In case you guys missed it - watch the video of the Ron Paul and Stephen Baldwin debate on CNN first at:

http://govaporize.com/marijuana-legalization-debate-ron-paul-stephen-baldwin

The video accompanying this post is my response to the video that aired on CNN on March 13th.

Below are my references for my video, they will also be on my blog later at:

http://GoVaporize.com/cnn-marijuana-legalization-debate-rebuttal

http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths

Myth: Marijuana is a Gateway Drug. Even if marijuana itself causes minimal harm, it is a dangerous substance because it leads to the use of "harder drugs" like heroin, LSD, and cocaine.

Fact: Marijuana does not cause people to use hard drugs. What the gateway theory presents as a causal explanation is a statistic association between common and uncommon drugs, an association that changes over time as different drugs increase and decrease in prevalence. Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States today. Therefore, people who have used less popular drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, are likely to have also used marijuana. Most marijuana users never use any other illegal drug. Indeed, for the large majority of people, marijuana is a terminus rather than a gateway drug.

• Morral, Andrew R.; McCaffrey, Daniel F. and Susan M. Paddock. “Reassessing the marijuana gateway effect.” Addiction 97.12 (2002): 1493-504.
• United States. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Population Estimates 1994. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995.
• National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1994. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996.
• D.B. Kandel and M. Davies, “Progression to Regular Marijuana Involvement: Phenomenology and Risk Factors for Near-Daily Use,” Vulnerability to Drug Abuse, Eds. M. Glantz and R. Pickens. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1992: 211-253.

Myth: Marijuana Use is a Major Cause Of Highway Accidents. Like alcohol, marijuana impairs psychomotor function and decreases driving ability. If marijuana use increases, an increase in of traffic fatalities is inevitable.

Fact: There is no compelling evidence that marijuana contributes substantially to traffic accidents and fatalities. At some doses, marijuana affects perception and psychomotor performances- changes which could impair driving ability. However, in driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairment- consistently less than produced by low moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. In contrast to alcohol, which tends to increase risky driving practices, marijuana tends to make subjects more cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is detected in the blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. For some individuals, marijuana may play a role in bad driving. The overall rate of highway accidents appears not to be significantly affected by marijuana's widespread use in society.

• Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. “Legalization: Panacea or Pandora’s Box”. New York. (1995):36.
• Swan, Neil. “A Look at Marijuana’s Harmful Effects.” NIDA Notes. 9.2 (1994): 14.
• Moskowitz, Herbert and Robert Petersen. Marijuana and Driving: A Review. Rockville: American Council for Drug Education, 1982. 7.
• Mann, Peggy. Marijuana Alert. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985. 265.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

http://www.medmjscience.org/Pages/science.html

Myth: Marijuana Has No Medicinal Value. Safer, more effective drugs are available. They include a synthetic version of THC, marijuana's primary active ingredient, which is marketed in the United States under the name Marinol.

Fact: Marijuana has been shown to be effective in reducing the nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma. There is also appreciable evidence that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity in patients with neurological disorders. A synthetic capsule is available by prescription, but it is not as effective as smoked marijuana for many patients. Pure THC may also produce more unpleasant psychoactive side effects than smoked marijuana. Many people use marijuana as a medicine today, despite its illegality. In doing so, they risk arrest and imprisonment.

• Vinciguerra, Vincent; Moore, Terry and Eileen Brennan. “Inhalation marijuana as an antiemetic for cancer chemotherapy.” New York State Journal of Medicine 85 (1988): 525-27.
• McCabe M, Smith FP, Macdonald JS. “Efficacy of tetrahydrocannabinol in patients refractory to standard antiemetic therapy.” Investigational New Drugs 6.3 (1988): 243-46.
• Gorter, R., et al. “Dronabionol effects on weight in patients with HIV infection.” 1992. AIDS 6 (1992):127-38.
• Foltin, R.W., et al. “Behavioral analysis of marijuana effects on food intake in humans.” Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 25 (1986): 577-82.
• Crawford, W.J. and Merritt, J.C. “Effect of tetrahydrocannabinol on Arterial and Intraocular Hypertension.” International Journal of Clinical of Pharmacology and Biopharmaceuticals 17 (1979):191-96.
• Merritt, J.C., et al. “Effects of marijuana on intraocular and blood pressure on glaucoma.” Ophthamology 87 (1980):222-28.
• Baker, D., Gareth Pryce and J. Ludovic Croxford. “Cannabinoids control spasticity and tremor in a multiple sclerosis model.” Nature 404.6773 (2000): 84-7.
• Hanigan, W.C., et al. “The Effect of Delta-9-THC on Human Spasticity.” Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 39 (1986):198.

HEMP

http://hemp.org

Hemp.org focuses on the industrial uses of cannabis sativa, including paper, fuel, foods, clothing, building materials and, potentially, over 50,000 different products. Over the past 15 years the hemp industry has grown from nothing to nearly a billion dollar a year industry. But this is only the beginning.

Hemp can produce more fuel, fiber and food than any other crop per land cultivated. Hemp will be the agent of transformation from today's current dependence on nonsustainable, toxic petrochemicals to nontoxic, sustainable agriculturally-based alternatives.

The Latin name for hemp is cannabis sativa. Sativa means "useful" in Latin, and was given to only the most resourceful staple crops. Paper was invented from hemp in China over 2,000 years ago and a US Department of Agriculture report, Bulletin No. 404, "Hemp Hurds as a Paper-Making Material," states that a waste product from producing rope, linen, lace and fine paper, this hitherto waste product, the hemp hurd, or the core of the hempstalk, produces more than 4 times more paper than trees per land area cultivated.

The hempseed is higher than any other plant source for protein (though soybeans have more protein, hempseed is more readily usable by people). Hempseed, with 30 percent oil by weight, has an oil that is high in the good cholesterol, GLA, or gamma lineolic acids, and raw hempseed oil can also be used without any modifications to power existing diesel engines. Thousands of new natural food products are being made with hempseed too, everything from chips and pretzels to cheese and milk.

Hemp seed oil can be used as fuel to drive cars and heat homes because Hemp produces biomass, which can be converted into charcoal for electricity, ethanol, methanol and other sources of fuel. Burning biomass for energy, instead of fossil fuels, helps keep the carbon dioxide cycle in balance, and thus helps to stop global warming, instead of contributing to it as the burning of fossil fuels does.

Hemp produces more biomass than any plant practical for farming, substantially more than corn, sugarcane, or kenaf. One acre of hemp can produce 10 tons of biomass every four months of growing season. Hemp fuel is the most cost effective and environmentally friendly reusable energy source on the planet, and could potentially make the U.S. less dependent on foreign petroleum.