Marijuana Versus Alcohol: A "killer" drug is legal, but people are jailed for a healing herb
Marijuana is a Medicine, Alcohol is a Killer...Guess Which One is Legal! 
In the great marijuana versus alcohol debate, reasonable people agree that alcohol or marijuana can get you totally zonked, in very different ways.
And as we all know, smoke too much marijuana and you can end up really stoned, laughing too much, wildly hungry, goofy, ready to star in a Cheech and Chong movie.
But if you use too much alcohol you can end up in a brawl, sloppy drunk, drunk dialing, cryin' in your beer, comatose...or even dead.
Those are obvious differences between marijuana and alcohol that no rational person can deny.
But hey, don't get me wrong. Alcohol used intelligently can be fun. I like sipping organic wine in Napa Valley. I like dark, thick Stout beer in England, and chocolate martinis in Chicago.
I also like Kush, Haze, Blue Dream and other kinds of powerful marijuana. For millions of hard-working citizens, it makes sense to live in a society where alcohol and marijuana are affordable and easily available for responsible adults. But we don't live in that kind of common sense society, do we?
Around 52% of the so-called "American People" reliably tell pollsters they want marijuana fully legalized. An overwhelming majority favor medical marijuana liberalization, which is why many states and the District of Columbia have okayed medical cannabis. But there's a disconnect between what people want- and what they're allowed to do.
In contrast, across the Atlantic In Holland, marijuana and alcohol are treated more equally. You go to a shop and buy booze or pot, no worries. I ask Dutch police to describe the difference between marijuana coffee shops and alcohol bars. They say marijuana shops are peaceful places but booze bars are the scene of constant fights, thefts, attempted rapes, and other mayhem.
"Alcohol establishments are known trouble spots," an Amsterdam police officer explained. "But the hippies and the rich alike go into the cannabis coffeeshop and it's like a summer holiday club. Cannabis users do not constitute a law enforcement threat in any way."
You see why Dutch police would prefer that tourists- especially the notoriously rowdy British soccer tourists- get stoned on Dutch marijuana rather drunk on alcohol.
And I am sure you've noticed that whenever you hear about a funeral for someone killed by a drug, it's oxy, alcohol, sedatives...not marijuana.
For someone such as myself who has "experimented" with using excessive amounts of alcohol or marijuana and watched the results as other people do the same, I can reliably report that you can consume $100 worth of space-cadet concentrated marijuana in a short period of time and still function, perhaps even function better.
But after consuming a few dollars worth of drinks, many people are certifiably, falling-down drunk. Their abilities decrease. They head towards danger and recklessness. Get an ambulance.
I haven't seen people living on the street, starving, shivering, begging for pennies for pot. Never. But begging for alcohol, sadly, yes I have seen that. Winos are everywhere. Potheads are at home in their hydroponics gardens.
Notice that most of us stay out of certain types of bars. Places where the combo of alcohol and drinkers make for a tense environment.
When some folks get to drinkin' too much, they enjoy fighting. Alcohol seems to change people into raging bulls. It brings out the angry in them.
Better watch out. Chairs and fists are flyin'.
If you're a stoner, you already know you don't see an aggro, violent vibe in marijuana crowds. The ambiance is groovy mellow. It's part of stoner culture...the marijuana plant''s THC stimulates feel-good circuits that make happiness a little easier to find.
No stoners are brawling at Phish concerts.
Those dudes who founded America- Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, they grew hemp marijuana for industrial purposes.
In the 1960's, marijuana was $20 an ounce. Today's high-octane hydroponics marijuana sells for $450 an ounce. Billions of dollars a year are made in the marijuana hydroponics industry...a bright spot on the otherwise dismal economic horizon.
Marijuana is being developed using selective breeding, hydroponics science, space-age cultivation and testing techniques. It's a homegrow medicinal substance that infuses positive personal and societal enhancement.
Just think: you grow your own medicine. There's a lot of self-reliance and pride in doing that.
You can't accurately describe alcohol use as medicinal. Just watch beer commercials on television: very attractive people in their early 20's, athletic and high-fiving, big white teeth, holding beer cans and bottles. Whoo-hoo!
Problem is, the advertiser's pro-alcohol image doesn't portray real world alcohol reality. It's not "whoo-hoo" so much as it's: "Whew, my friggin' head hurts from this bloody hangover."
Sometimes when I'm high, my heart and mind cautiously enter the territory of hope. I imagine society if marijuana was the substance advertised on television and easily available at stores, and alcohol was not.
Or if both were easily available, so we can finally have our rightful choices regarding the two.
Of course, some would say I'm just a stoned 420 dreamer, naive and under the influence of a euphoria-inducing plant. But more and more people dream of the day when marijuana is the "drug" of choice for more people, and alcohol is less used. Let's be honest: the world would be a happier place if things turned out that way.
