Marijuana.com

kizzman

I think there might be alot of question as to which recreational drugs should be lagalized, and marijuana is certainly one of those at the forefront for consideration. Well, my personal opinion is that neither marijuana, tobacco nor alcohol should be legal in recreational use. However, alcohol and tobacco are far more popular than marijuana, and will take more time to remove from everyday society. As such, we should not worry that alcohol or nicotine is legal while maijuana is not; we should only be concerned about taking the path away from all recreational drug usage.

But why should marijuana be illegal? Other than the immediate obvious (Marijuana produces harmful side effects that increase heart rate and the risk of heart attack, induce anxiety, reduce memory capabilities, reduce attention span, reduces learning capabilities, reduces coordination, increases stress, results in difficulty with problem solving and thinking, and of course, carries a significant risk of dependency and addiction), marijuana has less apparent adverse effects (And in recreational use, has no truly positive effects). Perhaps the most compelling negative characteristic is that smoking marijuana brings with it greater risk of moving on to more harmful drugs. Whether one finds gateway theory valid or not, we must consider the following statistics:
"A 2002 SAMHSA report, Initiation of Marijuana Use: Trends, Patterns and Implications, concludes that the younger children are when they first use marijuana, the more likely they are to use cocaine and heroin and become dependent on drugs as adults. The report found that 62 percent of adults age 26 or older who initiated marijuana before they were 15 years old reported that they had used cocaine in their lifetime. More than 9 percent reported they had used heroin and 53.9 percent reported non-medical use of psychotherapeutics. This compares to a 0.6 percent rate of lifetime use of cocaine, a 0.1 percent rate of lifetime use of heroin and a 5.1 percent rate of lifetime non-medical use of psychotherapeutics for those who never used marijuana. Increases in the likelihood of cocaine and heroin use and drug dependence are also apparent for those who initiate use of marijuana at any later age." (From http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/...ana/index.html)
Now, this alone is reason enough to increase our fervor in the fight against drugs. It's as simple as it sounds - with marijuana more readily available, it will spread, and it will only bring with it more drug use. This is not what society needs.

As to doubts of gateway theory, think about it logically. If someone uses marijuana, especially frequently, it becomes in their mind that much easier to take a "harder" drug. I don't think any question can be put to that.

You might not care what studies say, and perhaps only wish to know about what cannabis and the cannaboid Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) chemically does to the brain. It that case, I will elaborate. From http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_..._cannabis.html:

Simply put, the brain has a natural cannaboid-like molecule known as anandamide that is involved in regulating mood, memory, appetite, pain, cognition, and emotions. When someone uses marijuana, THC binds to what are called CB1 receptors (Receiving stations and work places for anandamide), and thus block anandamide from acting. THC then can (By reducing the activity of cAMP [An enzyme]) inhibit neurotransmitter release. This basically means that brain activity is slowed.

And, from the same source, we see why marijuana is addictive: it excites the reward circuit by unblocking natural dopamine inhibitors. A person gets "high" from this, and the brain counteracts by shutting down neuron receptors that are being abused. This means that, over time, a high will feel gradually less and less pleasurable, until the victim must use the drug simply to keep out of depression.

During all of this, the brain suffers damage and losses to its CB1 receptors. This reduces blood flow, and thus the flow of glucose and oxygen to the brain. This ensures the following deficits:
1)Memory loss
2)Lowered attention span
3)Impaired learning ability
If you'd like other sources that identify the last three characteristics of chronic users, see:
The Owner's Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from Mind-Brain Research By Pierce J. Howard (Ph.D)
"How to Explain Drugs to Your Students," by R. Sylwester and C. Hasegawa, from Middle School
How to Boost Your Brain Power: Achieving Peak Intelligence, Memory and Creativity by R.B. Yepsen, Jr.

I furthermore find concern in the fact that when marijuana is legal, certain people may be more likely to develop mental disorders. Increased risk for schizophrenia is often linked to frequent marijuana use.

Several studies correlate marijuana use to increased risk for schizophrenia. You can Google the keywords for references to numerous studies, including the following, from http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevent...eetdrugs.html:
"A study interviewed 50,000 members of the Swedish Army about their drug consumption and followed up with them later in life. Those who were heavy consumers of cannabis at age 18 were over 600% more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia over the next 15 years than those did not take it."

Perhaps the last point I will make for now is marijuana smoke's respiratory danger compared to that of tobacco smoke's:
Studies at UCLA sought to compare marijuanaa and tobacco smoke effects on the lungs. Of course, chemical content varies widely from one batch of marijuana to the next (It is unregulated on the black market), but the scientists found that based on their samples marijuana causes five times more carbon monoxide to accumulate in the blood than smoking cigarettes does. They also found that three times more tar is inhaled and one-third more tar accumulates in the respiratory tract. As such, the potential respiratory damage of one marijuana joint was judged as similar to that of 5 cigarettes (From The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs: Marijuana by Jack Mednelson, M.D., and Nancy Mello, Ph.D. 1992)

Other sources I used that provided more general help:
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/marijuana.html
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html

 

missourimike

Hi folks,The government {sen.legislators,congressmen,etc.}is set up to protect people as a whole.I may not like a law .You might not lke a law, but we are a minority.The people that yell the loudest gets the changes made.Ex. M.A.D.D.,S.A.D.D., etc.You have to yell.[figuratively].Join organizations that promote legalization. Talk to your representives,politicians. If you have the stomach for a battle, the next time you get caught.Let them give you a public defender that wants to make a name for himself and when you go to trial,plead not guilty all the way to jury trial, if you lose at jury,appeal.invite local media to attend. The idea is to put the topic in peoples faces. Make them aware. Most of the people that are against marijuana use like politicians,are just repeating what they hear or read. We need to put it in mainstream. Right now is the perfect time to do this. We need someone who will debate the issue with people that think they know all the answers. Why is alcohol legal when a relatively harmless drug isn't. Organizations such as NORML and Marijuana.com are doing what they can,but they need help. We need to get the issue out into public eye and let the people decide. The older americans aren't going to help. Why?Because people 60 or 70 years or older haven't tried it and they are scared of it ,because what they see or read in papers or on the news or even the governments own propaganda campaigns they've had over the years. Everybody says that education is the key. Maybe it is. We need to educate the public. Here's a tip. Get all the facts pros and cons and spend a few bucks on a full page ad in your local newspaper. If they will print it. Here's something else to think about. If we had a good lobbyist talk to the beer brewers and distilleries involved. I don't think they want us to start comparing notes in public. Tell them to either figure out a way to help us out,or start our own prohibition against alcohol. If your serious about getting this legalized in our lifetime you are going to have to wake the public up.We are going to need people with balls to endorse this thing. The reason I believe this has taken as long as it is,is because were trying to do this thing without making waves.
I was arrested in 1994 with 7 grms of weed. I kept pleading not guilty. They eventually thru it out of court. I think I was attracting to much attention,and it was only a misdemeanor.I spent three days in jail and the last time I went to court the judge said time served and I walked.
We have to use the same weapons the government does. No,not violence, but the media,T.V.,anything that we can be heard from. Wish us all good luck. Do I know this would work. No, but I think it's probably a good start....

missourimike

No one disputes the fact that marijuana can be harmful. anyway you want to look at it,it is still the lesser of all the other evils as far as recreational use is concerned. Pot is my drug of choice. I have a nice business and a nice home, I was only able to do this after I quit drinking. I've never made the mistakes with the devil weed as I did with alcohol. Why isn't alcohol and cigarettes illegal.[MONEY] and I definitely have been smoking longer than I was drinking. I agree with education reform.

kizzman

There's no good reason for the legalization of recreational marijuana. It does nothing good, has the potential to do alot of bad, and simply creates more opportunity for dependency. This is not a question of choosing the lesser of some "evils" - it's not necessary to choose any of the "evils".
Hopefully the scientific community will promote further research of the chemicals in marijuana, which may provide useful medicinal supplements in the future. But that will still ideally be a very controlled version of substances found in cannabis, not cannabis itself.

Jake

You're gonna have that same opinion until your core assumption is picked apart:
You cannot eliminate all recreational drug usage in a nation. It's never been done. Humans are naturally curious. The same thing that drives us to go to the moon also leads many on a dark road of addiction and despair.

Little children spin and swing, not just because it's fun, but because they notice "something's different." People like to experiment with their consciousness, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I walk on the side of freedom and personal choice. It is hard for me to support the legalization of cocaine and opiates because they can actually destroy a user's personal choice. But it has to be done...

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kizzman

I don't see why what you say here is an assumption. Perhaps speculation is a better word. But it still seems useless.

What has been happening is the nation has been taking the wrong aproach. Everything has been so staunch and abrupt, but there is a certain easing technique that is perhaps better to use.

Yes, people tend to be curious, but curiosity isn't always good. There are plenty of things one can argue to be "natural," and the bad probably outweigh the good.

Young children have a "natural" curiosity that would attract them to anything, dangerous or not - say, a canal? To try to wade in a canal can be extremely risky. Should they be allowed?

None of it "has to be done." Murder can destroy an individual's personal choice, too, and though it's not completely eradicated, do you thing it should be legalized?

I also hold concern for those who might be pressured into using a drug when they don't really want to. Peer pressure, I think, is a large part of entering the recreational drug world, and whether it's conscious or not, any group of people using drugs is likely to push others around them into doing them.

Viper420

There is no good reason to keep it illegal either. You need to factor in the level of harm it might do and then compare it to those things currently present in our society that are legal. I, personally, don't think MJ is any more dangerous for our society as a whole, than sugar laden breakfast cereals.

Buzzby

kizzman -

I can understand why you, as an individual, might chose not to partake in any recreational drugs. I don't understand why you want to impose that choice on the majority of people who feel differently.

Jake was correct. Every culture known to man that has had access to recreational drugs has used them and institutionalized their use. Some drugs are on the approved list and others are on the forbidden list, varying between cultures. The only one that had no access to recreational drugs was the Eskimos. When they were introduced to alcohol, they took to it like a fish to water.

No one has a right to tell another adult what he may or may not put in his own body. No one has the right to deny another person the right to explore his own consciousness.

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Kushable

I though private companies don't have to abide (completely) on such laws. Although it was a naval base. And I meant open minded in general not about marijuana. But I could be wrong I just dont see how a doctor can not be open minded considering that medicine is changing all the time means that their keeping an open about different treatments. But marijuana is also looked at as a "Drug".

kizzman

You, personally, should not decide the future of others who face potential harm from complete legalization. If you read that large post I made a bit back, I listed several threats that marijuana as a recreational drug poses, and also pointed out what is different between any recreational drug and food. Food is nutritious and necessary, and marijuana, in fact any form of smoking, is not only nonbeneficial, but harmful. And one of the other major differences between normal food and any psychoactive drug is precisely that - drugs use external chemicals to influence the mind and change it from its normal functioning state. That which the mind does not regulate is inherently dangerous.

The only reason anyone becomes a majority is because they here the arguments and views of another. I'm trying to inform the general public about deceptions and possible damages that entail the recreational use of marijuana. Indeed, the drug might be needed in medical cases, but there is absolutely no reason for a person to use it recreationally. People do live without it, and whether they are curious or not, they do not need it. Even if it cannot be eradicated completely, restrictions are necessary to reduce negative widespread impacts. I made a long post on the previous page, I think, that summarizes several of those, but if you don't care to read it, I'll post a few shorter things at the end of this response.

I don't see why the reasoning behind this is valid. I also believe that almost every culture known to man has killed unnecessarily in the name of religion, a leader, land, et cetera. Just because it has been done does not mean it should be continued.

This is not an exploration of one's own consciousness - using any recreational drug is putting one's mind at risk for damage, particularly if use continues. Legalizing recreational marijuana will innately increase dependency rates among other things.

Several major vehicular-like accidents have occured with drivers, conductors, or engineers found ignoring safety precautions while under the influence of marijuana. Take note of an 1987 derailment of an Amtrak passenger train, that killed 16 people and injured over 100. Authorities found that the engineer, under marijuana influence, ignored signals that might have averted the disaster (From The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs: Marijuana by Jack Mednelson, M.D., and Nancy Mello, Ph.D. 1992). Other railway accidents have been traced to similar marijuana-related causes.

Studies are cohesive with these incidents. "Kaiser Health researchers have published a study showing that marijuana use is correlated with a significant increase in the risk of hospitalization due to injuries. The study, published in the April 2003 edition of the Annals of Epidemiology, covered 64,657 subjects from Northern California, of whom 13,971 were current marijuana users. Researchers found that among men, current marijuana users had a 28% higher rate of hospitalization due to injuries than non-users; among women, the increase was 37%. Results were adjusted for alcohol and tobacco use, as well as age, race, education, marital status and medical conditions."
http://detox-usa.com/marijuana.html