Pubdate: Thu, 19 May 2016
Source: Metro (Toronto, CN ON)
Page: 19
Copyright: 2016 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/toronto
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3462
Author: Rosemary Westwood

IF WE WANT LEGAL POT, WE NEED TO FACE FACTS

Dear pot smokers: Please don't f--k this up.

We are on the verge of legalization. This is a pivotal moment in our
country. And some of you - actually statistically about half of you -
are ruining it. In a recent survey, conducted by State Farm, 44 per
cent of marijuana users said they don't think the drug impacts their
ability to drive a car.

Come on, you'd have to be high to believe that. I'm a little sad to
have to spell this out for you, but if pot didn't have an effect on
your brain, you wouldn't use it. It might be green and fuzzy like a
muppet, but it's a drug. Please treat it like one.

At least agree that limits to THC levels, as with blood alcohol, are
good. Perhaps you need evidence: While much more research needs to be
done on marijuana and its impact on the body (and undoubtedly will be,
once pot is legalized), a 2009 meta-analysis from Yale and a 2015
study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the U.S. both
showed that being stoned makes you a worse driver. If that surprises
you, please re-read from the beginning. Maybe you got distracted by a
flea.

The whole saviour complex some of you have with weed really needs to
stop. You can't advocate for its medical effectiveness on one hand,
and its lack of bodily effects on the other. You know the cliche that
stoners are dumb? Please don't give it statistical grounding. For
example, don't say, as 20 per cent of you did in the survey, that you
will never stop driving high.

Also - please consider a different spokesperson than can usually be
found at a 420 rally: the middle-class rasta-wannabe college white guy
with a phallic joint the size of a banana.

That guy is not the reason this country needs to legalize pot. His
individual desire to get baked pales in comparison to our country's
need to save the estimated $1.2 billion we spend every year enforcing
marijuana-possession laws. Or our need to avoid tens of thousands of
arrests, and the impact they have most especially on people who can't
afford a slick lawyer and those racially targeted by police. Nevermind
how unimportant rasta-dude's carefree toking is compared to someone's
search for relief from chronic pain.

You know that feeling when you're out of rollies? That's how I feel
right now. Disappointed. Pot legislation is only a year away. I should
be feeling good. Please stop crushing my vibe.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D