Should cannabis be legal

[Tracie]

Originally posted by melthebell

All this need more scientific tests before thing is complete b@*&&%%^

 

Yeah science, what a load of rubbish. It's completely pointless systematically testing the physiological and psychological effects of a drug and then making informed judgements on the basis of the findings. Scaremongers!

[StarSparkle]

Originally posted by miggy

Some interesting comments from a few people who I think need to open their mind more. Without using dodgy substances I mean

 

I chose not to smoke dope, but what others do is up to them. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it shouldn't be discussed.

 

To whoever said that they don't wake up needing a drink, but they know people waking up needing a joint - think you'll find some people do wake up needing a drink. Or a fag. The addiction is mental as much as anything. With alcohol it's very much a physical addiction, some people being extremely prone to it.

 

To those who said its sad that someone needs drugs to feel better - that was my opinion back when I was a kid. These days I know life is far more complicated than that.

 

Your life, whoever you are, is full of substances that alter your mood. Chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, various prescribed drugs, various foods, etc. Smoking and eating mood altering substances has been common throughout history and throughout just about every tribe or nationality.

 

Besides, why should people be prescribed drugs to stop them feeling really bad but not take them to improve an "ok" mood? These drugs often have serious long term effects and are addictive, but they're ok because a drug company manufacture them and they are legal?

 

IMHO I'd rather half those out drinking in town on a friday night would be smoking dope instead. Rather more people get violent and aggressive and ill from alcohol than from dope (both proportionally and sheer numbers).

 

Of course dope can be abused. I know people who have as I'm sure others do here. A small minority of people do suffer serious effects tool; those saying otherwise are ignoring the facts.

 

People should be able to choose, but children should not.

 

Apart from anything else, the drug war has many, many casualties across the world, not just with the users.

 

Very well said, Miggy. It's nice to see some balanced, non-judgmental comments on drug use.

 

I choose not to take illegal drugs myself, but have never understood why drugs are so condemned when it seems to me alcohol abuse is a far greater problem. The cynic in me says it's because the government benefits greatly financially from the sale of alcohol.

 

With regard to legal mood-altering drugs - I agree totally with what Miggy said - "Why should people be prescribed drugs to stop them feeling really bad but not take them to improve an 'ok' mood?" I find this a very judgmental and in fact arrogant attitude from the medical profession. In effect they're saying, we'll let you feel THIS much better, but no more. This reeks to me of the Presbyterian attitude that if something's nice and makes you feel good, it must be a sin.

 

Just some of my thoughts on a very complex subject.

 

StarSparkle

[Yodameister]

Originally posted by TracieJC

Yeah science, what a load of rubbish. It's completely pointless systematically testing the physiological and psychological effects of a drug and then making informed judgements on the basis of the findings. Scaremongers!

 

Yeah and whats all that about the earth being spherical and orbiting the sun.

 

Everyone knows its flat and carried on the back of a giant turtle, why bother looking?

[xafier]

Personally I dont see a problem with it, provided people don't become pot heads... I'll admit I've tried it on a couple of occasions and sure I enjoyed it a bit, but it doesn't mean I'm going to do it all the time... I'll probably smoke it again at some point in my life, but when I dont know...

 

and whats with all these people saying "oh, you cant compare it to alcohol"... the only reason alcohol and cigerettes aren't illegal is because the government makes too much money off them...

 

thinking back to last year, all the bottles on the drinks in Hallams Union said "70% of incidents in A&E tonight will be alcohol related"... cigerettes and alcohol probably cause society and people a LOT more harm than cannibis...

 

cigerettes have been proven to kill people through cancer, yet they're still legal? alcohol is the cause for a lot of domestic abuse, rape, street fights, acidents, driving acidents... but both these things are legal... go figure that one

[melthebell]

Originally posted by TracieJC

Yeah science, what a load of rubbish. It's completely pointless systematically testing the physiological and psychological effects of a drug and then making informed judgements on the basis of the findings. Scaremongers!

 

I wasnt slagging off the tests, i was slagging off the politicians who hide behind the banner of "you cant smoke it because we dont know what it does or how it works" when its the oldest drug known to man, yet theyll rush out gm crops after "a few" tests, and new "profit" drugs etc with a couple of years of testing, never mind the thousands of years weve know about cannabis and thc

[Tracie]

Originally posted by melthebell

I wasnt slagging off the tests, i was slagging off the politicians who hide behind the banner of "you cant smoke it because we dont know what it does or how it works" when its the oldest drug known to man, yet theyll rush out gm crops after "a few" tests, and new "profit" drugs etc with a couple of years of testing, never mind the thousands of years weve know about cannabis and thc

 

Cannabis has been around for centuries and I'm not arguing with you on that front, but my point is that until 'recent' years it simply hasn't been possible to properly test and catalogue its physiological effects. Years ago man didn't have the technology or the body of scientific knowledge we have today. Also, long term studies on the effect of cannabis use take years, and some of these may only be in their final stages now?

 

As for modern pharmaceutical drugs, I can assure you that these are tested extremely thoroughly before they are released on to market, normally going through a minimum of five stages of testing. The major pharmaceutical companies learnt their lesson from tragedies such as thalidomide.

[JoeP]

Originally posted by melthebell

All this need more scientific tests before thing is complete b@*&&%%^

Cannabis is the oldest drug known to man, older than tobacco and alcohol i believe, and they also have known for decades how it effects the brain, how the thc affects your receptors etc etc

It doesnt make you mad, it triggers what you already have in your brain, which, ANYTHING can trigger it if your already in the danger group, the only problem is, you dont know if you are till your sent mad.

 

Umm....that sort of makes my case, then, doesn't it?

 

If anything can trigger these issues then surely it is sensible to avoid things that can trigger them? I would say that anything that's psychoactive would increase the probability of you suffering bad effects so surely you should avoid the possibility, no matter how slight, of losing your mind?

 

Anyway....here's soem stuff from those pesky scientists!

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6745

 

http://www.marijuana.com/420/showthread.php?t=36859

 

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abridged/330/7481/11

 

Yes, it's been used for donkeys years but it's only in recent years that we've started breeding plants to increase the psychoactive properties. Chances are that the first couple of thousand years of pot use were with low dosages with respect to today's joints. Also, it's quite possible that as life back then tended to be nasty, brutish and short being prone to psychosis would probably be a survival trait...

 

Seriously, though - historical use doesn't mean that today's use is safe.

 

Joe

[Yodameister]

The initial cause of drug use being a problem is the perception that random drug use will ever sort out anyones problems.

 

Most people who abuse drugs (and I'm not using abuse in the legalistic sense, in which just taking any quantity of illegal drug is abusing it) do so because there is something missing or some unhappiness somewhere in their life, and they think that they can replace it or cope without it with the use of drugs.

 

Now, except in very precisely controlled clinical situations for very well understood psychiatri conditions will drugs ever do you any good (okay, thay may not do you harm always either)

[Phanerothyme]

Originally posted by TracieJC

Cannabis has been around for centuries and I'm not arguing with you on that front, but my point is that until 'recent' years it simply hasn't been possible to properly test and catalogue its physiological effects.

 

Originally posted by Phanerothyme

Its physiological effects are not as well understood as other, non-prohibited, drugs; but for the most part, those effects are benign.

 

Its effects on the mind are much harder to describe

Originally posted by JoePritchard

Phan,

 

I'm probably behind the times on these things but wasn't there some work done recently to suggest that excessive use of strong weed can precipitate psychotic episodes in people who are possibly predisposed towards it?

 

I dislike the smell and I feel that it should have stayed in the 'illegal' category until more evidence was garnered as to the possible psychological damage. However, the way the poll was put together I had to decalre it evil, so that suits me!

 

Joe

Originally posted by Phanerothyme

Research on the mental health risks of using Cannabis are inconclusive, largely because prohibition makes it impossible to come up with a base rate against which deviations in cannabis smokers can be shown.

 

No mass studies can be carried out - of the kind that have contributed so much to understanding of tobacco and alcohol, heart disease etc.

 

And THC has been tested and tested and tested, and synthesized cannabinoids have been on release for some time now.

 

Sure the drug industries can perform nineteen million safety tests - doesn't stop them releasing truly deadly drugs though.

 

Part of the problem is that cannabis is a plant product, not a standardized susbtance. Well there is one standardized substance - and that is US Government weed.

[Kthebean]

I think what people dont often know about cannabis is there are many many different types and a whole range of ways to take them. There is resin, oil, skunk and weed of many different varieties and varying strengths. Some of the super-skunks can be a bit mind blowing and quite bad for you, especially if you smoke it in pipes or bongs. But eating a bit of mild weed can have a good effect on arthritis sufferers and those with MS.

 

So its like saying - a glass of red wine a day is good for you, but don't eyeball vodka. Simple, really.