Why Marijuana is illegal (Part 1)

wow. great job. alot of work goes into this effort.

Jello is awesome. I first heard this monologue about 10 years ago and I loved it! I still listen to it every once in a while, usually to share it with someone who hasn't heard it yet.

The animation is fine, good way to put this track to video!

Thanks Jack!

"Hey there fellow, with your "head" full of Jello ! What you trying to prove ?. Cause that's MY life there,and I'm a man who cares. And this might be all for you.." They should never have fucked with the U.S. Male.

This creative work has obviously taken an enormous amount of research. Also the animation and the idea behind it is very original and very impressive. I'm not a pot smoker either and I don't encourage it but I found the information relayed in this message to be convencing enough to win me over to the idea of promoting the industrial use of hemp and allowing people to make up their own minds about using it. Good work!

its like what Kat Williams says "weed isnt dangerous, it makes u hungry, sleepy, happy, but if you take 6 Asprines, it will be your last headache"

ive been to Amsterdam many times, enjoyed the cafe culture and had a great time, and never felt any ill effects.
i was prescribed Vicodin for a Hernia a couple of days ago and had a paradoxical reaction that almost killed me. my blood pressure and heart rate soared, i couldnt sleep for 36 hours, had racing thoughts and it scared the life out of me, and that was prescribed by a Doctor...go figure.

I've been reading the on going discussion about pot and I feel that I must try to provide a different perspective hoping that you will be willing to hear me out. Whether or not a government should control pot usage is a relevant issue. I happen to believe it should not. But there is another issue that I think is not being considered. I was around in the 60's during the hippy generation when just about everyone was smoking pot. Everyone that I knew did. But you may have noticed that almost all people from my generation have quit smoking pot some time ago. There is a reason for this. We had our experience with it and then we decided not to use it anymore. We came to this conclusion because over time we learned that pot has some secrets that, after being used for a time, becomes familiar to many if not most of it's users. We noticed that as we indulged in our pleasure, little by little we began to lose our motivation. We seemed to be having difficulty having the desire to do things with direction and energy. At first we were content to get together and get laid back and enjoy a really good trip. That is until we began to notice that we couldn't stop being laid back while we were trying to accomplish something and we were'nt enjoying our trip as much. We didn't understand what seemed to be happening but continuing to get high every so often made us feel better so we kept doing it. Then some of us began to notice another change happening among us. It was a type of personality change that seemed to have it's roots in feelings of paranoia and the behavior that went with it. It doesn't feel good when you began to feel when you are high that there are narc agents around every corner waiting to get you. But what really felt bad was when you began to think your friends who were sharing your high were talking and thinking things about you behind your back. How do I know this was happening with others? Because as our lives began to get more and more difficult and things seemed to keep falling apart we finally became suspicious that this stuff we were smoking our brains with might be taking us on it's own kind of trip and we began sharing it. One by one we became miserable enough to stop smoking pot and one by one we began losing the symptoms caused by bombarding our brains with a foreigh substance. Was this the experience of a small group of pot smokers. No. It wasn't. In time there became a general recognition of these problems with pot and it gradually became a part of common knowledge. All over people were realizing that the pot experience was messing up their minds and their lives and they were quitting for their own preservation. A generation was learning a lesson about the effects of pot and of drugs in general. And that's why with few exceptions we put it down and we walked away from it. Now a whole new generation is defending the use of pot as we did and swearing from their inexperience that it is harmless just as their parents did. They will in time and after an amount of grief come to their own conclusion. Weed is a mind altering substance. It distorts thinking and interferes with rational thought. And it is poison to a young mind. It robs school children of their ability to develope and grow. How can we ever justify soaking our brain cells in something that causes them to malfunction? Though it temporarily feels good It is a crazy thing to do. So maybe our government has no right to tell us what to injest into our own bodies. I agree with that. But please don't try to tell me that pot is harmless because that's a fallacy.

I agree, pot is not completely harmless, but it's effects are minimal for a good majority of people.

Personally, I have smoked it for about 12 years. The last 6 years of which I have been going through college to be an engineer.

I find pot does not lead to irrational thought at all. I love to get high while working on projects around the house or even at work if it is allowed. It seems to work like Ritalin for me. I can focus and stay on task much better. I have built a log cabin, done tonz of sheet rock work, built a large deck, a shop, and even restored a wrecked car while high. I even find that doing my engineering homework while high can keep me on task better than when I'm not.

So for me, your assumption that continued pot use leads to a loss of motivation, I have to disagree. I believe that a lot of the lack of motivation stems from this widely accepted stereotype. Some people may actually loose motivation, but more so I think people who smoke are more likely to sit around in the safety of their home and sitting idle while high will make anyone tired and lazy, you have to be active to enjoy it IMO (watching movies is ok though).

This also brings me to my next point. The paranoia issue... This to me is almost exclusively a result of the prohibition of cannabis. I think if it were legal and people did not have to worry about being arrested for it's use, then we wouldn't be so paranoid. It's this whole idea that we're doing something wrong and can go to jail and have our whole life disrupted because of our decision to possess and use a plant.

There are genuine cases where people experience extreme paranoia when high, but you know what? Those people will most likely not continue to use it. It is this function that provides self-regulation. If you like the effects you will continue to use it. If you don't you can always stop. The reason why you and your friends were able to quit so easily is the fact that it is not physically addictive and for most it is not psychologically addictive either. I often go weeks without it and I don't suffer any withdraw symptoms at all other than an occasional moment of boredom or when I'm working on a project and find myself wandering.

As for cannabis being a "foreign" substance to our bodies, you are wrong about that. Our bodies actually produce canabanoids naturally. Our nervous system has receptors for these chemicals. When we smoke the herb, those chemicals bond with the receptors in a completely natural manner, the only difference is that our body is flooded with the chemicals which produces an effect that science still can't describe. It is unlike any other drug in that manner. Other drugs like cocaine and heroine "force" themselves into serotonin and dopamine receptor sites. This is not a natural bond and is part of the reason why those drugs are so damaging and addictive.

All that said, I can agree with you to a point of how the effects change over time. I now rarely get all giggly and I don't really get the munchies (although food still does taste better). I occationally do feel paranoia, but that is usually brought on by certain people or situations where I feel vulnerable to legal repercussions. I still enjoy using it though, but I certainly smoke far less than I did back in my teens.

Bottom line, it shouldn't be criminal, it should be considered a health issue and left mainly to the individual to form a personal decision on whether to use it or not, and when to stop using it if they feel they need to. I think when we finally do decriminalize it we will see a dramatic change of perspective and a much larger focus on responsible and informed use rather than scare tactics and ignorant legal enforcement like we have now.