Dear Sir,
Whilst I am a big fan of your site, I was totally shocked at your article about drugs. I am aware that alcohol should really be a higher class drug than it is, but you can’t compare to the longterm damage marijuana has on people’s brains.
I have been involved with teenagers for over 15 years and have seen many people suffer the long-lasting affects of substance misuse. Now, with your article on your site, the idea for your news is to provide the heimishe kehillah with a safe environment to see various news items and updates on a wide variety of topics, but to put this piece of information in, especially at this time of year, with Purim around the corner, is inexcusable. There are going to be dozens of kids /teenagers /adults drinking, smoking, etc., and if anyone gets hooked on marijuana, it will be on your head.
Please, for the sake of Klal Yisrael, who are going through such a difficult time, with hundreds of families from all spectrums of the community suffering from children not going in the true derech haTorah, please do something about the article. You don’t want one person to do anything wrong because of the article.
In the merit of being mezake the rabim, may you be zoche to all the brachos in the Torah.
Kol tuv.
Pinchos Brandeis BEM
Manchester UK
P.S. Please advise that you will listen to my plea on behalf of Am Yisroel.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
What are the long-lasting effects of marijuana?
I am not in favor of young people using drugs or drinking alcohol. However, I am even more opposed to the criminalization of vise. Once any vise is made illegal, it immediately becomes a lucrative business for organized crime and corrupts the political and judicial system. Illegal drugs places Hundreds of Billions of Dollars into the hands of ruthless criminals every year! A good percentage of that money goes to buy politicians, judges and policemen. The fundamental damage that does to society is much greater than what the drugs do.
I have a simple proposal for how to handle this. We have age restrictions on alcohol. Some places place the age at 18 and some at 21. What I propose is that anyone over 40 years of age should be allowed to buy, possess and use any drug they want. 40 is old enough for someone to make a rational decision. Consider the fact that there are no laws prohibiting hundreds of dangerous activities like skying, mountain climbing, sky diving, scuba diving, etc. etc. Yet when it comes to drugs suddenly everyone is concerned about other people’s safety. Why?
RIGHT ON!!!
Well said! I was appalled to see the article.
Not everything int he news needs to be published on a frum site.
Bro, It was about medical marijuana. Next time you have surgery I’ll take away your vicodin because it’s a drug.
Everything you write is emes l’amiti shel dovor. And until I was injured and suffer with constant pain from it the likes of which no one can imagine enduring in their life until they’ve experienced it, lo aleichem, I could not have entertained any tolerance for drugs and marijuana. It’s a dirty word to me. But since there is a metzius as medical marijuana, and since it is a natural plant that Hashem put into the world, I can see no better purpose for using it than to relieve a person of constant paralyzing pain. It is not approved in all states and I am kind of longing for it to have some natural relief to the pain I endure on a constant daily basis. The reason medical grade marijuana is preferable is because the regular pain killers are terribly destructive and the side effects are hardly desirable. Yes, drugs can be abused. There is NO heter in the velt to use these things for recreational use! But to relieve a person of pain to live life more productively, this could be the reason Hashem created it. I hope I will be able to delight in this briah b’karov. 🙂
“Bro, It was about medical marijuana. Next time you have surgery Ill take away your vicodin because its a drug.”
The truth is that about 80% of medical marijuana is really recreational (think abuse). Some crackpot MD’s are writing scripts when they know the real story. My state has allowed “medical marijuana” shops to open and many have opened in a short period on time. Why can’t they sell it at rite-aid? Where was the need before? The answer is obvious. It’s not really about medicine for the most part.
Admit it.
marijuana is ,was ,and will be a “gateway” drug