Medical marijuana- full blown legalization or continued criminalization (Little Upsilon)

Let me explaing the topic head a bit further.
I'd like to discuss wether or not we should A. Legalize Marijuana for medical purposes only. B. Legalize it completely or C. Keep it an illegal substance.

Now bare in mind this is mainly a discussion of it in America. Any others are free to chime in.

Let me start. First off I do not use marijuana because it is illegal, too expensive and I just don't get a kick out of it anymore. Much to my dismay I was a "Stoner" in high school. So the effects of it are well known to me.
I do ,however, believe it should be legalized. The drawbacks are too miniscule to be considered hazardous. Alcohal, in my opinion, is far more destructive than "weed" ever was and ever will be.
As my studies have shown me, being a firm believer that if I were to use or do something I should understand what it is, there has only been one reported death due to marijuana. That being a poor fell

It's a proven fact that "weed" not only interferes with the brain, but also permanently damages it if overused.

I have no problem with it being certified for medicinal use, because then it is issued in prescribed doses. But like any drug, from Asprin to Alcohol, overuse is highly dangerous, and should be prevented where possible, either through act of personal will or act of law.

Most behaviour-altering drugs need to be moderated in some way or another, as their effects can cause harm to others. But then again, if the only harm it causes is to the individual, then it's their right to abuse their body.

The real issues only come into play when we move on to enforcement.

The problem with the Libertarian approach to such issues, Austia, is that there is no counterbalance of responsibility to such freedoms.

Personally, I don't care if stoners want to spend their lives in a stupor, but the rest of society DOES end up subsidizing them eventually.

Just like alcoholics.

"It's a proven fact that "weed" not only interferes with the brain, but also permanently damages it if overused."

I know people who have used Marijuana for the upwards of 30 or 40yrs. They are still compitant and cohereant. Though they may lack a short term memory, which comes back with in a month of quitting.

"Personally, I don't care if stoners want to spend their lives in a stupor, but the rest of society DOES end up subsidizing them eventually.
Just like alcoholics

A stoner will never be as bad as an acoholic. The reasons being- Marijuana is not addictive. After 4 years of heavy abuse I just quit. It was that easy. Now imagine Years of hardcore alcohol and how hard it is to quit. Stoners can still walk talk and go days with out. The will never be a "Stoners anonymous" for there will never be a need.

Sorry Austia. That's just self-delusion.

I agree 100% with Austia! I was a big stoner in HS, just like him, but unlike him, I actually did VERY well in HS.

Well, I would not count myself to be a "big" stoner. I toked up mostly on weekends, and sometimes in the mornings before school started.

My experiences between alcohol and weed:

Well, there IS no comparison, for alcohol, whenever I get real hardcore plastered, I usually end up having to puke (the body is trying to get rid of that toxin. It is being rejected, simply because it floods the kidney, and the body is trying to protect that organ. So it tries to expel alochol for that reason.)

Weed: I have never had to puke after smoking weed. When I go for a walk, or do anything, I don;t end up stumbling around, I know exactly what I am doing, and where I'm at, and I ALWAYS remember what happened the previous night/day with perfect clarity.

Also, alcohol gives me a hangover, real bad, if

I read a study were it stated it is technically IMPOSSIBLE to OD on Marijuana. In fact the amount of THC used to make a lab rat OD was 1000 times the amount it takes to make the average person high.

Also, it is my personal belief that Fast food, which is high in Sodium, cholesteral, trans and sat fat, is WAY WAY worse than a little Mary Jane ever was.
Heart disease, diabetes, cancer ETC ETC. and yet it remains legal.

Nothing anyone can ever say will convince me that Marijuana should be illegal and alcohol should be legal. Most parents would rather their kids get drunk than high.Most parents Would rather buy their kids beer than pot.

I say, worste case. Years of smoking weed= lung cancer.

Breathing in our polluted air= lung cancer

Smoking cigarettes= lung cancer, emphysema, low birth weight, heart disease, esophagus cancer, oral cancer etc etc

Eating fast food= stomach cancer, heard disease, diabetes

LOL I don't think there's a debate here at all. You pretty much just steamrolled any opposition argument!

I think the reason it's not legal is:
1) Everyone would grow their own, meaning no taxes for the government. People would probably drink less aswell, meaning less tax's from alcohol.
2) Everyone would stop and think about what's going on with the world, meaning a headache for the government.
3) It would also allow other drug's to become the focus of legalization.

I would say it should be used for medical reason's. Instead of popping those man made pill's, smoke the God made weed.

well, #1 is the reason behind the "taxes" argument we were making all along.

BUT, the thing is, the govmnt spends hella more money on prosecuting the offenders, than what they would lose out on taxes over alcy.

Altho, I highly doubt that it would dent the sale of alcy at all, anyways.

I also do not think there would be a big push on legalizing other drungs if weed became legal.

I agree Michael, Weed and meth are two completely different drugs. Such drugs as Shrooms and peyote may get a push for legalization if Pot is made legal. Meth, however, has such a taboo against it that it would never get legalized. Same with coke, heroin and acid.

"Sorry Austia. That's just self-delusion."


Sorry Grandpa, but your absolutely wrong on this.

I spent my after collee years in Southern Georgia/Panhandle Florida. Marijuana is intertwined into the culture with 0 room for taboo. Near everybody smoked herb, as if it were a meal, or breathing. Sure there were the guys that it took over there life but for the most part everone was funtional. I even met a couple of unbelievably smart cads down there, even with buck-teeth! j/k

Now if you smoked the kind when you were a youngster and it made ya lazy I feel sorry for ya!
Me? I like to go into my woodshop and turn a piece or pick up the guitar....


Never a dull moment,
Dirt.

Ever see what grass does to a combat unit's effectiveness? What a stoned grunt is good for?

Sorry. Been there. Seen it. Done it. Probably before many of you were born.

Grandpa ain't changing his mind.

But then again, I am a certified health nut. If it F*#%'s you up, it isn't good for you.

I DO, however, support as much personal freedom as possible. If any drugs were legalized tomorrow, I wouldn't personally care one way or the other.

My policy is simple.
If your habit, legal or not, harms me or mine, you won't live to face trial....

FarmerBob: Ever see what methyl amphetamine does to a combat unit's effectiveness? I have. Although, not before you were born, it seems :P

Yet, it's been disseminated in both world wars (and, yes, I actually had a world war II "ration" of MA).

I had read a study, recently, which was done for a Uni, that compared productivity and job losses, between "normal" and "smoking" groups. Guess what? There were less sick days taken, and productivity was actually higher in the *smoking* group. Damn, wish I had the link, cuz I had to re-read it to believe it.

Although, in retrospect, it does make sense. They'd be calmer, less stressed out than the "normal" sample. Hence, less sick days, and less stress can lead to being able to take on more responsibilities, hence more production.

Hey! Can we have our own countries disemminate Mary Jane to our populations? The study suggest

Kid's. It's not big or wise to take drug's.
Only a few people come out of an addiction. The rest just go from one hit to the other, until they are in prison, dead or have lost everything.
Let alone the damage that is done to your family.
It's like playing chicken with bus.
What's the point?
Now is not as important as the rest of your life.
And why make the rest of your life harder than it should be?

Peace&Hardcore...............Nix001
MNA

Live fast / die young.

As well, some drugs actually enhance your life quality. And, a study has shown (well, I found ONE study, but where there's one...) that one drug actually increases effectiveness of workers, and reduces their over-all stress levels.

Alcohol withdrawal kills. Nicotine is harder to quit than heroin. Those two are legal. And, I don't think it's a question of whether they're good or not, but about legalizing them.

Marijuana is nonaddictive! As I stated earlier- after 4 years of heavy toking I just quit. That simple. It may become a habit, like chewing your nails or flicking boogers at senior citizens, but it is, for all accounts and purposes, nonaddictive.

Andreja. We called them "green hornets" way back when and, yes, there are some mean side effects. We didn't use them in my paticular unit nor did we smoke anything,legal or not, in the field.

Lots of ways to die in recon, no sense providing self inflicted ones.

The use of amphetemines was authorized in certain units, rumor had it the green beanies in 'nam ate them like candy; and I've heard that pilots had access to them as well.

Don't really care. I have avoided most of the pitfalls of unhealthy living throughout my life, and have reaped the benefits of doing so.

There are many activities and substances that are legal but harmful to one's health. Alcohol and tobacco head that list. Is it hypocritical of society to ban some while keeping others legal? Of course it is. But tobacco use is being taxed out of existence and you are better off committing 1st degree murder than getting involved in

Not to hijack the thread, but Andreja, are you another geezer like myself?

FarmerBob: no, different war. The "stasis" situation in Bosnia, was where I was at. Normally, people call it a civil war, and in most cases I'd agree, but I prefer the archaic "stasis" since it's a more general form. Civil wars are fought, in almost all cases, by two powerful factions. The conflict in Bosnia, was between three.
I was stationed 20 clicks from Vukovar. And, while my basic was done as a conscript, I switched to the "volunteer core" as soon as I could - better equipped than regular army, and a shorter chain of command. That was 8 months, in '93.
At Kosovo, that was 4 months, in '98. Which completed my "requirement" with regards to keeping my citizenship and not being under order of arrest due to dodging the "draft".

Now, in regards to the thread subject, you make all valid examples, but you forgot another one, which is actually a real case - even today.

Would you

I know the UK is different than the USA with the USA having a draft system. But in the UK they promote the army as a career.
Which I think is wrong.
Soldiers should be natural born soldiers.
Not drafted. Not because they want a career.
They join up because they are willing to die and if need be, kill for their country.
May be thats why some drafted/career soldiers need to be jacked up.
For if they wern't, theres the risk of their conscience guiding them instead of their orders.
Some might just simply curl up and cry.

Nix. I can only shake my head.

Andreja. Am I to conclude you are a Bosnian Muslim? Vicious conflict that was and I understand your ambivalence at defining it. I hope you understand the American military's reluctance to become involved in that situation.

I agree with your point about drugs being used by military personnel with or without the approval of their chain of command. All of them impair judgement and are dangerous. I never permited their use in any of my commands, though I was never aware that I had that option, either. The troops managed to get into enough trouble with alcohol off duty.

Well FarmerBob.
I suppose thats better than getting insulted.
Even though I hate not knowing why you shake your head at my comment.
For surley it's the same as a nurse. They become a nurse because they naturaly want to care for someone. Not to make money or have a secure career, but to care. For when they have a bad day/week/month and inside they are on the ropes, because caring is what they are about, their patients wont suffer.

Anyway. With the banks going under and credit becoming none existant, people wont be able to buy as many drugs as they used to. We have already seen it in the UK and the way the dealers got around their drop in takings, was to mix even more kinds of shite in everything. Even the weed has been contaminated with things like silicon spray, glass dust and anything else they can get away with.
I dread to think whats in everything else. I'm so glad I stopped all the man made shite years ago. Be c

I support full leaglisation, meaning no restriction so meaning no legislation.

I believe we all have rights to do things of no consequence to others and to gather collectively and do it.

I hear on the grapevine there's organic local produce completely clean doing the rounds here. Like may things in life, including food, water and alcohol, we need to take them responsibly/

People who assert their beliefs or principles over someone else will always be hit back at and are foolish for inteference when not needed.

I will take my freedoms as an earthly right and not by what oppressors allow me.

Oh how I wish Cannabis was legal. Got a little court case coming in a few months for been caught with a garden. Bastards! Its only a plant! 100% natural! How any goverment gets away with banning a God given plant is beyond me. I think goverments dont want there people to do any thinking and expand there minds, which cannabis certainly does that. I would disagree that its Non-addictive though. Ive been trying to stop for years and I just cant do it. Ive had all sorts of advice over the years but nothing works. For some its deffo addictive.