Despite harping on the distinctions between reason and feeling, efforts to change, hopefully improve, the status of things begins with the former but usually ends with the latter.  Reasoned arguments for change are offered, but the decision is made by the many based on how they “feel”.  Playing their feelings, therefore, is ultimately the only game in town that matters.

The proving ground for reason versus feelings is often California, due to their ballot proposition mechanism.  Gay marriage is yucky?  Vote against it.  Don’t worry about where the money behind the advertisements comes from or what motives drive the proposition.  After all, even churches and corporations are people, entitled to express their opinion by amassing their wealth and using it in a coordinated if disingenuous fear-mongering campaign.

The latest salvo in the war on reasoned change is California’s Proposition 19, legalizing the growth, possession and use of personal use quantities of marijuana.   There have been a wealth of arguments presented in favor of the proposition, spanning the economics to the social to the legal implications of passage.

There there’s the opposition, such as Dr. Howard Samuels, a psychotherapist, at Huffington Post.

As a father of three children — Cooper 9, Greer 6, and Chase 3 — I’m faced with the dilemma of discussing with them how marijuana is as safe as aspirin when they turn 18 years old. If Proposition 19 passes, the state of California is telling me that it’s okay for my children to get loaded on drugs as often as once a week or every day and all day.

The most potent appeal to “feelings” has long been “the children,” and Samuels goes right for it in his opening sentence, including two facial errors in the same sentence.  There’s no suggestion that marijuana is “as safe as aspirin,” but rather an intoxicant, like alcohol, and usable at age 21 rather than 18, like alcohol.  Implicit is another fallacy, that simply because it’s not a crime doesn’t mean that parents either should, or would, enable their beautiful, beloved babies to get stoned all day, every day.

I am not against social drinking. For those who are not alcoholics, a glass of wine with your pasta is alright by me, but don’t tell me that you smoke pot for the taste. The only reason people smoke weed is to get loaded. By legalizing we are perpetuating a drug-oriented culture. We may as well add to “Drink responsibly … and medicate as needed…”

The establishment of reasonableness is key to acceptance of Samuel’s fears.  If he’s too hysterical, we discount his feelings, but by allowing that he’s “not against social drinking,” he’s no dogmatic temperance nut, despite his noting in the preceding paragraph that alcohol related car accidents are “the leading cause of death for young Americans.”

It’s horrifying to me to watch our nation go up in a haze of herb smoke. It’s denial that our young people are free from the self-destruction brought on by the easy access which will come from making pot legal.

And when it devolves to feelings, no longer are facts or empirically provable arguments required.  Instead, catchy phrases, like “a haze of herb smoke,” fuel the passion.  Then comes the assertions:

What’s more, medical marijuana is many times more potent and toxic than the weed bought off pot dealers.

As for street bought drugs, destroying the drug cartels is laughable. Drug king pins do not make their money off marijuana.

While a very minute segment of the population smokes a joint on the weekends a couple of times a month, the majority — the real mainstream smokers are inhaling four or five times a week and several times a day.

Some might question Samuel’s play into the common notions about marijuana, without offering anything to back up these claims.  But that’s the beauty of an appeal to “common sense,” it requires no proof.  It requires no foundation.  It’s what we all supposedly “just know” to be true, because, well, we just do.

Then comes the coup de grace, the most significant fear that lingers in the back of our heads, propagated for decades and allowed to stew, to fester, to remain there waiting for when it needs to be tapped.

Marijuana — more often than not — is a gateway drug and the danger is legalizing it will make it more acceptable, which invariably leads to trying other drugs. Believe me, a pot high for an addict who is looking to numb themselves will eventually become blase and boring and the chase will be on for some other ‘recreational’ drugs. Where does all this end?

Today pot, tomorrow our children are all heroin addicts. The gateway drug argument has been with us since Reefer Madness, and it’s not merely a possibility, but “more often than not.”  We need not concern ourselves with the accuracy of this claim, as Samuels implored us to “believe” him.  Would he lie?

As a treatment professional, I rely on the police and courts to help treat the addict/alcoholic through enforcement of laws which actually protect the abuser still in denial of their disease by forcing them to look at their issues with consequences. Once the handcuffs are ‘off’ the pot smoker, we are in for major, major trouble with our kids.

After all, he is a doctor, a “treatment professional,” and with his dear friends, the police and courts which help him to treat the denying abuser by placing him in prison for lengthy period of time.  Notice that this paragraph almost appears to offer some sort of bona fide argument, despite the fact that it fails to pass even minimal rational scrutiny?  And concludes, again, with the dire warning from the “treatment professional.”

There are valid and rational arguments to be made both for and against Proposition 19.  But the opponents have something the supporters don’t have.  The supporters can put an advertisement or post saying, “Hey man, getting high is cool and fun.”  Maybe an image of some happy stoner as the poster boy. 

The opponents can tap the “feelings” of the lazy and ignorant, those who can’t be bothered considering thoughtful reasons and instead resort to “feelings” requiring no real thought at all. Thinking can make your head hurt.  You don’t want your head to hurt, right?

Just do it for the children.