Legalising Marijuana

[Garpal Gumnut]

Before i vote, one question needs to be answered.

Will it cost more or less through legalisation and will will one be able to score evil high content THC weeds . ?

Mate just bloody well vote. We can argue about the rest later. Or if you don't want to vote, give someone else yours to vote.

Otherwise Joe will send you an infraction for not voting.

gg

 

[overit]

Hello whats going on here? Someone forgot to follow the script.

Alcohol and tobacco more harmful than ecstasy and cannabis, says chief Government adviser

Published: 7:00AM GMT 29 Oct 2009

Alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than ecstasy, cannabis and LSD, the Government's chief drug adviser has claimed as he accused ministers of ignoring evidence to distort the drugs debate.

Professor David Nutt, the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, said the current drug classification system needs replacing with a "drug harm ranking" which includes legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco.

And he risked fresh anger after once again defending his comments earlier this year that taking Ecstasy is no more dangerous than riding a horse, despite being made to apologise at the time by the Home Office.

In a stark attack, Prof Nutt said the way drugs are classified has become "highly politicised" and that politicians "distort" and "devalue" research evidence.

He said a ranking system is needed that compares the harm of all substances, whether legal or illegal, which would put alcohol fifth, behind only the likes of heroin and cocaine.

Tobacco would be ninth while cannabis, LSD and ecstasy would be ranked 11, 14 and 18 respectively.

Writing in a briefing for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College, London, Prof Nutt said: "I think we need to educate people about drug harms in relation to the harms of other activities in life, so that it is possible for them to make sensible decisions about relative harms."

"If you think that scaring kids will stop them using, you're probably wrong."

He added: "We have to fully endorse harm reduction approaches at all levels and especially stop the artificial separation of alcohol and tobacco as 'non-drugs'.

 

[Wysiwyg]

Hello whats going on here? Someone forgot to follow the script.

That Professor is a Nutt.

 

[wayneL]

That Professor is a Nutt.

They ran a program on TV that outlined that research. It was very compelling. Not nutty at all.

The professor is right. The whole debate is emotive and politicized and logic has gone out the window.

 

[nunthewiser]

Mate just bloody well vote. We can argue about the rest later. Or if you don't want to vote, give someone else yours to vote.

Otherwise Joe will send you an infraction for not voting.

gg

I,m afraid i cannot vote until i know all the facts! So much pressure! What happens if i vote and i make the difference between legalisation and non legalisation? .... I would be devastated to learn I alone had altered the course of history without knowing the full story........

I,m sure Joe would agree on my stance and actually remove all my infractions i have because i have proven myself to be a most responsible adult in this matter.

yours sincerely.

A Dazed and confused Nun.

 

[BradK]

WARNING: This is a purely, non-scientific subjective post from painful experience that will p!ss off the nutty wacky tabacky apologists.

Brother is a long term user. I do not necessarily believe it leads to harder stuff, but I have seen his personality and mood turn on a dime, and also over long term. I also have some old school friends who are long time users. Same story.

I know its anecdotal, but long term daily or weekly use (Im talking over 10 years here) is utterly destructive. And the ONLY PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE WITH THAT ARE THE USERS!!! And they dont count - because they are ADDICTS.

Like any addicts, they wrought destruction on the family - I have seen my mother dumbfounded at my brothers actions, demands for money, etc. with little knowledge that he is a user. It might not be physically addictive as someone says above, but I think it severly diminishes mental health and wellbeing.

Noone will ever convince me that it should be legalised. Jail growers and pushers with LOOOOONNNGGGG sentences.

Can't believe so many ASFers have voted yes! Unbelievable.

Brad

 

[BradK]

I`m with Tink. Seen sporting potential, education aspirations and careers destroyed by the toxic weed.

Spot on - the draining of motivation, aspirations and careers is proof of the pudding.

 

[BradK]

Am I missing something here? But isn't it already freely available to the young?

I'm pretty sure nearly any high school student would know how to get hold of some.

But the overwhelming majority would not access it. Just because they might know how to get it, I think the criminality of it all is the key deterrent.

 

[BradK]

Nooo way...

I grew up in a suburb where every second house was a pot dealer. Teenage years, all my friends from that area were stoners. At first use it seems fine but most of those friends ended up schizophrenic or committed suicide. In fact suicide rate seems very high. One mate (who was a heavy user) stabbed, then tried to burn down his next door neighbor’s house. He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and locked in a mental ward for a few months. Then let back out and he tried to kill a cop went back in then let back out a few months later again. I've seen people that seemed really positive end up necking themselves, and a lot of wasted talent. Note: the majority did not drink alcohol either and were purely stoners
I'm not sure if it was the transition to hydro during the late 80's to early 90's. Back then people didn’t flush the plants with water for 2 weeks, so all those chemicals were still in the buds. Could have also been the high levels of THC associated with skunk or northern lights .

The happy stoner hippy is also a BS myth. The old stoners are more likely to have an extremely short temper, and in my experience get physical when they fly off in a rage.
Our mental health over here is atrocious, and the cost would blow out if pot were legally availably. A lot of it gets swept under the carpet.
Anyone who thinks pot is not as bad as alcohol is fooling themselves. It causes a lot of problems, both personal and social.
Why add another problem? Pot use has been slowly tapering off for years. And the current generation views it as the loser’s drug. E is the drug of choice now.

It's already legal to a degree anyway for personal use. If you get caught its (was) a $30 fine for a small amount.

Absolutely agree with everything you have said here. We didn't grow up in the same area did we?

For those who criticise the debate as having logic gone out the window - ever tried to consistently reason with a user? Talk of logic is hypocritical in this instance.

 

[nunthewiser]

WARNING: This is a purely, non-scientific subjective post from painful experience that will p!ss off the nutty wacky tabacky apologists.

Brother is a long term user. I do not necessarily believe it leads to harder stuff, but I have seen his personality and mood turn on a dime, and also over long term. I also have some old school friends who are long time users. Same story.

I know its anecdotal, but long term daily or weekly use (Im talking over 10 years here) is utterly destructive. And the ONLY PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE WITH THAT ARE THE USERS!!! And they dont count - because they are ADDICTS.

Like any addicts, they wrought destruction on the family - I have seen my mother dumbfounded at my brothers actions, demands for money, etc. with little knowledge that he is a user. It might not be physically addictive as someone says above, but I think it severly diminishes mental health and wellbeing.

Can't believe so many ASFers have voted yes! Unbelievable.

Brad

Sorry to break it to ya but ya brother sounds farked up regardless the poison, it may be mull but if it wasnt mull it would be something else. Your brothers demons are his and they will come out on legal highs also.

no offense intended but your story could relate to any form of poison taken from those looking to escape.

 

[moXJO]

As it’s been a decade or two since I have par-taken in the communal bong.

Should it be legalised! On my personal experience yes, as I had no serious side affects or long term health issues besides only having the retention span of a flea.

Jack

I'm interested in why people gave it up. What prompted people to stop smoking GG's miracle plant?

On the other side.... Why do people still smoke it (or their friends still smoke it), and are they long term users (over ten years)?

 

[nunthewiser]

I'm interested in why people gave it up. What prompted people to stop smoking GG's miracle plant?

On the other side.... Why do people still smoke it (or their friends still smoke it), and are they long term users (over ten years)?

Very personally know a godly fella been toking for 26 years now , he is fine , but what takes the cake is the angels father that tokes on occasion that has been doing it for 50 years .............

Hey but there no psycologists , just riff raff that know who they are .

 

[wayneL]

I'm interested in why people gave it up. What prompted people to stop smoking GG's miracle plant?

A few reasons for me.

1/ I'm a non-smoker, I don't enjoy inhaling smoke.

2/ I only like getting pissed/high in social situations and no-one does so with dope in my group of friends.

3/ When I drink, I know exactly how pissed I'm going to get. With weed, it's variable. I like to keep control of myself.

4/ Mrs doesn't smoke it. (but has no challenge with it)

In the right situation, I'd have no problems taking it though (unlikely though).

 

[moXJO]

Very personally know a godly fella been toking for 26 years now , he is fine , but what takes the cake is the angels father that tokes on occasion that has been doing it for 50 years .............

Hey but there no psycologists , just riff raff that know who they are .

My friend’s brother has been pulling cones for roughly the same length of time. He developed a pretty short wick though, and I have seen some pretty fiery moods and bouts of depression (not attributing it all to pot). In fact he had to move out of the city and into a rural area which has done him wonders. He seemed to have fallen through the cracks and lost his way somewhere. All his drive dried up. So much potential lost, he was a brilliant artist, good at motocross, martial arts, and fantastic at maths. Now if he is not able to smoke pot at least one session a day, his temper starts to boil.
But he is always quick to help anyone and always tries to do the right thing. This is just one story of a person I personally know with the mildest effect from use.
Pot smokers are not bad people. Some very good friends (and good people) from my past were pot smokers. But a habit is a habit and often hard to shake.

 

[moXJO]

A few reasons for me.

1/ I'm a non-smoker, I don't enjoy inhaling smoke.

I'm sure nun's friends could bake you a cookie

I remember a friend once baked a cake/slice, with two ounces of hydros finest just to make sure. He consumed a piece and brain was quickly numbed over the next 40 mins. He put it in a cake tin and went to sleep.

His parents had a cup of tea before they went shopping and found the cake. Both ate a fairly large slice before driving off. They made it a fair way down the street before the father turned to mother and asked "where am I, and where are we going". Confusion rained.
Both had to be driven home and slept for a very long time

 

[Krusty the Klown]

Interestingly we've heard about some users who seem to have sank in to depression while using marijuana. That does not mean that pot caused it. Maybe the depression was the reason that they used the pot in the first place.

Considering that depression is labelled "the common cold of the psyche" by doctors because it is so common, it may be that the prohibitionists are putting the cart before the horse.

We never hear about the ongoing users who go on to lead perfectly normal lives do we? Why not? Because they do not stand out from the crowd and have no reason to be singled out.

There are quite a few recreational heroin and cocaine users out there that lead normal lives also.

The media only reports on the dramatic cases. What is so dramatic about a casual user that leads a normal life?

Teenagers and young people get drunk alot, but as they grow older that behaviour wanes.

An example of this? Myself. My friends and I used to smoke pot quite heavily as teenagers and in our early twenties, but rarely these days. Same as with grog.

Despite this I still managed to gain a wall full of qualifications and hold down a full time job, buy a house etc....

 

[Chris45]

My father smoked a packet of cigarettes a day all of his adult life and enjoyed a healthy active life until he died of dementia at 99 so, using him as an example, you’d have to say that cigarettes are harmless. But is the community, as a whole, now better off with all of the restrictions on smoking? Most definitely YES!!! Smokers used to be a selfish and inconsiderate lot and I hated having to breathe their foul smoke all the time. I am really pleased that the pressure on them to quit their filthy habit is continually increasing.

As with heroin, some people can use marijuana and still lead normal healthy lives but that doesn’t mean that the community would benefit from its legalization. I know one person whose life has been adversely affected by marijuana and am therefore sympathetic to the anti-marijuana arguments in this thread.

Most of us live in communities so we should be thinking about what's best for the community, not what's best for "me".

 

[Krusty the Klown]

Most of us live in communities so we should be thinking about what's best for the community, not what's best for "me".

I totally agree. To quote Mr Spock "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".

So here is my proposal. Ban alcohol and replace it with pot.

I GUARANTEE there will be less domestic violence, less violence at sporting venues, less youth violence, less gang rape, less violence at mass gatherings... in fact less violence in general.

You've never heard of a pot smoker going on a rampage have you? It's always a drunken rampage.....

If this proposal saves one life or one woman from getting bashed or raped then it is worth it and the community wins.

 

[moXJO]

So here is my proposal. Ban alcohol and replace it with pot.

.

But how then will ugly people get laid

 

[Krusty the Klown]

But how then will ugly people get laid

I find a paperbag works well!!!!