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http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/09/opinion/nathan-legal-marijuana/index.h...
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Roland Martin says we should not ridicule athletes who choose to be public about their faith.
Charles Kaiser said his friend, the late New York City mayor, was a force for change on gay rights who stayed relevant in politics long after he left office.
David Nathan says pot should be sold and regulated like alcohol and tobacco.
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David Nathan disputes CNN op-ed by David Frum that argues pot should be illegal Nathan treats drug abusers and agrees with Frum that young people should avoid marijuana Drug should be legal for adults and sold like alcohol, with kids taught the risks, he says Nathan: If pot is illegal, then dangerous drugs like alcohol and tobacco should be, too
Editor's note: David L. Nathan, a clinical associate professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, was recently elected as a distinguished fellow in the American Psychiatric Association. He teaches and practices general adult psychiatry in Princeton, New Jersey. (CNN) -- David Frum is one of today's best and most reasoned conservative political voices, so his recent CNN.com op-ed on marijuana policy was just a little disappointing. Not because he advocates the drug's decriminalization -- he rightly thinks locking people up or arresting them for casual use is a bad idea -- but because he opposes its legalization for adults. I agree with much of what he says about pot's potential harm, especially for the young and the psychiatrically ill. Like Frum, I am a father who worries about my kids getting sidetracked by cannabis before their brains have a chance to develop. But I am also a physician who understands that the negative legal consequences of marijuana use are far worse than the medical consequences. Frum would reduce the punishment for marijuana use for adults but nominally maintain its illegality in order to send a message to young people that pot is a "bad choice," as if breaking the rules wasn't as much an incentive as a deterrent for adolescents. Kids are smart enough to recognize and dismiss a "because I said so" argument when they see one. By trying to hide marijuana from innately curious young people, we have elevated its status to that of a forbidden fruit. I believe a better approach is to bring pot into the open, make it legal for people over the age of 21, and educate children from a young age about the actual dangers of its recreational use. Opinion: War on drugs a trillion-dollar failure Throughout my career as a clinical psychiatrist, I have seen lives
Paul Waldman says a girl being shot in a Chicago park is a real example of what guns mean in America; a fantasy about needing an assault rifle to fend off a home invasion is not
Ruben Navarrette says while not all conservatives agree with the Florida senator on immigration reform, they are praising him nonetheless
LZ Granderson says, as we see more die in gun violence, the question is whether Newtown really changed the prospects for gun control
Jeff Pearlman says nothing ruins a Super Bowl more than a Super Bowl party with drunk dolts who won't shut up--except for the commercials
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http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/09/opinion/nathan-legal-marijuana/index.h...
ruined by drugs like cocaine, painkillers and alcohol. I have also borne witness to the devastation brought upon cannabis users -- almost never by abuse of the drug, but by a justice system that chooses a sledgehammer to kill a weed. Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, caffeine and refined sugar are among the most commonly used, potentially habitforming recreational substances. All are best left out of our daily diets. Only marijuana is illegal, though alcohol and tobacco are clearly more harmful. In several respects, even sugar poses more of a threat to our nation's health than pot. I agree with Frum that chronic use of cannabis correlates with mood changes and low motivation, especially when started in adolescence. In individuals with psychosis, it may trigger or worsen their symptoms. But these dangers are far surpassed by the perils of alcohol, which is associated with pancreatitis, gastritis, cirrhosis, permanent dementia, physiological dependence and fatal withdrawal. In healthy but reckless teens and young adults, it is frighteningly easy to consume a lethal dose of alcohol, but it is essentially impossible to do so with marijuana. Further, alcohol causes severe impairment of judgment, which results in violence, risky sexual behavior and more use of hard drugs. Those who believe cannabis to be a gateway to opioids and other highly dangerous drugs fail to appreciate that the illegal purchase of marijuana exposes consumers to dealers who push the hard stuff. Given marijuana's popularity in this country, the consumption of more dangerous drugs could actually decrease if pot were purchased at a liquor store rather than on the street corner where heroin and crack are sold. Opinion: Legalize pot? No, reform laws There is another more pressing reason to legalize and regulate marijuana, even for the sake of our children: the potential for adulteration of black-market cannabis and the substitution of even more dangerous copycat compounds. Much like Prohibition-era fatalities from bad moonshine, harmful synthetic marijuana substitutes are proliferating, with street names like K2 and Spice. The Drug Enforcement Administration struggles to combat these compounds by outlawing them, but I see no decrease in their popularity among my patients. Natural marijuana poses much less danger than synthetic cannabinoids -- legal or otherwise. So who had the bright idea of banning cannabis in the first place? Was it physicians? Social service organizations? No. The credit goes to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which in 1937 pushed through laws ending the growth, trade and consumption of all forms of cannabis, including the inert but commercially useful hemp plant. America's ban on the so-called "Weed of Madness" was based on bad science and fabricated stories of violence perpetrated under the influence. The madness of cannabis can be ascribed not so much to its users, but to those who sought to criminalize the drug so soon after the monumental failure of alcohol Prohibition. That's not to say our marijuana laws have failed to change drug use in America. Cannabis is more widely used today than at any time before its prohibition, even though it was domesticated in antiquity and has been cultivated ever since. Pot prohibition has also greatly increased illegal activity and violence. Otherwise law-abiding private users became criminals, and criminals became rich through the
Mark Glaze says the majority of Americans, across the political spectrum, do not go along with the NRA lobbyists: They want gun reforms
David Nathan
Donna Brazile says more than any other Secretary of State, Clinton has focused on the powerless--particularly women and girls--as a matter of America's foreign policy
David Keene says law-abiding Americans are entitled to own firearms and protect their families under the Second Amendment.
John Sutter says a new nonprofit is developing a technology to enable activists to communicate even if governments try to shut them down
Roxanne Jones says we can no longer ignore the medical evidence that football players are suffering dangerous brain injuries.
John Avlon: Contrary to the neoconservatives attacking him, defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel is squarely in the GOP mainstream.
Rick Geddes says the key to bringing the Postal Service out of the horse-and-buggy era is to end its monopoly and allow it to function like a business.
Howard Kurtz says it might be wise to take the upbeat media coverage on immigration reform with a healthy dose of skepticism
The entrepreneur turned philanthropist says measuring the effectiveness of teachers is vital to creating better schools.
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Opinion: The end of the war on marijuana But America can fix this mess through marijuana legalization. Federal, state and local governments can regulate the cannabis trade as they do with alcohol and tobacco -- monitoring the production process for safety and purity, controlling where it is sold, taxing all aspects of marijuana production and consumption, and redirecting resources from punishment to prevention. Forget the antiquated dogma and judge pot prohibition on its own merits. If you still believe that cannabis should be illegal, then you must logically support the criminalization of alcohol and tobacco, with vigorous prosecution and even imprisonment of producers and consumers. Does that sound ridiculous? Then you must conclude that the only rational approach to cannabis is to legalize, regulate and tax it. Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter. Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.
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blerg
25 days ago
"Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, caffeine and refined sugar are among the most commonly used, potentially habit-forming recreational substances. All are best left out of our daily diets. Only marijuana is illegal, though alcohol and tobacco are clearly more harmful. In several respects, even sugar poses more of a threat to our nation's health than pot." My favorite part of this piece. Very well written.
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Alcohol is illegal for kids because it is harmful for developing minds. Why not do the same with pot? It's not like marijuana is illegal because of harmful side effects anyways. Hungry, happy, sleepy. Those are the effects. An adult user of cigarettes can expect to get cancer in the near future. An adult user of marijuana can expect a trip to Taco Bell.
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Nic
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That is exactly why pot is dangerous. Taco Bell food is bad for your health :-)
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DB
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I've got an idea then... decriminalize pot and make Taco Bell illegal. It would solve a lot of problems.
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Gyrogearloose
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Martin Martinez
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urownexperience
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Vertical1
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I have never smoked pot, nor do I intend to. But I feel it should be made legal for those that choose to do so. The benefits far outweigh the risk, and that is coming from someone who has researched it but never tried it.
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F.B.Eye
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Give it a go, it will stop you wasting your time researching things!
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Marcus Roberts
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lol
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http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/09/opinion/nathan-legal-marijuana/index.h...
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