Prompted by “Big Government-Supported Study Finds No Evidence That Medical Marijuana Laws Encourage Teenagers to Smoke Pot”: http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/16/big-government-supported-study-finds-no
When I say Certain Drug Prohibition is an abject failure, I’m not exaggerating, so these kinds of statistics that for many years have never coincided with judicial application never surprise me.
Cannabis is not an automatic feel-good drug. By musical comparison, if you want to relax, you probably have a much better chance of achieving that result with certain classical, soft rock, ambient pieces (etc.) Blaring death metal until your ears bleed (for prime example) probably negates relaxation, and the same principle basically applies to cannabis.
If a user lawfully selects a “wreck” strain (or I’m guessing a strain such as “Pit Bull”, etc.), slams a few (or several) bong hits, then the psychological situation of that user may end up challenging for worst through best (some people are comforted by edgy effects, while others find varying degrees of mental discomfort — the latter never being a problem with automatic painkillers, which is a very key-yet-insufficiently-mentioned distinction effectively demanding drug class separation for educational — so publicly healthful — accuracy).
If a user lawfully selects a righteously grown “Grandaddy Purple” strain, keeps the electronic vaporizer at roughly 370 degrees, then that user probably tunes in with relaxation.
As popular and wonderful as the strain named “Blue Dream” is, the dream effect likely prompting the name may not be appreciated by everyone.
My point is cannabis can be highly nuanced (there are virtually an infinite set of options for psychological styling), so requires proper strain selection (including possible combination) to achieve a positive psychological net result fit for set and setting (cannabis is a psychedelic and its use is a skill).
As cannabis also avoids being a virus, people avoid it for basically the same reasons people avoid skydiving, roller coasters, etc. Prohibition too often negatively impacts the quality of the experience (as anyone with access to a nice dispensary can clearly attest), but does not squash demand or black market supply by any solid measure. Prohibition merely (and outrageously) puts illicit drug users at (a perhaps much higher) risk against public safety.
In economic terms, market saturation has been achieved with respect to illicit drugs, so I remain confident that legality (with the word-of-mouth naturally spreading outwards in the form of explanations of actual risks and rewards) would not change usage statistics — e.g. not a whole lot of people would run to the store to legally buy a 250+ microgram dose of LSD, if they truly understood the experience (probably just a ‘skydiver sized’ group). Salvia divinorum is a legal drug in many states (and even federally here) that supports my Market Saturation theory.
The mainstream public simply assumes prohibition works to at least some degree (our community leaders continue to insist upon sustaining it for tens of billions of precious taxpayer dollars annually, after all), so legality equals increased use (and abuse). That baseless assumption must be first addressed by repealing rights-infringing drug laws (a process already torturously, but effectively, occurring without prohibitionists capable of validating their dire prediction of disaster), before entertainers (i.e. good educators necessarily using entertainment for student interest) can properly reach out and educate the public about the true risks and rewards of any form of intentional perception alteration without fear of prosecution.
We’ve come a tragically long way from a nation ignited in violent revolutionary turmoil against law abuse to ‘law is always good for us’ (clearly proven by the ‘regulate and tax’ crowd sadly dominating the legality scene).
If law abuse (i.e. prohibition addiction — including the equally questionable textured prohibition in the form of rights-infringing regulations) does not face proper public intervention, then the horrific damage of prohibition will continue to apply heavy amounts of unhealthy stress — the actual cause of drug abuse (not drug availability) — against public safety.
I am an honest freak (or reasonably responsibly balanced "misfit", if you prefer) of an artist working and resting to best carefully contribute towards helping society. Too many people abuse reasoning (e.g. 'partial truth = whole truth' scam), while I exercise reason to explore and express whole truth without any conflict-of-interest -- all within a sometimes offbeat style of psychedelic artistry.
Spirit Wave Journal 
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