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This Video is About Marijuana

2018-04-20 · list · Hank · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook

On 4/20 Hank, who doesn't like pot, argues that criminalizing marijuana while alcohol and tobacco are sold everywhere is unjustifiable, giving seven reasons to decriminalize (economies, cartels, medicine, opioids, cigarettes, harms and racial disparity of arrests, the rule of law) and three complications (stoned driving, health risks, implementation).

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — 4/20; Hank doesn't like pot, but criminalizing it while alcohol and tobacco are legal is unjustifiable

  • ★★ Hank doesn't smoke pot; he has tried it and doesn't really like it. — 00:00:05
  • ★★ Hank won't claim cannabis is harmless in every way or that it will cure every disease. — 00:00:07
  • ★★★ Hank thinks it ridiculous and unjustifiable that marijuana is criminalized while more addictive and dangerous substances like alcohol and tobacco are sold at every gas station. (hedged) — 00:00:12

00:00:34 — Seven reasons to decriminalize marijuana

  • ★★★ Reason 1: legalizing marijuana is good for local economies, raising tax revenue and the number of successful small businesses. — 00:00:34
  • ★★ Growers and sellers should be regulated so the businesses aren't just giant conglomerates. (hedged) — 00:00:41
  • ★★ Rich people who spent decades sending people to prison for selling marijuana should not suddenly get even richer selling it. (playful) — 00:00:47
  • ★★★ Reason 2: illicit marijuana is an income source for drug cartels that legalization could take away instantly. — 00:00:55
  • ★★★ Third reason: THC, CBD and other marijuana compounds are legitimate medications, helping with autoimmune diseases, chronic pain, seizure disorders and vomiting in cancer patients. — 00:01:00 · cancer
  • ★★★ US law defines marijuana as having no medical use. — 00:01:09
  • ★★★ Hank says the US legal definition of marijuana as having no medical use is scientifically inaccurate. — 00:01:09
  • ★★★ Reason 4: because it sometimes helps chronic pain, marijuana can help people dependent on opioids, which seems a reason not to class it with heroin. (hedged) — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Reason 5: cigarettes are perhaps the most successful story in human history of decreasing use of an addictive substance; use can fall without criminalization. (hedged) — 00:01:26
  • ★★★ Reason 6: criminalization does real harm: arrests, including juvenile ones, have long-term impacts, convictions more so, and felony convictions bring lifelong marginalization and disenfranchisement. — 00:01:36
  • ★★ Young white people found selling marijuana often aren't arrested, because everyone realizes ruining someone's life for selling pot is dumb. — 00:01:49
  • ★★★ White and black people use drugs at similar rates, but far more black people are arrested for it. — 00:01:58
  • ★★★ Reason 7: making something less dangerous than a legal thing very illegal weakens the rule of law; people conclude the legal system is out to harm them, and the more who feel so, the worse society is. (hedged) — 00:02:06

00:02:31 — Three reasons it is more complicated; the status quo harms more than the drug

  • ★★ First complication: driving while stoned is proven dangerous and there is no weed breathalyzer, though this problem already exists. — 00:02:36
  • ★★ Complication 2: some will take legalization as the government saying weed isn't bad for you, but it is. (hedged) — 00:02:44
  • ★★★ Long-term marijuana use, especially by young people, has been shown to have negative effects: it can increase symptoms of depression and other mental health problems, and is a risk factor for schizophrenia. — 00:02:54 · mental disorder
  • ★★ Hank recommends a very good Healthcare Triage video for more information. — 00:03:07
  • ★★★ Complication 3: you can't 'just legalize it': prisoners, who may sell, how much, taxation and dispensary zoning all have to be figured out. — 00:03:10

  • ★★★ The status quo is a law that harms more than the drug, and Hank thinks we are finally waking up to that. (hedged) — 00:03:23

    “the status quo, is a law that harms more than the drug”

00:03:30 — Sign-off; hope the comments aren't a disaster

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description adds that marijuana has not been researched as much as it should be: edibles, smoking and vaping differ, and strains vary in THC and CBD, both psychoactive. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank says marijuana is very hard even to study because it is illegal: another reason to decriminalize, to ease research, and a reason it is complicated, since we don't know for sure how many of its negative effects have been teased out. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: cannabis · drug liberalization

Also: Projects: Healthcare Triage

Groups: African Americans · White Americans

Concepts: alcoholic beverage · autoimmune disease · cancer · cannabidiol · chronic pain · depression · drug cartel · epilepsy · heroin · institutional racism · mental disorder · opioid · rule of law · schizophrenia · small business · tetrahydrocannabinol · tobacco smoking

Memes: 420 (cannabis culture)

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