Legalising Marijuana

[moXJO]

There is also soem alcoholic content in simple cough medicines, so someone with a cold may register a 0.01% reading without consuming non-medicinal drinks and under a zero tolerance policy would be pinged. Doesn't seem right.

If you eat one of those bubble-o-bill ice creams it will put you over as well. A judge actually made a man using this defense eat one in court then blow into a breathalyzer. Sure enough it gave a reading.

 

[Wysiwyg]

If you eat one of those bubble-o-bill ice creams it will put you over as well. A judge actually made a man using this defense eat one in court then blow into a breathalyzer. Sure enough it gave a reading.

Listerine measured .02 on a breathalyzer from personal experience. Mouth washed about 30 minutes prior to a bottle shop visit in Hamilton. Fact.

 

[bloomy88]

If you eat one of those bubble-o-bill ice creams it will put you over as well. A judge actually made a man using this defense eat one in court then blow into a breathalyzer. Sure enough it gave a reading.

Wow that's amazing! Why do Bubble-o-Bill ice creams give a reading? What ingedient is it?
Cheers

 

[bloomy88]

Oh and apparently if you eat a Cherry Ripe close to the useby date it can give you a reading as well, remember seeing it in the news a while ago

 

[Krusty the Klown]

A relative of mine worked as a mental health nurse in the acute psychiatric ward of a hospital.
She could tell you stories of many of her patients who suffered from severe psychosis as a result of heavy and prolonged smoking of pot.
Extreme violence was only one of their symptoms.

Really? So it does happen then, I thought there had to be at least one case out there.

Do you know if these patients used any other sort of drugs as well?

 

[bunyip]

Really? So it does happen then, I thought there had to be at least one case out there.

Do you know if these patients used any other sort of drugs as well?

When patients come into a hospital's Acute Psychiatric Unit, (APU), they're interviewed and if possible their families are interviewed as well, to try and build up some sort of patient profile to assist the staff in making decisions about their treatment. If the patient is too unwell to be interviewed on admission, the interview is conducted a few days or a week later after they're settled down and the drugs are starting to leave their system.
According to my relative, their patient files said only that they were heavy and habitual users of marijuana. Most of them were only young, still in their late teens, but had been heavy users since early teens. A couple were still in school.
They'd spend a week or two in hospital, get settled down with the help of medication, get discharged, and a month or two later would be back in hospital again with another psychotic episode.
This same relative worked in a full blown mental hospital after she'd spent a few years working in the Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU) of the base hospital. Some of the young dope patients she'd nursed in APU were deemed incurable and ended up in the full mental hospital as permanent residents.

There's a hell of a lot of misinformation about marijuana. People have a puff, feel good because of it, become regular users, continue in jobs or uni or whatever, and think it's doing them no harm. They choose to ignore the medical evidence that long term use kills off brain cells, just like long term and excessive use of alcohol does.
Also, smoking is smoking, whether it's tobacco or pot or anything else, and smoking as we know is in itself a very risky habit.
Pot is a mind-altering drug, just like alcohol. We've seen the havoc that alcohol wreaks in society. When then in the name of god would we be stupid enough to legalise another mind-altering drug.

Anyone who thinks there's no harm in marijuana needs to get in touch with the facts.
Talk to the medical people who've done the research.
Talk to the folks who have conducted driving tests on people when they have dope in their systems, and again when they have no dope, and find out the facts about how dope-driving slows down a drivers reaction time, affects their judgement, and makes them take risks they wouldn't normally take when driving dope-free.
Talk to the staff at mental health units of hospitals to get the true picture of the devastating effects that dope can have.

If what I've said above isn't enough to convince people that dope is bad, consider this......cigarette smoking is bad, but it doesn't lead to heavier drugs.
Pot smoking is frequently the first step that leads to experimentation with heavier drugs. Many junkies took their first step towards full-blown hard drug addiction when they took their first puff on a joint of pot.

Dope is for dopes.

 

[Timmy]

If you eat one of those bubble-o-bill ice creams it will put you over as well. A judge actually made a man using this defense eat one in court then blow into a breathalyzer. Sure enough it gave a reading.

Here is the scientific literature on this.
The Journal of 2DayFM (peer reviewed ).
Professors Hamish and Andy.

After reading that eating Bubble-O-Bill ice-creams could cause people to register on breathalyzers the boys decided to put it to the test. How better to do that than have Andy eat as many as possible during a show and breath testing him.

http://www.2dayfm.com.au/shows/hamishandandy/galleries/andy-bubble-o-bill

 

[prawn_86]

It all comes back to moderation. If you use something excessivley once a week or more, it is more than likely going to do damage.

Pills (prescription and illegal), grog, weed, smokes, even contact sports all cause long term damage of some form or another...

 

[nunthewiser]

Pills (prescription and illegal), grog, weed, smokes, even contact sports all cause long term damage of some form or another...

Yep , i know a boxer that is now a trainer that finds it difficult to string sentences together now from being " punch drunk " from recieving so many blows to the head over the course of the years in the ring.

I know someone that has smoked dope for that same amount of time he spent in the ring and he is an articulate switched on person .

I suppose its all about how one conducts there studies on various things to see whatever outcome that suits there bias at the time .

 

[bunyip]

I suppose its all about how one conducts there studies on various things to see whatever outcome that suits there bias at the time .

That's a presumptuous statement if ever I heard one!

I'm not aware of any evidence to suggest that researchers were in any way biased.
While the possibility of bias cannot be ruled out, it's equally possible, even likely, that they conducted independent and unbiased research in a genuine attempt to establish the facts.

 

[nunthewiser]

That's a presumptuous statement if ever I heard one!

I'm not aware of any evidence to suggest that researchers were in any way biased.
While the possibility of bias cannot be ruled out, it's equally possible, even likely, that they conducted independent and unbiased research in a genuine attempt to establish the facts.

And i have seen varying reports via other "respected" outlets through various media and actually first hand that refute totally other "respected" outlets in regards to marijuana use in regards to the AVERAGE user ...

Yes they all agree that ppl with ongoing mental ilnesses are more prone for bigger problems but they also say that in regards to alcohol.

So yes i do believe there is a bias and my previous post still stands .

 

[condog]

No - definitely not... no explanation necessary...

Medicinal use and legalisation are two completely separate arguments. Clinical trials for pain relief are already operating in most states.

 

[Dowdy]

Want to get rid of the criminals - then make it legal!

Todays weed is about 10-20X stronger then the weed from the 60's.

Growers have increased the THC content (the chemical that makes you high) through genetic modification and the need to grow it quicker by planting it in high chemical soil.

If the government took over the growing they can limit the use of THC and if they were smart they would grow hemp (which contains next to no THC) to use for paper production and replace cotton as fabric. The hemp tree is more efficient, uses less water, less space and grows way quicker

 

[Kipp]

Logic dictates outlaw tobacco and alcohol and legalise Marijuana.

I don't understand the demonisation of the the lesser evil marijuana when you have 2 worse legal drugs that cause so much death, violence and disease.

To quote Mr Spock - "It is illogical".

Very nice summary Krusty - an interesting little tidbit that I once heard(sorry, I conveniently have no source) is that the NET impact of the tobacco is actaully a drain on the taxpayer $$$. Nevermind all of the billions
of dutys and tax, it is such a horrific burden on healthcare.

I disagree with other posters saying there is no point to growing it as it can be grown so easily in the backyard. In the netherlands, coffee shops still do a roaring trade (through locals as well I might add) even though it is legal to own a few plants. For the same reason as we don't all bake our own bread, and brew our own beer... convenience. Going to Amsterdam was one of th best things I have ever done, it is an open-minded and beautiful city, though the do-gooders are moving there also... (magic mushrooms where made illegal last year, and also it is now illegal to smoke in a coffee shop )

Good thread gg.... like all threads.... probably running near the end of its life (most non-stock threads don't have great longevity).

 

[Julia]

And i have seen varying reports via other "respected" outlets through various media and actually first hand that refute totally other "respected" outlets in regards to marijuana use in regards to the AVERAGE user ...

Yes they all agree that ppl with ongoing mental ilnesses are more prone for bigger problems but they also say that in regards to alcohol.

So yes i do believe there is a bias and my previous post still stands .

There will always be anecdotal accounts and quotes of 'studies'.
The only way to resolve these disputes is to examine the protocols of any studies that may have been done, i.e. they would obviously have to have been logitudinal studies for a start, and their validity would depend on numbers, whether they were double blind, double blind plus cross over, etc etc. To be statistically valid, such a study would be complicated and costly to organise and complete, then it would need to be peer reviewed.
This is the only way to avoid any accusations of bias.

Very nice summary Krusty - an interesting little tidbit that I once heard(sorry, I conveniently have no source) is that the NET impact of the tobacco is actaully a drain on the taxpayer $$$. Nevermind all of the billions
of dutys and tax, it is such a horrific burden on healthcare.

And I've heard quite the opposite, from an interview on Radio National with researchers into tobacco related diseases, i.e. that the taxes on tobacco products are in excess of the health costs.
I'd say it would be pretty difficult to measure this, as many diseases are overlapping, and would have other contributing factors such as obesity and hypertension.

 

[bunyip]

Want to get rid of the criminals - then make it legal!

Todays weed is about 10-20X stronger then the weed from the 60's.

Growers have increased the THC content (the chemical that makes you high) through genetic modification and the need to grow it quicker by planting it in high chemical soil.

If the government took over the growing they can limit the use of THC and if they were smart they would grow hemp (which contains next to no THC) to use for paper production and replace cotton as fabric. The hemp tree is more efficient, uses less water, less space and grows way quicker

How about we get rid of all criminals by making everything legal!

 

[Ageo]

How about we get rid of all criminals by making everything legal!

Dont laugh if you outlaw something the only people left with them are outlaws!

Legalise everything = less things to do underground.

Have you noticed everything that gets banned actually increases the crime rate?

 

[Krusty the Klown]

When patients come into a hospital's Acute Psychiatric Unit, (APU), they're interviewed and if possible their families are interviewed as well, to try and build up some sort of patient profile to assist the staff in making decisions about their treatment. If the patient is too unwell to be interviewed on admission, the interview is conducted a few days or a week later after they're settled down and the drugs are starting to leave their system.
According to my relative, their patient files said only that they were heavy and habitual users of marijuana. Most of them were only young, still in their late teens, but had been heavy users since early teens. A couple were still in school.
They'd spend a week or two in hospital, get settled down with the help of medication, get discharged, and a month or two later would be back in hospital again with another psychotic episode.
This same relative worked in a full blown mental hospital after she'd spent a few years working in the Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU) of the base hospital. Some of the young dope patients she'd nursed in APU were deemed incurable and ended up in the full mental hospital as permanent residents.

There's a hell of a lot of misinformation about marijuana. People have a puff, feel good because of it, become regular users, continue in jobs or uni or whatever, and think it's doing them no harm. They choose to ignore the medical evidence that long term use kills off brain cells, just like long term and excessive use of alcohol does.
Also, smoking is smoking, whether it's tobacco or pot or anything else, and smoking as we know is in itself a very risky habit.
Pot is a mind-altering drug, just like alcohol. We've seen the havoc that alcohol wreaks in society. When then in the name of god would we be stupid enough to legalise another mind-altering drug.

Anyone who thinks there's no harm in marijuana needs to get in touch with the facts.
Talk to the medical people who've done the research.
Talk to the folks who have conducted driving tests on people when they have dope in their systems, and again when they have no dope, and find out the facts about how dope-driving slows down a drivers reaction time, affects their judgement, and makes them take risks they wouldn't normally take when driving dope-free.
Talk to the staff at mental health units of hospitals to get the true picture of the devastating effects that dope can have.

If what I've said above isn't enough to convince people that dope is bad, consider this......cigarette smoking is bad, but it doesn't lead to heavier drugs.
Pot smoking is frequently the first step that leads to experimentation with heavier drugs. Many junkies took their first step towards full-blown hard drug addiction when they took their first puff on a joint of pot.

Dope is for dopes.

Cheers for the info bunyip.

I just read an article that agrees with your relo's experience - heavy and prolonged use by youths has a greater instance of phychosis. Particularly the higher the THC content. There was no mention of violence though.

The studies showed, however, that the risk of psychosis was dramatically lower if use started when an adult.

The dangerous effects of smoking the drug can be eliminated by ingesting through the stomach, like in cookies or tea.

A doco on the National Geographic Channel interviewed a guy in Canada who legally grows his own MJ for pain relief and he makes it in to a butter, which he uses to make cakes, bikkies etc. He has been doing this for quite a few years with no adverse effects (so far) but he will be monitored for continuing research purposes.

The article was in New Scientist magazine.

 

[bunyip]

Cheers for the info bunyip.

I just read an article that agrees with your relo's experience - heavy and prolonged use by youths has a greater instance of phychosis. Particularly the higher the THC content. There was no mention of violence though.


.

Believe me mate, the violence is for real, according to my rellie.

For some reason I thought these young druggies would most likely have come from dysfunctional families. And while that's certainly the case with some of them, there are others she told me about who were private school products from professional parents. For example, one was the 17 year old son of a well known medical specialist.

I'm just damned pleased I never tried illicit drugs myself. I tried pretty much all the other vices.....cigarettes, booze, fast cars, slow horses, fast women! LOL
And thoroughly enjoyed all of them until I grew up a bit and starting behaving more responsibly!

 

[Krusty the Klown]

I tried pretty much all the other vices.....cigarettes, booze, fast cars, slow horses, fast women! LOL

Yes, think most of us have that in common!!