# Conservatives. Defend your objections to medical marijuana. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 9, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161 "2003-11-09T02:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/21 "2003-11-09T05:33:06Z")
Well, the biggest problem with medical marijuana as practiced in the Canada is that the government apparently produces some incredibly horrible Saskatoon ditch-weed for their government grown pot. People have been returning it because it makes them sick and doesn’t even give them a little girlie buzz. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/22 "2003-11-09T05:50:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DaPuj \* > That’s the only downside I can see about pot, making you apathetic towards life in general. As Cecil put it: [ > [@](#): > > ]([http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_225.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_225.html)) The “amotivational syndrome” (i.e., apathy). Sure enough, dopers tend to be apathetic. But it’s never been proven that marijuana causes apathy. In fact, the panel found, it may well be the other way around–maybe apathy causes you to use marijuana. On a related subject, the panel noted that atrophy in the brains of 10 heavy marijuana users had been reported some years ago by a British researcher. Another scientist at Tulane said he found “dramatic” changes in the brains of monkeys subjected to carloads of cannabis. But both studies were sharply criticized for methodological deficiencies. Other scientists have found no brain damage. This led the NAS panel to conclude, predictably, that “much more work is needed.” A 1995 review of marijuana’s effect on the brain said pretty much the same thing and as far as I can tell the question remains unsettled today. As for “reefer madness,” there is little evidence that marijuana per se causes psychosis, but it may trigger psychotic episodes in people who have mental problems to start with. ---
**Author:** ![GoHeels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@GoHeels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoHeels)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/23 "2003-11-09T06:06:25Z")
As I said in another thread, I lean conservative and I think laws prohibiting sick people from obtaining and smoking medical marijuana are unjust and stupid (kinda like the War on Drugs itself). IMHO, the OP pigeonholes (inaccurately) conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/24 "2003-11-09T06:12:19Z")
\*\*Nas Duire \*\* > [@](#): > > The person that started this post seems like a complete idiot. [Moderator Hat ON] Don’t call people idiots in this forum, Nas Duire. If you absolutely must, do it in the BBQ Pit. [Moderator Hat OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/25 "2003-11-09T06:16:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Well, the biggest problem with medical marijuana as practiced in the Canada is that the government apparently produces some incredibly horrible Saskatoon ditch-weed for their government grown pot. People have been returning it because it makes them sick and doesn’t even give them a little girlie buzz. \*\* As a resident of Saskatoon, I resent this foul slur on our fair city. Weed here is grown hydroponically in basements, same as in BC, and most emphatically not in ditches! 🆒 Anyways, if it were grown in ditches, the 'hoppers would just eat it all, which would be horribly wasteful. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/26 "2003-11-09T07:03:42Z")
But the 'hoppers would have a good time. And, having the munchies, they would be even more destructive. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/27 "2003-11-09T07:19:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Well, the biggest problem with medical marijuana as practiced in the Canada is that the government apparently produces some incredibly horrible Saskatoon ditch-weed for their government grown pot. People have been returning it because it makes them sick and doesn’t even give them a little girlie buzz. \*\* Friends don’t let friends smoke bad weed. ☹ Seriously though, I think the nail was hit on the head earlier in this thread. Medical marijuana, in my opinion, is the main reason marijuana will never be legal in this country, as long as pharmaceutical companies have the politcal clout they do here in the US. Why on earth would multi-billion dollar pharamaceutical companies want you to have, as an alternative to addictive, _expensive_ drugs only they can give you, something you can grow in your closet with minimal effort? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/28 "2003-11-09T07:40:21Z")
Yeah, but the other side could be funded by the Hostess and Old Dutch companies. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/29 "2003-11-09T07:59:38Z")
I don’t think there is any evidence that pharmaceutical companies are behind the illegalization of pot and resistance to medical marijuana. It isn’t like they make huge bucks off of marinol (THC in pills), right? How exactly would Pfizer lose money if pot were legal? I’m not seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/30 "2003-11-09T08:27:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Yeah, but the other side could be funded by the Hostess and Old Dutch companies. \*\* Canadian potato chip technology being what it is, Old Dutch (how apropos) would probably have a line of marijuana (excuse me, hemp) chips in no time flat. ---
**Author:** ![MmmDonut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@MmmDonut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MmmDonut)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/31 "2003-11-09T13:04:05Z")
[http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=717](http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=717) another myth in need of debunking. the cannabinoids in marijuana have proven antineoplastic properties. search google for 'Steve Kubby" … ---
**Author:** ![MmmDonut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@MmmDonut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MmmDonut)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/32 "2003-11-09T13:23:05Z")
excerpt: > [@](#): > > An article in a special issue of Nature Medicine magazine by Dr. Manuel Guzman of the Complutense University in Spain describes how cannabinoids might even be able to cure cancer, including pheochromocytoma. > “Inhibition of growth-factor-receptor signalling following cannabinoid-receptor activation has also been observed in PHEOCHROMOCYTOMA, skin carcinoma and prostate carcinoma cells, and could therefore constitute a general mechanism of cannabinoid antiproliferative action.” > (emphasis added) kind of strange that you don’t see any of this in the mainstream media… ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/33 "2003-11-09T13:37:30Z")
Another conservative checking in with no opposition to medical marijuana, and a strong belief that the idea that “many” conservatives oppose it is a fallacy. I really cannot fathom how someone could say that AIDS and cancer patients, especially, should not have this option available to them. Given that it would only become an issue when they are quite ill, it’s not like they’re going to be smoking huge spliffs and getting behind the wheel to run out for some burgers. So what could possibly be the objection? The idea baffles me. Of course, I don’t think marijuana is nearly as big a deal as it is made out to be by law enforcement. We just saw the results of a marijuana raid in a South Carolina high school, with kids being forced flat on the ground by police with guns drawn and pointed at the kids’ heads, and there was no dope anywhere. We are putting altogether too much money, manpower, time and energy into the War on (Some) Drugs. It’s time to get real about it. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/34 "2003-11-09T14:04:21Z")
So if it’s not the Liberals and it’s not the Conservatives-- where is all the oppostion to medical marijuana coming from? [Seems to me it’s the White House leading the opposition](http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/14/scotus.medical.marijuana/index.html) and thems some pretty conservative people. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/35 "2003-11-09T15:45:31Z")
Bush has been expanding the federal government (e.g., the Patriot Act). ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/36 "2003-11-09T16:03:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lemur866 \* > \*\*I don’t think there is any evidence that pharmaceutical companies are behind the illegalization of pot and resistance to medical marijuana. It isn’t like they make huge bucks off of marinol (THC in pills), right? How exactly would Pfizer lose money if pot were legal? I’m not seeing it. \*\* Well, for example, as I understand it, one common use touted for medical marijuana is as a nausea suppressant and appetite inducer for chemo patients. Currently one expects that such patients take an expensive regimen of drugs to achieve the same purpose, though the claim is that those drugs are just vomited back up before they can help - hence the value of smoking pot. Or something like that. So while marinol might not be a big seller, other drugs would be supplanted by medical marijuana, and that would lead to large losses. Or so goes the theory. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/37 "2003-11-09T16:50:38Z")
Ah, but you see, **Biggirl** , that brings us into the realm of how current-day “conservatism” or “Republicanism” in America is a coalition that includes both “economic” or “political” conservatives who believe that what threatens the nation is the hobbling of the free market, the growth of Big Government, the abdication of individual responsibility, and that a weak national defense may embolden our enemies to strike; and on the other hand “social” or “moral” conservatives, puritans who believe that the threat is evil corruption of our “family values”, weakening of respect for institutional authority, and the possibility of God smiting us for being tolerant of sin. So the Bush admin’s hardline stance on Medical MJ is to a great extent one big pander to the “moral conservatives”, who tend to be very strident. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/38 "2003-11-09T17:01:00Z")
Maybe if we rephrase the statement to “Opposition to legal marijuana comes mostly from conservative sources”? I know that the huge corporation I work for is opposed, and definately conservative. Most (all?) companies are. Same for conservative political entities, right. Conservatives as a group are opposed to legal mj, medical or recreational, because they like to control, and they don’t embrace change. That’s part of the definition of conservatism. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/39 "2003-11-09T17:01:25Z")
Biggirl the white house was leading the opposition when Clinton was in. The opposition to medical marijuana steams mostly from people seeing that promotion of medical marijuana is a first step to legalizing it in general. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161/40 "2003-11-09T17:46:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > So if it’s not the Liberals and it’s not the Conservatives-- where is all the oppostion to medical marijuana coming from? > > [Seems to me it’s the White House leading the opposition](http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/14/scotus.medical.marijuana/index.html) and thems some pretty conservative people. Nice try, **Biggirl** , but you seem to have forgotten about [The other White House](http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9702/weed.wars/issues/background/): > [@](#): > > “The medical, scientific process is open to any drug. That includes marijuana,” said Clinton administration’s drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey. “But you have to get through a process and demonstrate scientific validity. And in this case, to be honest, I think it’s nonsense. This is mostly a ‘Cheech and Chong’ show for the quasi-legalization of marijuana.” > > The broader Arizona measure allows doctors to prescribe drugs such as heroin and LSD and mandates that nonviolent drug offenders receive treatment rather than incarceration. But the Clinton administration issued stern warnings for doctors who prescribe marijuana to their patients, saying they could lose their prescription-writing privileges, be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid and even be prosecuted. The truth is, it’s the Feds of both stripes who oppose medicinal pot. Conservatives and Liberals, or Republicans and Democrats if you prefer, at that level have consistently opposed the states’ rights on this issue. And both groups seem to be using the “slippery slope” argument. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-defend-your-objections-to-medical-marijuana/212161.md?page=3)