{"id":3576,"date":"2015-10-21T20:47:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T20:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3576"},"modified":"2015-10-21T21:14:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T21:14:46","slug":"ex-prime-minister-stephen-harper-marijuana-is-infinitely-more-dangerous-than-tobacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3576","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper: “Marijuana is infinitely more dangerous than tobacco”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"canada-buds<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said a couple of weeks ago during the Canadian election campaign that he opposes legalizing marijuana, <\/a>adding, “marijuana is infinitely more dangerous than tobacco.”<\/p>\n

Well, that one statement all by itself is a good example of how Harper was — and I’m sure continues to be — sadly out of touch with reality. And one of the reasons he is the EX Prime Minister of Canada. Harper added that\u00a0“There’s just overwhelming and growing scientific and medical evidence about the bad long-term effects of marijuana.” He didn’t provide any examples of this “evidence.” The fact is, most of the studies out there show little evidence about the bad long-term effects of marijuana.<\/p>\n

\"stephen-harper-beer\"<\/a>
“Beer is perfectly fine. It’s COMPLETELY different from marijuana.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Incoming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to legalize pot as part of his campaign. From what I’ve seen on the streets of Vancouver, I find it hard to believe pot is illegal there, but it is in fact, still illegal in Canada.<\/p>\n

I don’t want to turn this blog into a pot advocacy blog, but I did want to address the sheer inanity of Harper’s boneheaded comment. Stephen, I really wish I could email you this post, you knucklehead. Here are the facts about pot and tobacco:<\/p>\n

Deaths caused by tobacco in the U.S. each year: 440,000<\/p>\n

Known deaths caused by pot in the U.S. each year: 0<\/p>\n

Number of pot overdoses each year: 0<\/p>\n

Number of people physically addicted to pot each year: 0<\/p>\n

Wow, tell me again, Stephen, how pot is infinitely<\/em> worse than tobacco?<\/p>\n

The fact is, most studies that have been done on marijuana show no link between pot and lung cancer<\/a> and no link between pot and COPD. The second bit surprises me, but I can’t argue with what studies have shown. The only studies showing a link between lung disease and pot are some that have shown that combining both pot and tobacco increases the risk of COPD more than just smoking cigarettes alone . Other studies completely contradict that conclusion. But, no study shows a hard link between pot alone and COPD.<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m not a huge marijuana advocate, but I found Harper’s rhetoric really alarming and clueless, because I think it utterly downplays the shocking\u00a0damage done to society by cigarette smoking. Not just deaths, but loss of quality of life because of the myriad other diseases we now know are tied to smoking — arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, etc. Cigarettes do more than kill people. They suck the quality out of people’s lives, too. The other interesting thing about Stephen Harper. When I went to Google images of him to get a mugshot, I found a LOT of photos of him drinking beer. He apparently really likes beer. But, beer is completely harmless in his little world, I guess — never mind the fact that alcohol kills at least 100,000 people every year in the U.S.<\/p>\n

I personally don’t think pot is 100 percent, completely harmless; I’ve had some knock-down, drag-out arguments with pot advocates over that claim. I also don’t believe it is a miracle cure for every disease on the planet. Again, I’ve had heated arguments over some of the claims of its medical benefits, which I think some advocates tend to exaggerate. But, I would argue the biggest damage done by marijuana is the fact that it is illegal and people have had their lives ruined because of all the legal problems they have been forced to deal with, including real prison time, simply for possessing, using or growing pot because of antiquated laws that keep it illegal when tobacco and alcohol both cause far more addiction problems and death and damage to our society. Especially minorities. There’s black people in the South doing 5-10 years in prison for simple possession. There’s some real damage there.<\/p>\n

So, good on you, Canada and good luck legalizing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said a couple of weeks ago during the Canadian election campaign that he opposes legalizing marijuana, adding, “marijuana is infinitely more dangerous than tobacco.” Well, that one statement all by itself is a good example of how Harper was — and I’m sure continues to be — sadly out … Continue reading Ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper: “Marijuana is infinitely more dangerous than tobacco”<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[520,729,38,728],"tags":[103,731,601,730],"class_list":["post-3576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-justin-trudeau","category-marijuana","category-stephen-harper","tag-canada","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-marijuana","tag-stephen-harper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/canada-buds-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-VG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3706,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3706","url_meta":{"origin":3576,"position":0},"title":"California researchers fear legalization of pot could create the next Big Tobacco","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting story about a report put out by California State University, San Francisco (co-authored by anti-tobacco advocate Stanton Glantz) warning that legalized marijuana could become the next \"Big Tobacco\" because it would create a massive, wealthy and politically powerful economic behemoth. Here is a copy of the 66-page report.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"Big Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/california2016.jpg?fit=640%2C383&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/california2016.jpg?fit=640%2C383&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/california2016.jpg?fit=640%2C383&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4210,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4210","url_meta":{"origin":3576,"position":1},"title":"I toldja! Big Tobacco looks to get into the pot business","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"December 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Marlboro Head I toldja! I toldja! I knew this would happen. In fact, to be honest, I'm surprised it took this long. As marijuana becomes legal in more and more of the U.S., I knew sooner or later Big Tobacco would look to get into the game.\u00a0 Sure enough,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Altria"","block_context":{"text":"Altria","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3104,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3104","url_meta":{"origin":3576,"position":2},"title":"USA TODAY story: Does Big Tobacco desire the marijuana market?","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"April 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote about this a few weeks ago, but here is another article on the same subject from USA Today -- the fear that Big Tobacco will take over the legal marijuana business. Most legal marijuana businesses in Colorado, Washington and Oregon are small mom-and-pop operations. And they are heavily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"Big Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/legalweed.jpg?fit=660%2C371&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/legalweed.jpg?fit=660%2C371&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/legalweed.jpg?fit=660%2C371&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2687,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2687","url_meta":{"origin":3576,"position":3},"title":"Could Big Tobacco evolve into Big Pot?","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm glad someone did an article on this (NBC News) because frankly, this is something I've been wondering about myself for the past couple of years. With a total of four states now with legal marijuana (Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska), might the day come when pot sales will be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"Big Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":876,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=876","url_meta":{"origin":3576,"position":4},"title":"Pot smoking doesn’t cause lung disease: The lung cancer gene, part 1","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A study that came out last month determined that occasional post smoking doesn't cause near the damage to lungs as cigarette smoking. The study followed 5,115 regular pot smokers over the course of 20 years. This reminds me very much of a study done about 5 years ago showing that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lung cancer"","block_context":{"text":"Lung cancer","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"marijuana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/marijuana.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2067,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2067","url_meta":{"origin":3576,"position":5},"title":"Study: Kids who smoke pot do better in school than kids who just smoke cigarettes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"March 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"OK, NOT an endorsement for kids smoking dope, but an interesting study out of Canada. I think this study speaks more toward the attitudes toward dope and tobacco than the actual health effects of dope and tobacco. According to this study, kids who just smoke pot have better grades and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "marijuana"","block_context":{"text":"marijuana","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pot-smoking.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pot-smoking.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pot-smoking.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3579,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3576\/revisions\/3579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}