Friends, we hear a lot of pro-pot propaganda these days. We hear how it's great for the economy, utterly harmless to those who smoke it, and in fact life-affirming and mind-expanding in its effects. Well, I read an article today that I feel compelled to share with you. It details an insidious link between marijuana use and psychotic violence. The potheads among you will guffaw, no doubt, and I'm certainly open to hearing other perspectives on the issue, but it seems pretty clear from what we read here that marijuana increases the risk of violence and the incidence of mental illness in some people.
I hasten to add that this article comes to us courtesy of Hillsdale College, about which I'm just learning. It's a college in Michigan with a long history of dedication to the values of Western Civilization, including equality and liberty. It's also a place where the canon of Western literature is still read -- and not spat upon! Hillsdale has even foregone federal and state funding in order to avoid subservience to objectionable laws. I look forward to exploring more of the great materials and lectures which Hillsdale makes freely available to the public, and I encourage you to do the same.
https://online.hillsdale.edu/
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/marijuana-mental-illness-violence/?appeal_code=MK817EM2&utm_campaign=welcome_series&utm_source=housefile&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email_2_best_offers&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_09uOww8iSXcGVATewLDa8taNVu-mcDNCdWMs2qcWAaxM78fhfL49UoWXnpfuRm_KprfVJ-EZ6pH5Bq5THOgJ9YpkIxg&_hsmi=54973371
Dr. Waddy: That is a very impressive and credible article. Some thoughts;
ReplyDeleteOverall, is cannabis any more destructive to society than alcohol? I don't know.
If we legalize it, many of the today's criminal dealers, being either incapable or contemptuous of positive living, will simply find other ways, probably illegal, to make easy money.
As for users who lead otherwise law abiding lives, legalizing it frees society of the cost of their punishment and frees law enforcement to go after people who are far more destructive.Perhaps though, one could say the same of drunk drivers, who very often are otherwise good citizens.
I've thought legalization onerous but perhaps best. Now I wonder.
All good points, Jack. I still favor legalization. It's the romanticization of pot that really sticks in my craw. Pot, like a lot of substances, is clearly toxic in the wrong hands. I suspect it truly "uplifts" no one. At best, it's a diversion for some. I just wish lefties would stop pretending it's a wonder drug and a signifier of enlightenment.
ReplyDeleteWhat? You are just now learning about Hillsdale?((grin)) --I was accepted to Hillsdale, however, I declined as we didn't want to move, hence one of the reasons for picking Geneseo.
ReplyDeleteMarijuana is a gateway drug, and no one can convince me it isn't. smiles
I know! I'm behind the curve. I'm glad Hillsdale hasn't been drummed out of academia. I'm sure the leftists have them in their sights.
ReplyDeleteYes, marijuana clearly leads many people to experiment with even worse drugs. As long as all the potheads move to California, and California then gets expelled from the Union, the problem should take care of itself!
Dr. Waddy: At some point we are going to have to confront CA and NY and this may mean our invitation to them to leave our union. And good riddance I say. Let them thrash, as they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be sorry to see these blue states go, Jack, but wouldn't that turn you and me into refugees? I say let's find a way of restoring electoral sanity to blue states. One man, one vote? How about one county, one vote instead? I like those odds better.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: Yes: in lauding some future Singaporelike expulsion of NY and CA, I forgot to consider the millions in both those states that are of the real America. Perhaps the solution would be to offer all of that conviction VERY favorable resettlement in the real America? I know that is presumptuous at least but what can we do? We must confront this existential political malignancy. Yes, as a NY landowner, I wonder what my fate might be. Yet, that might still afford me and mine favorable conditions for emigration, since Cuomo and his ilk so very much wish our departure from their leftist fief.
ReplyDeleteJack, an exchange of populations between red and blue states is a possibility. Heck, it's already happening. My hunch, though, is that ultimately supremacy will be decided on a national basis. The bonds holding this country together are immensely strong. The bonds cementing our mutual respect and our adherence to democratic norms, on the other hand, grow weaker every day.
ReplyDelete