Medical (cough cough) Marijuana

. . . or 'The Farce That Is Medical Marijuana' . . . or maybe 'Living Next Door To A Perfectly Healthy Twenty-Something Who Grows And Makes A Ton Of Money.'

First of all, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have nothing against people who are really sick using marijuana to make them feel better. In fact, I support it so much that when my dear Aunt was in the end stages of cancer and unable to keep any food down, I went out and bought her a pipe and a small supply of weed. Me . . . wife of a cop. Daughter of a pastor (long since retired.) Ok, so maybe that last one isn't so foreign. PK's have a bad rap and there's probably a reason for that. But I digress (how unusual of me). My Aunt Madelynne couldn't keep any food down and we were willing to try anything to help her to feel better. I approached her (rather tentatively) with the idea of smoking pot to help her appetite and she was eager to try it. I was pretty surprised. Whether it helped her because of some chemical interaction or it helped her because she thought it would, it did help. She was able to eat and keep more food down than she could without it. For that, I am truly thankful for this "weed" that God saw fit to place on this planet. As seems to be the case with we human beings, though, we've chosen to take what He left here and distort and mutilate its' original purpose (whatever that was supposed to be) and turn it into something that ruins lives.

Now, if you were to look at my neighbor, you probably wouldn't think his life is ruined. Let's see . . . he's in his late twenties. He's on disability so he doesn't have a paying job. He's probably 6'5", 250 pounds and all muscle. He lifts weights, as is evidenced by the rather expensive set that he has outside the house he is renting. He has a new vehicle just about every month. His two pre-teen boys have just about every cool boy toy any kids could want. There are dirt bikes, a big screen TV, the latest in XBox (or whatever it is), a boat, and on and on. Did I mention the neighbor doesn't have a paying job? What he does have, though, is a rather extensive "grow" for his "personal use." Of course it's only for him because of his "disability." I'm sure that all those kids that drop by the house are just there because they like to visit with him. Never mind that some of them are more than ten years younger than he is.

He has more toys, more time and more money than my husband and I. That would be my husband the cop. The one who was just off work for seven months because of two knee surgeries from injuries sustained on the job (chasing bad guys). The same husband who works record-making numbers of hours of OT. The most was somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 hours in a two week period. Chances are really good that the OT hours will be increasing in the near future because more of the new guys are going onto bigger and better (and much better paying) departments. No. I take back the better part. I digress again.

The medical marijuana scene is an absolute fiasco. You have people like my Aunt who had bona fide reasons for using it. Then you have people like my neighbor who abused it. The majority of people in our area (The Emerald Triangle) are members of the last group. That's so unfortunate and it's causing so many problems for our little town. The folks who wrote the laws were pretty slick. They purposely made it hole-ridden so that they could get around the laws and make money. That's the bottom line, isn't it? It's money. The growers and medical marijuana (the bogus ones) supporters have a lot of money and they can get a lot of politicians elected. They know how to work the system.

"Oh, but it doesn't hurt anyone," you might say. What about all those kids who grow up seeing that the easy way to make money is by trimming pot plants. Why go out and get a real job where you have to have taxes taken out, when you can go do a little snip-snipping and get paid really well in cash? What about the home invasions and attempted murders that have happened in our area because someone wants someone else's plants? What about the home invasions that I'm not sure have happened in our area on WRONG HOUSES because the smell of weed is so strong and the invaders don't know which house is the growing house? What about the murders of people working in gardens or people stumbling through gardens? What about the smell? Geez, it is terrible! It smells like a skunk was run over in the road right in front of the house. And it doesn't just stay outside. It permeates everything. What about the transient trimmers who come into town and take advantage of the various free meal programs, taking food away from those people who LIVE here and who really need the help? What about those same transients who relieve themselves outside, camp around the town, leave their trash all over, etc.? I'm not talking about our local homeless people here. I'm talking about the kids who flood the town during trimming and harvesting time.

I'm sure if I had more time, I could come up with more, but there's my rant for the day.