there we could save a lot of trouble on the east coast…

    WarEagle82 (1907f0)

  30. Ghost,

    Thanks for the information about Marinol. Have you tried it? Was it helpful to you?

    I imagine that if they could remove euphoric/narcotic effects from those pain killers in an effective way, they would do so. I know that when I have had need of pain killers following surgery and injury it would have been more convenient if I would have been able to operate with 100% mental effectiveness.

    Now, I enjoyed the pain killers, don’t get me wrong, but not enough to go injuring myself so that I’ll get another scrip.

    Pious Agnostic (ee2c24)

  31. Soda has no nutritional value and adds to the obesity problem. Except I seem to remember people here objecting to Bloomberg’s soda ban…

    Marijuana, on the other hand, has been shown to slow the growth of cancer cells, so, ya know, pick your battles.

    Would anyone here who thinks pot is stupid start smoking if the government said it was legal? No. Am I hurting anyone at all by smoking weed? No. Is this guy a dipsh*t? Yes. Would he have been a dipsh*t without weed? Obviously.

    And Crosspatch, I have many friends who have their weed card, and not one of them is faking. Have you met anyone who takes Vicodin or Percocet without a prescription? I suppose we should make those illegal, too?

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  32. When one is suffering with cancer or living with a debilitating chronic pain, I think that medical marijuana may have its use. However, the father in this story is simply stressed out – by the choices he has made.

    I have watched loved ones suffer agonizing deaths from pancreatic and bone cancers and I think had they been able to smoke as much as they had needed to help with the pain, particularly at the end, it would have been a mercy.

    But because of the corrupt doctors, the money to be made and dads like the one in the post, the serious need for using it as a medication has been greatly diminished and suspect at best.

    Dana (292dcf)

  33. Quite a few cancer patients smoke to increase their appetite.
    Makes sense.
    Always seemed to alert my tastebuds.

    mg (44de53)

  34. well we can not all live in the rarified trust fund artist world, some people actually have to “work” to make a living and help the world go round. could you imagine a world where these types run everything?

    matt (f5426f)

  35. Pious,
    I can’t afford it, but I’ve tried the generic form (it’s an oil/tincture substance) and it works great. They also have lotions that are about half as effective as injestion, but still effective, nonetheless.

    I grow my own. I have 5 children, and I’m going to school to be a history teacher. I haven’t lost any IQ points since I started smoking 5 years ago. And the government knows it. They know that weed isn’t harmful, but they’d rather incarcerate more citizens than any civilized country on Earth.

    Land of the free, indeed.

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  36. could you imagine a world where these types run everything?

    Easily.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  37. I can accept that used in limited doses, pot as an intoxicant isn’t much different from alohol. Know from some old Marines well into the 1950s the entire US military of every rank assigned to the Canal Zone was fond of their “special cigars”.

    But as this shows, too many potheads(but not all) like this idiot think it’s okay to ingest it all day long no matter what the circumstances;we don’t do that with beer nor wine nor gin and tonic. It gets you high; if it didn’t you wouldn’t smoke it. If I hear another ptohead say something like “It’s natural!”, I’ll punch him in the face. Uraniumarsenic and coal are all “natural”; we don’t put them in breakfast cereals. Further anything you ingest by smoking it is going to damage lung function and probably act as a carcinogen.

    The war on drugs is idiotic. Problem is idiots like this do not grasp they do their cause more harm than good by not obeying some sensible limits.

    Bugg (6cf7f9)

  38. Marinol stimulates appetite for some, but apparently not all, or there would be no claims that “the real thing” is needed. Also, some folk do get nervous system side effects from Marinol and don’t like it.

    Never had a patient, including with AIDS or cancer, that I couldn’t find a way to stimulate appetite without using Marinol.

    My perspective on medication is that if a medication enhances one’s ability to fulfill their responsibilities in life, even if it is 200+ mg morphine/day, then using it is perfectly legit. If a medication is used to dodge psychic pain in a way that harms one’s ability to function, then I see that as an illegitimate use, even if it is only 1 tab of 0.25 mg alprazolam.

    If course, ability to function is more than one saying it. In college I knew some folks who thought it was very profound to sit stoned in front of their TV and watch the “ant races”. It didn’t look that profound to me.

    Recently I have seen examples in the news of people using a combination of marijuana and PCP. Very bad stuff. Agitation, aggression, “super-human strength” of PCP mixed with hallucinations. One mother beheaded her infant child then killed herself on it. Another man slit the throats of 2 neighbor children in their home, 1 survived.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  39. How are we doing at spotting obvious spoofery this evening, guys?

    RNB (e9a2f5)

  40. “The war on drugs is idiotic.”

    Yes, it is.

    “Problem is idiots like this do not grasp they do their cause more harm than good by not obeying some sensible limits.”

    Nah, the problem is too much government.

    Dave Surls (46b08c)

  41. ______________________________________________

    Soda has no nutritional value and adds to the obesity problem. Except I seem to remember people here objecting to Bloomberg’s soda ban…

    But liberal nanny-staters like Bloomberg are up in arms about things in society that aren’t even immediately or necessarily dangerous — if at all — to innocent bystanders. (I guess the fatness of someone who’s driving may be harmful if their big belly causes the steering wheel to somehow jam.)

    More ironically, such liberals — if not New York’s mayor himself than a variety of others on the left (who aren’t libertarian in the least) — on one hand have an odd permissiveness about traditionally illegal drugs, but, on the other hand, a peculiar “prudishness” about cigarettes, food and, in particular, things like Happy Meals served by McDonald’s.

    scientificamerican.com, February 2012:

    Booze is behind an estimated 2.1 million car accidents each year in the U.S.—which cause almost 11,000 traffic fatalities annually. But many drug users have claimed that a few puffs of pot before getting behind the wheel are perfectly harmless. A new study, however, shows that drivers who smoke marijuana within a few hours of hitting the road are almost twice as likely as stone-sober motorists to be in a crash that results in serious injury or death.

    Authors of the new paper, published online Thursday in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), sifted through nine previous studies to develop a clearer picture of the risks to users who light up before revving up. Previous studies have left the effects of marijuana on its own — when not combined with alcohol or other drugs — a little hazy.

    But the researchers’ findings make sense to others in the field. “Their results are consistent with experimental evidence that cannabis use leads to dose related impairments in simulated driving, psychomotor skills and on-road driving,” Wayne Hall, of the University of Queensland’s Center for Clinical Research who was not involved in the new research, wrote in a related essay in BMJ.

    Mark (e03145)

  42. SPQR,
    That’s a study about people who already had schizophrenia. So sure, for people with schizophrenia, maybe don’t smoke pot. But if you want to slow the growth of your cancer cells while also combatting vomiting and give you your appetite back after chemo, I don’t think the federal government has any business telling you not to.

    You don’t want to pay for some jobless pothead’s health insurance, but you’re perfectly happy paying for their health insurance, room and board, cable, weight rooms, and education? Ya know that’s how Kimberlin got into lawfare, right? If someone wants to eat triple whoppers and drink a gallon of mountain dew every meal, it’s not the government’s business to stop him. Likewise, we shouldn’t grant police the authority to kick in doors shooting blindly at shadows in the night in order to stop someone from getting high. The police now say, “We needed the element of surprise” and “They should have known we were cops” in the same breath.

    If Bloomberg can’t tell you to stop drinking soda, then why should I let President Choom Gang stop me from smoking?

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  43. “But if you want to slow the growth of your cancer cells while also combatting vomiting and give you your appetite back after chemo, I don’t think the federal government has any business telling you not to.”

    It’s not ANY government’s business, even if you’re just doing it to get high, if you ask me.

    Dave Surls (46b08c)

  44. So, this guy’s ‘symptoms’ were — well . . . LIFE, he sees himself as a better parent (probably because he’s too baked to yell at his kids, even when they deserve it) and be wants us all to know how great it is to go through life comfortably numb.

    Good for him.

    Icy (747b74)

  45. Ghost, you don’t understand the study at all. Or you are in denial.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  46. It is to laugh.

    This line:

    ” a thorough physical examination from my CannaMed doctor, who checked not only my pulse but my blood pressure as well.” (emphasis mine of course.)

    Checked his pulse AND his blood pressure!!!!11!!!!!

    What a THOROUGH examination! Hey Pat; can I hang up a shingle in Calif and declare myself a CannaMed Doctor? I can take your pulse AND your blood pressure too!?

    Look, I’m not against the normalization of our cockamamie drug laws. Pot needs to be less demonized and allowed to be taken advantage of by police to make their drug stats look good (and that sweet, sweet seizure dough) but protection of some kind has to be in place to prevent access by younger and more at risk persons. (but they can get it now anyway. In fact easier than I can; I go looking for some weed, the dealers are going to look at me and think – 5.0. first thing)

    Something needs to be done but this article is just silly and is of little use for it’s supposed purpose.

    Jcw46 (b4329c)

  47. Potheads aren’t worth anything as people. This includes you specifically, Ghost.

    OmegaPaladin (f2d931)

  48. My sister helped out in some research with Rhesus monkeys a long time ago. They were given pot in cookies. When stoned, they seriously misread the social cues coming from other monkeys and the parenting abilities of the females deteriorated.
    Of course, if they were like the monkey that wrote for the Times, they probably thought they were doing better than ever.

    Peter B (5dbfe0)

  49. 49- sounds like something a f-ing no it all democrat would say. 49- Are you God or do you just play him in your own mind?

    mg (44de53)

  50. Does this have any relation with “beer goggles”, in my own experiance, I could do almost anyone with enough impairment, not too much, brewers droop you know, but enough.

    Roman (3165c1)

  51. good grief.

    That’s NOT allowed to be taken advantage of

    just noticed. my bad.

    Must have been something I ate or inhaled.

    Jcw46 (b4329c)

  52. So he went to a “CannaMed” doctor and he “took his pulse and blood pressure, both” in order to diagnose! Wow! and the Rx was MJ. I am shocked, shocked!. Come on, he is just a doper who went to a doper Dr. He will soon be unemployed. Then his kids will find out. Dopers lose brain power. He will too.

    Susan Harms (690825)

  53. The comments to this post may have set a new blog record for cleverness-to-noise ratio. So many of my favorite commenters have given me a good chuckle. I have nothing to add, just wanted to applaud.

    Beldar (eed156)

  54. Nobody tell this guy what happens when he goes to a real doctor for a thorough checkup.

    Let that be a little surprise.

    Pious Agnostic (ee2c24)

  55. There is a pill here that is basically called THC and it is prescribed in small doses.. Most doctor’s here in Ontario don’t believe that it is in any way beneficial to those that have chronic pain or eg: MS, Glaucoma, Chronic Migraines etc…. Where conventional medications may offer the slightest reprieve and possibly dozens of side effects..
    From knowing a family member with MS, they have had the experience that Marajuana is the the natural way to help with day to day struggles and still be able to manage raising a family and working and being a productive member of society.
    Just my two-cents worth!
    Not everyone agress but to each’s own.

    Alissa Dirks (a95d6f)

  56. Woody Harrelson has three daughters, AND he was 44 years old when his youngest was born.

    Icy (ae483e)

  57. they have had the experience that Marajuana is the the natural way

    Why is it more natural than other chemicals used as medication?

    I don’t see why medical marijuana should be banned. If a bona fide doctor things the considerable side effects are an acceptable price for whatever relief or benefits it provides, that’s fine.

    But there are considerable side effects, including cancer and increased tendencies towards brain damage/mental illness as SPQR has shown. And why wouldn’t something like pot scramble your brains?

    Several people I care about wasted their futures at an early age by smoking too much pot. One of them has schizophrenia. The only benefit is that I learned early enough to stay the hell away from anything like that.

    I generally am a libertarian and I do think adults should have the freedom to ruin their brains with drugs if they want, but I would ask that they be informed of what they are doing instead of in denial as so many potheads are about the damage pot does. Sadly, by affecting the brain’s long term ability to make judgments, the very trait needed has been lost.

    Sadly, everyone I know who abused substances like this started before they were adults. That’s why I support harsh penalties on drug smugglers and dealers.

    Ya know that’s how Kimberlin got into lawfare, right?

    As astute observation, ghost. But he was a wicked man long before he was in prison, and as far as I know, he got his start because of the marijuana trade. That is exactly the kind of person illegal drug sales support.

    Dustin (73fead)

  58. A handful of observations here. Without going into specifics, let me assure you I am more than qualified to render an opinion.

    First, there is a level of “stonedness” beyond which any given pot plant will NOT take you. No matter how much you ingest, you won’t exceed the “ceiling” of that bud and will probably reach it with the initial high. If you continue to smoke, what will happen is that you will either zone out staring at a dahlia or fall asleep completely. If the latter, you can console yourself with the fact that you will not suffer a hangover in the morning.

    Second, and a more recent observation, the body will actually reject attempts at excess consumption. This is manifested in coughing fits on trying to inhale or immediate exhalation of smoke you managed to take in.

    Last, THC does not necessarily render one incompetent to do difficult tasks or comprehend complex situations. When fifteen vehicles went out of control in front of me on a seven-lane freeway I got through them unscathed, though happily stoned at the time. My passenger’s reaction: “How on earth did you do that!?!” The answer was that increased perception (the “slowing of time” associated with being high) allowed me to see the situation clearly and react accordingly.

    Given my choice of having to deal with a drunk or a stoner, I’ll take the stoner any day.

    creeper (849351)

  59. So, a New York Times writer is a vapid twit who can’t relate to his children unless he’s medicated. This is news why, exactly?

    I’ve know a number of stoners. They are moderately good company, easy to get along with, and as a rule they are filled to the top with bogus profundity.

    None of which explains why We The People tolerate the legal status of Marijuana and the incredible stupidity of the War on Drugs. Yes, a certain number of people in our society will spend their entire lives THC’d to the eyeballs, and legalizing Pot might well expand that number. I don’t see that it’s any of our business, and in any case there is never any shortage of things with which people will rot their minds. Progressivism, for one. Or degrees in Sociology. Or the New York Times.

    If arguing for ‘medical marijuana’ is the political bushwa necessary to end the Pot portion of the Drug War, then I will put up with it. It is no more bizarre and useless than many mainstream medical practices, and don’t even get me started on ‘alternative medicine’.

    C. S. P. Schofield (4feea2)

  60. I think this idiot just set the cause of medical marijuana back a few years.

    “I need at least two drinks in my before I get home to my wife”

    Would the Times have published that too?

    sleeeepy (b5f718)

  61. Back in the day I had a dorm mate who was afflicted with leukemia. Her local police department supplied her marijuana from confiscated supplies, not some phoney-baloney store front. She was a generous person when she was well enough to attend school, but eventually she succumbed to the disease.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  62. The biggest problem with allowing marijuana to be legal as it is now, the “medical” exception, is that we have given permission to people to be “legally” impaired. Those that argue it is no worse than alcohol forget that point.

    reff (4dcda2)

  63. Clearly he’s one of the 89 million who have left the work force.

    AZ Bob (1c9631)

  64. Omega,

    Small minded brain dead sheep like you aren’t worth much as humans, f**kstick. George Washington grew hemp. The first marijuana law in America was a law ordering people to grow it.

    Dustin,
    The key word there is “illegal,” as in, “if it were legal and sold in stores, d-bags like Kimberlin wouldn’t have been a marijuana smuggler.” He’d still be a d-bag convicted bomber, he just wouldn’t have made a crap ton of money smuggling.

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  65. It’s a plant, for crying out loud. If I want to grow it in my back yard for shade, for decoration, or to stick it up my rectum, it’s no business of the government’s.

    norcal (34ea7c)

  66. “The key word there is “illegal,” as in, “if it were legal and sold in stores, d-bags like Kimberlin wouldn’t have been a marijuana smuggler.””

    Ghost – Your body doesn’t know whether it’s legal or not or whether you have paper on what you’re smoking.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  67. Daley,
    What’s your point? My body doesn’t care if something is illegal. If it kills my pain, and doesn’t further destroy my intestines (I have Celiac Sprue disease. 30 years of eating gluten caused almost irreversible damage to my intestines. Taking constipatories like Percocet may ease my pain, but it causes pain in other areas), then government blessing or no, I’m going to use it.

    My point was by keeping a virtually harmless plant illegal, we gave Kimberlin the tools to make a crap ton of money. The one thing drug dealers and cops agree with is “keep it illegal.”

    And why isn’t Bloomberg right to ban soda if you’re okay with banning weed?

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  68. No self-baking required to enjoy this one…

    http://youtu.be/oaxbfr2LLT8

    Colonel Haiku (d96bbb)

  69. Ghost – Focus. I know it’s hard. You don’t believe weed has any long term effects on people. A lot of others feel otherwise and there is evidence, contrary to what you say, supporting those positions. Yes, your body doesn’t know the difference whether you have a prescription or not for the weed you smoke. That’s a fact. Speculating over what would happen if it was legalized is a different subject and would depend on the mechanics of legalization so not a topic worth spending any time on.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  70. While prohibition clearly spawned a lot of social ills as an unintended consequence, I think there were probably quite a few people who would have found it easy to stop off at the neighborhood bar on the way home from work who did not seek out speak-easys and bootleg liquor. I imagine there was more than one family spared the consequences of an alcoholic father/husband wasting the family’s money, as well as the discord that goes with alcoholism. Those children are thankful.

    During college days a drunk person in the dorm was always more of a hassle than somebody stoned, and I’ll grant that.

    I don’t know how often people get arrested for smoking their private stash in their own house. people don’t get arrested for being drunk in their own house (unless other behavior that is criminal also happens). Impairment in society has consequences for others. I guess they can make pot legal if the people who use it decide to live on the “pot plantation” and stay there.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  71. Comment by Pious Agnostic — 9/8/2012 @ 6:13 pm

    It is my understanding that Congress has repeatedly refused to call for, and fund, such a proper investigation due to the member’s abhorrence of being labeled as “PRO POT” in their next campaign.

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434)

  72. Comment by creeper — 9/9/2012 @ 8:58 am

    So, that’s how racers do it – the just stay “stoned”.
    I’ve always wondered.

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434)

  73. Daley,
    You do realize that everything you say about weed could be said of every other pain killer out there, right? Tylenol kills your liver, for Pete’s sake.

    I know there are side effects. I know there are long term side effects. But this drug has never killed anybody, ever. Take too many aspirin and it’ll be your last headache.

    See, I’m a capitalist (maybe I’m alone here), so I believe that informed consent in a free market will yield the freest results. So I researched the pain killers available to me. There’s addictive opiates and weed.

    If it were legal would you smoke it? No? Then why the hell do you care?

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  74. A local radio station has a brief spot with Homer Simpson’s voice saying, “Grow your own dope, plant a Democrat” (or Republican) (or, in Leviticus’ case, politician).

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  75. Marijuana has never killed anybody? Good to know.

    And I’m all with you on capitalism, but your commercialism may need a tweak, Ghost.

    You’re right, though, I really don’t care.

    Ag80 (b2c81f)

  76. “If it were legal would you smoke it? No? Then why the hell do you care?”

    Ghost – I gave it up for Lent more than 30 years ago. Why do you have problems with people expressing opinions that are different than yours?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  77. 77- Because he’s a Progressive?

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434)

  78. La cucaracha, la cucaracha
    No puede caminar
    Porque no tiene, porque le falta
    Marijuna a fumar.

    I like whiskey and cigarettes, personally. A bottle of Chardonay is nectar in the summer. Ativan and Tylenol 3 for the hangover.

    nk (875f57)

  79. We had a lady in Chicago who became an underground legend for her advocacy of marijuana use. She made no bones about the fact that it was recreational. No “poor sick ol’ me” for her. She also gave advice. For example, with smoking you know pretty much right away the potency of your stuff and you know when to stop. Not so with “brownies”.

    nk (875f57)

  80. And who else, besides me, would miss the obvious? Mr. Wolf, with young children in the house, keeps his dope in sweet, chocolaty, dessert form.

    This is a spoof, right?

    nk (875f57)

  81. “She made no bones about the fact that it was recreational”

    nk – I’m thinking of taking up recreational crack smoking for my anxiety and aches and pains, but so far have been unable to find a doctor to write me a prescription.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  82. “Mr. Wolf, with young children in the house, keeps his dope in sweet, chocolaty, dessert form.”

    nk – I know many women who switched from booze to drugs using the impeccable logic that drugs had no calories, so this guy is obviously doin it rong.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  83. I know many women who switched from booze to drugs using the impeccable logic that drugs had no calories

    Clearly, had they been using impeccable logic, they would have realized that the inevitable “munchies” factor cancels out any calories saved. Silly women.

    Dana (292dcf)

  84. Dana – Your words, not mine.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  85. if it were legal and sold in stores

    This is a fallacious argument unless you’re talking about legalizing drugs for minors.

    There will always be illegal drugs even if you did legalize drugs to adults. Drug dealers would still exist in your libertarian America.

    My inclination is to let adults do whatever they want, even if it’s as stupid as doing drugs. They are their own punishment. Dealers should get the death penalty.

    Dustin (73fead)

  86. I think my cat does meth.

    SPQR (4befcb)

  87. “There will always be illegal drugs even if you did legalize drugs to adults. Drug dealers would still exist in your libertarian America.”

    Dustin – Exactly. We have that now with bootleg cigarettes sold to avoid state taxes. To believe similar activity would go away in the case of drugs is sheer fantasy.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  88. “I think my cat does meth.”

    SPQR – They are sneaky creatures. I suggest random testing.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  89. Dude, hey dude. You know what, hey dude. You know what, hey, this is geatadd due so whaever, hey dud ye yo nodidk i sae this mbut the dogand sjwou whhet evru cool.

    Ag80 (b2c81f)

  90. All cats do meth. Who hasn’t seen a kitten climb up a screen door?

    nk (875f57)

  91. “I like whiskey and cigarettes, personally.”

    Me too, and I have the emphysema and chronic bronchitis to prove it.

    If I’d had any brains I would have stuck to weed and acid…but, callow youth that I was, I had to start experimenting with LEGAL drugs.

    Oh well, live and learn.

    Dave Surls (46b08c)

  92. Everybody has to go some way, Dave. What? Do you want to get hit by a bus?

    Neither my stroke nor my retinopathy had anything to do with any part of my lifestyle. It was the way I was programmed. (My spine/sciatica, maybe. My father warned me about climbing stairs with 50 lbs in each hand.) 😉

    nk (875f57)

  93. and acid…

    In 8th grade one of my teachers told me about a fellow in a watch tower in Vietnam who boasted “I can fly” while on acid. Not thinking through the consequences, being a rather young man, my teacher said, “Oh yeah? Show me!” At which point the fellow proceeded to try, without success.

    My teacher said he still suffered thinking about that, never having intended to spark a person’s death. It did make the point that having hallucinations on acid could be a bit troublesome.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  94. “George Washington grew hemp.”

    Holy crap, what a BS argument in favor of legalized marijuana. Hemp is different from Marijuana, you know; it was used to make rope, necessary for the navy. They weren’t smoking it.

    Put the bong down, man. 🙂

    Pious Agnostic (7c3d5b)

  95. 77- Because he’s a Progressive?

    Hahaha! It takes a certain kind of special to call an anarcho-capitalist a progressive. I have no problem with any of you not smoking weed. I’m not the one trying to tell others what they’re allowed to do with their own bodies. I’m asking that the federal govt respect states rights. That’s progressive… How?

    SPQR,

    Blaming weed for Jared Loughner is as intellectually honest as blaming Sarah Palin.

    Dustin,
    Since we can’t stop people from giving alcohol and cigarettes to minors, we should just make those illegal, right? And we can’t stop sh*tty parents from buying their kids McDonalds, so let’s ban happy meals.

    Pious,
    If hemp and marijuana aren’t the same, then why is growing hemp illegal in America? Why does the government say they are one in the same? And I only brought up Washington because of Omega’s kind and thoughtful comment about me being subhuman. But the illegality of hemp only underscores how backwards and ridiculous our drug laws are.

    NK,
    Keeping weed brownies in a house with children… Even I say this d-bag is guilty of endangering the welfare of his kids. I keep my stuff in a secret room in my garage that is always locked. My kids never see it.

    Everyone else:
    Please don’t be collectivists. Don’t look at this one guy and say, “see? They’re all like that.” This guy in not indicative of the majority of medical marijuana patients. If its not helping the thing it’s supposed to, he should be talking to his doctor about other alternatives. If I had a stomach flu, and I took medicine that was supposed to get rid of it, and instead it just made me stare at my cats fur for 20 straight minutes, I would look for something else. This guy is the same as the guy you see in the ER complaining about phantom pains just so they throw him some opiates. Maybe because Oregon has stricter guidelines, but you don’t see this type of flagrant fraud running rampant up here. I’m sure it happens, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to get a prescription for Vicodin than it is to get a prescription for weed here.

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  96. Dude, hey dude. You know what, hey dude. You know what, hey, this is geatadd due so whaever, hey dud ye yo nodidk i sae this mbut the dogand sjwou whhet evru cool.

    Comment by Ag80 — 9/9/2012 @ 7:43 pm

    That’s drunk typing. Stoned typing is more “Dude, hey dude. Ya know what, dude? Dude, I was just… Wait… What?”

    Ghost (6f9de7)

  97. “Neither my stroke nor my retinopathy had anything to do with any part of my lifestyle. It was the way I was programmed.”

    nk – You were probably born that way.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  98. A couple of clues about pot.

    It doesn’t make you smarter, it just makes you think you’re smarter, which in reality makes you look stupid.

    It doesn’t make you a better parent, it just makes you think you’re a good parent, where in reality you’re failing your kids.

    It may seem like all kinds of great things, but in reality its all a drug-induced delusion. What’s scary is when people start to believe the delusion instead of recognizing it for what it is.

    John T (9079ca)

  99. Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs (including booze). Losers.

    Drug seeking behavior is drug seeking behavior no matter how you rationalize it.

    If you have a legitimate medical problem, see a medical professional and get help.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  100. nk – You were probably born that way.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 9/10/2012 @ 9:12 am

    No probably about it. The stroke was from an AVM, a congenital defect. The retinopathy is the way I age according to my genes.

    nk (875f57)

  101. Drug seeking behavior is drug seeking behavior no matter how you rationalize it.

    100% agreement. If you want to hide in a bottle, or under a blanket with your pills, or go up in smoke, at least man up about it. Nobody truly pities the pitiful.

    nk (875f57)

  102. “100% agreement.”

    nk – Which just reduces the debate to the weapon(s) of choice.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  103. Great put up, very informative. I’m wondering why the opposite specialists of this sector don’t understand this. You should proceed your writing. I’m confident, you have a great readers’ base already!|What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It absolutely helpful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & assist other customers like its aided me. Good job.

    hyperthermie (5c6f9e)


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