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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPot Is Safer Than Booze: So Why Is Celebrating 4/20 a Crime, While It's OK to Get Wasted on St. Padd
April 19, 2013 |
I spent last St. Patricks Day at the marijuana policy reform group NORMLs conference in Philadelphia. It was pouring rain when I arrived, and as I ran from my car through the University of Pennsylvania campus, I tried to discern the green-clad marijuana activists from St. Patricks Day revelers. I quickly realized it was not that hard: the pro-pot advocates, as quirky as the some of them were, appeared to have better control of their footing.
St. Patricks Day, though an Irish holiday rooted in history and tradition, is regarded by many Americans (perhaps on college campuses, in particular) as an opportunity to get wasted. Meanwhile, today, April 20, is known as the marijuana users holiday, 4/20. Across the country, stoners are gathering to defy the law and get high.
Both holidays, to some extent, celebrate mind-altering substances, but they couldn't be seen as more different by the law. You wouldnt speak with your boss about your 4/20 plans or come to the office in weed-themed garb. Thats because while alcohol is legal, m arijuana is grouped alongside drugs like heroin in the most restrictive category of the Controlled Substances Act, Schedule I. This is despite the fact that marijuana is by far the safer substance of the two. A scene full of stoners is far more peaceful (and safer) than a bar or city full of people who are trashed. But while weed is the subject of a decades-old onslaught of government propaganda decrying its supposed harm, our society glamorizes alcohol.
Unlike alcohol, marijuana use is not linked to increase in injury or reckless behavior, nor is it linked to violence or sexual assault. Alcohol, however, is.
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http://www.alternet.org/drugs/pot-safer-booze-so-why-celebrating-420-crime-while-its-ok-everyone-get-wasted-st-paddys-day?akid=10349.260530.DP2tsj&rd=1&t=10
OneMoreDemocrat
(913 posts).
fleur-de-lisa
(14,615 posts)TexasTowelie
(111,285 posts)but maybe this will make you feel better.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018369791
Please note the time (CDT) when I posted.
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)LuvNewcastle
(16,820 posts)tabasco
(22,974 posts)and corrupt politicians.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)gejohnston
(17,502 posts)hemp with newly developed nylon, distilleries had better lobbies (and Prohibition was fresh in people's minds in 1937) but, like many of our restrictions on liberties, just down right racism.
olddots
(10,237 posts)n.t
GiveMeFreedom
(976 posts)does pot? I do not know. Google is not, I repeat, not my friend, we are just acquaintances. Peace.