Feinstein has finally gotten to the point where her formerly mainstream Democratic views now render her as an oldschool Democrat from the byegone days. Happens to many when we live in a world of it's [current year] thinking.
It's funny you should mention the bygone days. Cannabis (which I know you hate) was introduced to Western medicine in the 1800s and used as a medical plant for thousands of years before. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, cannabis was so widely used in North America that there were over a hundred papers published in Western medical literature recommending it for various ailments. Doctors would prescribe it to their parents for a multitude of things ranging from anxiety and stress to epilepsy and rabies. Eventually it was sold over the counter at your local pharmacy. Those were the "bygone days," before prohibition, when it became a DANGEROUS PLANT with zero medicinal value. But I'm sure that has nothing to do with the thousands of people (disproportionately people of color) who've been locked up these last several decades. Over a plant.
Instead of whining about your reactionary narc friends having to get real jobs, or about how terrible the world is because it doesn't quite reflect your worldview anymore (which I've done and still do often - not a great way to enjoy life, I might add), try actually learning about the things you protest against. You're a molecular biologist or something, right? You're a smart guy. Learn something today.
I am not arguing that canabis was never, ever throughout history used prior to the 1960s when society collapsed and began allowing it. Of course it was, as were all sorts of drugs. Such a view would be incredibly sophomoric. However, it is clear that there is something of a social change going on today with regards to the legality of its use, and Senator Feinstein is one of the people whose views have suddenly become less popular. That was my point.
Now, as to the merits of medical usage of canabis, I would agree it ought to be rescheduled as a substance with which medical testing can be done. However, the way medical marijuana is treated is simply not the way our modern medical system treats every other type of potential medicine. Due to its allure as a recreational substance there is a whole cottage industry of claims that pot cures every incurable disease imaginable, which is crackpot science. If, however, marijuana derivatives are normalized as part of medical treatment, my only expectation is the essential components would be isolated, purified, and regulated in the same fashion we expect of every other pharmaceutical product rather than sold in special pot shop. It is no secret that the way many states have gone about introducing medical marijuana has not exactly been designed to limit abuse, no?
As for your psychoanalysis, you're projecting a lot on to my thinking that simply isn't there. I will fully admit that I am displeased at much of the social change that has occurred over the last ten years (how's it working right now?), but that's about the extent of it. I recognize that sitting around moping about it does no one any good, including myself, so I've been spending more time in real life than on the internet. And real life is an undoubtedly better place than the internet in almost every imaginable way. That being, said, your post seems to psychoanalyze me as some sort of caricature of a college libertarian: "whining about your reactionary narc friends having to get real jobs".
Really? Or some stupid bumbling hick. There's no need to posture like you're writing for some leftwing rag in which the world will line up applauding every strawmanned zinger.
