Cannabis Freedom

Drug dependency takes many forms.

HT: Consumerist Photo Pool

cbs3.com:

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday."

While I believe that cannabis affects teens and adults differently I don't believe moderate use could actually cause depression. In fact, this study apparently does not show causality, only a "link", whatever that means.

Could it be that there is a "link" between cannabis and depression is because depressed kids tend to self-medicate with the substance that helps them the most? Legal prescription anti-depressants frequently come with FDA "black box" warnings that the use can contribute to suicidal and homicidal ideation, so those drugs aren't without risk either.

In fact, according this 2004 report, in a University of Washington study:

Medical professionals have theorized that depression is the cause of marijuana use, rather than the result. That is, people who are depressed use marijuana to relieve or “escape from” their symptoms of depression. Some studies have demonstrated that marijuana improves mood and that people who are depressed during the initial stages of an experiment are more inclined to begin, continue or increase their marijuana use by the time of follow-up.

HT: DrugRoar

Memphians set your DVR for Sunday 8:30 AM CDT on WKNO TV Channel 10. PBS is airing a special on the private prison business. There is a dangerous move afoot to corporatize the prison industry.

Prisons for Profit . NOW on PBS: "Corporations are running many Americans prisons, but will they put profits before prisoners?

A grim new statistic: One in every hundred Americans is now locked behind bars. As the prison population grows faster than the government can build prisons, private companies see an opportunity for profit."

This week, NOW on PBS investigates the government's trend to outsource prisons and prisoners to the private sector. Critics accuse private prisons of standing in the way of sentencing reform and sacrificing public safety to maximize profits.

For a great expose on the private prison industry driving the war on drugs checkout American Drug War, which I've mentioned previously.

HT: Texas Prison Bidness

From The Gates of Memphis: Opera and Go Go in Memphis:

25 years ago today, Memphis strippers and their supporters executed one of the strangest and greatest protests in Memphis' history. During the performance of the Metropolitan Opera's Macbeth at the late Dixon-Myers Hall, they stripped.

So some of us used to stand up in the face of tyranny in Memphis. Even as late as the 80's. It's not surprising that the women held out longer than the men. It's like the "Christian" Coalition road in and converted the city. If the conversion doesn't take you end up at 201 Poplar. Kinda sad, no one knows the address of their jail in any of the other cities I've been to.

Colbert remembers Albert Hoffman. Thanks Albert.

Someone very close to me was killed by a drunk driver years ago. I know how dangerous alcohol can be, but alcohol laws have gone too far.

Jeff Brown of Columbus, Ohio was arrested for DWI, spent four days in jail, and had his license suspended for six months when he refused to take a breath test after an officer confronted him on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Brown was walking his bicycle across his own front yard. Brown has since made a YouTube video detailing his ordeal.

via The Agitator via ShootBack.tv

The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law.

For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in the United States is closely connected with this.

- Albert Einstein

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