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Massachusetts ballot questions: Question 3: Medical Marijuana
Now, on the surface, legalizing medical marijuana would seem like a no-brainer to me. And it mostly is. Because, well, I see absolutely no reason marijuana should be illegal in the first place. But there are still issues to talk about.
My feeling is that medical marijuana laws are, for the most part, "camel's nose in the tent" laws to attempt to, in the long run, get marijuana decriminalized, and eventually, legalized. And that's not actually a bad thing, really.
I have a few Facebook and LJ friends who have medical marijuana cards in states that issue such things, and most of 'em don't have the sorts of diseases that you associate with medical marijuana. In some of those cases, it would be fair to say that they've got the cards primarily in order to use the marijuana recreationally.
I don't have a problem with that. I think society doesn't benefit from PREVENTING the recreational use of marijuana, so, if people are skating through the medical marijuana laws in order to use it recreationally, who cares?
And, yeah, ADDITIONALLY, marijuana has real benefits for some forms of pain. Besides knowing people who are using medical marijuana recreationally, I ALSO know people who are straight-up-illegally growing marijuana for their own use in chronic pain management of exactly the sort that people use in pro-medical-marijuana arguments. And I'd much, much rather that those friends could just go and buy their pot rather than going through the hassle and risk of growing it themselves. If someone's got a chronic painful disease, or has had a lifetime of the kind of work that is LITERALLY back-breaking, and therefore has worn out all their joints and their spine, or has an injury that never quite healed properly, why SHOULDN'T they be allowed whatever pain relief actually works for them?
This, again, hearkens back to the observation that our society seems to think that "sucking it up and suffering in silence" is a noble characteristic that should be encouraged. And, well, maybe the ABILITY to suck it up and do what has to be done regardless of your personal pain is a virtue, but actually being forced to EXERCISE that virtue when there's no real necessity for it? Not so much. Pain sucks. It's sometimes inevitable, and we have to deal with that fact. But if it's avoidable? Avoid it!
So, yeah. I'm in favor of medical marijuana. But it's not a completely cost-less decision, because of how it's implemented in most states.
In practical terms, medical marijuana dispensaries are primarily used by recreational users. Which means that neighborhoods with dispensaries attract potheads. Which is annoying, but not crippling. ("We've got another infestation of hipsters and/or hippies." "Crap. I'll go get the RAID.") But they also can attract ACTUAL drug users. Someone on my friends list has a series of sad-but-funny stories about this phenomenon in his own neighborhood.
But my mother had another interesting point. She is a liberal, an ex-hippie, a chronic pain sufferer, and a hospice worker, and is ALSO a law-abiding citizen who doesn't break laws no matter how stupid they are unless there's a compelling moral reason to do so. So you can imagine how she feels about marijuana legalization. If pot was legal, she might use it. (Although, given all her food allergies, maybe not so much, actually. That's the primary reason I don't smoke pot: I tried it twice and got a histamine reaction both times, and if I'm allergic to something, odds are Mom is, too. . . ) But still. No reason for it to be illegal, and laws that exist for no reason just plain shouldn't exist.
So, yeah. She's in favor of legalizing marijuana. And she pointed out that this in itself may be a reason to vote AGAINST medical marijuana. Her argument is that, once the medical establishment gets ahold of a thing, it'll never let it go. She wants marijuana legalized just because it shouldn't be illegal in the first place. Does medicalizing it help that process or not?
Even so, me, I'm in favor of the proposed law, simply BECAUSE of the nose-in-the-tent effect of it. I DO believe that marijuana decriminalization, and the legalization of medical marijuana ARE steps on the slippery slope to marijuana legalization. But I WANT society to go down that waterslide, so I'm in favor of it.
My feeling is that medical marijuana laws are, for the most part, "camel's nose in the tent" laws to attempt to, in the long run, get marijuana decriminalized, and eventually, legalized. And that's not actually a bad thing, really.
I have a few Facebook and LJ friends who have medical marijuana cards in states that issue such things, and most of 'em don't have the sorts of diseases that you associate with medical marijuana. In some of those cases, it would be fair to say that they've got the cards primarily in order to use the marijuana recreationally.
I don't have a problem with that. I think society doesn't benefit from PREVENTING the recreational use of marijuana, so, if people are skating through the medical marijuana laws in order to use it recreationally, who cares?
And, yeah, ADDITIONALLY, marijuana has real benefits for some forms of pain. Besides knowing people who are using medical marijuana recreationally, I ALSO know people who are straight-up-illegally growing marijuana for their own use in chronic pain management of exactly the sort that people use in pro-medical-marijuana arguments. And I'd much, much rather that those friends could just go and buy their pot rather than going through the hassle and risk of growing it themselves. If someone's got a chronic painful disease, or has had a lifetime of the kind of work that is LITERALLY back-breaking, and therefore has worn out all their joints and their spine, or has an injury that never quite healed properly, why SHOULDN'T they be allowed whatever pain relief actually works for them?
This, again, hearkens back to the observation that our society seems to think that "sucking it up and suffering in silence" is a noble characteristic that should be encouraged. And, well, maybe the ABILITY to suck it up and do what has to be done regardless of your personal pain is a virtue, but actually being forced to EXERCISE that virtue when there's no real necessity for it? Not so much. Pain sucks. It's sometimes inevitable, and we have to deal with that fact. But if it's avoidable? Avoid it!
So, yeah. I'm in favor of medical marijuana. But it's not a completely cost-less decision, because of how it's implemented in most states.
In practical terms, medical marijuana dispensaries are primarily used by recreational users. Which means that neighborhoods with dispensaries attract potheads. Which is annoying, but not crippling. ("We've got another infestation of hipsters and/or hippies." "Crap. I'll go get the RAID.") But they also can attract ACTUAL drug users. Someone on my friends list has a series of sad-but-funny stories about this phenomenon in his own neighborhood.
But my mother had another interesting point. She is a liberal, an ex-hippie, a chronic pain sufferer, and a hospice worker, and is ALSO a law-abiding citizen who doesn't break laws no matter how stupid they are unless there's a compelling moral reason to do so. So you can imagine how she feels about marijuana legalization. If pot was legal, she might use it. (Although, given all her food allergies, maybe not so much, actually. That's the primary reason I don't smoke pot: I tried it twice and got a histamine reaction both times, and if I'm allergic to something, odds are Mom is, too. . . ) But still. No reason for it to be illegal, and laws that exist for no reason just plain shouldn't exist.
So, yeah. She's in favor of legalizing marijuana. And she pointed out that this in itself may be a reason to vote AGAINST medical marijuana. Her argument is that, once the medical establishment gets ahold of a thing, it'll never let it go. She wants marijuana legalized just because it shouldn't be illegal in the first place. Does medicalizing it help that process or not?
Even so, me, I'm in favor of the proposed law, simply BECAUSE of the nose-in-the-tent effect of it. I DO believe that marijuana decriminalization, and the legalization of medical marijuana ARE steps on the slippery slope to marijuana legalization. But I WANT society to go down that waterslide, so I'm in favor of it.