Do you know anything about electronic cigarettes? And how many people they've helped quit smoking (myself included)?
Sometimes the government doesn't know what's best for the people. That includes marijuana.
Sometimes the government does what's best for the people with the money (Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, etc ,etc, etc).
I'm sorry but your posts in this thread just about make me cringe. I think you need to research your opinions more, beyond how many chemicals are in a plant. Dig deeper before making up your mind.
If so, then they should soon get approval. True, sometimes government doesn't know best. However, we created these institutions to regulate drugs. Look at drug ads before the FDA- anyone could claim anything and fraud ran rampant. Now we have a bunch of red tape that keeps people in line. Yes, the red tape creates inefficiencies, but these inefficiencies, when compared to fraud, are the lesser of two evils by a broad margin. Sure, there is corruption, but when you look at the grander scheme of things, the FDA depends on its good name and thus needs to stay clean. It is in a very exposed position and risks its neck every time it lets a drug through. That's why the risk statements at the end of drug ads are so long and are read in plain English. They used to be jargon read at a speed that was at the edge of human comprehension. Proactive consumer protections are there, and the fact that we don't hear about them often means that they are doing their jobs. Yes, there are 'bad drugs' but they were there before, so it's not like we lost ground. Government is the way that the people regulate themselves. Even the founding fathers knew that there would be problems, and they were just as human as the rest of us when it came to their quarrels.
A bill of rights that is void where prohibited? Let's see: Freedom of religion? Check. Freedom of speech? Sure, you can't cry "Fire!" in a crowded theater, but the Pledge of Allegiance is not mandatory, nor is standing for the National Anthem. Freedom of the press? It's certainly improved since McCarthy's time. Right to bear arms? There are more gun purchase threads on this forum than I can count! 3rd Amendment? Check. 4th Amendment? Here I'd say that we've got some problems and need to stand up for our rights while allowing the police to take advantage of new advances in technology to combat crime. Tricky, I know. 5th Amendment? Check. The legal system is actually running like a well-oiled (no pun intended) machine. 6th Amendment? Same. 7th Amendment? Same. 8th Amendment? Yeah, we've got some issues to figure out here, too. Let's not paint villains, though, it makes things harder. 9th. Check. 10th. We fought that battle in the 1790s through 1810s, so check.
Nope, it seems like the issues are pretty minor when you look at how big the Bill of Rights is. Yes, we need to stop torturing people. Yes, we need to get warrants for wire-taps and such things. Drone warfare needs to be allowed by the country in question, but it saves lives on the whole. Again, warrants are necessary for it. To analogize it to a car, the muffler came off and there's a flat tire, but the engine, frame, exhaust, windows, interior, electronics, and axles are all fine. This is no tune-up, but a new car isn't worth it.
-Penguin
