Ann Coulter in my books just became to poster child for the misinformed - if not uninformed - when it comes to the use of marijuana, because of her comments concerning pot verses alcohol during an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan.
The interview revealed that she really has no grasp of the facts or the statistics when it comes to marijuana smoking. She defended alcohol as being less harmful and useful and smoking pot's sole purpose was to get high, not even acknowledging that marijuana has medicinal purposes, such as the relief of pain and an increase in appetite for cancer patients suffering from radiation and chemotherapy, not to mention many other reported medical uses.
Piers Morgan got into a heated debate with her, interrupting her several times to ask her if she ever smoked pot and to declare that there was absolutely no evidence that pot was worse than alcohol, which she never responded to but kept insisting to let her explain. Then, when she did explain, her explanation showed just how ignorant she was on the subject, as she is on so many subjects she talks about, at least in my opinion.
Of late, there has been much talk about marijuana and the legalization of it, especially after President Obama came out in an interview with New Yorker Magazine, saying:
“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.”
He went on to clarify that he did not think it was healthy and he did not want his own daughters smoking it.
In the interview Piers Morgan had with Ann Coulter, she made it well known that she liked her alcohol and sometimes-expensive bottles of wine costing $800 and remarked about the warm feeling it gives you. It was all about warm and fuzzy with alcohol for her but smoking marijuana only made one's eyes red and anyone smoking it were unable to follow instructions. Sure, try giving instructions to a drunk, like "give me your key's, you are in no condition to drive", which is something I have said a few times to friends and even coworkers. A likely response is "I am not drunk!" as they fall all over themselves.
There may not be a lot of evidence out there, on what the negative side of smoking marijuana is yet but there is plenty of evidence concerning alcohol. Drunk driving has killed hundreds of thousands of people over the course of its legalization; there are plenty of statistics on how many lives it has ruined, when it comes to families torn apart because of domestic abuse, agitated by a drinking spouse. Alcohol addiction has led many into bankruptcy, loss of careers, friends and lives endlessly lost.
I have seen the damage alcohol has done to my own family over the years. My mother married a drunk when I was too young yet to go to kindergarten and I can still remember his abuse of my mother and me and my older brother. He would come in drunk and take a belt to us children for no reason but because he felt like it. He beat my mother for no reason also, until her sister caught him beating her one day by walking in the house without knocking and moved her out the next time he was out on one of his drinking binges.
I lost a very precious person in my life, thanks to alcohol, my aunt Genene, the very same person who saved my mother and her two sons from an alcoholic husband and stepfather when she drove up on her husband's flatbed truck and told my mother to pack our things; we were going to stay with her for a while. She died at the age of 33, thanks to the abuse of alcohol. She drank every day, from the time she got up in the morning until she went to bed at night; that is if she went to bed. She was a very loving and caring individual. She had a wonderful personality and countless friends who loved her. She spent two weeks in intensive care after growing very sick, because of cirrhosis of the liver, thanks to her daily regime of brandy, apricot or peach. Then finally succumbing in death, she left a daughter and many others bitterly missing her precious presence in our lives.
I personally smoked pot for several years but gave it up a few years ago when I just did not want to go to the trouble to buy it illegally. While living in Los Angeles, I worked at a couple of very stressful jobs and coming home from work, I found smoking a bowl of weed would relieve the stress. I never became addicted to it and when I decided to quit, out of the inconvenience of buying it, I had no serious withdrawals except a bit of boredom. I probably would smoke it again if it became legal where I live, which is conservative Oklahoma, and they are now talking about it here after Obama's remarks. Believe me, maybe many conservatives do not know what marijuana smells like but they sure know what money smells like and if it was legalized here, the taxes would bring much need cash to the state.
As far as alcohol addiction, I have seen how difficult it is for someone to try withdrawing from it. I have seen someone having DTs (delirium tremens) and it is not a laughing matter. Someone does not die from overdosing marijuana, if there is such thing, but you definitely can die from drinking too much alcohol.
Therefore, as far as my own firsthand experience with both, I think the evidence is clear that marijuana is no worse than alcohol and from my seasoned perspective, I strongly disagree with the idiotic view of Ann Coulter and say, I think alcohol is far worse than smoking pot could ever be.
This is a republish from my website: Fidlerten Place