A New Plant In The Garden State

Corzine is pretty proud of himself for his final "accomplishment" before leaving office in legalizing medical marijuana. This is a travesty, and here's why...

Every other commercial on TV now is some advertisement from a pharmaceutical company, urging you to “ask your doctor,” about whatever drug they are pushing at the moment. Your average American with any particular medical ailment is not the same as a convenience store customer debating whether they should purchase Pepsi or Coke. In other words, only medical professionals obviously have a high level of background on the subject, yet these TV ads treat a drug like a can of soda. Yes, we should all do our research, but we shouldn’t be the ones suggesting to our physicians what prescriptions they should write us based solely on the information in some skewed ad we see while watching “American Idol.” These ads confuse people—there’s a reason not all meds are over-the-counter, and no thirty second description can give one the knowledge that someone in the healthcare profession has spent years studying. What’s worse is that these billion dollar drug companies have arrangements with medical offices and hold great influence over doctors—changing the manner in which they conduct their profession. They alter the field into nothing more than a cold corporation—and not a practice of providing health care. New Jersey has passed the bill to allow legalization of medical marijuana, so we may soon see ads now directing you to ask your doctor about this new “medicine.” The language of this bill is very broad, and Senator Madden (D-Gloucester), rightly argues that this “could replicate the kinds of abuses seen in San Diego and Los Angeles, where some doctors are giving marijuana essentially for every ailment they could think of—from premenstrual syndrome, attention deficit disorder and schizophrenia.” People argue one should have the right to “die with dignity,” what about living with dignity? Will it be the drug companies, the doctors or the patients who determine the level of one’s justification for obtaining pot? What about the fakers that just want to get high, who no doubt will easily be able to get their scripts? What about the doctors who choose to not write these prescriptions? Are they going to be hit with some ridiculous “discrimination” lawsuits? What’s even worse here is that we aren’t talking about pills containing marijuana ingredients—one would be allowed to actually legally get plants from “compassion centers” to grow in their home back yards right next to those Jersey tomatoes. Are members of the N.J. Senate so naïve that they actually think this is a safe and wholesome idea for households? “Barbecue at the Smith family this weekend, can’t wait to see how the garden is coming along!” Puffing on weed is now going to be socially acceptable in New Jersey and not a crime? What’s next, the legalization of heroin? Cocaine? Don’t laugh, we may see this stuff on TV in a few years. Maybe “Intervention” can sponsor? This is not a joke by any means. I can guarantee this is going to not only be a disaster, but it’s going to lead to more disasters. There is no way to properly regulate a recreational drug’s use so that it is only obtained and used in extreme cases of terminal patients—but even then it still should not be a justifiable option if you ask me. The bottom line though is that the government is not here to regulate such things anyway, especially at the expense of state taxpayers. Is “Obama Care” going to add in some new measure where I’d have to be forced to actually contribute money to fund these “compassion centers,” or be fined? This whole thing is sickening to me, no pun intended. However, I’m not going to smoke pot to try and feel better about it.