Sanjay Gupta Misses the Point on Pot
I may have given up my subscription to TIME magazine last year, but I still read it online. I ran across this little article by Dr. Sanjay Gupta — who seems to be everywhere lately, media-wise. Gupta gives us his reasons for not legalizing marijuana.
The great debate over marijuana is one that makes no sense to me. Granted, marijuana may not be the best thing for your health, but the question over the legalization of marijuana should not be based on health consequences unless those that criminalize are also willing to criminalize other more harmful substances like alcohol and tobacco.
Oh, yeah, we tried banning alcohol and that didn’t go over so well. Crime rose and people still drank. Police departments were stretched thin and people still drank. Huh, sounds like the same thing with pot. People still smoke. But unfortunately, those caught with even what is considered a “personal” amount may face time in prison for it. And our prisons are overflowing due to drug crimes.
In last week’s article, Dr. Gupta brought up the upcoming ballot initiatives in Colorado and Nevada that will legalize the possession of marijuana for adults over 21 years of age. Gupta then explains why he would vote no on that initiative. He points out the obvious, that pot may possibly lead to addiction. Furthermore…
What are other health consequences? Frequent marijuana use can seriously affect your short-term memory. It can impair your cognitive ability (why do you think people call it dope?) and lead to long-lasting depression or anxiety. While many people smoke marijuana to relax, it can have the opposite effect on frequent users. And smoking anything, whether it’s tobacco or marijuana, can seriously damage your lung tissue. — Time
Ok, seriously, this is why you would vote no, Doctor?
The criminalization of marijuana is built on faulty reasoning. Lots of things are dangerous for us, but the government doesn’t spend millions of dollars every year enforcing ridiculously punitive charges against people that are getting high “off the books.” If you could grow your own tobacco, do you think the government and their corporate benefactors would allow you to do so? This “crime” is based on politics rather than science.
Alcohol is still legal, and I am sure that Dr. Gupta would agree with me that alcohol is much more dangerous in terms of potential for addiction and deleterious health consequences. Cigarettes are legal, so smoke damage can not be the real reason for pot being an illegal narcotic.
And what doesn’t cause depression and anxiety in people? And who cares if you are depressed, your drinking water has residual anxiety and depression pharmaceuticals, so you’re covered. Alright, that was glib, but if you think about it, smoking pot can be considered a form of “self-medication.” So why are researchers and scientists and eggheads looking into why people feel the need to self-dose? Another glaring lack of science in the criminalization of pot argument.
First, I would like to see some hard science to back up the reason that marijuana is illegal and alcohol and tobacco are fine. And for a doctor to not address that the ban on pot lacks the science to effectively show that pot is more dangerous than other legal controlled substances is just silly to me. I would have been more impressed if Dr. Gupta had called for similar bans on other more harmful substances that are sold to us ad naseum during sports events.
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