[Despondent]

Although I'm inclined to agree with you, Laura, it seemed like a *credible* argument *at the time*

[civilian_number_two]

All right! An argument about pot!

First, Ninja Duck: All the Presidents get their portrait in the White House. Why this late, I don't know. I thought it went up while they were in office. What do I know? I am Canadian, and Canadians know don't know jack.

Second, Heccubus: Carbon Dioxide good, Carbon Monoxide bad.


Back to the pot: Laura is 100% right. You dn't need to smoke pot to have an opinion of its dangers, its health risks, whatever. Studies have been done: it is less dangerous that alcohol. I could not possibly in one sitting ingest a lethal dosage of marijuanna, but I could easily hold in one hand enough alcohol to kill a large man. Alcohol is the direct cause of thousands and the indirect cause of tens of thousands of US deaths every year*.

Alcohol is legal because it was politically expedient to make it so. Marijuanna is illegal, again because of politics. There is a "slippery slope" argument, accepted by millions of lazy thinkers, that marijuanna will cause people to turn to heroin, which is arguably less safe (esay to die from), even though it is still way behind alcohol in deaths caused. It's a worthless argument, but that's the way it goes. Worthless arguments accepted by lazy thinkers is the stuff of politics.


Back to Clinton: he was pretty conservaive for a liberal, and yes, he bombed the bejesus out of people when he could have looked for a diplomatic solution. I don't think he ever held the moral high ground, and my feeling has little to with what I think of his affair with whatsername with the semen-stained dress. God damn! Stupid, mean AND ugly! I don't know about anyone here, but I wouldn't touch her with a rented dick!**


* Numbers entirely made up, and probably underestimates.
** All hostility exaggerated for comic effect.

[Jordan]

  i believe he made a lot of progress towards peace in the middle east, as well as left our country with a money surplus (which is now gone...oops) so dont knock slick willie 

Ha, he didn't do fuck all. His last days in office were spend desperately trying to fix up things at camp david, he like everyone else failed.

Clinton did not create the economic Boom, he rode the skirt tails of it. The economy started to fall in his last year. He got lucky.

[Ninja Duck]

First, Ninja Duck: All the Presidents get their portrait in the White House.

Ah, okay. I must have misunderstood the article. I thought it was going in the oval office.

Anyway, I'm sure Bill Clinton would be proud to know that his portrait sparked an argument about pot.

EDIT:

Studies have been done: it is less dangerous that alcohol.

That would be very interesting if the legal status of marijuana and alcohol were swapped.

PATRON AT DINER: Waiter, can you suggest some marijauna for my dinner?

WAITER: Try the Merlot.

[Heccubus]

** All hostility exaggerated for comic effect.

You did well with that, as I laughed aloud. Rented dick indeed.

[J m HofMarN]

Laura I kind of have to agree with you but I think that too many people get their information on drugs from the wrong sources. Do you find it odd that in our schools COPS are teaching people about drugs? That's a big problem for me and I pissed off the DARE officers to no end screwing up their arguments with my first-hand, statute of limitations protected experience.

If you are looking for information about smoking pot go to a friend who has smoked it or to a sane doctor. A doctor will know more about drugs than a cop any day. This is because doctors are scientists whereas cops carry guns and shoot the bad guys. Doctors and druggies should be teaching about drugs in schools, not cops.

I have smoked pot and it really dosn't do terribly much. The commercial where someone gets stoned and runs over some old guy is a load of shit, pot actually increases your perception. And for those nay-sayers who say it's as bad as cigarettes I point to water bongs, which are so smooth it's like smoking air. Or just eat the stuff. Little tip here, if you're going to eat an ounce of straight dry bud use some salad dressing, that stuff is gross when its dry.

I think pot will be legalized soon, I mean the rest of the civilized world has done it already and the US is just being a proud idiot. Clouds of dope smoke are wafting over the whitehouse and Bush and congress are still trying to figure out how to win their war on drugs. Ah well, it's cooler because it's illegal and the cops really dont bother us smokers out here.

Now on to the main argument about Clinton.

The countries Clinton bombed were being bombed to prevent terrorism and genocide, not for Clinton's ego or greed and Clinton did try to prevent civilian casualties. He chased Bin Laden through like three or four countries and two continents. Bush can't even find him when he stays in one.

And I believe Clinton was responsible for the economic boom, if for no other reason than that he safeguarded America's poor and gave the people faith in their country. A secure consumer is a spending consumer I suppose. The only industry Bush has boosted is duct tape and plastic sheet hehehehehe I cant even say it haha

hahahaha

Ok I'm done. As for what Clinton didn't do let's not forget that he was battling a republican controlled congress and if he had put legislation forth to say, say abortions are yummy or legalize pot the republicans would have used it for toilet paper and it would have been a defeat for him and defeats are bad.

[Chyld]

If you are looking for information about smoking pot go to a friend who has smoked it or to a sane doctor. A doctor will know more about drugs than a cop any day. This is because doctors are scientists whereas cops carry guns and shoot the bad guys. Doctors and druggies should be teaching about drugs in schools, not cops.

I have smoked pot and it really dosn't do terribly much. The commercial where someone gets stoned and runs over some old guy is a load of shit, pot actually increases your perception. And for those nay-sayers who say it's as bad as cigarettes I point to water bongs, which are so smooth it's like smoking air. Or just eat the stuff. Little tip here, if you're going to eat an ounce of straight dry bud use some salad dressing, that stuff is gross when its dry.

Salad dressing, hey? Hmm, might have to try that...

Basically, everybody listen to him, because he's said what I'd say if I wasn't inarticulate and bonkers...

[civilian_number_two]

I have smoked pot and it really dosn't do terribly much. The commercial where someone gets stoned and runs over some old guy is a load of shit, pot actually increases your perception.

Well, in my experience it makes you sleepy as well, so impaired driving is impaired driving. Anyway, the commercial is an example of a false dichotomy: you can have a world where pot is illegal, or you can have people driving around stoned all the time. Might as well say that with leaglized alcohol, the roads are blotto with drunks. Or because we have the occasional baseball-bat-wielding kille, we ought to outlaw the national sport.

Impaired driving is already illegal. It has nothing to do with the criminalization of marijuanna. That commercial is a load of shit, but in a more sinister way than you suggest.

[Despondent]

Dave Chappelle's comedy show had a bit where it was THE LITTLE GIRL who was stoned, and rode in front of the car.

I wish the US would ease up. I can turn to drinking, fine. But in my line of work it's not like I'm driving a forklift for goodness sake. And some of my craziest ideas have occured while high. Profitable marketing pieces have stemmed from the use of something I can't have. Pisser.

[Laura]

I don't think there can be any argument that DARE programs are useless. A classmate gave a survey in my psychology class last semester about DARE and drug use, and she actually found that drug use was more prevalent in kids who'd had DARE programs (not that it's necessarily a cause and effect relationship, mind you-- for example, DARE probably targets areas where teen drug use is highest-- but it still makes you wonder).

In any case, DARE seems to have little to no effect on whether or not kids do drugs, for just the reason you state. Police officers are not a believable source for teenagers. They're quite clearly biased: the information they give rings more like a fanatical opinion than fact. Teenagers hate it when adults try to pull the wool over their eyes, but adults can't help doing just that. Many parents are so afraid of their kids experimenting with drugs that they try to control the information, telling only the worst stuff. But once the kids know they information is being manipulated (and they WILL find out), how are they going to believe anything that is said on the subject?

I agree that doctors would be a better source of information, since they're much more likely to be impartial and to both know and tell the straight truth about what drugs do to the body. However, kids are so used to being hammered with anti-drug information that it's hard to say if they'd believe even that.

But you've gotta be truthful with kids. There is no way they will respect you if they know they're being lied to. And they know.

[Heccubus]

I see more people wearing DARE shirts (myself included) who never took part in the program, or believe in what it teaches. I'm sure that it was, at one point, a very ironic, in-your-face statement, but I think it's become more of a little indie fashion trend by now. As for the program itself, I'm not sure that it's really taken seriously by anyone aside from those who started it. I know a few people that took part in it in elementary school, and...well...Laura's classmate's findings would ring relatively true to me, let's just put it that way.

[J m HofMarN]

Thanks for the agreement, really glad that not everyone falls for that crap. Letting a cop teach dare is kind of like letting a communist hard liner teach about capitalism, it just shouldn't happen. I don't know which bothers me more, DARE or the pathetic programs put out by hte music industry about how downloading the long version of "Du Hast Mech" starves the children of American record producers.

I think these programs are just governmet intel operations. For instance, every time a kid tells a cop or record company official that Marijuana dosn't eat babies for breakfast or that music downloads don't make blood pour from our CPUs, they put that kids name on the list.