Hazy propoganda

[That Guy]

I know this has been touched down on a few times here and there around the Cellar, but I still have a few arguments about the legalization and general acceptance of marijuana and usage:

I've noticed the ads that are in place by "Partnership for a Drug-free America" and the like show it to be an extremely dangerous substance. A commercial I saw last night showed a kid grieving for his brother that was killed when someone under the influence (of pot) caused an accident. The narrator then announces that the driver of the vehicle was the older brother. And the end of the spot asks, "Still think marijuana is harmless?"

The problem I have with this is that any substance can affect your driving abilities - be it weed, alcohol, or even a bad hamburger from Jack. Even driving while distracted or sleepy could have influenced this death.

This type of campaign was also depicted in an ad showing a doctor in surgery that couldn't control his laughter, of concentrate on his operation. Who can say that this doesn't already happen with alcohol or readily-available (to doctors and the like) pharmeceutical samples? Why can't the anti-NORML people come up with something substantial to back their claims that this is a wasteful substance; that we should heed the warning that it melts your brain and doesn't let you follow a fairly fulfilled life?

My second point is that these ads show people "funding terrorist organizations" through the purchase of illegal substances, namely ganj. I never saw a report that every (or any for that matter) terrorist got a weekly paycheck from the cartels. I've heard that these people might have gotten some funding through those means, but I heard it from the same people that told me the gub'ment funded the Viet Nam war by selling crack in Harlem.

I think South Park approached and dealt with the issue quite well (leave it to the cartoons to clarify difficult problems). The parents on the show had hired a company to portray a "future self" that lived like a bum because he tried his first wacky-tobacky as a kid. Of course Stan (I believe it was him - correct me if not) figures out what is going on, and confronts his parents with the evidence. They can't 'fess up to the lies, but Stan explains that they have no reason to fear what may happen if they're honest with him. He orates that they can't tell him that he'll be a bum if he smokes, or that the weed that he buys will fund terrorist organizations, but that it's entirely possible he'll be content with doing nothing, and thus not living up to his fullest potential. That Stan's quite a philosopher.

Any comments?

<font size=-2>Aside: for the record, I don't smoke it, or anything - I just don't like being fed crap.</font>