Why are YOU Still Smoking? Really.

Sort of an addendum to my last article...

Why are YOU still smoking? Really.

You GO, Boy!

It's not because there isn't a better way to get nicotine.  I've found a better way, in fact tens of thousands of prior smokers have found the better way, vaping.  It is true that technology makes our lives better.  We see it everyday, so why is it we're so quick to cling to a tradition rooted in tribal communities.  Smoking today is the equivalent to burning leaves and twigs in a tent to get your trip on.

Using a personal vaporizer (an electronic cigarette) allows you all of the physical naughtiness of smoking without actually introducing 4,000+ chemicals into yourself and those around you.  All you get is pure unadulterated nicotine.  

An e-cigarette in use.  Oh how different it looks!

Lets address that too, many people are still under the assumption that nicotine is the ingredient in tobacco that kills you.  If you believe this you are wrong.  The side effects of nicotine on the average person are comparable to those of caffeine.  It is the result of the combustion on tobacco that provides the majority of the 4000+ chemicals that are attributed to smoking aliments resulting in death. SMOKE kills, firemen and women know this, our politicians know this, our healthcare providers know this, why don't you?

Caffeine and Nicotine - CNS effects

But wait, maybe I'm jumping the gun here.  Maybe you do know smoking kills.  You've been using it as an age old argument against marijuana use for decades--even though it has been used in edible form for 100's of years.  Well, now vaporizers for marijuana use are prevalent everywhere and users are healthier than ever.  Users have naturally begun switching to vaporizers, not due to any societal stigma, but rather because it's the healthier choice.  Given a choice and with cheap enough technology people opt for the healthier choice.  Who wants the choice that sends them into the ground earlier?

Marijuana Vaporizer

Plus, both nicotine and marijuana are largely recreational routines.  Shouldn't our recreational activities be more rewarding?  The benefits of vapor over smoke are staggering in terms of enjoyment.  Taste, no comparison, vaporized nicotine/marijuana can be almost any flavor you can imagine.  Odor, again no comparison, vaporized nicotine/marijuana can smell like any of your favorite treats.  Plus you won't smell like cigarette smoke.  Did we mention the health benefits?

• Increased lung capacity (easier breathing)
• Increased lung function
• Increased blood flow
• Stabilized blood pressure

... this list could go on for a long time.

Chances are you've heard of electronic cigarettes if you are a current smoker. Hell, I heard about electronic cigarettes over 4 years ago and I wasn't even looking.  So if you are still a current smoker, why the reluctance to change?  Is it just the change, because I can assure you from my own and thousands of others experience there is nothing to fear.  The experience is so much more enjoyable and rewarding. 

Homework research - Information on the effects of vaporization:

American Association of Public Health Physicians

Health New Zealand Ltd. study

Journal of Public Health Policy 

Electronic cigarette Wiki

 

Marijuana Is STILL Illegal: Now You're Just Being Silly America

Marijuana Is STILL Illegal: Now You're Just Being Silly America

Isn't There a Better Alternative?

There is just no way around it.  Marijuana is illegal and alcohol isn't.  How can a society be so blind to the truth that we make deadly decisions and die, while better alternatives exist? The facts are the real crux to this argument.  We know that alcohol is toxic, so much so that we've gone to great lengths to make laws that protect us from ourselves while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage. We see each night the death toll rise from alcohol-related incidents via our nightly news broadcast.  We read about our neighbors, celebrities, associates, and even (heart-breakingly) our friends and family dying of alcohol consumption.  We hear the anecdotal evidence, and yet we continue to condone the use of alcohol.  I have to believe, I MUST believe that this is only a case of misinformation, because there is no logical argument, barring social engineering, that makes sense of a world where we promote a drug that kills tens of thousands each year while keeping a completely non-toxic alternative illegal.

Facts

• Deaths caused per year:

                        Alcohol induced - 23,199 (source:http://www.drugwarfacts.org)

                        Marijuana - 0

• Toxic deaths per year (deaths only from the direct consumption of a substance):

                  Alcohol - 331 (source: http://www.cdc.gov)

                  Marijuana - 0

• Ratio of a fatal dose to an effective dose (how much does it take to get drunk vs. how much it takes to die):

                        Alcohol - 10 (source: http://www.saferchoice.org)

                        Marijuana - unable to determine

"The acute toxicity of cannabinoids is very low. There are no confirmed published cases worldwide of human deaths from cannabis poisoning." (source: http://www.ukcia.org/research/AdverseEffectsOfCannabis.pdf)

           

• Number of patients admitted per year for dependence to:

                       Alcohol -73,000 (source: http://www.mercurynews.com)

                       Marijuana - less than 200

• Percent of rape and sexual assault attributed to:

                        Alcohol - 26.8% (Source: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov)

                        Marijuana - 0%

The Argument

There is no reason to keep marijuana illegal while we promote alcohol as the correct course of action for recreational use.  It is still amazing that given the choice, using marijuana or drinking a shot of alcohol, that alcohol pans out as the socially acceptable choice.  It's as obvious as a Jim Crow Law how wrong it is, but as with Jim Crow Laws people were willing to accept the ignorance of the law to adhere to the status-quo.

Unfounded opinion is what created the Jim Crow Laws just as unfounded opinion is what created our current (federal) marijuana policy.  It is hard in the argument, at this point, not to delve into a historical discussion of how marijuana became illegal, the best course then is to put the source on your screen and hope you feel the need to self-educate by clicking the link (Marijuana History)

Societal Pressure and Child Rearing

Even the wording used in the propaganda to enact our earliest Marijuana Laws sounds like it came right out of Jim Crow's memoir,

"... 'Marijuana Madness' is the belief to which the use of marijuana by colored people is said to cause excessive sex and violence, and threatens the safety of white women and children." (Source: marijuanatoday.com)

Other Notable Arguments that helped enact our CURRENT marijuana laws:

o       1920s: “Makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” —H.J. Anslinger, Bureau of Narcotics

o       1930: “Marihuana is responsible for the raping of white women by crazed negroes.” —Hearst Newspapers Nationwide

o       1932: “Hasheesh goads users to blood lust.” —Hearst Newspapers

o       1935: “Marihuana influenced negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows, and look at a white woman twice.” —Hearst Newspapers

o       1937: “Marihuana is the most violent drug in the history of mankind.” —Congressional Testimony, H.J. Anslinger, FBN

... and this is a truncated list.

Why do we promote our freedom and open-mindedness when we obviously have an issue making (or unmaking) the right choice?  If you had a gun that could kill 23 thousand people a year... well you would have a pretty good argument for that gun, but if you have a car that holds the same statistic, isn't it then obvious that you shouldn't buy that car?  Isn't it even more obvious when someone offers you an alternative that knocks that number down to 0 (or even nearer to 0)?

We were able to abolish the Jim Crow Laws because we knew they were wrong, we heard others echo our feelings, we saw the injustice, and we read the results of our inaction.  We continued to reform our laws and allow for minorities an equal measure to enjoy life and pursue liberty and happiness, so why did we stop before we addressed marijuana? It's just silly.

Oh, Homer *sigh*

Conclusion

This was a hard article to write.  It seems almost any approach  taken sounds widely biased.  I'm not particularly biased on the issue but the more I research our choice of recreational chemical I realize there are so many glaring double standards. It is often said, "We are not a society of critical thinkers" and every drunk-driver report on the nightly news reinforces this assumption.   

So why even bother? Why write an article that will clearly task society to use critical thought when most don't even know HOW to critically think?  It must be gumption, presumptuousness, and an inherent belief that critical thinking and solution-based problem solving are rooted in the human genome.  I believe... I have to believe, that America has had the wool pulled over its eyes.  If we, as a society, don't have the blinders on then we are lost.   

Critical thinking is not just some ghostly notion, or some novel approach to looking at issues. Critical thinking is the way we have survived and prospered throughout history.  Without this educational tool we will falter in the coming years, as our technology expands and our ability to communicate with other sides of the globe becomes as difficult as talking to someone in the room. At that point in time, is it really justifiable to cling to a social system that promotes a deadly poison as a recreational activity and keeps marijuana illegal?

Just changing your perspective to a informed perspective is enough.  This isn't a call to action, just a call for critical thinking. Just being knowledgeable is enough. At this point in time, in this day and age, ignorance is not an argument it is the promotion of a disease.