Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 06/15/09
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Tonight on 360°, election rage in Iran. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Tehran today to protest the country's presidential election. It was the largest anti-government demonstration since the 1979 revolution, and it turned bloody.
There are reports at least one person in the march was killed by milita members loyal to current Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The demonstrators are supporters of Mir Hussein Moussavi, and believe he was robbed of the presidential palace. Official results of Friday's election show Ahmadinejad won with more than 62 percent of the vote. But was it a legit vote? And, what does this all mean for U.S. relations with Iran? We'll have all the angles.
Want to know what else we're covering tonight? Read EVENING BUZZ
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First I am for legalizing marijuana although I don't use it. My question is that if there is a federal law against it how do they sell it. Is the fed just letting it them get by with it and why. What is there justification for that. They should let the states choose.
One of the differences of the Obama administration is that the "Drug Czar" is no longer going after states who have authorized medical marijuana-the Bush administration did. A small step in the direction of sanity.
MaryJane is naturally grown. . . And the problem is ??? Its NOT deadly.. right ? It doesn't cause cancer . . last time i checked it helped got rid of it. . . so0o whats the big deal ! Legalize it already ! Oh and I am a non-smoker
Also, why are we hiring teachers with underlying mental disorders, seems like a bad idea for someone who is supposed to be educating our youth.
Your example of someone who was "negatively" affected by marijuana was a very poor example. The teachers bi-polar disorder could get her "hooked" on anything her imbalanced brain thought made her "feel better".
She could have easily been prescribed a placebo of a vitamin C pill every day and been told it was "bi-polar medication", and if her brain thought it made her feel better, she would probably take 6-8 vitamin C tablets every day thinking she "needed" it when in all reality it was all a fallacy created by her brain.
The licensed psychiatrist makes some points that there isn't much regulation on dosage, but the government is still YET to actually take steps to even ESTABLISH a dosage schedule or even consider the idea that marijuana might even be HELPFUL to certain patients. If she wants regulation of dosages, maybe she should encourage the government to embrace a very helpful plant that has NEVER KILLED A SINGLE PERSON.
Should Marijuana Be Legalized?
Of course it should be. It does no more damage than drinking alcohol.
why on earth would someone with depression smoke a depressant?
at least she sees the value in it for others...
Anderson,
I know that the proability of a reply to my question is highly improable, but I feel that I had to put it out in cyperspace. I watch your show, and all the other political shows on msnbc, c-span, etc. I watched Meet the Press/David Gregory on sunday and as an astute political junkie I was deeply concerned with the question David Gregory posed to the Vice President/Joe Biden. The question was whether President Obama was sucking up to the Arabs by unconditionally demanding the Israelies stop new settlements and also was the president giving moral equivalency to the Palestinians?? What kind of one sided commentary/insight of a respected journalist does to the notion that there is a side to every story?? To me in my limited knowledge of such matters this kind of press is the very reason the Israeli and Palestinian issue is hard to resolve. The notion that one side has the higher moral gorund. Please help resolve my utter confusion and misunderstanding if it is as such.
Derrick
Alcohol, tobacco kills; marijuana doesn't.
Why is this such a heated debate? Save money, save lives, or let 1/2 million plus Americans die each year.
Oh yeah, it's the pharmacy corporations and their money that keep Americans living in fear and being forced to buy their products and 400% mark ups.
What was I thinking?
Your story made me want to light up. Unlike your need to be treated bi-polar woman in your story, marijuana has been a very equalizing treatment for my depression and mood swings. I do not need to smoke all day. I smoke in the evening, a time for me to relax, in the same way that others might have a drink when they come home from work. It is self destructive to become an addict with anything that feels good.
Annual U.S. tobacco related deaths = 400,000
Annual U.S. alcohol related deaths = 100,000
Annual U.S. marijuana related deaths = 0
How does that make any sense?
Hoping AC 360 does a "Special Report: on health care – the propsals and the advantages and disadvantages of each in a non-partisian way. I thinks this is an important debate - but one we have way to little information on at this time.
Yeah, I think someone with psychiatric issues is a bad choice. I have anxiety issues and think marijuana would be a very bad idea for me.
But some people have very serious medical issues that are helped by it.
I think that it should be legal. There are alot of people that are addicted to prescribed drugs. Marijuana is not addictive. I dont think it is a gateway drug. What about all the prescribed drugs that are killing people? Come on people maybe we would not have all the crime and road rage.
Marijuana should be legalized and not just for medicinal purposes. Marijuana could be sold in stores just like alcohol! Why not? If you think about it, marijuana is safer than alcohol! America would make money off of it by taxing it. A lot of drug dealers would be put out of business since the majority of Americans favorite illegal drug is marijuana!! It just makes sense!! Legalize it!!!
The whole debate started decades ago when marijuana was touted as a replacement to trees as a source for paper products. The paper/logging industry began a campaign against it and made it something from Satan himself. Of course, does it not say in the Bible that God said, "I give to you all seed bearing plants."?
Could you imagine our country out of debt? Could you imagine not having China own half our banks? Legalize it, tax it and control it just like alcohol. No driving and smoking, must be 21, etc etc etc. Wake up people!!!
pot to a manic depressive person...okay, isn't pot known as a DEPRESSANT?
Not only should medical marijuana be legal, it should just be legalized for medication and recreation alike. It will raise lots of money for the crappy economy, it wil keep lots of GOOD people out of jail. Marijuana is completly harmless. Alcohol is worst for the body than weed. And Most if not all Prescription medication and lots of over the counter meds are all worst for the weed.
Right now children can get pot very easily... if the government would tax it and regulate it things would get better. Drug dealers don't check ID. Also, drug dealers will try to push hard drugs on their customers, if pot was sold in liquor stores the worst that could happen is people buy pot and alcohol, instead of pot and cocaine...
Marijuana has never caused a single medically documented overdose death — unlike alcohol and even an OTC like Tylenol, which causes about 500 overdose deaths a year in the U.S. alone.
Like anything and everything marijuana affects people differently.. Thank you for your show and everyone working there, and thanks for getting younger people invovled and engaged in the news
"...no, you're not allowed to sample the merchandise" haha loved it, Anderson. just brilliant ^_^
wouldn't "edibles" be even more dangerous? don't you hear about people who overdose on eating drugs? how would they even measure the content? pot pops. huh. if you had children, you would have to be SO careful that your kids weren't into the lollipops and brownies. "food for thought" (no pun intended).
Legalizing marijuana is one of the most fiscally responsible things that America can do.
I had no idea the medical marijuana was available in so many forms. That pharmacy is like my hippie parent's idea of a candy store! I'm all for medical marijuana, but part of me thinks this isn't how you prescribe and dispense a drug.
Bottom line the government should not be able to tell us what we can and cannot put into our bodies. What ever happened to freedom?
"It saved my life for a long time, then it started ruining my life."
So like many drugs, it worked for a while but not forever. Is this worse than what happens with any other perscription drug? Did she ever overdose on it? Why exactly are we treating this plant so much differently than other drugs that people OD on, or end up cripplingly addicted?
Tobacco and alcohol are legal and does more harm to people even death yet marijuana is illegal and has never killed any one yet is illegal so should not then if marijuana is illegal should not alohol and tobacco also be illegal being it is more dangerous than marijuana will ever be?
Best segment I've seen you do. Can't wait for the rest this week.
Melissa Etheridge is right, who are we to say when you can or can't smoke marijuana?? Perscription drugs cause way to many other problems and people can get addicted to pills just as they can marijuana. If smoking makes you feel better, go for it!!
@Larry – i think that's what everyone else who wants it legalized feels, at least, i know that's what i'm thinking...
Lisa should of been on Lithium and under psychiatric care years before she tried marijuana.. She is very lucky she didn't turn to alcohol or hard drugs.
What I do in my house you may not do in your house - pot grows from the earth; how can the government deny us this healing herb?
Marijuana is the ultimate stress relief and the only problem with the drug is how it is illegal. I think it should be legalized like tobacco and manufactured like tobacco..the average man needs the buds and america loves it
Sorry, but this "pharmacy" is just a little too out there for me - not my idea of regulated medicial marijuana.
Anderson,
You're so lucky to alive!!!!! I am glad you're safe for that!!!!!
This teacher says it was marijuana that caused her to almost try to kill herself but clearly she had bi-polar problems in the past before she heavly smoked. If she smoked tabacco she could have blamed it on that as well.
with pot, as with everything in life, moderation is the key.
the second medical marijuana user abused it. (as she even mentioned.)
I think people should be able to decide for themselves if they want to smoke cannabis. Why should the government dictate to adults what they can and cannot do recreationally, if it has no negative effect on society or even themselves. It is absolutely redicoulous to see that alcohol and cigarettes are legal yet a natural plant is not.
Does smoking pot do the same thing to your lungs as smoking cigarettes? Cause cancer? If so, I'm not for it.
Marijuana is a gift from God. It is essentially a plant that needs no alterations. Don't criticize until you have tried it. California needs the legalization because it has the potential to create billions of revenue to help relieve state debt. LEGALIZE for humanity.
Those products are cool! I want a lollipop! My kind of candy store!
Come on, we all know pot is safer than alcohol.. no question.. But yet alcohol is legal,huh... Lets tax it similiar to cigarettes and focus on more important issues..
This teacher is just another stoner that gives responsible smokers a bad rep.
Thanks for looking at the pro's and con's but the lady interviewed in the "con" part had serious problems regardless of her cannabis use, you can't blame all of her problems on cannabis, that's ridiculous. Now she's on lithium. If I'm sick I'd rather use an herb than a chemical found in batteries. Regardless of which I'd choose though, throwing people in jail for making that decision is appalling.
I am the director of PR for New York NORML. The doctor who claims that long-term use of marijuana causes depression is making a claim which has no scientific support from proper peer-reviewed studies. Obviously, the patient should have had supplimental therapy and follow up exams but blaming the medicine is foundless.
When you have a substance that has never killed anyone and has many medical benefits, the question has to be asked if its really that bad.
Bipolar people are very sensitive to mood changes, and even though marijuana is harmless for most people, it is still is a mood altering drug, which is bad for someone who is extra sensitive to mood changes...
I think marijuana should definitely be legalized, alcahol is, and is much more harmful and debilitating than pot. If we have controls in place and reap the taxes from sales, than what's the problem? ,really. I think the stigma that it is so dangerous is rediculous, and is simply a well run fear campaign that was purely political. I just wish this country would get a clue, talk about a boost to the economy!!
I live in BC, Canada where pot isn't illegal. Have a bigger problem with drinking and driving than drugs. The difference between a smoker and a non-smoker? A smoker doesn't care if you DON'T smoke.
In a society where you can buy alcohol which we know is bad for you, and cigarettes which we also know is bad for you........shouldn't be a problem if people use something to make them feel better.