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Hi Antrim , no , I believe if a government somewhere in the world was brave enough to legalise drugs for a trial of year the results would be startling ....
Scum drug dealers and suppliers would be unemployed , drug dealers coax kids of school age into taking drugs by giving out freebies and inducements
Also those reliant on drugs are getting " safer drugs " as in they're not cut
Prohibition didn't work with alchohol and it's not working with drugs
People who want to take any drug , drink , smoke or other poison are going to do so either way ; I remember watching a documentary made in the 50's about how " pot " would destroy the U S and yet here we are
Hi Dermot, yes, I can see the sense of that argument but even so, I feel the cons totally eclipse the pros as I know for a fact that drugs have ruined many lives, precipitated innumerable deaths and generally caused misery and hardship to countless others.
The legalizing of any drug gives the whole concept of drug taking an inappropriate credibility, and that apparent official sanctioning could, and almost certainly would lead to an avalanche of drug abusers especially among our young people.
The clear and strong message must be that drugs, all drugs, are dangerous and will, to a greater or lesser extent have a negative impact on your life both short and long term.
The fight against drugs including marijuana, which CAN lead onto stronger narcotics, must be fought with the utmost vigour.
I can tell you don't know anything about marijuana and have never actually consumed it, you are oblivious to the nature of it's effects.
People who are lazy, delusional, stupid, etc. will be that way whether they smoke weed or not, most people who smoke weed are not that way because they smoke weed, they are that way because most people are that way to begin with...If Einstein smoked a fat spleefer it wouldn't make him any less coherent or intelligent, I know this because I smoked marijuana all throughout high school and it didn't effect my performance at all, in fact it increased my motivation and reduced the stress of being around a bunch of people I hated.
Pot smokers do not pose any danger as drivers compared to people who are drunk, marijuana doesn't actually IMPAIR cognitive functions unless your brain has very low THC tolerance or if you are not mentally healthy to begin with
There is no evidence that Marijuana can induce mental illness, just that it can exacerbate symptoms in those who are already mentally ill.
My father smoked Marijuana for 30 years, he was an engineer who constructed medical devices and aircraft parts for the U.S military. Do you think he was a "useless lotus eater in a semi-stupor?"
Your worst offence is that you failed to mention or even consider that there are people who NEED marijuana as a legitimate treatment for disorders such as epilepsy.
Of course it should. The fact that it's scheduled in a class more dangerous than heroin or cocaine only goes to show that the judges prefer a bump as opposed to a spiff before they get to the bench.
Oh yeah, so someone with a belly full of strong intoxicating liquor and ''away with the fairies' on marijuana doesn't represent a greater danger driving a motor vehicle on the road than when they are sober?
We heard last week about 9 Royal Navy crew members of the nuclear submarine H.M.S. Vigilant being dismissed as they failed a drug test.
Thank god you don't write the rules for those in charge of weapons of mass destruction.
The issue you raise is completely aside from the issue of the legality of the substance. Alcohol is legal, yet we still have laws to prevent those under the influence of it from driving. The same applies to nuclear submarine crews; they aren't allowed to consume alcohol while working. It is possible, then, to legalize a substance while still preventing intoxicated people from engaging in behaviors that require sobriety to perform safely.
I can tell you don't know anything about marijuana and have never actually consumed it, you are oblivious to the nature of it's effects.
People who are lazy, delusional, stupid, etc. will be that way whether they smoke weed or not, most people who smoke weed are not that way because they smoke weed, they are that way because most people are that way to begin with...If Einstein smoked a fat spleefer it wouldn't make him any less coherent or intelligent, I know this because I smoked marijuana all throughout high school and it didn't effect my performance at all, in fact it increased my motivation and reduced the stress of being around a bunch of people I hated.
Pot smokers do not pose any danger as drivers compared to people who are drunk, marijuana doesn't actually IMPAIR cognitive functions unless your brain has very low THC tolerance or if you are not mentally healthy to begin with
There is no evidence that Marijuana can induce mental illness, just that it can exacerbate symptoms in those who are already mentally ill.
My father smoked Marijuana for 30 years, he was an engineer who constructed medical devices and aircraft parts for the U.S military. Do you think he was a "useless lotus eater in a semi-stupor?"
Your worst offence is that you failed to mention or even consider that there are people who NEED marijuana as a legitimate treatment for disorders such as epilepsy.
I can tell you don't know anything about marijuana and have never actually consumed it, you are oblivious to the nature of it's effects.
People who are lazy, delusional, stupid, etc. will be that way whether they smoke weed or not, most people who smoke weed are not that way because they smoke weed, they are that way because most people are that way to begin with...If Einstein smoked a fat spleefer it wouldn't make him any less coherent or intelligent, I know this because I smoked marijuana all throughout high school and it didn't effect my performance at all, in fact it increased my motivation and reduced the stress of being around a bunch of people I hated.
Pot smokers do not pose any danger as drivers compared to people who are drunk, marijuana doesn't actually IMPAIR cognitive functions unless your brain has very low THC tolerance or if you are not mentally healthy to begin with
There is no evidence that Marijuana can induce mental illness, just that it can exacerbate symptoms in those who are already mentally ill.
My father smoked Marijuana for 30 years, he was an engineer who constructed medical devices and aircraft parts for the U.S military. Do you think he was a "useless lotus eater in a semi-stupor?"
Your worst offence is that you failed to mention or even consider that there are people who NEED marijuana as a legitimate treatment for disorders such as epilepsy.
Yes, what you put into your body is your business and your business alone.
Hello A:
I'm looking for the part where he said DRIVING is a good thing to do when you're loaded.. I don't see it.. You know that reading is an integral part of debating, don't you? You don't, do you?? I can't help that.
By the way, I'm pretty stoned, right now.. And, I'm able to kick your ass with half my brain tied behind my back.
Most irresponsible ass holes like you who booze up and smoke shit regularly drive whilst D.U.I.
That's one of the main functions of the Highway Patrol officers, to keep drunken criminal filth like you off the roads so decent motorists and pedestrians will be relatively safer.
Maybe, like so many others you think you'll never get caught but, as a low life convicted criminal you should know better than most that the law will catch up with you sooner or later.
I'm from Seattle, and Marijuana has been recreationally legal in Washington since 2012.
In the three-year period between 2012 to 2015 (the most recent expansive and reliable statistics), things have either changed for the better, or haven't changed in a negative way.
Crime:
Low-level marijuana offenses lowered by 98%, all categories of marijuana law violations lowered by 63%, and all marijuana related convictions lowered by 81%. Due to these factors, Washington State has been able to cut millions of dollars in specific funds concerning marijuana law enforcement.
Financial:
The state has collected over $682,023,598 in marijuana tax revenues. That number expected to exceed $733,000,000 before 2018. This money is being channelled into such sources as: substance abuse prevention and treatment, youth and adult drug education, and community health care, among typical tax pools.
Safety:
The number of traffic fatalities due to driving under the influence of marijuana has not spiked since legalization.
Similarly, marijuana usage of minors has not increased since I-502 was passed.
In conclusion, the stigma against marijuana is something that I still don't quite understand. I am not a regular marijuana smoker, but I see its legalization as a positive thing for the American economy. Additionally, anti-legalization activists have no credible data or statistics to back up their claims that it shouldn't be legalized now, especially with Washington and Colorado being used as a "trial group" of sorts for the past 5 years.
The bottom line/bigger picture is:
- Young people who want to smoke marijuana will find a way, whether it's legal or not. Let's use France as an example. Marijuana is 100% illegal in France, yet 22.1 % of individuals between 15-34 use it on a recreational basis. That's nearly a quarter of the young adults in the country. Total illegality of something will never stop it completely.
(Plus, if your kid is going to spend money on marijuana anyway, wouldn't you rather that their best friend's older brother buy it from a licensed shop, rather than some sketchy dude in an alley-way who very well could have laced the marijuana with other drugs?)
- People who drive high or drunk are going to do that anyway, whether or not marijuana is legal. Unfortunately, the government can't really make "being a shitty human being" illegal, but even if they did, people would still drive high and drunk. Those kinds of people will always exist.
- The same people who cry fowl at the prospect of widespread legalization, and freak out about it entirely, are the same ones unwilling to concede that if marijuana is illegal, alcohol should also be made illegal. It's common knowledge at this point that alcohol causes a vastly larger number of deaths per year than marijuana. Obviously, there has only been one reported case of a fatality by "marijuana toxicity" in the United States, ever, but it can still be the catalyst for why you ran your car off of the road while driving high.
If you're going to push for marijuana to be illegal, I would recommend not taking a hypocritical stance, and also being willing to let go of that glass of wine, bottle of beer, or shotglass, if you want to look like an educated individual.
In my state, it IS. Yes, there are some words written down somewhere in a dusty federal law book.. But, they DON'T enforce it here, so it might as well NOT be a law..
Sure. Make it legal, tax it, apply those taxes to schools, hell even towards education against the usage of drugs if you want. All the money that comes in, both from taxes and from not having to keep people in jail simply for smoking a joint, would be a boon to our economy.
Marijuana was only made illegal because the tobacco companies didn't want the competition,as far as I can tell, and they even made industrial hemp illegal.
That's got to rank among the stupidest decisions ever made in this country.
Such a dangerous step would give the wrong message to the weak minded filth who cannot face the harsh realities of life without a crutch.
Pot smokers who drive represent a serious hazard on the highways both to themselves and other road users.
A high percentage of the marijuana users develop mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, particularly in young males.
While the useless pot smoking lotus eaters while away the hours in a semi stupor people of substance are getting on with their work and keeping the wheels of industry turning.
Let's go freak out man, and drift away into the beautiful illusionary world of surreality.
I can tell you don't know anything about marijuana and have never actually consumed it, you are oblivious to the nature of it's effects.
People who are lazy, delusional, stupid, etc. will be that way whether they smoke weed or not, most people who smoke weed are not that way because they smoke weed, they are that way because most people are that way to begin with...If Einstein smoked a fat spleefer it wouldn't make him any less coherent or intelligent, I know this because I smoked marijuana all throughout high school and it didn't effect my performance at all, in fact it increased my motivation and reduced the stress of being around a bunch of people I hated.
Pot smokers do not pose any danger as drivers compared to people who are drunk, marijuana doesn't actually IMPAIR cognitive functions unless your brain has very low THC tolerance or if you are not mentally healthy to begin with
There is no evidence that Marijuana can induce mental illness, just that it can exacerbate symptoms in those who are already mentally ill.
My father smoked Marijuana for 30 years, he was an engineer who constructed medical devices and aircraft parts for the U.S military. Do you think he was a "useless lotus eater in a semi-stupor?"
Your worst offence is that you failed to mention or even consider that there are people who NEED marijuana as a legitimate treatment for disorders such as epilepsy.
People who are lazy, delusional, stupid, etc. will be that way whether they smoke weed or not, most people who smoke weed are not that way because they smoke weed, they are that way because most people are that way to begin with...If Einstein smoked a fat spleefer it wouldn't make him any less coherent or intelligent
Lol Agreed. I have never smoked weed but I know the same thing follows with alcohol. That is, getting drunk doesn't make you impaired to the point of being an out-of-control imbecile (although it does temporarily effect various cognitive capacities), they already were (unless they were dangerously/outrageously drunk). Now, alcohol can potentially have very negative effects on the developing human brain if consumed in excess for extended periods of time while in this stage of life (up until ones mid-twenties). Also, as for marijuana, Carl Sagan was a frequent smoker for decades to my understanding and he clearly had a robust mental life (Sagan has an article in favor of legalizing marijuana).
Marijuana is much safer than alcohol, cannabis doesn't actually have a neurotoxic effect unless the brain gets a massive overload of it which isn't possible to that extent unless you inject pure THC into your blood stream in ridiculous amounts. Cannabis also has a NEUROPROTECTIVE effect and can actually prevent damage from alcohol consumption. Alcohol is pure fucking death for the brain, but marijuana increases blood flow to the brain and increases mood so it could technically be called a nootropic. Everything you said is basically correct but it's important to draw the clear distinction between something that blatantly induces cognitive impairment and something which is harmless except for certain individuals.
Agreed. I don't want to sound like I am down playing the effects of alcohol, there is a reason why I don't drink (and I'm very glad that I didn't drink at all until I was twenty and still have only drank maybe a dozen times or less total. A lot of my peers are essentially alcoholics/binge drinkers and just don't admit/realize it, and it has almost definitely f'cked their sh't up, bad. I'm in my mid-twenties btw). But yeah, getting drunk doesn't make you act like an imbecile, being an imbecile makes you act like an imbecile.
Yes, exactly. I personally am a total pot head and occasionally drink alcohol, plus I have done magic mushrooms but only once and that's about it for drugs. I am not interested in "white drugs" or anything which does not have a cerebral effect. I plan on trying peyote at some point and maybe doing that and shrooms a few more times in my life time, and maaaaaaaaybe trying ayahuasca or a small dose of DMT but that's questionable territory for me.
Psilocybin Shrooms are sneaky little things that fool you into thinking you're in control and only desire a fun experience. Then occasionally a transmission of some kind of important message is trying to be conveyed to you. Once a year at least gives a needed reboot.
DMT is pointless in small doses. I had to have a buddy help me with the second hit before you become incapacitated. But that experience changed me. Literally a turning point.
Peyote never was enjoyable.
My mescaline experience was so intense my mind erased it. I mistakenly took 5 or more doses.
Meth-cocaine-heroin are great for inspiring creativity and brain storming. Dismiss the stigma
Why don't you like peyote? If I'm not mistaken the main psychoactive compound in peyote is actually mescaline, so when you say you took mescaline are you talking about pure mescaline or peyote?
Even if Meth coke and heroin can be "inspiring" due to the stimulation of your brain cells and the euphoria they are just too damaging to the body, especially meth, and do have a neurotoxic effect. When I was a teenager I wanted to try them but I'm glad I never got the chance and I don't think it's worth it at all.
LSD and mushroom trips I experienced were always enjoyable or enlightening, with a modicum of control involved. The peyote was not fun for me and the visuals were weird.
The mescaline was in a powder form. The dude who gave it to me said there was 10 doses, but I heard him say 2. I do not recall anything at all but my chic at the time told me I was outta my mind. Meth amphetamines are pretty effective at expanding your consciiousness like hallucinogens but more focused and productive. FactMachine, I would encourage most people to experiment with inducing altered states. It gives you a chance to analyze and reflect on you as a being.
This is why the ban on Psychoactive drug research needs to be lifted. Different drugs have completely different effects both in the short-term and long-term and need to be studied thoroughly on an individual basis (for people to brush with a broad stroke like "drugs are drugs, and drugs are bad" is infantile). Religion again tends to be an impediment here because it is viewed as a "moral" problem while, ironically, many religious and non-religious people alike make use of a drug such as caffeine and understand how this improves their lives when used correctly and they do not view this as a "moral" issue (I use caffeine in a controlled manner several times a week before I do physical training and it adds enjoyment/productivity in my life). For me, although I acknowledge that having a psychedelic experience(s) could potentially be enriching and improve life quality of life, I am far to concerned about the potential long-term side effects to risk it. If I knew with approaching 100% certainty what effects it would have in the short and long-term that were not really damaging (e.g. like caffeine) then I would try it/use it. But since I do not know, it is more of "don't try and fix something that isn't broken" mentality from my perspective (although I see why other people would be interested in experimenting with substances).
I realize that a post read on the web will likely not change the hesitation you feel about the unknown effects of hallucinogens. Psychedelic mushrooms are absolutely harmless in the long term and short term. Drug screens won't detect it. The psychoactive effects last no longer than 6-7 hours and I always experience a kind of glow or sense of well being the next day. The opposite of a hangover. Also, you control the dose. Eating a gram each with your chic or a close bud will be the most fun you've ever had, seriously! Side effects may include shortness of breath from intense giggling and mild rugburn caused by rolling around on the floor. I've only experienced large doses like 3-4 times, each experience was like an awakening to a higher level of awareness. The messages communicated to me were like an understanding of the oneness my existence shared with everything. Duuude, I'm ready to go again!!
Yeah, just read up a little Carl Hart...interesting, thanks
Eating a gram each with your chic or a close bud will be the most fun you've ever had, seriously!
Lol I am very open to that being the case, and if we were living in a time where there was a scientific consensus on the short term and long term effects (and it showed that it was essentially short term enjoyable, long term nothing to worry about like caffeine say) than I would use. I'm not of the school "drugs = bad", I just want to know exactly what I'm putting into my body and what I can expect it to do.
Yeah, just read up a little Carl Hart...interesting, thanks
Yeah, Carl Hart is very good and cool/interesting guy. He went on Joe Rogan's Podcast before if you happen to watch Rogan at all
There is only one difference between a shittake and a magic mushroom....psilocybin!!! I truly believe this mushroom has a mystical ability to facilitate the transfer of knowledge. I've heard a theory that mushrooms also were the stepping stone from animal to human and the beginning of an afterlife belief. I am not a scientist but once I put a mento in a 2-liter and I sometimes watch the Big Bang Theory and my consensus is in the short term effects will range from.....this is nice, to......holy fucking shit, this is incredible!!!! The long term effects are actually permanent...periodic urges to trip out, man. Also a small percentage of people become Chong.
The legalization of cannabis implies a kind of privilege to not be subjected to prosecution if you agree to certain caveats. Prescription, registration, taxation. Here in SanAntonio Texas, the county announced that anything less than 4 oz in your possession could be subject to a ticket requiring a court appearance. Previously, an arrest was possible. Decriminalization offers an anonymous tax free cannabis market that keeps the underground economy in place.
Any of these things sound familiar? That's because they're five of America's largest underground economy markets.
Cigarettes are legal here, and there is a vast array of regional cigarette companies. So why would there be a black market for them?
Do you know how cheap it is to buy music and rent movies in today's market? Especially now with Spotify (which is essentially music piracy anyway, but that's a whole different TED talk) where, essentially for free, you can have almost any music you can think of. Yet, people still pirate music. Why?
I could go on, but I'm sure you get the point by now. (However, I'm perfectly willing to go on about the other four if you ask, since there's a 50% chance that your next argument will contain something akin to the phrase "You didn't say anything about the other four because you have no argument for them".)
Whether or not something is legal or illegal, there will always be an underground ground market for goods and services, especially things that were made legal in more recent years.
