Many readers may recall, or perhaps have seen, the film "Reefer Madness" - a 1936 propaganda exploitation effort revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana. Their travails extend from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, and descent into madness. The obvious purpose was to scare the living bejeezus out of any kid to not even think of trying "demon weed". The message was it would wreck young lives leaving them broken husks - much like modern Xtian fundamentalism has wrought on too many minds these days.
Anyway, the film was directed by Louis Gasnier and starred a cast composed of mostly unknown bit actors.
Originally it had been financed by a church group (Wouldn't ya know?) under the title "Tell Your Children". Its primary mandate was circulation and screening to parents as a putative morality tale, attempting to teach them about the dangers of any cannabis use by their kiddies. Perhaps two decades later, any viewing of this dreck became so laughable that it emerged as a cult film - shown to audiences primarily as joke material. Which is rightly the niche to which it belongs.
Flash forward to today, and we still behold would-be propagandizing clowns - like a certain under-educated goober- who don't even bother to do minimal reearch before shooting from the hip concerning another state's MJ laws. In this case, it seems like my dumb turd wannabe Rebel bro didn’t take long to take umbrage at my post about his MJ bloviations 3 days ago. True to his bellicose nature he came out firing…..but alas…..all scattershot, ending up hitting himself in his own fat ass.
I am not about to reference all his assorted BS, but focus in particular on two aspects: 1) His citation of lengthy recycled bollocks from a known anti-MJ crusader link about the “ill effects” of MJ on youth, and (2) His claim that (in yesterday's blog post) I was "comparing apples and oranges" in highlighting the ill-effects, fatalities for DUI in FLA, over MJ -induced auto fatalities in Colorado.
Regarding (1), it doesn't take much Google searching even by a lamebrain to dredge up multiple anti-MJ sites (e.g. 'Smart Colorado'), then recycling their hogwash into a blog. That was essentially how Mikey consumed over two thirds of his last blog, by parroting one site and its "warnings" and how MJ will "tarnish" Colorado in multiple ways. All of these are exaggerated fear- mongering Agitprop -much like "Reefer Madness"- and all have been shot down by MJ legalization backers and groups. Multiple times. In Colo. we know such anti-MJ groups existed even before Amendment 64 became law, and I even referenced the efforts of Patrick Kennedy to form one of his own for a national campaign to halt any further state legislation to allow MJ, see: http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2013/01/patrick-kennedy-useful-idiot-for-big.html
I further noted that in taking this route Kennedy effectively became a useful idiot for Big PhrMA- much like Mike has become (albeit unconsciously) with his laughable anti-MJ, anti-Amendment 64 blogs. As far as the “risks” to teens, young people I cited a letter in the Denver Post which nailed such a red herring:
“There are many freedoms adults often enjoy that are illegal for kids, including gambling, drinking, smoking, investing, driving, getting piercings and tattoos, getting married, staying out all night, going to many concerts, working a double shift, etc. Granted, many of these freedoms could be considered bad for adults, too, but the “bad for kids” trope is nothing more than a cudgel designed to stifle honest debate. An unregulated black market is most assuredly more harmful to kids than a regulated honest market, and Colorado enjoys many economic advantages from the tax revenue these freedoms bring when adults enjoy them responsibly”
Of course, such points are way too subtle for a hammerhead like Mike! This stubborn tool- or more like a half tool and half fool, will always twist semantics to what suits his specious fundie agenda, and bring in irrelevancies and red herrings since he lacks any argumentative ballast.
This brings up his second issue for which I insert here his nutso response from his blog, for reference:
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"The FACT is that any would-be traveler is much more likely to be killed by a drunk in Florida than even sideswiped by an MJ user here in Colorado."
Hey, DUMBASS! That statement is true in any state! Why? DUHHHH....you idiot! Because alcohol has been legalized where MJ has NOT! When prohibition was in effect, deaths via drunk drivers were miniscule! Once it was repealed and made "legal," as time went by, alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes and deaths SOARED! As did overall crime (e.g., domestic violence, robberies, murders, etc!). Y'all wanna see MORE of something negative from an abusive substance? JUST LEGALIZE IT!
Hence, if your Libtard Guv and other politicians in CO decide to keep MJ "legal," keep an eye on your state's impaired driving deaths and injury stats THEN! Okay? Then let me know what ya find! (oh yeah, toss in the stats on the overall crime rate as well)
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Well, leave it to a brain damaged (at Parris Island) fucktard to restate the point I’d already made! I.e.
“Yes, the basis analog for the argument is different, but then he brought it on himself by harping on all the “ills” of pot use in Colorado – while neatly overlooking that marijuana is not the culprit in ANY state, rather alcohol is. “
But missing the boat as to the reason why! At the risk of getting even more subtle beyond his comprehension level, let me make this finer point: The WHOLE basis for Amendment 64 was the regulation of marijuana LIKE alcohol. The reason that the amendment surpassed (by a long way) the requisite number of petition signatures to get on last November's ballot - was because intelligent people, prospective voters saw the value in this equivalent regulation, despite the fact MJ has not caused one CO fatality (all Mike’s speculations aside or taking biased factoids from his anti-MJ sites). Indeed, the virtues of pot, in NOT creating analogous DUI-type havoc on the roads, or other crimes, were largely what drove young voter turnout in the state and 2 to 1 votes for the Amendment! In other words, DOH!!! - So long as alcohol consumption is legal in Colorado (and other states), criminalizing marijuana is fucking absurd!
In addition, people saw the economic benefits! If MJ is indeed regulated like alcohol then taxes would provide additional revenues! In a state drowning in debt because of too low state taxes, this is a godsend. In the case of Colorado Springs, for example, our medical marijuana businesses brought in nearly $1m in extra local tax revenues last year – enough to keep assorted gov’t functions going, including upkeep of parks and trails cleaned, street lights on and a few more schools open- as well as maintained. Does this matter? Ask the people who live here! One thing we DO know is that bringing in more military - as based at Ft. Carson- hasn't made a significant difference to state coffers! The drain on our schools, highways, hospitals has more than countered any tax revenue largesse.
Thus, the point this terminal idiot doesn’t grasp is that OF COURSE one is more likely to be killed in any state via DUI from excess alcohol BUT THAT IS EXACTLY WHY EQUIVALENT REGULATION OF BOTH – AS DRUGS- SHOWS THERE IS LESS REASON TO BAN MJ THAN ALCOHOL! In other words, when both (legal) alcohol and MJ are forced under the same regulatory standards, then MJ wins the benefits column by a mile! (And I won't even belabor the proven benefits of cannabis for cancer patients, i.e. in finding their appetities after chemotherapy!)
But trying to explain this to a dumb, Bars 'n stars- toting wannabe Confederate (he was actually born in Milwaukee- a fact he can never change) is like trying to explain differential calculus to ‘Sparky’ – wifey's and my favorite backyard squirrel.
He also commits the logical fallacy of "slippery slope" when he claims if MJ is legalized across the nation, like alcohol after prohibition – then we will all be on the highway to Hell with even more "evils", "abuses" etc.. We will have crazy MJ dopers running amuck just like drunks. But the stats again don’t support his fear mongering. We have had medical MJ for over five years now and no one is going nuts on the streets, despite the fact many more citizens likely avail themselves of it than really need it, i.e. for cancer or severe pain. But so WHAT?
As for the federal war on drugs and their prohibitions of a ‘schedule 1 substance’ even the most avid right wingers agree that all it has done is filled our prisons and at great cost, which we can no longer afford. This is also why a consistent majority of Americans support legalization for the nation. (By almost 55% to 45%)
The last irksome element of his endless gibberish is the nonsensical one that I am not entitled to be taken seriously if I cite links or info from state DMV urls to do with drunk driving stats, crimes, arrests! The reason? I never worked in law enforcement, or was a cop (like he was- though he spent most of his time beating in the heads of poor black sugar cane cutters in South Bay). But what does that have to do with the price of tea?
In fact, the argument is as fucking stupid and deranged as arguing that I have no right to blog on the Vietnam War, the wrongful way it was started or the atrocities committed, because I never served in the military. In like manner- though Mike is too dumb and blind to see it- his own pseudo-logic and arguments militate against him citing links to MJ from Colorado despite the fact he's: a) never been a lobbyist in the state, or b) has never been a legislator and doesn't know beans about the basis of Amendment 64. (Though again, he could learn and justify his blogs! But as in the case of evolution, the Big Bang, etc. he never does.)
In the end it's useless to try to argue or debate this character because he is totally ignorant of the basic parameters that apply to the content of any worthwhile argument. In this case, it's the Amendment 64 basis and legalization framework - to regulate MJ like alcohol has been. This being the case, there'll be no further engagements until he can show he can pass a basic test in logic, for which I provide a link here:
http://www.brane-space.blogspot.com/2010/08/basic-logic-test-can-fundies-even-get.html
My bet is that, like the biblical exegesis test, he will punk out. It's much easier, after all, to spout endless rubbish, ignorance and bullshit than it is to show he can truly engage on the same intellectual "battle field". Perhaps he ought to stick to the battlefields to which he's accustomed, i.e. bat and bottle fights in bars and .....with rogue gators in Lake Panosoffkee, FL.
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