Pass the Blunt Bro

  I find peoples' attitudes about marijuana to be quite fascinating. If you look at the essential nature of the plant, well it's just that. It's a plant. Marijuana has psychoactive effects when consumed, but they're no more extreme than the respective effects of alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine. And yet people find the idea of legalized marijuana to be absolutely abhorrent. You're fine with smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and drinking a case of beer a day, but marijuana is the spawn of satan? That seems a little illogical.


  And that's part of the reason that I'm so glad that certain states have been making a move towards legalization. Colorado has had legal adult consumption of marijuana since 2014, with the passing of amendment 64, and has seen no major ill effects. In fact, they've discovered a new and immense source of tax revenue that has led to an economic boom. California recently passed Proposition 64 which legalizes marijuana for adult consumption in a manner similar to that used in Colorado. If you expand the list of states with marijuana reform to include those with medical marijuana laws only, the number rises to 28. Here's a link to a list of those states and their respective laws if you're interested.

  From my understanding, there really are no serious, long-term health effects from smoking pot. Ok, that's not exactly true. I know full well that smoking anything can do crazy damage to your lungs and your body in general. But the good thing about marijuana is that you don't actually have to smoke it. There has also been medical research done that strongly suggests that marijuana could be used as a beneficial therapy for many diseases. It's a powerful analgesic that lacks the addictive qualities of the opioid family. It's an excellent anti-emetic and often helps cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced nausea even when the pharmaceutical options would not. Cannabis can be used as an anti-anxiety medication, likewise without the addictive qualities of medications like benzodiazepines and the like. Even if you're completely set against recreational cannabis, I can't see how anyone could be against medical cannabis. It's a valuable resource for people with a large variety of chronic and acute conditions.

Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars.

  So then why do we keep cannabis so thoroughly criminalized? I've heard the theory that the pharmaceutical industry wouldn't like the idea of a natural medication with so many useful properties. It makes it awfully hard to charge 600 dollars a pill when the medication is grown in someone's backyard. And of course, I've heard the theory that cannabis is a gateway drug that will inevitably lead to users trying more extreme drugs like cocaine, methamphetamines, etc. Frankly, I don't know what the exact reason is. I would guess that it probably is a result of multiple influences both social and political. I'm just thrilled to see that medical cannabis and recreational cannabis are finally being embraced for the wonder herb that they are.

If you have an comments or questions about this article, please leave a post below. I'm always glad to get feedback and I'll try to respond as quickly as I can.