This might be your last chance to get stoned for a twisted ankle, Michigan

An appeals court today in Michigan found that so-called medical marijuana dispensaries, like those which have popped up all around Ypsilanti during this past year, are illegal. The following clip comes from the Washington Post:

Medical marijuana cannot be sold through private shops, the Michigan appeals court said Wednesday in a major decision that strikes at businesses trying to cash in on pot and cuts off a source for people with chronic ailments.

A three-judge panel said the 2008 medical marijuana law, as well as the state’s public health code, does not allow people to sell pot to each other, even if they’re among the 99,500 who have state-issued marijuana cards.

Big Daddy’s Hydro store is shown closed in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. Medical marijuana cannot be sold through private shops, the Michigan appeals court said Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011, in a major decision that strikes at businesses trying to cash in on pot. A three-judge panel said the 2008 medical marijuana law, as well as the state’s public health code, does not allow people to sell pot to each other, even if they’re among the 99,500 who have state-issued marijuana cards.

The court said Compassionate Apothecary in Mount Pleasant, Mich., can be immediately shut down as a “public nuisance.” The 3-0 decision means local authorities can pursue similar businesses, estimated at 200 to 300, in their communities.

It was not immediately clear whether they would, but state Attorney General Bill Schuette said he’s notifying all 83 county prosecutors.

Personally, I don’t care if marijuana is legal. All things considered, hugh-fructose corn syrup is probably worse for mankind. What I do have a problem with, though, is the ridiculous charade that so-called “medical marijuana” has become. As someone who knows seriously ill individuals who rely on marijuana to deal with the pain and loss of appetite that often accompany serious disease and treatment, I find the current paradigm, in which anyone can qualify by paying a graduate of a third-rate medical school his or her fee for a 2-minute consultation consisting of leading questions about carpal tunnel, offensive in the extreme. I say we just make the shit legal for all of those over 21 and tax the hell out of it. If people want to waste their lives on pot, let them. Just don’t ask me to pretend that they’re doing it for any other reason than that they’re lazy fucks who enjoy watching television while high.

update: As with all the medical marijuana posts I’ve ever written, this one is attracting a lot of comments, many of which refer to me as a fucking douche. Here are a few of them, along with my response.

THOM ELLIOTT:
“Lazy fucks” who “waste their lives”… sounds like the utter majority of yr countrymen to me, why the spleen towards reefer smoking? I know many perfectly productive humans who smoke reefer, and so do you. How many bars are there in MI? What kind of public nuisance are they? As far as I’m concerned the mundane over consumption of alchohol and its associated public drunkenness is one of our society’s most destructive activities. How many lives has drinking destroyed? How many crimes perpetrated by drunkards? Why is it deadly, dangerous products like alchohol or socalled antidepressants get a pass, and proven nearly harmless and *gasp* healthful substance is so oppressed? You have to have a card and jump through a bunch of hoops to engage in a harmless behaviour with positive effects for most and particularly the chronically ill, and you’re encouraged to throw yr life away with booze on billboards and advertisements everywhere you look.

I just don’t get it… this charade? The people who have twisted this nation’s youth with ritalyn to make them pay attention to nonsense, or have turned a generation of adults into amphetamine or morphene addicts with adderal or darvocet? These are the people who shouldn’t participate in the charade of making a harmless substance available in abundance?? If anything it was a positive development in the course of a deeply troubled institution. Why is it people on paxil don’t need special cards or have to go to “compassion centers”? Why is it legislation on oxycodone has no signs of rapid or unpredictable alteration? The only reason reefer is illegal to begin with is racism, these dispensarys are much needed business for our area.

DAVID GOMEZ:
You guys do know that Attorney General Bill Schuette has long standing family ties to Dow Chemical right? The largest chemical company in the world who makes a ton of money from selling their chemicals to big pharma, the same big pharma who wants to government to tell you what you can put in your body so that you are forced to use their products to treat yourself.

It’s not even hard to find dirt on Schuette, I did a simple google search and found a story from 1990 about how when he was a MI rep Schuette voted in favor of some things that would directly benefit Dow, the Midland MI based corporation. He also had Dow stock that was valued around 1.2 million at the time. He’s a corporate chemical boy just like all of the other NEOCONS.

Schuette doesn’t give a F*** about the will of the people or protecting our neighborhoods, all he cares about maintaining the status quo and controlling people’s lives. Yes, lets continue the War on Drugs which targets mostly minorities and is turning the US into an authoritarian regime.

GLEN S
Now that they have eliminated unemployment, fixed our failing public schools, rebuilt our crumbling infrastructure, and reinvigorated our dying cities — it’s nice to see that Michigan’s “small government” Republicans finally have time to turn their attention to more pressing issues — including cracking down (or at least, attempting to restrict) the outcome of a law that voters passed by an overwhelming (2-to1) margin, and which passed in all 83 Michigan counties.

MARK MAYNARD:
I know I’m douchey about some stuff, and I guess this is one of those things. I’ve got tons of friends that smoke pot. I’ve also go tons of friends that drink too much. In both cases, I think they’d be more productive if they did less of it. But, like I said, I don’t think that it should be illegal. So, I guess I’m on your side. I just think that pot makes people lazy. Like I said, though, in the whole scheme of things I think it’s better for society than high fructose corn syrup, which makes people fat and stupid. Sorry if you find this insulting. It’s just what I think. That doesn’t change the fact that I believe it should be legal. Nor does it change the fact that I know many people who need pot for medical reasons. I just find it insulting when I see young people in Insane Clown Posse tshirts and sideways baseball caps going into these “medical” facilities to get their pot. I find it insulting to those in society who really do need it.

PETER LARSON:
For the record, I also hate pot. I mean, I hate pot in the same way I hate Air Supply, Clint Black, Insane Clown Posse and mayonnaise. I also hate people that go and get wasted all the time and drive home rather than take a taxi.

I also hate the tired claims of weed as some kind of miracle drug. At best, it’s a mild sedative and an anti-convulsant. Not to say that those things don’t help people, but weed will not cure HIV, it won’t cure cancer and won’t keep you from being depressed and generally feeling like a useless bag of dirt.

By the “medical marijuana” advocates’ arguments, we should all have poppy fields in our backyards and home-grown heroin refineries in our garages. Heroin also helps people with chronic pain, depression and a variety of other problems. Granted, heroin can kill you, though driving while smoking weed can also kill you.

I am for the legalization of weed, but I personally think that these conversations of it’s “medical” benefits are vastly overblown (very little true science backs up much of the claims you see on internet discussion boards) and are counterproductive toward developing responsible drug policy.

Mostly, I think that weed advocates are much like religious zealots and are too clouded by their own love for the bud to convince me of much.

That’s just my opinion.

This entry was posted in Health, Michigan, Other, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

91 Comments

  1. Mike Shecket
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 3:09 am | Permalink

    Exactly! Back when I had my short stint in law school, I had to read about this Supreme Court case with this lady named Angel Raich. When you read her brief, she basically says that she has EVERY disease and is also allergic to ALL medicines (including Marinol, which is legal, FDA-approved prescription synthetic THC) and if she doesn’t get her pot, she will INSTANTLY die. Oh, and the pot completely cures all her ailments. It was absolutely preposterous–I couldn’t believe that any of the justices sided with her.

    Here is a DEA website that makes the point about Marinol…it really makes the whole medical marijuana thing look stupid.

    If anything, I think the whole medical marijuana ruse will delay full-on legalization for years because people will just be pissed off and distrustful.

  2. Casey Clark
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 3:40 am | Permalink

    You’re absolutely right. It’s much better and more productive for the same “lazy fucks” to become oxycontin-addicted, drooling idiots. We like our societal parasites to do it the proper American way, by helping to further line Big Pharma’s pockets.

    I really thought this sort of LAZY generalization was beneath you, MM. Unfortunately you trot out the same tired bullshit about how you “know people” who REALLY need the pot, unlike these poor ignorant leeches who just want to watch television (??? You really need to try something other than Ypsi ditch-weed), thereby giving the REAL noble sufferers a bad name..judge much?

    Oh, and this (offensive stereotype you present) is a “paradigm” now? Please. Only in the minds of elitist pricks who, by adopting this condescending attitude, betray their true aptitudes and attitudes. This, coming from someone who once played in a band called “Prehensile Monkey-tailed Skink?!” Mmm-hmm.

  3. Thom Elliott
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 6:04 am | Permalink

    “Lazy fucks” who “waste their lives”… sounds like the utter majority of yr countrymen to me, why the spleen towards reefer smoking? I know many perfectly productive humans who smoke reefer, and so do you. How many bars are there in MI? What kind of public nuisance are they? As far as I’m concerned the mundane over consumption of alchohol and its associated public drunkenness is one of our society’s most destructive activities. How many lives has drinking destroyed? How many crimes perpetrated by drunkards? Why is it deadly, dangerous products like alchohol or socalled antidepressants get a pass, and proven nearly harmless and *gasp* healthful substance is so oppressed? You have to have a card and jump through a bunch of hoops to engage in a harmless behaviour with positive effects for most and particularly the chronically ill, and you’re encouraged to throw yr life away with booze on billboards and advertisements everywhere you look.

  4. Posted August 25, 2011 at 6:45 am | Permalink

    I think the only thing dumber than pot is “medical marijuana.” Personally, I think they should make pot legal and “medical marijuana” completely illegal.

    No one with a medical license should be allowed to participate in this charade.

  5. Thom Elliott
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 7:04 am | Permalink

    I just don’t get it… this charade? The people who have twisted this nation’s youth with ritalyn to make them pay attention to nonsense, or have turned a generation of adults into amphetamine or morphene addicts with adderal or darvocet? These are the people who shouldn’t participate in the charade of making a harmless substance available in abundance?? If anything it was a positive development in the course of a deeply troubled institution. Why is it people on paxil don’t need special cards or have to go to “compassion centers”? Why is it legislation on oxycodone has no signs of rapid or unpredictable alteration? The only reason reefer is illegal to begin with is racism, these dispensarys are much needed business for our area.

  6. Jules
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 7:27 am | Permalink

    I’d like to give a shout out to Thom. Well said, brother.

  7. Jamie
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:00 am | Permalink

    I’m with Jules on this one

  8. Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:01 am | Permalink

    Thom,

    People on Paxil do need “cards” to receive medications. It’s called a prescription.

    My disparagement of “medical marijuana” is not an advocation of big pharma.

    T

  9. kjc
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:20 am | Permalink

    yeah pot’s for losers. get drunk instead.

  10. kjc
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:21 am | Permalink

    another thumbs up for Thom btw. i don’t get the lazy fucks shit myself.

  11. Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:39 am | Permalink

    You guys do know that Attorney General Bill Schuette has long standing family ties to Dow Chemical right? The largest chemical company in the world who makes a ton of money from selling their chemicals to big pharma, the same big pharma who wants to government to tell you what you can put in your body so that you are forced to use their products to treat yourself.

    It’s not even hard to find dirt on Schuette, I did a simple google search and found a story from 1990 about how when he was a MI rep Schuette voted in favor of some things that would directly benefit Dow, the Midland MI based corporation. He also had Dow stock that was valued around 1.2 million at the time. He’s a corporate chemical boy just like all of the other NEOCONS.

    Schuette doesn’t give a F*** about the will of the people or protecting our neighborhoods, all he cares about maintaining the status quo and controlling people’s lives. Yes, lets continue the War on Drugs which targets mostly minorities and is turning the US into an authoritarian regime.

    Check this out:

    Title: Michigan Democratic Party scolds U.S. Rep. Bill Schuette; says Dow millionaire voted the company line
    Source: PR Newswire. (Apr. 11, 1990): p0411DE009. From General OneFile.
    Document Type: Brief article
    Full Text:

    MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY SCOLDS U.S. REP. BILL SCHUETTE;
    SAYS DOWMILLIONAIRE VOTED THE COMPANY LINE

    LANSING, Mich., April 11 /PRNewswire/ — Michigan Democratic Party Chairman F. Thomas Lewand today reprimanded U.S. Rep. Bill Schuette for an apparent conflict of interest, a charge which stems from recent revelations that Schuette, while a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, cast a number of votes critically important to The Dow Chemical Company at the same time that he held a substantial financial interest in the company. On his 1989 federal tax return, Schuette reported income totaling $129,270, including $46,856 in
    dividends. Schuette’s campaign manager, Douglas McAuliffe, has said that about 90 percent of Schuette’s 1989 dividend income is attributable to the congressman’s Dow Chemical holdings, but added that he didn’t know how many Dow shares Schuette held in his portfolio. A little math and a few sharp pencils at Hart- Kennedy House came up with this answer: 19,344 shares valued at $1,257,362.
    “In a desperate effort to insulate himself from an embarrassing public revelation during the Senate campaign,” Lewand noted, “Bill Schuette has shot himself in the foot. What he is trying to tell us is that as a congressman, it was ‘all right’ for him to have a vested interest in the legislation on which he was casting important votes.
    “It wasn’t all right. Bill Schuette has every right to be a Dow Chemical millionaire,” Lewand said. “And he has every obligation to put his stock into a blind trust. To his credit, Schuette indicates that he will do that. That gesture, however, is just too little too late. “Schuette certainly had his eyes wide open when he voted for tax breaks for the wealthy and against tougher laws to clean up toxic dumps in Michigan. Those issues aren’t going to go away just because Schuette has his dividend checks mailed to a different address.”
    -0- 4/11/90
    /CONTACT: Steve Gools of Michigan Democratic Party, 517-371-5410 CO: Michigan
    Democratic Party ST: Michigan IN: SU: JB-SB — DE009 — 1628 04/11/90 10:51 EDT
    Source Citation
    “Michigan Democratic Party scolds U.S. Rep. Bill Schuette; says Dow millionaire voted the company
    line.” PR Newswire 11 Apr. 1990

    Yeah his daddy was in line to be Dow CEO when his family moved to Midland in 1959. His dad died, so what did his mom do? She got remarried to a guy who was on Dow corporate board ie she married another dude who was in line to head up Dow. Don’t believe the establishments view on the MMMA act, you’re being spoon-fed the same ol BS that people in AA were fighting against in the 60’s-70’s.

  12. Billy
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:46 am | Permalink

    Thank you Thom. Mark, you are a little insulting.

  13. Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:46 am | Permalink

    I think you guys are high.

    Mark said that he agreed that weed should be legal, but personally thinks it’s stupid.

    “Medical marijuana,” however, is the dumbest of all. It’s just a week kneed version of legalization and I think you both know it.

  14. Glen S.
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:47 am | Permalink

    Now that they have eliminated unemployment, fixed our failing public schools, rebuilt our crumbling infrastructure, and reinvigorated our dying cities — it’s nice to see that Michigan’s “small government” Republicans finally have time to turn their attention to more pressing issues — including cracking down (or at least, attempting to restrict) the outcome of a law that voters passed by an overwhelming (2-to1) margin, and which passed in all 83 Michigan counties.

  15. Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:47 am | Permalink

    “weak kneed”

  16. gary
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:49 am | Permalink

    i had high hopes that medical marijuana would spur the michigan economy — especially ypsilanti’s. instead of going to 3rd coast to get my medicine, i’m going to have to go back to buying it at the bus station. the only winners in this are the dealers.

    bill schuette is the worst kind of motherfucker.

  17. Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:57 am | Permalink

    @ gary

    Yeah but people will just roll over and accept their domination. We can thank public education for taking all of the fight out of our citizenry.

    Now we don’t even have the right to generate economic activity. Boy this is exactly what I was defending in my 4 years in the Marines. THis is freedom right? What a joke.

  18. Brainless
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 9:56 am | Permalink

    Yeah Mark, your statements were really fuckin’ douche-y. Fuck you and your prescription pain meds. I’m gonna go be lazy now because clearly only assholes who give their money to Pfizer can be trusted to get anything done around here.

  19. Posted August 25, 2011 at 10:21 am | Permalink

    @ Mike Shecket

    You’re pretty naive if you really believe anything federal law enforcement agencies tell you about “drugs”. Google operation fast and furious. The CIA, FBI, and BATF gave Mexican drug cartels weapons to make it look like gun sales were out of control. A border patrol agent was killed with one of the weapons the feds gave to the cartels.

    Those same guns that were distributed by the feds have been linked to at least 11 other crimes.

    Also in court documents one of the cartel guys alleges that the feds allowed a big airplane of cocaine to come into the US molested. This is just recently, its not the first time that the supposed “drug warriors” have been caught helping get drugs into the country.

    If you know history then you know the feds have done dirty deal with the mob and types of dangerous criminals. But keep on repeating the same tired lies like a good little trained parrot.

    Just proves that most people who got to law school know nothing about law or real life.

  20. Posted August 25, 2011 at 10:25 am | Permalink

    I think Thom Elliott’s words above — both sets — are right on the money. The weird judgement surrounding this issue is out of control here. Everyone needs to chill out.
    …now if only there was a legal way to do such a thing… Aw hell, forget it:
    Let’s build some missile$.

  21. Posted August 25, 2011 at 10:53 am | Permalink

    I know I’m douchey about some stuff, and I guess this is one of those things. I’ve got tons of friends that smoke pot. I’ve also go tons of friends that drink too much. In both cases, I think they’d be more productive if they did less of it. But, like I said, I don’t think that it should be illegal. So, I guess I’m on your side. I just think that pot makes people lazy. Like I said, though, in the whole scheme of things I think it’s better for society than high fructose corn syrup, which makes people fat and stupid. Sorry if you find this insulting. It’s just what I think. That doesn’t change the fact that I believe it should be legal. Nor does it change the fact that I know many people who need pot for medical reasons. I just find it insulting when I see young people in Insane Clown Posse tshirts and sideways baseball caps going into these “medical” facilities to get their pot. I find it insulting to those in society who really do need it.

  22. Posted August 25, 2011 at 10:54 am | Permalink

    And, for what it’s worth, I agree with Thom’s comments as well, and will move them to the front page.

  23. gary
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:02 am | Permalink

    what fucking planet do you live on where you see kids in insane clown posse t-shirts and sideways hats buying medical marijuana?

  24. Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:05 am | Permalink

    It’s called Ypsilanti.

    I don’t hang out in front of the medical marijuana places very often, but I had the occasion to be sitting in my car not too long ago, waiting for my wife and daughter to come out of the Rocket. And these were just two people I saw going in. I just use it as an example.

  25. Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:08 am | Permalink

    For the record, I also hate pot. I mean, I hate pot in the same way I hate Air Supply, Clint Black, Insane Clown Posse and mayonnaise. I also hate people that go and get wasted all the time and drive home rather than take a taxi.

    I also hate the tired claims of weed as some kind of miracle drug. At best, it’s a mild sedative and an anti-convulsant. Not to say that those things don’t help people, but weed will not cure HIV, it won’t cure cancer and won’t keep you from being depressed and generally feeling like a useless bag of dirt.

    By the “medical marijuana” advocates’ arguments, we should all have poppy fields in our backyards and home-grown heroin refineries in our garages. Heroin also helps people with chronic pain, depression and a variety of other problems. Granted, heroin can kill you, though driving while smoking weed can also kill you.

    I am for the legalization of weed, but I personally think that these conversations of it’s “medical” benefits are vastly overblown (very little true science backs up much of the claims you see on internet discussion boards) and are counterproductive toward developing responsible drug policy.

    Mostly, I think that weed advocates are much like religious zealots and are too clouded by their own love for the bud to convince me of much.

    That’s just my opinion.

  26. kjc
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:11 am | Permalink

    You should definitely straighten your hat before buying marijuana. It’s just more respectful.

  27. kjc
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:16 am | Permalink

    “Mostly, I think that weed advocates are much like religious zealots and are too clouded by their own love for the bud to convince me of much.”

    it’s ok. we all have our prejudices. and on some issues we decide what we think in advance based on our own experiences and then parade those views like knowledge or wisdom instead of just our own limited experiences. the point isn’t what you think of weed. it’s that it doesn’t matter.

  28. gary
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:18 am | Permalink

    thanks for the info.

    the question now becomes how do we rid the town of these juggalos?

    i suggest humane trapping. we can release them in monroe county.

  29. kjc
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:19 am | Permalink

    lol Gary. they should be easy to catch. they’re headed to their couches to watch tv while high!

  30. Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:24 am | Permalink

    I wish there were a way for me to “like” your comment, Gary.

    It’s also worth noting that, as I was tying this post last night, I was just feet away from one of my best friends, who was smoking down on a big fatty.

    And I agree, KJC, what I think about pot doesn’t change the fact that I believe it should be legal. The “war on drugs” is an evil, racist joke, and needs to be stopped.

  31. Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:26 am | Permalink

    And, as much as I hate Jugaloos, the did throw feces at Tila Tequila.

  32. Mike Shecket
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:28 am | Permalink

    Why am I not surprised that nobody paid attention to what I said?

    I don’t like the way people act when they drink too much booze, and I don’t like the way people act when they smoke too much weed. But I don’t think either one of those activities should be illegal. It’s just that “medical marijuana” is a dishonest canard. It’s like if we still had alcohol prohibition and people were advocating “medical alcohol”.

    And I’m not saying that everybody should take Oxycontin instead of smoking pot. But under the current legal circumstances, and given that THC is available legally in pill form, “medical marijuana” IS a ridiculous, offensive charade, like Mark said. If you want marijuana legalized, I’ll vote for that, but don’t insult my intelligence by trying to trick me into it. Convince people, don’t trick them.

  33. gary
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:33 am | Permalink

    people get tricked into things all the time. so why is legislation any different?

    for example, last week someone asked me if i wanted to smoke a fatty. i assumed it meant smoke a marijuana cigarette. turns out it was slang for blowjob. boy, did i end up with egg all over my face on that one.

  34. Mike Shecket
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:34 am | Permalink

    Now, of course, speaking of “don’t trick people”, I surely can’t leave the DEA or DARE or whatnot out of this. When you’re taught as a kid that marijuana is exactly as dangerous as heroin, PCP and meth, then subsequently find out for yourself that marijuana is mostly harmless, you might well tragically conclude that you were lied to about heroin et al.

  35. Mike Shecket
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:34 am | Permalink

    LOL @ Gary

  36. Mike Shecket
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:39 am | Permalink

    @ Gomez: I did quit law school, you’ve got to give me credit for that.

  37. Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:55 am | Permalink

    Mike,

    I don’t think anyone here has said that weed should remain illegal.

    Pete

  38. Posted August 25, 2011 at 11:56 am | Permalink

    Oh wait, I see that we are mostly in complete agreement.

  39. Mr. X
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 12:15 pm | Permalink

    It wasn’t egg.

  40. Mike Shecket
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 12:32 pm | Permalink

    @ Peter: high five!

  41. Bob Krzewinski
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 1:15 pm | Permalink

    But what will this ruling due to the Michigan female photo model industry? There will be no more demand for photos of 18 year old women models with a stethoscope around their neck and carrying a clipboards who want you to give in to the fantasy that you will find them at your local dispensary. Sort of reminds me of the “physicians” in the Castle Anthrax in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

  42. kjc
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 1:22 pm | Permalink

    They’re still lazy.

    http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/08/98_of_florida_welfare_applicants_pass_newly_implemented_drug_tests_discrediting_governor.html

  43. Bob Krzewinski
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 1:22 pm | Permalink

    South Park had some real wisdom on medical marijuana. Ypsi even have a KFC like South Park!

    http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e03-medicinal-fried-chicken

  44. Thom Elliott
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 1:46 pm | Permalink

    A “dishonest canard”… do people who are sick utilize this service or don’t they? Where are people supposed to get legal reefer? Everyone is supposed to be a specialist in plant biology and wait for months for their own plants to grow in their special enclosure in order to participate in a legal behaviour? And if its restricted in some way to only dreadfully ill people, these are supposed to be the people tending these sensative crops? This dispensary system may be prone to abuse by some, but so can over-the-counter-cough medicine, or spray paint. To make the only real way to obtain steady supply of reefer illegal overnight, while we are in the bowls of postindustrial depression, could only have been the product of the shortsighted partisan political calculus or grotesque kowtowing to the chemical industry.

  45. Thom Elliott
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 2:03 pm | Permalink

    “I hate weed like I hate ICP”… well great, some classist strawmen. How many diabetic juggalos are there? I’m not even sure of any argument here, you think reefer smoking is tacky? And it should be completly legal, giving juggalos as much access as they please, but these dispensarys are wrong because juggalos seem to have as much access as they please (which is no arguement at all)? Any thought perhaps the reason why they are juggalos in the first place is that they are depressed? Any thought to their ignorence because they don’t have any advantages?
    Reefer smoking is surely the greatest antidepressant in the world, short of not being mentally ill (which has its own host of difficulties). Reefer smoking is conclusivly linked to all sorts of health improvements, from blood pressure on down the line, THC is filled with healthful chemical compounds, but you “hate” any talk from its advocates, and so there you go.

    “Home grown heroin” the terrible health effects of opium based drugs is well documented, just look at Krokodil. Heroin is legal, it flows through our population in the form of perscription drugs by the tonnage, given to us for twisted ankles.

  46. Posted August 25, 2011 at 2:17 pm | Permalink

    The only “conclusive research” that I’ve seen has been from impassioned individuals as yourself, hence my skepticism.

    I’m sorry I have an opinion about weed that you don’t like.

    I, for one, am not arguing to continue the senseless legal ban on it. I am arguing against impassioned bud mania disguised as scientific research and the spread of misinformation. I am positive that you will next post 10 links to website advocating for the legalization of marijuana with claims of how it cures all kinds of ailments from diabetes to cancer to HIV to cystic fibrosis to erectile dysfunction. It won’t change my skepticism.

    Regardless, I see a lot of weed smokers out there that aren’t doing very well healthwise, though that observation is entirely anecdotal.

    I’m not your enemy, man. I don’t think Mark is, either.

  47. kjc
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 2:23 pm | Permalink

    You make Thom Elliott sound like a wacko. I’m sorry he has an opinion about weed that you don’t like.

  48. Thom Elliott
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 2:43 pm | Permalink

    “I’m not yr enemy man, Mark isn’t either”. Clearly, yr both on my FB, I respect you fellas a lot, love Bulb etc, but y’all put yr opinions out there, and imma gunna comment on them, particularly when the content effects me personally. I don’t need to post any links, wouldn’t know or care where to look, something that has about a century of reasearch doesn’t meet yr qualifications I don’t know what will. I don’t think I called anyone any names or said anything out of line, but if this is a place to discuss, well by golly I’m here to discuss! It isn’t atall I don’t like yr opinion, I’m interested in yr arguements, or else I would take my time to address them.

  49. Thom Elliott
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 2:50 pm | Permalink

    Smoke weed everyday.

  50. Brainless
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 4:12 pm | Permalink

    I think you all sound like a bunch of stuck-up hipsters looking down on the most convenient group you could find (Juggalos) to make yourselves feel better about your superior, productive, weed-free lives. Not one of you even knows a Juggalo personally. So please lower your noses, oh great bluebloods of Ypsilanti.

  51. Mr. X
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 4:52 pm | Permalink

    Juggalos are people too.

  52. Mr. X
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 5:05 pm | Permalink

    Medical marijuana places in Ann Arbor are being raided by the cops.

    http://www.annarbor.com/news/crime/police-raid-medical-marijuana-clinic-in-ann-arbor/

  53. Posted August 25, 2011 at 6:17 pm | Permalink

    I personally know a Juggalo.

    No offense meant, Thom.

    If you want, we can meet and fight to some ICP.

  54. Alan
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:29 pm | Permalink

    “Lazy fucks” who “waste their lives” — whew! With “liberals” like this, who needs fascists? Your true home is the Republican Party.

  55. Maria
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:29 pm | Permalink

    What’s /Who’s a Juggalo?

  56. Eel
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:32 pm | Permalink

    This is a Juggalo

    http://www.rotatingcorpse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/juggalos.jpg

  57. Maria
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:34 pm | Permalink

    They are people who wear makeup?

  58. Maria
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:34 pm | Permalink

    I told you I am old.

  59. Eel
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:35 pm | Permalink

    And here they are in action.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKlpMxBX-jk

  60. Eel
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:36 pm | Permalink

    They’re fans of the Insane Clown Posse.

  61. Alan
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:45 pm | Permalink

    Mike Sheckit:
    ” If you want marijuana legalized, I’ll vote for that, but don’t insult my intelligence by trying to trick me into it. Convince people, don’t trick them.”

    Why should anyone have to be “convinced”? Don’t insult my intelligence by saying that there’s something that needs to be argued-for, here. There’s never been ANY sound basis for prohibition. The whole thing was a racist, classist, bigotted mockery from the getgo, and unconstitutional to boot. The biggest single impetus was to create a convenient “crime” which which blacks could be charged — blacks who did weird and threatening things like play jazz music. And now the bigotry is projected onto all pot smokers — “lazy fucks”, “wasting their lives”. You know, like the inner city niggers. Time for ’em to get off their lazy black asses and get to work. Right?

  62. Alan
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 8:46 pm | Permalink

    What are you afraid of, Mark?

  63. Mike Shecket
    Posted August 25, 2011 at 9:38 pm | Permalink

    @Alan: If there’s no sound basis for marijuana prohibition, and if, moreover, everybody believes that, then get a state referendum on the ballot, and while you’re at it, get a bill through Congress to reschedule or remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. If nobody disagrees with you, even for the wrong reasons, then you won’t have any trouble doing so.

  64. Posted August 25, 2011 at 10:16 pm | Permalink

    Hey, I personally know doctors, and have often talked with them about medicine and scientific method. They tell me that pain relief is subjective, and pretty much impossible to quantify; so doctors often recommend treatments without much scientific evidence (like acupuncture or marijuana), as long as they’re not harmful or contraindicated by other treatments. I’ve also sat up with friends undergoing chemotherapy, and they said pot helped with nausea. Chemotherapy is brutal, and if it helps, great.

    As far as I know, chronic use is not healthy (my pothead friends have asthma). It probably shouldn’t be combined with Faygo, either.

  65. notoneofthecoolkids
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 7:06 am | Permalink

    I agree with Alan…What are you afraid of Mark?

    Obviously its not alcoholism since this month your site is sponsored by beer, and the picture above this post you are drinking a beer. I even seem to remember a post earlier this summer about you being so freaking hungover you couldn’t get of the toilet…something to that effect.
    Oh but beer artisanal…especially the Corner Brewery ohhh yaaaa corner snob beer….mmmm…is okay because it’s not BUDweiser or BUD as in POT.

    I don’t know what girlfriend you lost to a pot head, or what pothead bands beat yours in a battle of the bands contest….but something must have happen to you to give undertone of hatred about MM or just plain Pot.

    You need to inform yourself much better about this topic before you use your so called liberal voice to condemn this law. I know TV is poison to you but why don’t you watch some documentaries about this topic…or even a recent MSNBC doc about Colorado’s legal pot Industry. The government has never really studied pot, but now the private sector is, at least in Colorado, they have developed NEW SCIENCE about the strains, what they do to the body, and which is best for what ailment. And it works! Amazing that you take a seed and grow medicine that doesn’t need ANY processing. Also Amazing that you can get different results from different types of Pot. Nature is amazing isn’t it….

    But we will never be able to really study it if liberals like you are afraid that a people may abuse it FOR FUN, in order for some science to actually happen in this science starved country. So what if some people abuse it while working out the legal kinks, they will find a way to buy it to abuse it if it’s legal or not.

    My regular doctor told me 4 years ago to try smoking pot to help my appetite and to gain weight because I have a malabsorption disorder. It helped with my appetite, but I still could not gain weight. Since I found one certain strain of MMI have now gained 5 pounds for the first time in 10 years. My MD has expressed to me that will start prescribing it for menopause as soon as all the kinks in the law get worked out…guess that may never happen.

  66. notoneofthecoolkids
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 7:13 am | Permalink

    Hey Peter you can’t pick a poppy and lets say grind it into heroin! You are comparing making heroin to growing a plant. Oh god this is so stupid.

  67. Posted August 26, 2011 at 10:39 am | Permalink

    Thanks for sharing all of that. I’m happy to see we’re in absolute agreement that pot has medicinal benefits and should be legal, especially for those like yourself, who need it.

    Again, for those of you who are slow to pick these things up, my only issue with pot is that I’ve known extremely bright and talented people to depend on it, and waste their lives away. As I said, I also know people who have done the same with alcohol. And, yeah, these personal experiences of mine have influenced me. The bottom line is that I don’t want to take your pot away. I just don’t like the way that that “medicinal marijuana” thing was used as a backdoor to make it available to anyone. I think, as others have sated here, that we should have just voted to make it legal, period.

  68. wetdolphinmissile
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 11:07 am | Permalink

    I think most of the large majority that voted in favor of this law did so because they did not support criminalizing users or believed it should not be illegal. I cannot believe that so many voters supported only medical use.

  69. notoneofthecoolkids
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 11:19 am | Permalink

    still don’t buy it…if you are so worried about people being lazy and wasting their potential then lets make alcohol illegal. Come all of us have and full blown are armchair evening alcoholics in either family or friends. It’s true look up the stats.

    Glad you are worried about people wasting their lives though…

  70. notoneofthecoolkids
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 11:20 am | Permalink

    I met to type “full blown OR armchair alcoholics”
    sorry

  71. Edward
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 12:15 pm | Permalink

    Methinks someone doesn’t want to confront the very real possibility that he’s smoking his life away.

  72. dragon
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 2:55 pm | Permalink

    notoneofthecoolkids,
    According to mark’s cause and effect equation,

    smoking pot=Lazy fuck who watches t.v. all day

    I suggest you become a sumo wrestler in your attempt to gain weight.

  73. Posted August 26, 2011 at 4:07 pm | Permalink

    in response to this specifically:

    “I just find it insulting when I see young people in Insane Clown Posse tshirts and sideways baseball caps going into these “medical” facilities to get their pot. I find it insulting to those in society who really do need it.”

    i dislike ICP as much as the next brain-live person (for their musical content)… but how do you know a kid with an ICP shirt doesn’t have Crohn’s disease? or a degenerative disc problem in his back? or chronic debilitating migraines? or early stage cancer? you can’t tell ANY of that just from looking at a kid.

    furthermore, when marijuana was completely illegal, people who needed it for medical reasons were forced to get it on the black market. ever try to buy drugs when you look like a clean cut “normal” person? you’ll get told you “look like a cop” almost every time (unless you know the person). so, over the past decades, people who needed medical marijuana were often socially coerced to appear a certain way in order to easily obtain their medicine. often times that ended up meaning that they would then fall in with certain empathetic individuals who would often have their own agendas (like turning sick people onto ICP or the Grateful Dead). and well, since those people were already living in a subculture they were slowly co-opted into by their need to easily obtain marijuana for medical reasons, maybe they started to like being part of a group that emphasized being “against the man” in one way or another. maybe they liked it enough to co-opt that lifestyle aside from the need to easily obtain medicine?

    the idea that you can’t look like a stoner and still be a real candidate for medical marijuana is just simply a joke. if i’m a 40 year old guy with Crohn’s who started looking more like a hippie 20 years ago to obtain marijuana more easily and then started to like hippies… well, the second medical marijuana became legal i should have immediately started looking “legit” just so people judging the system could say by looking at me whether or not i was a proper candidate for medical marijuana… REALLY?

    i don’t condone the idea that we should disguise ourselves to get the things we need in life, but to think that it didn’t happen on a social level (at least) for many legitimate medical marijuana users over the past decades of prohibition is just laughable.

  74. Posted August 26, 2011 at 4:09 pm | Permalink

    by the way, that’s not meant to be a tirade against you mark… just a tirade against people who look at medical marijuana users of different styles and think they can tell who is a legitimate candidate and who is not. we simply can’t judge a book by it’s cover.

  75. Posted August 26, 2011 at 6:10 pm | Permalink

    It has been well established that “doctors” that work for some medical MJ establishments are merely paid lackies that sign off “prescriptions” for MJ for cash.

    It got so bad in Colorado, that they introduced a law to adress it. I just read a paper on it today and it pretty much summed up what I think about “medical MJ.”

    I don’t think Mark is off the mark.

    If, as in the case of a previous commentor, one’s primary care phsycian recommends MJ as part of some treatment regimine, I see no problem. That physician is well aware of the conditions of the patient, the possible risk to that patient’s wellbeing and the possible benefits. There is no conflict of interest in suggesting MJ as part of a treatment regimine, jsut as there would be no conflict with suggesting that one attend yoga classes or acupuncture.

    A guy with a $.50 medical licence that sits in a “medical marijuana” facility and does nothing but write “prescriptions” for MJ is a pot dealer, not a doctor.

  76. anthony anonymous
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 7:22 pm | Permalink

    peter, i agree with you on the difference between a doctor and a pot dealer. i never tried to be part of that conversation. i said earlier i was speaking specifically to the idea that you can tell who is a legitimate patient just by looking at them (and/or if they are wearing an ICP shirt). it’s funny that the same people who are discrediting the people with the “$.50 medical license” actually think they can tell who is a legitimate patient without even getting that license and simply looking at some kid walk into a store.

  77. Posted August 26, 2011 at 8:21 pm | Permalink

    I think Mark was the only one. Please leave me out of that.

    I never said anything about ICP tshirts and sideways baseball caps.

    I did say that I dislike ICP and pot, which I do.

  78. anthony anonymous
    Posted August 26, 2011 at 8:27 pm | Permalink

    ok, fair enough. we’re 50/50 on the likes.
    ps – i miss 25 suaves

  79. Posted August 26, 2011 at 10:46 pm | Permalink

    OK, cool.

    PS – Me, too.

  80. Posted August 26, 2011 at 11:10 pm | Permalink

    I have a special talent where I can judge people just by looking at them. It’s kind of amazing. It’s like I can see right through to their souls.

  81. Slip Slow
    Posted August 27, 2011 at 10:21 pm | Permalink

    I like it when my pot loving brethren elevate the evils of alcohol vs. the good of weed. Their defense is usually most passionate after they’ve had a few shots. I’m sure they exist (notoneofthecoolkids, or others, please feel free to prove me wrong), but I’ve never met anyone who smoked weed who didn’t also quite enjoy a glass or more of ale.

    And, most weed enthusiasts I know are rather puritanical when you ask them about coke or heroine. They like weed and drink, but anything else is too far. And, again, I’ve likewise never known a coke enthusiast who would decline a toke of weed.

    Solution. I think we should prohibit people with medical marihuana cards from drinking alcohol, since the one is so good for health and the other so bad. One is a vice, the other a cure,
    right
    ?

  82. jim
    Posted August 27, 2011 at 10:23 pm | Permalink

    You’re right on the money Mark. I get around town a lot and I came to the same conclusion awhile back, and though I may be judging a book by its cover, its the pot heads that keep these places in business. I can’t necessarily say I can point out someone in chronic pain in need of some weed to relieve their symptoms, but I’m pretty sure I can tell who’s a high on. Yes its profiling, but I bet the majority of the time you’re Right. Same as when you suspect that lady walking up and down the street is a hooke r. I can’t say for sure pot should be illegal. Some of the hardest working people I know were giant pot heads, yet it was a gateway drug for others I know. I’m sure it could be debated wether someone could do hardcore drugs without first using reefer, but I’m positive those I know did not set out to indulge in coke and other various drugs, yet I think they were attempting to find a greater high after experiencing the effects of weed. Me never being the one among the group wanting to smoke, it was pretty apparent the addictive qualities it has. Though they may not be chemically addicting as are cigarettes and heroin, it became their mentality. Weed this , weed that, it soon consumed their pastime. It was like sliced bread to them. So yeah, I agree it has a major downside. But hey, its a free country and people can waste their lives by drinking all the time, why shouldn’t we be able to get high also?

  83. Maria
    Posted August 28, 2011 at 5:08 am | Permalink

    I think pot smoking reflects behavior. People smoke pot, and get by. Smoke crack or inject heroine and someone’s life expectancy really is a risk.
    There’s lots of drugs out there for a medical problems. Some people may prefer medical marijuana, or then again, may prefer Xanax over Paxil, so I’m not so sympathetic to this is the drug that deal only with X health concern, and bodies change over time.
    But a dispensary for only one kind of drug, a drug whose response to a person’s illness isn’t being monitor on a regular basis by a health professional, is a bullshit setup. Shutting them down seems like a reasonable answer.

  84. Meta
    Posted August 28, 2011 at 10:17 pm | Permalink

    Obama Cracks Down On Medical Marijuana on the basis of the drug being addictive and unsafe.

    http://www.npr.org/2011/07/12/137791944/obama-cracks-down-on-medical-marijuana

  85. Posted August 30, 2011 at 11:26 am | Permalink

    “I have a special talent where I can judge people just by looking at them. It’s kind of amazing. It’s like I can see right through to their souls.”

    that must be like some sort of curse mark. you’re like the sookie stackhouse of ypsilanti.
    :)

  86. Elf
    Posted August 30, 2011 at 1:28 pm | Permalink

    Mark is more like Ypsi’s Captain Nemo.

  87. Posted August 30, 2011 at 8:05 pm | Permalink

    That’s Captain Nemo in Slumberland!

    [Damn, I think that would make an incredible idea for a Dreamland puppet show. I’d better write it down.]

  88. Posted August 31, 2011 at 12:02 pm | Permalink

    ha!

  89. anonymous
    Posted September 20, 2013 at 9:06 am | Permalink

    A new study on pot and motivation:

    “New research discovers long-term cannabis users tend to produce less dopamine, a chemical in the brain linked to motivation.

    UK investigators found that dopamine levels in a part of the brain called the striatum were lower in people who smoke more cannabis and those who began using the drug at a younger age.

    They suggest this finding could explain why some cannabis users appear to lack motivation to work or pursue their normal interests.

    The study, by scientists at Imperial College London, UCL and King’s College London, was funded by the Medical Research Council and published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

    Scientists at Imperial College London, UCL and King’s College London used PET brain imaging to look at dopamine production in the striatum of 19 regular cannabis users and 19 non-users of matching age and sex.”

    http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/07/02/long-term-pot-use-tied-to-less-dopamine-which-may-help-explain-less-motivation/56728.html

  90. Meta
    Posted April 22, 2014 at 12:38 pm | Permalink

    New research shows the harmful effects of marijuana.

    According to a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from Harvard and Northwestern studied the brains of 18- to 25-year-olds, half of whom smoked pot recreationally and half of whom didn’t. What they found was rather shocking: Even those who only smoked few times a week had significant brain abnormalities in the areas that control emotion and motivation.

    “There is this general perspective out there that using marijuana recreationally is not a problem — that it is a safe drug,” said Anne Blood, a co-author of the study. “We are seeing that this is not the case.”

    Read more:
    http://www.policymic.com/articles/87743/harvard-scientists-studied-the-brains-of-pot-smokers-and-the-results-don-t-look-good

  91. Aphex
    Posted May 27, 2014 at 2:24 am | Permalink

    Meth is better for twisted ankles.

One Trackback

  1. […] Amendment to Make Pot the Lowest Priority of our Police Force As we’ve discussed in the past, I’m not a huge fan of marijuana. I don’t think, however, that it should be illegal. So, while I have some concerns as to how […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Connect

BUY LOCAL... or shop at Amazon through this link Banner Initiative coal mining kids