Marijuana going legal - is it the way to go?

My information comes from friends who work in psychiatry and who told me that they had patients whose psychoses started after smoking marijuana for the first time and who told me that psychiatric clinics are full of people who are consuming cannabis and have psychoses.
I think that it is warrented to be sceptical about this kind of information. First, correlation must not be mistaken with causation, and second, if you are working in a clinic, your view about the dangers of cannabis might be skewed due to the fact that you work with the people who have mental problems and have been consuming cannabis.

Nonetheless, the fact that there are people who have mental problems after consuming cannabis and a causal effect is controversial, yet not ruled out, should be enough to not to agree to a legalization lightheartedly.

 

Who is cheerleading smoking themselves into oblivion? That would be incredibly stupid.

You need me to define moderation? Please.

 

The law shouldn't have been passed in the first place. It doesn't gain legitimacy just by being. So I don't see why a high bar is needed to repeal it. If anything the bar should be set for those arguing to keep it illegal.

 

My impression is that you are too focused on the benefits of marijuana. I know too many peeps that smoke lots o' weed, and now talk like a dope. Not attacking you, just clarifying.

A working definition of "moderation" seems a fair enough request. Again, looking to understand your perspective more betterer.

Most people are stupid, unfortunately. C'est la vie.

 

You guys do realize that a good majority of the people that go into mental wards and into rehab and whatnot for cannabis use are usually doing it to avoid jail time, right?

 

That may be the case for the U.S., but it is not the case here. Merely consuming cannabis is not even illegal, while the possession charges are pretty much always dropped. I've listened to a radio debate a few weeks ago. In this debate, a juvenile court judge told the audience that he himself had been smoking marijuana until he became a judge (he isn't allowed to smoke it as a judge unfortunately), and that he believes it should be legalized. He argued that it's not helping anyone if it remains illegal. It merely clutters up his desk with paperwork.

Soooo, if somebody is in a psychiatric ward here, they usually aren't trying to avoid jailtime.

Also, let me re-emphasise that I am not in a strong opposition to legalizing cannabis; it's pretty much legal here already (unless you sell it) and many of my friends consume it and all is fine with them (well, they get duller over the course of the evening when they smoke, but alcohol would do the same). But I am worried about the mental health issues it may cause to some people.

 

Nope! German, a friend got told to stay the hell away from psychoactive drugs because of his families health history. Honestly, the gung-ho attitude here is a bit worrying ... Your negative propaganda in the US seems to backlash into radical denial of everything negative about MJ. Always falling off the horse on one side or the other ...

Dude ... For a proud AMERUHCUHN you sound kinda Hitler now

 

Nope. Hitler would outlaw pot and kill anyone who smoked it. Perhaps now I understand your anti American bias since it was us that stood in the way of his world order. Freedom means personal responsibility. Otherwise you live in a dictatorship. Less laws people. Rule yourself not your neighbor.

 

Come again? I'm against Hitler, so I'm mad at people that did a minor part in stopping Hitler? I think you need to figure out the logic behind that yet.

 

So yeah, just to give you guys some insight on my personal story with MJ:

1) To clarify to DJ, my "moderate" basis is whenever I would drink socially. So I mostly smoke on wednesdays, friday, saturday and sunday. The amount that I smoke on these days vary, but honestly it's not too much, since my fiancee is against it and she hates the smell. So yeah, I take a puff, play some video games, and thats it. If I smoke more than 3 then its because I want to get real crazy, in which cases there is always alcohol involved;
2) I have no illusion that MJ is harm free. You are inhaling smoke, after all, and that Bane Shift aint cool. Also, my memory could be better if I didnt smoke, and I would be more socially active. However, the benefits it brings to me hugely compensate the downsides, so there is that.
3) MJ did not affect me at all regarding the things that I chase, how I live my life and how I feel about it. I graduated at the top law school in my country, am a successful lawyer and I am chasing the dream of being a judge.

In any way, shape or form I would advise people to use MJ, but I also wouldnt advise someone to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. But if a person asks me: "ok, I want to live my life using one of those drugs, which one would you recommend"? MJ. If you guys doubt me, just go listen to some Bob Marley and free your minds (jk, but not really).

 

I meant in America, but okay. Also, one person does not a majority make.


Also, here's a scenario to imagine that may help you understand why I'm so "gung-ho" about this:

Someone tells the general public for years and years that chicken isn't safe to eat, even funds a bunch of government studies specifically to just show the harms of chicken (even to the point of full-on faulty testing methods and data manipulation) in order to get it outlawed (oh, by the way, they own a cattle ranch in this hypothetical situation).

Now, imagine a handful of scientists (different ones, not funded to reach a specific result) come along and (against the law) begin looking at chicken again, and find that not only is it totally safe, but in some cases actually has great positive benefits to some people's lives. Not only that, but these scientists have also looked at the previous studies that had been done and found out about the poor science going on (such as blowing smoke into monkeys' faces for a few minutes straight and then claiming that the resulting brain cell loss was from cannabis, not lack of oxygen or anything obvious like that), and decided to tell the public about it, but because the public had already been told "No. Chicken is bad for you, it can cause brain damage and all sorts of other bad things", the scientists find that people don't want to listen to the actual facts, they'd rather stick with the "facts" that they were told growing up. Anyways, I'm pretty sure you see where I'm going with this.


I'm not gonna try to say that cannabis has no negative side effects (acceleration of psychoses in predisposed individuals, potential lung damage [disputed], effects of short/long-term memory [exact effect differ from person to person, in some cases, their memory actually improves, though this is rare], etc), but to continue to make it illegal when there are no recorded fatalities IN THE ENTIRETY OF HISTORY is silly. And this is something that's been around since at least ancient Egypt (or longer, that's just how far back we know human consumption goes for sure).

 

Minor part? Lol.

 

Mmyeah. Minor part.

 

Oh boy, you should have avoided this comment.
You are about to be flamed beyond belief, I feel. Brace yourself.

 

i think Aragorn says it best. If simple folk are free from care then simple they will be.

 

Yeah. The US has lived carefree for far too long. No real impact from any of their wars since at least WWI.

 

*sigh*

No one is diminishing the roles of other Allied nations in this war (except maybe France, everyone makes fun of France), but as far as turning it from a loss to a win, American support and military action played a huge role. As did Russian support and military action on the other front.

But I suppose one could argue that Hitler and Hirohito caused their own defeats, by "inviting" Russia and the US to retaliate before they finished conquering the other nations, establishing a firm rule without severe worry of uprisings in Western Europe (though the US had been sending supplies to the UK and other Allies before they declared war on the Axis, as well as helping the underground in France, Greece, Poland, etc.).

 

I don't think that's the case actually. I mean, probably in the sense you're thinking, sure. Obviously, there's been no military occupation or bombings (other than a few acts of terrorism) on US Soil. However, the continued "success" of US military campaigns has caused the Military Industrial Complex to continue to grow and expand, which has severe repercussions on US life... albeit with subtle means.

There is most definitely real impact, but it is "hidden" behind Secret, and Top Secret classifications, and with the illusion that everything the government and the military does is for the benefit of the people rather than the corporations, industries, and organizations that have spawned or grown as a result of constant military state, which has become increasingly focused on quelling potential domestic unrest (which is likely if the economy continues in it's current direction, cheap gas prices or no).


And now back to your regularly scheduled thread about Weeeeed.... 420 #Brownies!

(or whatever)

 

Yeah, and this hidden impact was only ever possible because you didn't learn about the true impact of war like those directly influenced by it had to. The US has been very sheltered all that time, and it led to an unhealthy adoration of the military and everything related to it. The military industrial complex you are describing wouldn't have been able to develop if not for that ritualistic worship.

 

You should run for president as a Democrat Boozha. Im sure they'll find a way to fudge you a birth certificate. Seriously I think you could give Hillary a run for her money.