CHEFTALK
Should Obesity be
prosecuted?
The legalization of marijuana in many US states has been
welcomed by many and has been rejected by many others. Many objectors find
marihuana a drug people get addicted to and should therefore be banned, some
four decades ago this particular topic was hot news in the Netherlands, same
objections, same arguments.
The Dutch Approach
Smoking marihuana does not make you more dependent than
smoking cigarettes. Contrary, the use of hard drugs increases every year with dire social
consequences. A statement understood by the government in the Netherlands, when
they decided in the 1970s (40 years ago mind you) to condone and tolerate
controlled sales and personal use of soft drugs at registered locations.
The objective
was to separate the sales of soft drugs from the sales of hard drugs. This allowed law enforcement to shift their
focus.
Those days the medical benefits were not well known but today
it is widely agreed that marihuana has beneficial medical applications.
The
drugs policy in the Netherlands comes under regular scrutiny by neighboring
countries, but the sales and use of cannabis is stable and under control and
the death rate from the use of hard drugs is now the lowest in Europe.
The introduction of this article may sound a bit odd for an
episode of CHEFTALK but allow me to explain why I picked the marijuana topic as intro to talk about the difference between legal and illegal addiction.
What is Legalized
Addiction?
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| Chocolate Cake |
Obesity is a legally approved addiction. Sufferers are in
most cases absolutely addicted to food that cause obesity. You are absolutely free
to get addicted to obesity, you are free to stay addicted to obesity and you do
not get arrested with a box full of doughnuts.
A little marihuana in your
possession may lead to a conviction with dire consequences.
What is the difference? Let’s look at some figures.
Obesity:
More than 1/3 of US adults (34.9%) are obese.
The estimated medical cost of obesity in the US was USD 147 billion
in 2008.
The medical costs for people who are obese were $ 1,429
higher than for people with normal weight.
Obesity related conditions include heart disease, stroke,
type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.
(Source: Center for disease control and prevention)
Marihuana:
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| Healthy Grilled Vegetable Salad |
A survey conducted among 70.000 people 12 years and above
shows that in 2012, 7.3% or 7.6 million American adults use marihuana and
heroin. Up from 5.8% in 2007.
The use of marihuana alone, decreased for the 12 to 17 year
age group from 7.9% in 2011 to 7.2% 2012.
Imprisonment of marijuana users cost an estimated USD 1
billion per year. This excludes loss of income and other social related cost.
Marihuana use has been linked to reduced brain development
especially for people in the 12 to 18 year age group. A report that has been
challenged in 2013 by the center for economic research in Oslo, stating that
socioeconomic issues may have cost the drop in IQ as much as marihuana use.
(Source: Alternet, University of Washington State, CBS news)
What should be Prosecuted?
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| Breakfast |
Increase of marihuana arrests does not achieve the stated
goals of marihuana prohibition. In fact the price of marihuana has dropped
despite recent increases in arrests.
Controlled Marihuana use is fairly inexpensive and it helps
relief people with certain illnesses yet using the substance is subject to
prosecution.
Obesity in contrast is exactly the opposite, according to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is America the fattest
country in the world and is only getting fatter.
It is estimated that three out of four people in the US will
be obese within the next ten years, before 1980 that was one out of every ten
citizens.
A sedentary lifestyle combined with a frightening diet are
the culprits and largely to blame for this scary prospect awaiting us.
Main excuse seems to be that when we hit the grocery store,
white bread, ground chuck and potato chips are less expensive than products
from the organic aisle.
For a struggling family of four having the idea of
feeding a family of four with 9 servings a day, the choice is no choice anymore.
In addition fast food offers 99 cent meals and the whole thing of choosing the
wrong (obesity causing) products becomes something like unavoidable or a ‘what do you want me to
do’ issue.
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| Healthy and Hearty |
Now here is my point, I reject to believe that you have no
choice or that your only choice is a 99 cents fast food meal because the
organic aisle is too expensive. To me that is just a cheap excuse.
You have many options to cook inexpensive meals that are
healthy, hearty and keep you away from the ‘big size clothing stores and the doctor’s
waiting room.
I cook everyday very ordinary simple home cooked food, simply
because I believe in it and I am convinced that it is a better choice than 99
cent meals.
If you cannot produce a healthy meal for 99 cent, you certainly cannot
buy one.
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| Think Healthy |
I lace this articles
with some pictures of my home cooked daily meals, not to show you how good a
chef I am but to underline my believe in healthy, home cooked food.
The Netherlands has presently one of the healthiest eating populations in the world.
In my next article I like to have a look at money saving
cooking, so stay tuned!
By: Marinus Hoogendoorn
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