I just had an intense conversation with my mom about marijuana and basically how she thinks it's so bad and how I think it's so good. And is it just me, or do people that don't smoke pot extremely stubborn to the point where they are almost ignorant about hearing the actual facts about marijuana?
It's what they've been taught. The negative propaganda has been shoved down their throat for their entire lives. They haven't done any of their own research, and have no first hand experience. It's not surprising.
show her this article: "Top Anti-Drug Researcher Changes His Mind, Says Legalize Marijuana Thu, Jun 04, 2009 1:59 pm more: headline news, drug policy news, activism news Source: stopthedrugwar.org Posted in Chronicle Blog by Scott Morgan on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 9:52pm For 30 years, Donald Tashkin has studied the effects of marijuana on lung function. His work has been funded by the vehemently anti-marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has long sought to demonstrate that marijuana causes lung cancer. After 3 decades of anti-drug research, here's what Tashkin has to say about marijuana laws: "Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects," Tashkin says. "But at this point, I'd be in favor of legalization. I wouldn't encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don't think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm." [McClatchy] We've been told a thousand times that marijuana destroys your lungs, that it's 5 times worse than cigarettes, and on and on. Yet here is Donald Tashkin, literally the top expert in the world when it comes to marijuana and lung health, telling us it's time to legalize marijuana. His views are shaped not by ideology, but rather by the 30 years he spent studying the issue. He didn't expect the science to come out in favor of marijuana, but that's what happened and he's willing to admit it. Here's the study that really turned things around: UCLA's Tashkin studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise. "What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect," says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted. Prejudice against marijuana and smoking in general runs so deep for many people that it just seems inconceivable that marijuana could actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. But that's what the data shows and it not only demolishes a major tenet of popular anti-pot propaganda, but also points towards a potentially groundbreaking opportunity to develop cancer cures through marijuana research. Over and over again, all the bad things we've been told about marijuana are revealed to be not only false, but often the precise opposite of the truth. So the next time someone tells you that marijuana is worse for your lungs than cigarettes, you might want to mention that the world's leading expert on that subject happens to be a supporter of legalization" source: http://www.stopthedrugwar.org
go to norml.org and get the info, they have many many postitive scientific studies posted for printing, i would print them all and give her a novel size book of pro marijuana reports and go, here mom, this is the real info form scientists form around the world, not just propaganda. also show her the Laquardia report and the shacfer commision report that says our own goverment thinks it should be legal, everythime they have studied it.