I was listening to Mark Christopher, a local talk show DJ, last night. He was talking about the supreme courts decision to give the states the right to arrest people using medical marijuana. He brought up a point about Marijuana and it’s influence on people and medical effects from other drugs on people. On epoint he made is that you can buy Oxicontin on street corners now. It is a controlled drug but sold like illegal drugs, so what is the big deal in making marijuana a national controlled drug. Anyway, I thought I would look up some other drugs and their side effects and put them on here for you to enjoy. Here is what I have found on some drugs that are widely used by the American population:

Drug A:
an allergic reaction, difficulty breathing; closing of your throat;swelling of your lips, tongue, or face; or hives), abdominal pain, tenderness, or discomfort,bloody, black, or tarry stools,nausea or heartburn, blood in your vomit, unexplained weight gain, swelling or water retention, unusual fatigue or lethargy, a skin rash or itching, yellowing of your skin or eyes, “flu-like” symptoms, unusual bruising or bleeding.

Drug B:
Abnormal vision, including blurred vision, seeing shades of colors differently than before, or sensitivity to light; bladder pain; cloudy or bloody urine; dizziness; increased frequency of urination; pain on urination Bleeding of the eye; convulsions (seizures); decreased vision or other changes in vision; double vision; prolonged, painful, or inappropriate erection of penis; redness, burning, or swelling of the eye; vision loss, temporary Flushing; headache; nasal congestion; stomach discomfort following meals

Drug C:
Fast or irregular heartbeat; fever; abdominal or stomach pain; burning; chills; clay-colored stools or dark urine; cough; diarrhea; difficulty swallowing; dizziness; fast heartbeat; fever; headache; hives; itching; prickly sensations; puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, face, lips or tongue; redness of skin; seizures; shortness of breath; skin rash; swelling; tightness in chest; tingling; unusual tiredness or weakness; wheezing; Clumsiness or unsteadiness; convulsions (seizures); drowsiness (severe); dryness of mouth, nose, or throat (severe); feeling faint; flushing or redness of face; hallucinations seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there); shortness of breath or troubled breathing; trouble in sleeping
Drowsiness; dry mouth, nose, or throat; gastrointestinal upset, stomach pain, or nausea; headache; increased appetite and weight gain; thickening of mucus, Acid or sour stomach; belching; blurred vision or any change in vision; clumsiness or unsteadiness; body aches or pain; confusion (not with diphenhydramine); congestion; constipation; cough; diarrhea; difficult or painful urination; difficulty in moving; difficult or painful menstruation; dizziness (not with brompheniramine or hydroxyzine; drowsiness (with high doses of desloratadine and loratadine); dryness of mouth, nose, or throat; early menstruation; fast heartbeat; fatigue; fever, gastrointestinal upset, stomach pain or nausea; heartburn; hoarseness; increased appetite and weight gain; increased sensitivity of skin to sun; increased sweating; indigestion; loss of appetite; joint pain; muscle aching or cramping; muscle pains or stiffness; nausea; nightmares (not with azatadine, chlorpheniramine, cyproheptadine, desloratadine, hydroxyzine, or loratadine); ringing or buzzing in ears; runny nose; skin rash; swollen joints; stomach discomfort, upset or pain; tender swollen glands in neck; thickening of mucus; tremor; unusual excitement, nervousness, restlessness, or irritability; vomiting

Drug D:
problems with memory and learning; distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch), difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks, daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds

Drug E:
Women who are or who may become pregnant must not handle crushed or broken finasteride tablets. The medication could be absorbed through the skin. Finasteride is known to cause birth defects in a developing male baby. Exposure to whole tablets should be avoided whenever possible, however exposure to whole tablets is not expected to be harmful as long as the tablets are not swallowed.
difficulty breathing; closing of the throat; swelling of the lips, tongue, or face; or hives

This was all obtained through Drugs.com. Here are the drugs as listed on the market
Drug A: Vioxx
Drug B: Viagra
Drug C: Claritin
Drug D: Marijuana
Drug E: Propecia

Notice how Mary Jane is the shortest in side effects, either by lack of research (which I doubt) or taht’s all they can put on it. Interesting to note that it also does not cause birth defects, like propecia, a drug that is controlled. To tell you the truth, pot seems like the most gentle of the listed drugs becuase God knows I would love to see blood in my vomit, suffer dimensia and have vision problems! Now I am not for the whole wold being pot heads, as Chef said “There is a time and place for everything, and it is called College”. But seriously folks, the stuff that is used everyday is messing us up more than the stuff that we are spending millions of dollars a year on to prevent and keep out of the country. Another point made on the show was that if marijuana was controlled, as it is in Oregon for medical reasons, it is a gold mine for revenue (1.2 mill in one year in Oregon). I could go on and on about this but as I see it, it all comes down to economics and how we spend millions of dollars to prevent it, it still gets in, people pay for it in cash that goes straight to fund gorilla warfare in Colombia or something and the US continues the viscious cycle. So to wrap it up, we are using more harmful drugs than what we are trying to prevent (and yes I know these harmful drugs are beneficial when they serve their purpose) and we are missing out on an economic opportunity (in my mind). I won’t vote Ralph Nader for this but I would like to see what would happen in a simulator if this ever was resolved.

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