Unknown Thoughts on Marijuana

        Both sides of the fence have been fought on the issue of marijuana: Legal or illegal? In the opinion of many, including my own, legalizing the drug should become reality. It is understandable why many don’t like it; the drug has been linked to car accidents, robberies and assaults. Despite its existence in these incidents, marijuana does more good than it does harm: It has been proven that marijuana helps many health issues, relieves stress, and it is healthier than the already legal substance tobacco.
        Scientific studies have established that marijuana can help arthritis and glaucoma and assist cancer patients. A study dating back to 2000 BC China claimed that marijuana can “undo rheumatism”. (Russo) A study was performed on seventeen subjects where fourteen reported that the marijuana helped their arthritis. (Russo) The use of cannabis in arthritis patients has reduced the use of potentially harmful anti-inflammatory drugs, thus making the drug a true lifesaver. (Russo)
According to sources, “14% of all blindness in America is from glaucoma, a progressive loss of vision.” (Medical Marijuana) Tests were executed to see how marijuana affected people with glaucoma; they found that the drug lowers the intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients, which relieves tension on the eyes to clear ones vision. (Ophthalmology) This reduction allows an increase in visibility and decreases the amount of potential blindness in patients. With such wonderful proven benefits, how do we continue to outlaw this substance?
        Cancer patients of all sorts have suffered from nausea as a result of their chemotherapy. For patients to heal, they must undergo the pains of nausea: However, the use of marijuana has been known to minimize the nausea and increase the will to fight the disease. Not only does cannabis reduce the nausea in patients, it has also been discovered to cut the size of cancerous tumors in the lungs in half and “significantly reduce the ability of the cancer to spread.” (Science Daily) The use of marijuana for medical purposes is clearly necessary and without it the government is to be held responsible for the pain and suffering of the sick.
        Marijuana can help relieve disease in some, sickness in many, and pain in most, so why is it still illegal? Medical marijuana should truly be taken into consideration as an impressive option. The herb helps so many, but because it has hurt a few it is immediately deemed illegal in all aspects. Personally, if I was suffering from lung cancer and I knew that smoking marijuana could accelerate the healing process, and cut my tumor in half, I would – without doubt – smoke marijuana… who wouldn’t?
Tobacco causes more than 430,000 overdose deaths per year (Kavanagh) whereas marijuana has taken zero lives due to overdoses. With this in mind, why is it that the government has outlawed the safer of the two drugs? No rhyme or reason can be found to argue the validity of their lawmaking, yet many can be found to oppose them. Tobacco, “the leading preventable cause of death” (Kavanagh), contains 10 milligrams of Nicotine (the addictive drug within tobacco) in each cigarette, but one drop of pure nicotine would kill you. (NIDA) On the other hand, marijuana contains no addictive properties, especially none that would kill you. How, in their right mind, could the lawmakers of our country allow tobacco to be used freely among our adult population, yet restrict the use of marijuana to absolutely no one? It seems oxymoronic nonetheless.
        Truth be told, the only reason marijuana has such a negative connotation among my generation is that we have been conditioned to dislike the drug. From the youngest of ages we have been told that the herb is bad for our health, that it only causes harm in the world and that it will kill us. Conversely, quite the opposite is true: It helps many peoples’ health conditions, it does an incredible amount of good in our world, and it will in no way kill us. In 75% of the elementary schools in our country a D.A.R.E program has been implemented to keep kids off drugs. The program, to be blunt, is based on lies. The claims that the organization makes are inaccurate and hyperbolized, to say the least. According to a fact sheet put together by the D.A.R.E organization “no scientific evidence has been found that demonstrates increased benefits and/or diminished risks of marijuana use to treat glaucoma,” (DARE) yet all the research I have done has proven otherwise. An article in a 1997 issue of Rolling Stone could not have said it better; “Spokesmen are quoted by journalists and appear on the evening news and on talk shows, making frightening claims about marijuana’s harmful effects, spinning unproven theories and, in some cases, distorting the known truth in an effort to demonize even casual users of pot.” (Nadelmann)
        The argument of legality has carried on over many years and shows few signs of coming to an end anytime soon. Personally, I feel that it is time for change among the laws of marijuana use, whether it be for medicinal purposes only, or recreational use also: Whichever it may be, it is a step in the right direction and things can only improve from there on.





DARE. "Drug Information." May 2003. DARE. 11 November 2008 .
Kavanagh, Dr. Kevin T. "Cost to Society." 2 September 2008. Tobacco Facts. 11 November 2008 .
Medical Marijuana. Medical Facts. 2003. .
Nadelmann, Ethan A. "Reefer Madness 1997: The New Bag of Scare Tactics." Rolling Stone 20 February 1997: 51.
NIDA. "NIDA for Teens: Facts on Drugs - Nicotine." June 2003. NIDA for Teens. 11 November 2008 .
Ophthalmology, American Academy of. "Marijuana in the Treatment of Glaucoma." 2003. Eye Care America. .
Russo, Ethan. "Arthritis and Medical Marijuana." 2008. Medical Marijuana Testimonials. .
Science Daily. "Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows." 17 April 2007. Science Daily. 11 November 2008 .

America's Proctologist Called... He Found Our Education.

        So you want to know the truth about American Education? To be honest, you can’t handle the truth. No one can, because they don’t want to believe it. They will turn their back on the truth for fear of learning the truth. No one wants to see the truth behind his/her child’s or their own education. Especially not when you’ve spent the last twelve years of your life slaving to the standards of the “so-called” American Education. We are taught to pass a test for the first ten years of our studies and once we pass that, we are taught for the next test. MCAS to SATs are the make-up of our entire schooling. Not once have I been offered a class in Ethics, or better yet, Manners. Not once have I been offered a course in Appreciation. Not once have I been given the opportunity to keep my book closed and learn solely from my own experiences. The paradigm behind American Education is to educate by the book and for the book, not by the people for the people, ironically which is what our country was founded on. So why has our education stepped in the opposite direction? Why is it that we are not taught morals, or respect? Why are we not taught what we need to know? I have been told before that in school I am to learn theories and formulas, and on my own time I am to learn the “extra” stuff. The problem with this theory is that I do not know what it is I need to know.

        Too many times have I been faced with people my own age who are oblivious to the teachings of life. Too many times have friends of mine been faced with life challenges that they could not handle. Too many times have I seen these same kids break under the pressure. They know how to study, how to pass a test, and how to get good grades, but what they do not know is how to balance a checkbook, how to show affection, or even how to listen to their conscience. A key factor to making it in the big world is common sense, which of course is lacking in the majority of teenagers (and adults) that I know. I have yet to find many people who can make sense of the experiences that they encounter. They are lulled into the routine of acknowledging their daily happenings; however, they do not know how to delve deeper into the meanings behind their actions. They know what they’re doing is either right or wrong, but they do not know how to control whether they continue doing this or not. They wake up every morning expecting someone to explain it to them, but it never is. And so, again they look to the books that they have been given to teach them, just as they had been taught.

Bullies Do Exist.

Don't pick on my son... he's too big of a wimp to handle it.

Bullying is not the problem. The problem is that we have stopped teaching our children how to stand up for themselves. We have stopped teaching them to be strong, to right their own wrongs, to be better than their bullies and build character through their tormenting. We now treat the younger generations as babies even through their teen-hood. The children have become unable and unwilling to fight their own battles. Instead of standing up to a bully like I, and the rest of my generation, had been taught, these kids break under the pressure and give up – they quit without a fight.

Bullying is not the problem. The problem is that our children have become weak. The anti-bullying seminars are not going to help fix this problem either. You see, bullying will always exist. There will always be that group of kids that feel the need to show their dominance over the other children. There will always be that group of kids that falls victim to the tormenting. The anti-bullying seminars will not rewire the minds of any of these children. We cannot reformat the natural framework of the human mind – our youth will continue to feel the need for dominance, fall somewhere in between, or fall short. Without this standard make-up – that is to say if all kids were to fall “somewhere in between” – our world would be extremely boring as no one would be shaped by the mishaps of their youth.

Bullying is not the problem. The problem is that we as parents have lost faith in our children. We do not trust our kids to make good decisions. We do not trust our kids to learn from their own mistakes. We all try so hard to shield our children from suffering from the same mistakes we did, yet we forget that those mistakes have made us the strong adults we are today. We cannot prevent our children from making mistakes in this world. All we can do is teach them, show them, believe in them to learn from their mistakes and build character with each and every curveball this world throws their way. Our children need to be reminded on how to think for themselves. They need to learn that every single thing that happens in their day affects who they will become years down the line. They need to understand that they are responsible for their own lives. We cannot baby them any longer. We cannot protect them from the world we see before us. We can only educate them on how to take care of themselves should things go awry in their lives.

A Word to the Unwise, from the Unknown

The government was not created to prevent the wealthy from being wealthy. The government was not created to prevent the poor from being poor. The government was not created to prevent the stupid from being stupid. The government was created to regulate the basic structure of our nation and more so, organize our lives. It was created to ensure each citizen is doing his or her part to maintain our country. It was created to maximize personal decision-making and emphasize individuality. We find ourselves forgetting these facts when we put forth frivolous bills that are designed to control the thought process of our people.

As many fight for laws against smoking in cars we forget that the government was created to maximize personal decision-making and emphasize individuality. When we pass laws that control every-day decision-making we take away a tiny bit of the peoples’ freedom of choice. While it is understood the desire for these types of laws, we need to remember that the government was not created to prevent the stupid from being stupid. We cannot forget that as parents we make decisions that affect our children and it is up to each parent to make those decisions: we cannot make them for them. When we were children our parents chose the towns we lived in, and the schools we attended; they chose whether we would wear seatbelts in the car, helmets on our bikes, and the places we could go. They chose whether or not they would smoke in the car with us. The decisions of our parents made us who we are today. Each generation is given the opportunity to make these decisions for themselves based on the decisions made by their parents. As we continue to pass laws that are designed to prevent the stupid from being stupid, we forget that they have made these decisions and it is up to their children to make better choices in the future. We cannot reprimand adults for making (what some consider) “stupid” choices. We can however, inform them of the harm they may be causing. We can educate them, and their children, on the risks they are taking. We cannot prevent the stupid from being stupid. More so, the government cannot prevent the stupid from being stupid. Continuously it is forgotten that the government is not an all-mighty problem solver: it is made up of everyday people with everyday educations. They are no greater at making everyday decisions than we the people.

The government was not created to solve all the nations’ problems. As we continue to pass frivolous laws that attempt to control the decision-making of our people we continue to dismiss freedom and intelligence: we dismiss the necessity for the ability to choose right from wrong. The more decisions we make for our people the more we take away the ability for them to help themselves, and as we all know, God helps those who help themselves.

Here's The Deal.

First of all, welcome to the Unknown. Second, you better be ready for an interesting slew of commentary that this blog is about to throw your way. Over time, you will be inundated with thoughts, theories, rants, and opinions that you may love, hate, or just not care about at all. When reading the material that will be posted, please, for the love of whomever you worship, keep an open mind. The point of view you will be reading may be very different from your own, but in no way does that make it wrong (unless of course, it is a blatant lie). But in all seriousness, please attempt to see both sides of the issues at hand - seeing as there will always be two sides, it's just a matter of opening your eyes to find the other.

Okay, enough introduction. Welcome to the Unknown, and I hope you make it habitual to return.


Click Here to return to the newest post.