Marijuana inhibits HIV in late-stage AIDS

Read the full story for the details, but it seems marijuana helps people with AIDS to fight HIV, at least in late-stage AIDS.

But I was taken by the usual drug lobby take on the phenomenon. Yes, it works but it:

"...causes the drug high associated with marijuana, making it undesirable for physicians to prescribe."

Because you know how undesirable getting high is, especially when you're really, really sick and looking for relief. They say they want to:

"...prevent further progression of the disease without the undesirable side effects of medical marijuana."

Damn those undesirable side effects! I mean seriously, people. They're talking about the high as if it's the bad part. Duh. This country has a bizarre relationship with marijuana.

The marijuana scam

The next act has begun. I've been telling readers that the reason Obama attacks everything marijuana is the backroom deal he worked out with drug manufacturers. They don't want you to gain any benefit from a simple plant that you can grow in your yard. They want to sell it to you.

The way they'll do this is by manufacturing something similar to marijuana, something they can patent and sell to you at an exorbitant price (while arresting you if you engage in simple gardening). The first stage in the main war has begun. Here's the key excerpt:

"[M]arijuana advocates fear that the government will use any new prescription products to justify a continued prohibition on marijuana use."

Uh-huh. That's the plan.

More on Mayor Mikey's pot mania

The only thing that matters.

The Mayor of Money, Mike Bloomberg, don't like him no black or Latino people, especially the young ones. So he uses pot as a device to obtain their data and fingerprints. You know, so he can arrest them later on and prevent them from bothering rich white people, i.e., his pals.

And you just watch. Mikey's gonna explode very, very soon over the OWS protests. He just doesn't get it. Why would all those people hate bankers, i.e., his pals? It just doesn't make sense to poor Mikey.

Bloomberg is the exemplar of the out-of-touch rich guy who lives in a money bubble. I hope he gets in a ton of trouble over this. He won't, of course, for the simple reason that he has money. In our current version of the United States, if you have money no one can touch you. I wonder what that feels like.

Why the feds raid legal marijuana dispensaries

It's simple, really: money. Let's start with a similar tale and then work our way around to marijuana. Remember when people used to be able to afford cigarettes?

Little by little, government put exorbitant taxes on cigarettes while outlawing smoking in more and more places. They said they did it for our health. Funny, that.

As the government worked to make it virtually impossible to continue smoking, the drug industry simultaneously set up companies to market nicotine in manners other than smoking. They produced nicotine patches and gums -- and then stumbled upon the holy grail: Commit Lozenges (now called Nicorette Lozenges). It's a pill you can suck on to get your nicotine. Isn't that convenient?

Nicorette Lozenges really work. I can confirm this. It's exactly like smoking a cigarette, but without the smoke. These lozenges are advertised as a means to get off cigarettes. But in the real world, people either go back to smoking cigarettes -- or they use the substitute product on a permanent basis. Yes, they get off smoking but they stay on nicotine. As a result, tobacco is out and the drug industry is in. How fortuitous for them! In case the message didn't get through, what I've just described is the wholesale transfer of an addiction from one legal party to another.

Bloomberg's sudden change of heart

Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of Money

The Mayor of Money, Michael Bloomberg, actually did something constructive this week. This article may explain why. I've said it here before: Bloomberg has been a monster toward young people of color.

Here's an excerpt from another article that explains the problem:

Just over 50,000 people were arrested on marijuana possession charges last year, a vast majority of them members of minorities and male. Critics say that as part of the Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy, officers routinely tell suspects to empty their pockets and then, if marijuana is displayed, arrest them for having the drugs in public view, thereby pushing thousands of people toward criminality and into criminal justice system.

Bloomberg duped young people of color so he could arrest them. That's the simple, verifiable truth. He sees New York City as a place for rich people and only rich people. And you know what color rich people are. So he gets his police to yank the people of color off the streets and thinks this makes the city more welcoming for rich, white people. It's that stark.

The "good news" is that he's finally directed the police commissioner to have officers, you know, follow the law. They can no longer trick young people of color into showing the (decriminalized small amount of) marijuana, and then arrest them for following an order. This has been going on for years. I hope a class action brings tons of money to the young people whose lives were derailed by this white man's "justice".

Alcohol kills. Guess what doesn't?

A mere plant.

"GENEVA — Alcohol causes nearly 4 percent of deaths worldwide, more than AIDS, tuberculosis or violence, the World Health Organization warned [in early February].

"Yet alcohol control policies are weak and remain a low priority for most governments despite drinking's heavy toll on society from road accidents, violence, disease, child neglect and job absenteeism, it said.

"Approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol-related causes, the WHO said in its "Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health."

But you can buy it everywhere in the country, and the deaths march on. On the other hand, you can be sent to jail for marijuana possession, despite it being a harmless drug. What's wrong with this picture?

No one has ever been killed by marijuana. As we all know, people smoke marijuana and become, if anything, more peaceful. Drink alcohol and go out and stab people or hit them with your car; smoke a joint and listen to music. That's pretty much the spectrum, yet the first is legal and the second is not. Again, isn't something obviously wrong with this picture? Our country has a totally incoherent posture on drugs, particularly marijuana.

Am I just going to complain about this? Certainly not. I've taken pro-active steps to change public opinion. In each of my three books, marijuana is presented in a positive light. One of my goals for my books is to repair marijuana's reputation.

Mind you, I still caution that young people should avoid it. I've told my nephews this. Let your brain mature fully (which doesn't happen until your 25th year; sorry guys) and then you can smoke dope as an adult, if you choose to. It does not have a good effect on the adolescent brain.

But overall, in terms of common sense, marijuana should be available to the public. And we need to rethink our cheery view of drinking alcoholic beverages. Just saying.