Lauging off the Weed Questions

The following is a comment I left on John Cole's post today about weed:

First of all, there is no reliable evidence showing that marijuana is as bad as tobacco or alcohol in terms of health costs. In fact, it's way down on the list of drugs that do harm in those terms.

But there is one angle where legalizing, or at least decriminalizing, would make a big difference: the drug war now raging on our border with Mexico. As the administration has been saying for the last week, the US's appetite for these drugs (a large chunk of which is Mexican weed) is fueling the war (as are our guns).

Before Sarah Palin changed the Alaska law, a citizen there was allowed to grow as much weed as they wanted as long as it never left the property on which it was grown. This kind of decriminalization would increase domestic production of pot, and decrease the demand for the weed coming in from Mexican narco gangs.

So, the dismissive way which Obama laughed off the question was, indeed, a big missed chance for him to say something substantive about the good things that could happen if we would refocus our resources on things that actually cause more harm, like alcohol, tobacco, meth, and blow.

Plus, decriminalization would mean less people in prison for pot. The fact that we jail people for possessing even small amounts of weed is astounding to me. These are non-violent people enjoying a substance which has been proven to be less detrimental to the public health than tobacco or alcohol, and yet we put people in prison for it. I have severe arthritis and live in a state where I can't even legally use it for pain, even if my Doctor thinks it would be better than the pharmaceuticals that have severely screwed me up in the past.

This is a serious subject, and deserves to be treated that way. Laughing it off just shows me that our president is capable of ignoring important issues because he thinks the people who ask the questions are stoners.

Endorsements for Change

The voting at Change.org is over, and the top ten ideas were presented to the Obama transition team. I'm a half-glass empty kinda guy, so I'm not expecting much, especially on the more controversial items, especially from a guy who seems to want us all to get along even at the price of not prosecuting war criminals (cause, you know, that would be too divisive, as opposed to say, breaking the law and torturing and spying on people).

These are good causes, though, and could make a big difference in the world. No matter how much our new President wants to avoid the fighting, if enough of us support these causes, and fight (and vote) to make them reality, then even he can't stop us.

So, here are the ideas I've endorsed at Change.org, in no particular order:

• ReBuild and RePower America with a Green Stimulus Package
• Develop & Implement a National Strategy for Sustainability
• Pass Marriage Equality Rights for LGBT Couples Nationwide
• Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties
• Free Single Payer Health Care
• Make the grid green in 10 years
• Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration
• Solve The Credit Crisis From The Bottom Up Through Social Lending
• Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana
• Move the country toward transparent election systems

Here's my Change.org page. It's a great site, and I encourage everyone to join in.

Will Tony Snow Do the Right Thing?

Cross Posted at Supak at the Daily KOS.

Isn't it ironic that a mouthpiece for the people who deny natural medicine (marijuana) to patients whose doctors have recommended it now might need that very medicine? Isn't it ironic that the mouth piece for the people who fought the Death with Dignity Act, passed by the good people of Oregon, now might want to move to Oregon for a peaceful, dignified death, rather than a painful, horrific one in an over-priced hospital bed?

See, those Republican policy positions DO have something to do with cancer, and suffering, and pain. Specifically, it has to do with all the people, including cancer patients, who have been told by this administration that they should just suffer because pot is BAD, and they should just die an agonizing death, because Euthenasia is BAD.

Yeah, not just coincidental. IRONIC.

And, frankly, maybe just a little Karmic. Because Tony Snow didn't just wish suffering on terminally ill patients, he promoted policy positions that ACTUALLY CAUSED SUFFERING for those patients.

Big difference.

Republicans often like to say that our soldiers have died for a worthy cause. Well, here's a chance for a big name Republican to do something worthwhile with what's left of his life.

He should come out in favor of medicinal marijuana and euthanasia. He should publicly renounce Republican positions on medical marijuana and euthanasia. He should apologize to all the patients who have suffered because of this administration's Dark Ages views on medicine and science (from stem cells to big pharma run FDA to poor or no health care for millions).

I'm not trying to say that Snow deserves this because he helped start a war where millions have suffered and hundreds of thousands have died? That's up to the Karma Gods. But I will say, that when it comes to policy decisions ON THIS EXACT POINT, then, yes, it looks like there's some Karma here.

What will Tony say if his doctor prescribes pot? What will Tony say about euthanasia when he's in horrific pain near the end of his life? Will Tony continue to parrot the party talking points on these issues when he's in pain and dying an agonizing death?

That's up to Tony. Do I care? Hell, yes. Because I don't want Tony Snow to suffer. I don't want anyone to suffer. I want them to learn. I want them to admit they were wrong. I want them to apologize to all the people whose suffering they have caused or intensified.

I want them to wake up and join the 21st Century! And if something like this is what it takes to get the Republican Party's head out of its ass on these issues, then Tony Snow's illness won't have been as big a waste as what we've lost in Iraq.