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All About Weed: Different Strains, Medicinal Marijuana, and the Wars on Drugs

More from Ora: All About Weed: Different Strains, Medicinal Marijuana, and the Wars on Drugs

Let's Talk About Weed

The Rubin ReportApr 13 '16

"If you are sick with cancer or Parkinson's, why should the government or any other human being be able to stop you from doing anything that will alleviate your pain and suffering? If you get caught with marijuana should you have your life ruined by being thrown in a federal jail?"

TRANSCRIPT FROM THIS 'DIRECT MESSAGE' WITH DAVE RUBIN:

Published on Ora TV on April 13, 2016:

We're talking about marijuana this week. I'll give you just a minute to roll a joint, pack your bowl or put fresh water in the bong.Those are just the old school ways of getting stoned, these days it includes vaping, waxes, edibles and oils. I've tried all of them all a couple times each to cure this darn glaucoma I self-diagnosed myself with in high school. I still haven't been cured, but there's always hope.

Before we get into a big discussion about marijuana, meaning legalization, health benefits, recreational use and more, it's only fair I tell you a bit about my history with weed.After smoking my first joint during sophomore year of college, for a couple of years I was probably what most would consider a pot head. I'd get stoned and watch TV, write, or go grocery shopping, gathering all the best snacks. I should note: I never got into a fight, robbed a bank, or murdered anyone while smoking weed.

After college I smoked now and again, usually while just hanging out with friends. Despite the marijuana raging in our systems, we also seemed to never get into a fight, rob a bank, or murder anyone. Since moving to Los Angeles, where medicinal marijuana is legal, on a state level anyway, I got my med card and smoke every couple weeks. Usually, I enjoy a nice bowl at the end of a long day when I just wanna veg out and watch Seinfeld or The Simpsons... and to this day, I haven't gotten into a fight, robbed a bank or murdered anyone while smoking weed.

When it comes to marijuana, I'm a libertarian through and through. What I do with my own body in my own house is nobody else's business, much less the government's. As long as I'm doing no harm to another person, then I have the right to do as I wish as a citizen. This is a place where libertarianism makes absolute sense to me -- We don't even have to go into the health benefits or the dangers of other legal drugs. The liberal argument for weed is pretty good, too,which basically is "it's not doing any real damage, so you should be able to smoke it. Plus, we're putting too many people in jail for partaking in a drug that generally doesn't lead to criminal behavior." This is a case where a libertarian's and classic liberal's take on something really lines up.

On the other hand, Conservatives in the US have generally been against marijuana. They call it a 'gateway drug' which is like calling Gerber's a gateway food. Conservatives have scared people into thinking that marijuana will make you a criminal or degenerate, and they don't mind wasting tax payer dollars locking up people for a personal choice. There are some conservatives who even now, with all we know about the multiple benefits of marijuana, are still against legalizing even at a medicinal level. Ironically, it's conservatives who also preach about small government, yet they seem to want to regulate what you do in the privacy of your own home while at the same time, wasting tax payer dollars, which they say they want to save, on trumped up criminal charges.

Of course none of these examples are perfect, which is why Rand Paul, a libertarian, still hasn't fully come around on the marijuana issue, and Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, hasn't either. Meanwhile the Republican candidates are all against it in one form or another, despite the fact the only tolerable way to watch a Republican debate is while stoned. The one candidate who I do think understands the issue is Bernie Sanders, who wants to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. Ironically, in this instance, it's the big government guy who is making the government smaller by getting them out of your private life and not putting you in jail for having a good time.If you are sick with cancer or Parkinsons, why should the government or any other human being be able to stop you from doing anything that will alleviate your pain and suffering? If you get caught with marijuana should you have your life ruined by being thrown in a federal jail? If you get really high and watch The Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon in the background does it really sync up? These are just some of the important questions that talking about weed brings up.

My guest this week is Angel Teger. Angel is part of the Los Angeles Medical Cannabis Task Force and owns her own edibles company, Ruby Doobie. She got involved with marijuana after western medicine failed to help her dealing with debilitating migraines.Angel now speaks about the medicinal benefits of marijuana, the ongoing quest for legalization and removing the stigma attached to this conversation.

Some of you have probably heard me tell the story of how in 1997 I went to see Air Force One after eating some pot brownies with a couple friends. The movie was sold out so we walked into a movie called Contact, which I had never heard of. That incredibly mind blowing extended panorama of the universe totally blew my stoned mind. It may sound corny but my world actually felt bigger after seeing that movie stoned. I read many books by Carl Sagan, the author of Contact, and brilliant scientist, after seeing that movie. That stoned moment opened up something in me that got me interested in many of the ideas I talk about today. Maybe it would've happened without the weed, but it sure didn't hurt.

I'd also love to tell you about the week I spent in the red light district in Amsterdam, I just can't remember any of it...

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