• Marijuana - The good, the bad, and the unknown
    1,360 replies, posted
All drugs should be legal. For evidence I will direct you to a really long post I wrote on facebook while I was on speed. legalize all drugs under a regulatory framework similar to the class divided driving system we have now. Include alcohol in this system. In order to buy a drug of a certain class (psychedelic, opiate, stimulant, dissociative, etc.), the individual must complete a course that involves lessons on the effects, proper dosage, safe usage and addiction potential of the drug. Afterwards, the individual (let's call him Cheech for shits and giggles) must complete a written test. If passed, this earns him the right to buy a certain kind of drug for a predetermined period of time (this would be calculated based off of the social harm and addiction potential of the drug.) At the "drug store," Cheech would have access to specialists to help him with addiction, should it arise. He would also have access to clean needles and a safe place to use. This type of regulation would work for a number of reasons. First and foremost: just because a drug is legal does not mean that people are going to use it. If meth and heroin were made legal tomorrow, would you start shooting up heroin and smoking meth? No, you wouldn't because you're educated on the fact that if you do meth and heroin you will in all likelihood get fucked over. In fact, in countries where drugs have been sold under a legislative framework, use has gone down. The rate of cannabis consumption, especially for adolescents, in the Netherlands compared to the rest of the world is much lower. The second reason this type of framework would be successful is because no matter how illegal you make a substance, people are still going to use it. By making a drug illegal you are making it more dangerous; not just for the user, but for everyone. Prohibition takes money away from the government and puts it into the hands of organized crime, decreasing public safety. It also encourages clandestine operations to manufacture drugs, which increases the risk of adulterants and impurities, putting the user at risk. In addition, the user is more likely to be uneducated on the dangers of the drugs. The third reason this system would work is because the freedom of education regarding drugs would skyrocket. No more would children be fed inaccurate information about drugs, leading them to mistrust the REAL warnings about the dangers of drugs because they find out marijuana, ecstasy and LSD aren't as dangerous as they are made to seem. With the legalization of all drugs, we would free ourselves from the oppressive reign that the government has upon us. By keeping drugs illegal, we are allowing the government to control us. We are allowing the government to control how we think and what we do in the interest of profit and keeping us quiet. Does that sound like democracy to you? Does that sound like freedom? Drugs can be dangerous. Lumping illegal drugs and legal drugs into two separate categories makes no sense because the physiological effects that drugs have on our bodies do not discriminate based on legal status. As an example of this, alcohol has been proven to be one of the most dangerous drugs known to man. If it were discovered tomorrow, news stories would be reporting how young people are getting high off of the dangerous, addictive, easy to overdose on substance known as ethanol, it would be made illegal in a heartbeat. The government's role in the regulation of drugs should be to reduce harm. Our current legislation does the exact opposite. Drugs will not go away, they have been in existence since the dawn of humanity and no matter how much we want them to they will not disappear. 100 years of the "War on Drugs" and trillions of dollars wasted are proof of this. If you're reading this, I urge you to take action against these nonsensical policies we have on drugs. Billions of dollars per year are wasted and thousands of people are thrown in jail for exercising their right to freedom of thought and the freedom to live the way they choose to live. With the money wasted on fighting drugs, we could have saved countless individuals from starvation, poverty and war. Instead, the governments of the world have continued this senseless and baseless attack on our rights, largely in the interest of self profit. If anyone has any questions about drugs, drug policy or shit like that please contact me. I am happy to help. ------ Yes, I don;t think that it'll happen for a long, long time but this really is the best way to deal with drugs. I agree that legalizing all drugs outright at once would take reduce a lot of the perceived harm of drugs. However, if this change was gradual and coupled with EXTENSIVE education programs and very strict regulation then it would work. In fact, I believe that legalizing all drugs would probably reduce the use of those very hard drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, simply because they would be purchased in a safe environment. The difference between illegal and legal means of purchasing drugs means that if all drugs were legal, harder drugs would not be pushed on soft-drug customers. The only reasons that people would be tempted to try drugs like heroin or meth would be their own. Most people who start using hard drugs are tempted to by their dealers. They might be buying marijuana when their dealer says "hey, want to buy a joint laced with crack?" This type of situation would not happen if drugs were sold by professionals Also, if one were to purchase these drugs by legal means, they would be FORCED to learn about the dangers of these drugs just so that they can get them. This further reduces the allure of these drugs. Thirdly, heroin and meth are both notoriously impure, because of their illegality. If they were legal, users would have access to high quality, pure drugs. This makes the drugs safer for those who take them. Fourth, because the drugs would be purchased in a regulated environment, the user would have easy access to safe injection sites and addiction services. This would reduce the spread of HIV and also make it easier for an addict to get help. Fifth, if drugs like marijuana and ecstasy were made legal but heroin and meth were not, who do you think would start pushing heroin and meth on people? Organized crime's profits from soft drugs would almost completely be eradicated so they would turn to hard drugs. Because of this substantial lack of profit, they would push hard drugs on people, encouraging them to buy them. For example: look at Amsterdam. Drug dealers are EVERYWHERE, you have people pulling up to tourists in SUVs and trying to sell them crack. Although this issue has a lot to do with drug tourism (people going there to buy weed and shrooms and have a jolly old time), it is also because marijuana is the only legal drug there. Finally, If meth and heroin were legal, would you start smoking meth and doing heroin? Because ALL drugs are legal, there would no longer be the imaginary difference in dangers between legal and illegal drugs. Drugs would be rated according to their actual, scientifically proven harm rating. In addition, I'm sure governments would try to convince people AGAINST doing meth and heroin. This is, in my opinion, the best way to deal with drugs, because making them illegal does not make them disappear. Of course, as long as we have politicians making money off of drug users going to jail, this is never going to happen.
[QUOTE=CD Clock;19787587]long post[/QUOTE] I didn't bother to read this. Amsterdam is an example of what legalization does. Everyone's having fun over there. But the U.S. is much more stupid and much larger. I don't think ALL drugs need to be legalized.
[QUOTE=CD Clock;19787587]All drugs should be legal. For evidence I will direct you to a really long post I wrote on facebook while I was on speed. -massive text- [/QUOTE] That really wouldn't work. All drugs shouldn't be legal because some drugs out there actually are bad for you and will fuck you up. Schools should instead be teaching real, factual, and scientific information about drugs. Not the DARE "weed is bad for you if you do it you'll get addicted to meth" shit. Besides that if anybody wants anything that's illegal there's always a way to get it.
I didn't know caffeine was that fatal.
Marijuana doesn't kill you. It fucks your brain up, making it less productive throughout your junkie life.
[QUOTE=TheIceman;19803748]Marijuana doesn't kill you. It fucks your brain up, making it less productive throughout your junkie life.[/QUOTE] Either troll or dumb.
I'm not a bud smoker, but I do find the whole culture really exciting. Makes me want to grow and sell it, living my life as a vigilante and developing my own strains of new powerful and exotic weed. All the while making thousands of dollars.
[QUOTE=Blaat;19804030]I'm not a bud smoker, but I do find the whole culture really exciting. Makes me want to grow and sell it, living my life as a vigilante and developing my own strains of new powerful and exotic weed. All the while making thousands of dollars.[/QUOTE] Careful now...
[QUOTE=Blaat;19804030]living my life as a vigilante.[/QUOTE] That does not mean what you think it means. [editline]09:08PM[/editline] [QUOTE=rukiddingme;19768883]Weed isn't even a drug for fucks sake.[/QUOTE] And somehow I'm the ignorant one. Also I like how three peer-reviewed studies that were published in a world-renowned scientific journal are somehow not valid sources (Aaronn, I believe you said they were not scientifical. I cannot remember the exact quote, but it was something like "Nothing you posted was science". The journal is called science) but a film is.
I think we should just stop arguing, no ones changing anyone's mind, just wait it out until it's legalized or at least decriminalized, then laugh it up with a bag of misunderstood dope.
I think all drugs should be legalized. People are already educated about the dangers of hard drugs. Legalization won't make people any more likely to try them. As long as drug users aren't infringing on the rights of others, there's no reason to charge them.
[QUOTE=lazyguy;19805938]That does not mean what you think it means. [editline]09:08PM[/editline] And somehow I'm the ignorant one. Also I like how three peer-reviewed studies that were published in a world-renowned scientific journal are somehow not valid sources (Aaronn, I believe you said they were not scientifical. I cannot remember the exact quote, but it was something like "Nothing you posted was science". The journal is called science) but a film is.[/QUOTE] lrn2government propaganda
[QUOTE=lazyguy;19805938] And somehow I'm the ignorant one. [/QUOTE] Technically speaking it is a drug. Technically speaking every person does drugs every day (caffeine, alcohol, tobacco), but does that make them druggies? I think he meant it less in the technical sense and more in the sense that it shouldn't be referred to as a drug. The word 'drug' usually has a bad stigma attached to it. When people go to AA meetings they don't say "I have a drug problem", even though alcohol IS a drug, and a far worse one than marijuana.
[QUOTE=TiekOneDoe;19779116]Some People Are So FUCKING STUPID!.. I really hope the majority of you never reproduce,and luckily I probably wont have to worry about that too much. It is A fact that marijuana in its natural form has never directly killed anyone,and never will. Also someone said "they tried HEMP" on the first page of this thread... Uggh. Hemp is not a drug. My shoes are made of hemp,A lot of clothes are made with hemp,many important documents were printed on hemp. But it contains no THC. And still yet Hemp is not allowed to be grown within the states,even though we sell products formed by it,and it is a more efficient material then most anything else we use to substitute it. And smoking marijuana is only bad for you because the properties of smoke,it builds a layer of tar on your lungs just as anything else would if you smoked it. But we have made THC pills,and any average Joe can bake or fry products with marijuana in it. Also tea's and other beverages can be brewed with THC. But in a nutshell Marijuana is the most harmless "Drug" in the world. But at the same time,it's definitely not for everyone. Some people become paranoid,or just incredibly annoying while under the influence.[/QUOTE] Weed did affect your grammar though.
[QUOTE=Monkey pie;19808815]Weed did affect your grammar though.[/QUOTE] facepalm.jpg I've seen a lot worse from people who have never smoked anything.
Ditto
[QUOTE=Aaronn;19808679]lrn2government propaganda[/QUOTE] lrn2dealer propaganda [editline]12:40AM[/editline] And lrn2scientificjournal while you're at it.
[QUOTE=lazyguy;19810123]lrn2dealer propaganda [editline]12:40AM[/editline] And lrn2scientificjournal while you're at it.[/QUOTE] You don't know anything about bud. All you know, has been tainted by the government. Try it before you knock it. You only live once.
dealer propaganda ahahaha
Sup guys just took a few bucket hits and spotted this thread. what is uppppppppp
[QUOTE=Aman V;19813670]Sup guys just took a few bucket hits and spotted this thread. what is uppppppppp[/QUOTE] :350: enjoying an amazing head high
[QUOTE=Aaronn;19810466]You don't know anything about bud. All you know, has been tainted by the government. Try it before you knock it. You only live once.[/QUOTE] It's a scientific journal. All papers in there are PEER-reviewed. As in, by scientists. Not politicians. Why would the government even want to waste so much money secretly changing scientific papers anyway? They'd make a lot more money if it was legalised through taxes. I don't see how the idea of dealer propaganda is more ridiculous than government propaganda - dealers have a financial incentive to do it.
Well if you're cool with the government spending more than 7 million a year cracking down on weed, which does absolutely nothing instead of making countless millions by legalizing it and using it for everything from paper to pants, then that's really your choice. [editline]12:25PM[/editline] Fighting weed is the most useless thing imaginable, everybody and their dog already does it, and it has a million uses besides getting you high, it's the world's most useful plant, yet it's illegal.
I saw a documentary on TV the other day saying it increases the risk of schizophrenia so it is yet another reason for me to never bother with it. The idea of smoking anything just doesn't personally appeal to me anyway. Parakon I'd love to see the resource claiming it to be the world's most useful plant. I am sure there are plenty of ones out there, which are much more important for mankind than weed.
[QUOTE=Emz;19820447]I saw a documentary on TV the other day saying it increases the risk of schizophrenia so it is yet another reason for me to never bother with it. The idea of smoking anything just doesn't personally appeal to me anyway. Parakon I'd love to see the resource claiming it to be the world's most useful plant. I am sure there are plenty of ones out there, which are much more important for mankind than weed.[/QUOTE] You might be talking about this study- [IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/xbgt9t.gif[/IMG] Even if it's 100% accurate and cannabis makes you 6x more likely to develop schizophrenia, then if you're a cannabis user that has smoked more than 50 times, there's a 97% chance that you will not be developing schizophrenia.. as opposed to a 99.5% chance if you've never smoked. Either way, it looks like schizo problems are pretty unlikely. Also, that study began in the early 60s, and you really need to be careful with old scientific studies, because a lot of research was done pretty incompetently. In this particular study, the numbers are reliant upon the honesty of the participants, because they pretty much just asked them how many times they've smoked. Also note that this graph thing says that people who claim to have smoked once have the least cases of schizophrenia. Better safe than sorry, try it once [B]or suffer from schizophrenia[/B]. People have been attempting to thrash the reputation of this plant for decades. It doesn't surprise me that you treat it like a plant with a bad reputation. That's what it is. I just wish everyone could base their opinions on their own observations & experiences.. and understand why & how it got its reputation. The propaganda campaigns like Reefer Madness etc. A lot of it is just business. Hemp's competition is very large and very wealthy, and a hell of a lot more profitable. If you don't think capitalism has influence in law and culture, you must be new to these concepts .. Edit: This looks like another similar study: [url]http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0165178105000284[/url] [Quote] Abstract The current investigation uses a large non-clinical sample of undergraduate college students (N=189) to investigate schizotypal traits among cannabis and non-cannabis users, as well as the temporal order of the onset of these traits and cannabis use. Findings suggest that regular cannabis users are significantly more prone to cognitive and perceptual distortions as well as disorganization, but not interpersonal deficits, than non-regular users and those who have never used. Additionally, the onset of schizotypal symptoms generally precedes the onset of cannabis use. The findings do not support a causal link between cannabis use and schizotypal traits.[/Quote] In that one, they found that onset of schizotypal symptoms generally precede onset of cannabis use. If schizotypal/schizophrenics are more likely to use cannabis, then I think that may explain your little graph up there.
[QUOTE=Emz;19820447]I saw a documentary on TV the other day saying it increases the risk of schizophrenia so it is yet another reason for me to never bother with it. The idea of smoking anything just doesn't personally appeal to me anyway. Parakon I'd love to see the resource claiming it to be the world's most useful plant. I am sure there are plenty of ones out there, which are much more important for mankind than weed.[/QUOTE] First off, it can only bring up schizophrenia if it was preexisting, but go ahead and believe what you want, I enjoy the assumption "herp derp it's weed so it's clearly bad" I was talking about hemp. With Hemp you can make oil, butter, paper, clothing, shoes etc etc. As a matter of fact the chinese were able to derive about 5000 different products from Hemp hundreds of years before Jesus was alleged to be born. [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp#Uses[/URL] You can dig through there if you want. My original source was a documentary called "The Union" which is on google video, all of it, so if you want both sides instead of just blindly listening to one side then go ahead and watch that too.
Doesn't marijuana mess up your teeth? Also, I'm actually surprised at the amount of people here that have actually said they smoke marijuana.
[QUOTE=Hazelrat10;19820639]Doesn't marijuana mess up your teeth? Also, I'm actually surprised at the amount of people here that have actually said they smoke marijuana.[/QUOTE] ...No? That would be the very much legal tobacco.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4InxmJIbJ7M[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzJmvk28sDk[/media] Good documentary. Take twenty minutes out of your time to watch it. Penn and Teller are the shit.
[QUOTE=Parakon;19820636]My original source was a documentary called "The Corporation" which is on google video, all of it, so if you want both sides instead of just blindly listening to one side then go ahead and watch that too.[/QUOTE] Well if we're going to claims films as facts then watch Reefer Madness. It's all 100% FACT like every film and if you do not stop smoking it will happen to you. [editline]01:57PM[/editline] PS hemp is made from a different plant to the one you get weed from. Same genus, but the hemp plant contains far less THC.
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