XPost: talk.politics.medicine, alt.politics.republicans, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5586538-marijuana-is-losing-favor-   
   because-it-is-a-truly-harmful-substance/   
      
   A recent study of dead drivers in an Ohio county found that 42 percent   
   were positive for THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana. Pot   
   apologists quickly noted that THC can be detected for up to a month after   
   use. But the national past 30-day marijuana use rate is only 16 percent,   
   and these drivers had average THC levels 5 to 10 times the state legal   
   limit.   
      
   Less attention was given to a global study released last week on life   
   expectancy, which showed one notable exception to the broad improvements:   
   Teens and young adults in western countries are dying at higher rates,   
   driven largely by suicides and substance use. And that of course includes   
   alcohol, but marijuana use is actually associated with more alcohol   
   consumption.   
      
   Marijuana users are five times more likely to become alcoholics. Up to 40   
   percent of marijuana users use daily, and up to 30 percent meet criteria   
   for addiction — both far higher percentages than for drinkers. Using   
   alcohol to excuse marijuana use or legalization is simply an exercise in   
   lazy whataboutism.   
      
   There is another important difference between the two: Nearly every   
   civilization in history has evolved with people using some form of   
   alcohol. No civilization has ever experimented with the types of   
   industrialized THC products that western countries are now recklessly   
   legalizing, commercializing, and normalizing. We might pause and ask   
   ourselves why zero Asian countries have done the same, and why China is so   
   anxious to promote this weapon of cultural suicide here in the U.S. when   
   it remains completely illegal there.   
      
   Speaking of which, THC strongly induces suicidality even in patients who   
   were not depressed to begin with and state legalization has led to sharp   
   increases in youth suicides. Up to 30 percent of schizophrenia cases in   
   young men are attributable to THC and such users are now responsible for   
   uncounted numbers of mass shootings. Like Robin Westman of Minneapolis who   
   wrote “weed (messed) up my head” and “if I could stop vaping I could stop   
   myself from doing this attack” in his manifesto.   
      
   Marijuana is also causing the same cancers as tobacco, dramatic increases   
   in heart attacks and strokes and quadrupling diabetes rates in users.   
   Ganja will not make America healthy again, let alone great.   
      
   Add to this the well-known adverse effects on educational achievement and   
   motivation and the costs of the cannabis culture to government budgets are   
   staggering. One study in Colorado conservatively estimated nearly 5   
   dollars in increased spending and lost revenue for every dollar collected   
   in marijuana taxes—even at a 15 percent sales tax rate.   
      
   There is no conservative case for marijuana legalization. Even the   
   libertarian case suffers from a serious flaw:  Libertarianism only works   
   when people are free to act in their own best interest, and by extension   
   that of their family, community, and country. Chemicals like THC are   
   designed to promote the opposite type of citizen. Libertarians should be   
   the most opposed to the drug culture because it undermines the very   
   premise of their ideology.   
      
   The utopian assumption that legalization would lead to a “safe and   
   regulated” product and eliminate the black market has now gone zero for 24   
   in our marijuana-legal states. Many legal THC products are also more   
   potent than even the now highly potent plant itself. The industry has   
   defied regulation and the black markets are thriving everywhere.   
   Legalizing marijuana to eliminate the black market is like giving your dog   
   ticks to rid it of fleas. You just double the infestation.   
      
   The politically driven potential rescheduling of marijuana, initiated by   
   the Biden administration, will only fuel this predatory industry with tax   
   breaks and marketing privileges. Republicans should note that young male   
   voters moved right last November even as Democrats were enticing them with   
   more weed.   
      
   Charlie Kirk gave his generation more credit than some Republicans do.   
   Despite the criticism, he stood up to the THC industry’s lies targeting   
   them. Republicans will never outbid Democrats in the race to the drug   
   culture bottom. Nor should they, as polls show public sentiment now   
   turning against marijuana.   
      
   Kirk knew that minds can be changed but facts cannot. Principled   
   conservatives should do more than eulogize Charlie. They should emulate   
   him by standing up for truth, his generation, and America’s future.   
      
   Matt Poling is a physician, Medical Director of Citizens for a Safe and   
   Health Texas and Faculty Advisor for Texas A&M Young Americans for   
   Freedom.   
      
      
   --   
   November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look   
   forward to America being great again.   
      
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama   
   / Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)