Looking through the search list to see if someone had written a diary about this topic, I came across some brainwashed anti-freedom advocate trying to make the case against the individual's right to control his or her own body, to make the case against freedom.... he or she used the above title against legalization so I thought I'd frame this diary as a refutation to that weak, offensive attempt at a logical argument and make the case for harm reduction drug policy: man has been using marijuana for thousands of years to expand his or her mind and no tinpot despot or their brainwashed followers are going to stop it for another 2700 years.
2,700-year-old marijuana stash found
Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.
The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.
The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.
The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.
Now a quick refutation of the diarist who advocates for more despotism and selective prosecution of minorities and poor people , i.e. the bigoted drug policy approach:
"Marijuana Is Much More Dangerous Than Advocates Want To Acknowledge"
If marijuana exacerbates mental problems for some people, that doesn't mean that marijuana should be illegal. Prohibition policies cause more harm than good and "harm reduction" policies have proven effective in Holland, i.e. usage dropped when the rebellion factor is removed. Not to mention that alcohol and tobacco are worse for society and they are legal...
"Political Reality: Marijuana Lacks The Broad Constituency That Alcohol Enjoys."
So what? That doesn't make for a coherent argument for bad policy.
"Cultural Reality Underlying Political Reality: Marijuana Does Not Have The Same Roots As Alcohol"
Stupid argument. Holland shows that usage drops.
"Why Add More Social Problems?"
Stupid argument. Holland shows that usage drops.
"Is Legalization of Marijuana The Camel's Nose Under The Tent?"
Stupid argument. Holland shows that usage drops even when harm reduction policies are applied to hard drugs.
Decriminalization of the possession of soft drugs for personal use and the toleration of sales in controlled circumstances has not resulted in a worryingly high level of consumption among young people. The extent and nature of the use of soft drugs does not differ from the pattern in other Western countries. As for hard drugs, the number of addicts in the Netherlands is low compared with the rest of Europe and considerably lower than that in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Dutch rates of drug use are lower than U.S. rates in every category.
http://www.drugpolicy.org/...
I'll leave it at that. The diarist tries to be generous and claim support for decriminalization while spouting all the myths he or she has picked up from his or her propagandist. Bullshit: that diarist wants status quo and to hell with the consequences of bad drug policy on communities.
As to my lead-in news story, sure I'm mostly mocking the anti-freedom advocates rather than incorporating it into my harm reduction argument but that story shows that control freaks will never stop mankind from exploring both inner and outer space.