Marijuana

[Brennin]

I'd like to see a move for all the pot-heads out there to just fling seeds out the window when driving. Once the plant goes native it's going to be completely ridiculous to try and ban it. It would like trying to ban crab grass. Good luck.

LOL!

 

[Harlan Norris]

No.

By your own admission, it was the criminalization of pot, and other drugs, that led to this situation.

The type of example that you give, is not at all uncommon in a society that has made such drugs illegal - it happens all the time.

On the other hand, at the turn of the century, my father never heard of anything resembling your story when all drugs were legal.

At the turn of the century society was quite a bit different than it is today.Then there were rules for behavior that people actually followed.I expected you would say that the situation I described was the result of pot being illegal.However you are ignoreing an obvious truth. The man in question was a pothead. He just smokes pot. He is otherwise a perfectly good citizen.He rarely drinks and is not given to violent behavior.HE LEFT HIS KIDS WITH THAT LUNATIC SO HE COULD KEEP SMOKING POT. POT WAS MORE IMPORTANT TO HIM THAN THE SAFETY OF HIS CHILDREN.That's what I'm talking about.Addiction. Not good.Addiction.Bad.By your meter,decriminalising everything would bring about a perfect society.No rules, no rule breakers=perfect.Nonsense.

 

[JonathonD]

Only for medical uses. If it is legal people will be high and driving like that and more deaths will be happening everyday. Felling good for the sake of good isn't good if it is gonna kill you. And plus your body is a Temple that God lives in, would God like that? Got got to think more of the dangers of having than the positives.

 

[susanann]

Only for medical uses. If it is legal people will be high and driving like that and more deaths will be happening everyday. Felling good for the sake of good isn't good if it is gonna kill you. And plus your body is a Temple that God lives in, would God like that? Got got to think more of the dangers of having than the positives.

The first law against marijuanna was 1939.

Any time before 1939, it WAS legal in America - ( not that long ago) .

Can you give us some real (not fictitous) examples of all the dangers and bad things that were actually happening to so many Americans in 1938 when it was still legal?

It would also help if you gave examples of your own family and neighbors - listing all of the bad things that happened to them in 1938 because marijuanna was totally legal.


I will start, by telling everyone all the dangers that happened to my family - nothing.


This invitation is addressed to everyone. Everyone is encouraged to list all of their own families experiences and dangers because of marijuanna prior to 1939.

 

[Harlan Norris]

You are free to discourage anything you want. That isn't my point. My point is that your personal experience, which seems to form the basis for your argument, does not apply to everyone. Some of your points are irrelevant, such as pot not being required for life. American life is filled with things "not required." It's called leisure time. What one does with his leisure time is no one's business but his own.

My argument is neither encouragement nor discouragement. My position is that people should be free to make this decision for themselves, without the threat of incarceration.

Your position is encouragement.You are for pot use.Pot is an addictive drug.People that use will chose it over their job, the safety of their children,their marriage,their relationship with their parents. How can this be a good thing? How can this be harmless?A man I know of who was diagnosed with bladder cancer,showed me a pamphlet the doc gave him.It stated that 88% of those with that particular type of cancer,were pot users.Clearly it isn't harmless.The law is for our protection and should remain.

 

[Zlex]

Your position is encouragement.You are for pot use.Pot is an addictive drug.People that use will chose it over their job, the safety of their children,their marriage,their relationship with their parents. How can this be a good thing? How can this be harmless?A man I know of who was diagnosed with bladder cancer,showed me a pamphlet the doc gave him.It stated that 88% of those with that particular type of cancer,were pot users.Clearly it isn't harmless.The law is for our protection and should remain.

Not at all, his position was for the encouragement of the choice and accepting the responsibility of the choice.

Life, Liberty, the pursuit of Happiness...

Who the Hell am I to tell another human being that where they find happiness, they are forbidden to go? This life that no one of us knows for sure what is, is at the very least, each our own. If another person finds happiness by having a beer before bed, or whatever consentual activity they choose to participate in, then who the Hell are any of us to place barriers around them? And, for the love of all that is holy and pure about this miracle of existence, the first idiot who stands up and claims to speak for Society, as in Society (the mob) doesn't want you to should be immediately descended upon by the balance of just plain folks seeking freedom and shouted down until they stop molesting others with such nonsense; it would be a simple matter of human beings defending their lives from thugs and thieves.

If we live in a world that will finally open up this tiny crack of recognition to that concept, then there is hope for all of us.

 

[Goatboy]

A man I know of who was diagnosed with bladder cancer,showed me a pamphlet the doc gave him.It stated that 88% of those with that particular type of cancer,were pot users.

I’d advise your friend to get himself a different doctor.

That finding was published in January this year. I don’t even think the medical community has had much time to evaluate it.

But heck, why should we wait on them.

This conclusion was drawn from one study of around 50 people.
(It found 88.5% of the sufferers were habitual marijuana users, while “only” 69.2% of the control were).

Now there may well be something in this, there may not.
(I’m no statistician, but it looks like smoking dope increases your chances of developing this particular cancer by 27.8%.)
Now, I really can’t be bothered to go investigating if and how they ruled out other contributing factors in that study. So let’s just give it as read that 27.8% increase is entirely the result of marijuana use.

Looking at the incidence of bladder cancer, it’s around 24 in 100,000 (for white males, who I picked since I am one and we are the highest risk group- see here).

Marijuana use will already be a factor in these numbers, but again, just to strengthen your argument let’s pretend that those 24 are all poor innocents, who’ve never sparked a doobie in their life.

So what is the practical effect of my dope smoking?

I’ve increased my chance of developing bladder cancer from 1 in 4167, to 1 in 3260.

Wow.

And you think you have the right to legislate to forbid me from taking that gamble?

You know, people who think like you are one of the major reasons I smoke so damn much.

 

[WalksWithChrist]

So, you are saying that the law against pot is causing use. That since there is a law against pot, the temptation to use it has become overwhelming,and that if the law was removed,that would cause them that use to stop. One word. Nonsense.

I know you like using examples from your life. Here's one from mine:
I used to drink a lot before I became 21. I got alcohol basically any way I could. But guess what happened when I hit 21? It got boring!!!!! I suddenly found myself not even wanting to drink because all of a sudden it had lost all of its "mystique." Walking into a grocery store, flashing my id and buying a six-pack made me feel like a square! If they ever did legalize pot, which I doubt they will for the ample reasons posted here (more $$ for keeping it illegal), I suspect the same wave will occur. Pot will no longer be "cool" and its use will diminish which to me would be a very good thing.

Legal = boring!

 

[WalksWithChrist]

You seem to know an awful lot about dope for someone that doesn't use or know anyone that does.Do you work for social services? Or just read a lot.I know of a divorced couple.Both are dopers. She uses it all, he just smokes pot.They have three children together. She's drunken,stoned and abusive to the kids,and on several occasions he's had to go rescue them.She's into realestate he's a computer programer.Both make a fairly good living.He wants to get the kids from her but is afraid she'll turn him in for drug use. Last week after a blow up that had the kids hiding out in the bushes,he finally turned her in.Social services placed them in his home. He was right. She did turn him in.Luckily, he's been in the hospital for the last couple of months with cancer of the bladder,and has not been able to smoke.By the way, the cancer he had,88% of those with that type have a pot habbit.So, you see he chose dope over the safety of his children.If he hadn't had cancer they'd be in foster care right now. That's the dope scene man.Decriminalisation will just bring more of the same.

What does any of that have to do with pot being legal or not? Alcohol is legal and causes *more* damage to families from what I've seen in my personal experiences. Making pot legal isn't going to magically stop situations like this nor is keeping it illegal. You argument is logically flawed. I know someone who as far as I know has never smoked pot in his life, but guess what? He drank and abused his family for many years. Should we make alcohol illegal? Please just answer the question.

 

[morningstar2651]

I say legalize it. I never used marijuana, but I don't drink or smoke tobacco either. They are just as bad as marijuana and there is actual medicinal value to marijuana, so I think it's foolish to keep it illegal. I think the government kind of killed their argument with their anti-marijuana commercials because then marijuana comes off no worse than alcohol. I think alcohol is more dangerous, and prescription drugs recently have been very deadly, so I see no reason to keep marijuana illegal.

I've checked out the various campaigns against marijuana. I also own a book titled How to Lie with Statistics, which the campaigns do very well.

 

[morningstar2651]

What does any of that have to do with pot being legal or not? Alcohol is legal and causes *more* damage to families from what I've seen in my personal experiences. Making pot legal isn't going to magically stop situations like this nor is keeping it illegal. You argument is logically flawed. I know someone who as far as I know has never smoked pot in his life, but guess what? He drank and abused his family for many years. Should we make alcohol illegal? Please just answer the question.

We've tried making alcohol illegal before. It was called "the prohibition" and it was quite possibly the single greatest thing America did to support organized crime.

 

[JustJack!]

We've tried making alcohol illegal before. It was called "the prohibition" and it was quite possibly the single greatest thing America did to support organized crime.

At least up until 1970.

 

[Harlan Norris]

Not at all, his position was for the encouragement of the choice and accepting the responsibility of the choice.

Life, Liberty, the pursuit of Happiness...

Who the Hell am I to tell another human being that where they find happiness, they are forbidden to go? This life that no one of us knows for sure what is, is at the very least, each our own. If another person finds happiness by having a beer before bed, or whatever consentual activity they choose to participate in, then who the Hell are any of us to place barriers around them? And, for the love of all that is holy and pure about this miracle of existence, the first idiot who stands up and claims to speak for Society, as in Society (the mob) doesn't want you to should be immediately descended upon by the balance of just plain folks seeking freedom and shouted down until they stop molesting others with such nonsense; it would be a simple matter of human beings defending their lives from thugs and thieves.

If we live in a world that will finally open up this tiny crack of recognition to that concept, then there is hope for all of us.

If one is for absolute freedom, that one doesn't realise that there is no freedom without the law.Just chaos. Every man for himself.Not the kind of world I want to live in.You won't like it either.

 

[Harlan Norris]

I’d advise your friend to get himself a different doctor.

That finding was published in January this year. I don’t even think the medical community has had much time to evaluate it.

But heck, why should we wait on them.

This conclusion was drawn from one study of around 50 people.
(It found 88.5% of the sufferers were habitual marijuana users, while “only” 69.2% of the control were).

Now there may well be something in this, there may not.
(I’m no statistician, but it looks like smoking dope increases your chances of developing this particular cancer by 27.8%.)
Now, I really can’t be bothered to go investigating if and how they ruled out other contributing factors in that study. So let’s just give it as read that 27.8% increase is entirely the result of marijuana use.

Looking at the incidence of bladder cancer, it’s around 24 in 100,000 (for white males, who I picked since I am one and we are the highest risk group- see here).

Marijuana use will already be a factor in these numbers, but again, just to strengthen your argument let’s pretend that those 24 are all poor innocents, who’ve never sparked a doobie in their life.

So what is the practical effect of my dope smoking?

I’ve increased my chance of developing bladder cancer from 1 in 4167, to 1 in 3260.

Wow.

And you think you have the right to legislate to forbid me from taking that gamble?

You know, people who think like you are one of the major reasons I smoke so damn much.

You smoke so damn much because your an addict.The law has been in effect since the 30s. It's not like it's anything new.In the 60s pot became a cultural phenomenon.Before then it was a non issue. No one I knew even talked about it.The number of dope smokers has steadily increased since then. Now people are saying to deprive one of pot is like depriving one of air. Just isn't true.

 

[Harlan Norris]

What does any of that have to do with pot being legal or not? Alcohol is legal and causes *more* damage to families from what I've seen in my personal experiences. Making pot legal isn't going to magically stop situations like this nor is keeping it illegal. You argument is logically flawed. I know someone who as far as I know has never smoked pot in his life, but guess what? He drank and abused his family for many years. Should we make alcohol illegal? Please just answer the question.

The arguement that alchohol is worse than pot has it's merits.legal pot will not replace alchohol. You are the exception I'm afraid. However alchohol and pot together are worse than either of them separately.Adding pot to the mix does not lessen the problems of alchohol. It makes them worse.

 

[susanann]

It was called "the prohibition" and it was quite possibly the single greatest thing America did to support organized crime.

Illegal drugs has made far much more money for organized crime than prohibition ever did.

Illegal drugs is the only thing that is keeping the mafia from going bankrupt.

 

[susanann]

People that use will chose it over their job, the safety of their children,their marriage,their relationship with their parents. How can this be a good thing? How can this be harmless?

Examples please????


Is that what happened to your family back when it was legal?


Did your parents, your uncles and your aunts, your grandparents, AND your your great grandparents all lose thier jobs, their marraiges, and dangered their children because it was legal?


If you could give us some personal examples of how legal marijuanna destroyed your family prior to 1939, it might soften some of us up to reconsidering our position, because nobody in our families had any problems with legal marijuanna prior to 1939.

Because none of the rest of us ever had any bad personal experiences in our families with legal marijuanna prior to 1939, it is just too difficult for us to comprehend what you are saying -- without hearing directly from someone who DID have family problems with legal marijuanna back then.

 

[Abongil]

You smoke so damn much because your an addict.The law has been in effect since the 30s. It's not like it's anything new.In the 60s pot became a cultural phenomenon.Before then it was a non issue. No one I knew even talked about it.The number of dope smokers has steadily increased since then. Now people are saying to deprive one of pot is like depriving one of air. Just isn't true.

Marijuana is not addictive, sorry sir

 

[susanann]

Now there may well be something in this, there may not.


So what is the practical effect of my dope smoking?

I’ve increased my chance of developing bladder cancer from 1 in 4167, to 1 in 3260.

Wow.

So far, we have more evidence of Bigfoot harming Americans, than legal marijuanna.

 

[Peacebestill]

Marijuana is not addictive, sorry sir

I've been smoking it 30 years and I'm not addicted yet. Doh!