Marijuana use? Legalize it?

[MosMom]

My understanding from continuing ed classes mandatory for social workers is that marijuana smoking is indeed linked to cancer just as cigarettes, pipes, etc. Smoking anything is bad for you.

Absolutely true. However, pot is typically used as an ocassional drug as it is not physically addictive. Cigarettes are smoked by packs a day by most people. Can you even imgine smoking several packs of marijuana joints a day? Wouldn't happen. Even then, a joint is usually shared by several people.

 

[Papa Deuce]

wow, as of right now, exactly 50% say legalize even for non medical purposes....

 

[DawnCt1]

It should stay illegal. i know many people who have used it "suuposedly harmlessly" for years and they are idiots. most of them don't keep a job and most of them can't have an intelligent conversation. Pot kills brain cells and is very dangerous.

Shelby, I agree with you 110%. The biggest problem with marijuana is that it is totally underestimated. It is constantly compared to alcohol but the fact is, alcohol doesn't remain in your body for 28 days. I think that if marijuana had the same half life as alcohol, it would be seen as a truly addicting drug. It is, as you say, an antimotivational drug. Pot smokers could be anything they want to be. The problem is, they just don't want to be anything. They have great plans, if only they could "get out of high school, finish college, get up in the morning"...you fill in the blanks. When I have a glass of wine, based on the alcohol content, I know exactly what I am getting and what effect it will have on me. There is no "unit standard" for pot. Lastly, it is a gateway drug. Very few hard core drug users go from nothing to heroin, or meth, etc.

 

[DawnCt1]

wow, as of right now, exactly 50% say legalize even for non medical purposes....

It goes to show that years of pro pot propaganda has made inroads. Too bad.

 

[mickman1962]

Shelby, I agree with you 110%. The biggest problem with marijuana is that it is totally underestimated. It is constantly compared to alcohol but the fact is, alcohol doesn't remain in your body for 28 days. I think that if marijuana had the same half life as alcohol, it would be seen as a truly addicting drug. It is, as you say, an antimotivational drug. Pot smokers could be anything they want to be. The problem is, they just don't want to be anything. They have great plans, if only they could "get out of high school, finish college, get up in the morning"...you fill in the blanks. When I have a glass of wine, based on the alcohol content, I know exactly what I am getting and what effect it will have on me. There is no "unit standard" for pot. Lastly, it is a gateway drug. Very few hard core drug users go from nothing to heroin, or meth, etc.

You have seen too many ABC after school specials

As I've said in a post on the legalize poll, you'd be very suprised just how many highly succesful people smoke. I know people who "if only they could "get out of high school, finish college, get up in the morning"...you fill in the blanks" who have never touched the stuff. You are generalizing way too much.

 

[Pop Daddy]

Im goona break away from my conservitve ways and vote it should be 100 % legal.

 

[DawnCt1]

You have seen too many ABC after school specials

As I've said in a post on the legalize poll, you'd be very suprised just how many highly succesful people smoke. I know people who "if only they could "get out of high school, finish college, get up in the morning"...you fill in the blanks" who have never touched the stuff. You are generalizing way too much.

Perhaps those "successful" people would be a whole lot more successful if they didn't get stoned. You see me as generalizing. I see you as looking at the exception and calling it "the rule". It would be nice if my opinion only came from "after school specials", unfortunately I have seen to many chronic pot smokers first hand who also tried to convince me that their hobby was harmless. They were not good advocates for their position if you know what I mean. I worked with one guy who was a bright, articulate well spoken psych aid. Unfortunately he will always be a psych aid. He was always going to go to grad school one of these days. His short term memory was shot. Anyone could borrow anything from him and he would look stunned when it was returned. Didn't remember lending it. DS 24 had a friend who was actually DS 27's classmate. Very bright, computer whiz. He is going to get a job as soon as he takes the driver reeducation course (4 hrs on a Saturday for $65) so he can get his license back. In the meantime he stays home or bums rides. He's been doing that for 3 years. DS is kind to him but recognizes that he is "Peter Pan". Peter Pan now is looking to befriend the 20 year olds. Marijuana interferes with maturation. What ever age someone is when they become a heavy user is the age that they seem to be stuck at.

 

[DISshopkeeper]

Now, what was I going to say here? I forget.....



Just kidding!!!

Legalize it like alcohol and put REAL criminals in prison.

 

[mickman1962]

Perhaps those "successful" people would be a whole lot more successful if they didn't get stoned. You see me as generalizing. I see you as looking at the exception and calling it "the rule".

One of them (maybe more) became President.

 

[DawnCt1]

One of them (maybe more) became President.

No Algore didn't become president and Bill Clinton left a few things undone. Hmm that explains it!

 

[RadioNate]

It goes to show that years of pro pot propaganda has made inroads. Too bad.

I was going to say "it goes to show that years of ANTI-pot propaganda has made inroads"

I don't know any slacker, unmotivated pot smokers. The ones I know are all successful people. But I do know successful professors, mulit-millionaire real estate agents, a CEO and more.

I also don't really buy the gateway drug arguement. There have been pleanty of staticts to show that the majority of pot smokers never progress to hardcore drugs. The heroin, meth users I have known started with speed, ecstasy and hallucigens rather than pot.

For the record I'm not a pot smoker.

 

[mickman1962]

No Algore didn't become president and Bill Clinton left a few things undone. Hmm that explains it!

good one

 

[DawnCt1]

good one

I knew you had a good sense of humor!

 

[N.Bailey]

No Algore didn't become president and Bill Clinton left a few things undone. Hmm that explains it!

While I am a Republican, I recall that Bush acknowledged smoking it too.

 

[nuke]

i know many people who have used it "suuposedly harmlessly" for years and they are idiots. most of them don't keep a job and most of them can't have an intelligent conversation. Pot kills brain cells and is very dangerous.

That explains W.

 

[dcentity2000]

I quote:

On Thursday I visited what is arguably the best psychiatric unit in the world: the Kings College Institute of Psychiatry, otherwise known as the Maudsley Hospital. Whilst there, I learnt a lot of facts and figures on the subject of a great many things, one of which being Cannabis Induced Psychosis which I will share with you now, having been unable to produce the relevant statistics and references in the past.

Please remember that these statistics tend to compound and feed off one another - an increase in risk due to susceptibility is magnified by an increase in risk due to cannabis.

Use of street drugs (marijuana/hash - cannabis, etc.) have been linked with significantly increased probability of developing schizophrenia. Psychiatrists in inner-city areas [such as the Maudsley and Bedlam hospitals] speak of cannabis being a factor in up to 80 per cent of schizophrenia cases. Researchers in New Zealand found that those who used cannabis by the age of 15 were more than three times (300%) more likely to develop illnesses such as schizophrenia. Other research has backed this up, showing that cannabis use increases the risk of psychosis by up to 700 per cent for heavy users, and that the risk increases in proportion to the amount of cannabis used (smoked or consumed).

Additionally, the younger a person smokes/uses cannabis, the higher the risk for schizophrenia, and the worse the schizophrenia is when the person does develop it.

Cannabis Induced Psychosis, I was told, was a common thing in the developed world; one in ten of us are deemed "susceptible" to it.

One professor in the Maudsley in particular turned out to be a specialist upon the subject of CIP.

Professor Murray has just completed a 15-year study of more than 750 adolescents in conjunction with colleagues at King's College London and the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Overall people were 4.5 times more likely to be schizophrenic at 26 if they were regular cannabis smokers at 15.

Another professor from Imperial College, London, was cited for me:

Professor John Henry, clinical toxicologist at Imperial College London said research had shown that people with a certain genetic makeup [the "susceptible group which makes up up to 10% of the population] who use the drug face a ten times (1000%) higher risk of schizophrenia. For example: if your risk of schizophrenia was 9% prior to taking cannabis, it would be 90% (or almost guaranteed) after taking cannabis.

The natural rate for schizophrenia is 1.1% Should everyone in the world take cannabis, the rate of schizophrenia logically jumps to 11%, more than one in ten of us.

Another prestigious institution, the Priory Hospital in Roehampton, also touts proof of the drug induced psychosis.

The drug induced psychosis seen when Cannabis is the main substance being abused is distinct phenomenologically from other psychosis.

[It is] misleading and dangerous, to our youth in particular, to label Cannabis as "soft". In fact the serious adverse effects of Cannabis have been known for some time now and Hall and Solowij in the British Journal of Psychiatry sounded warnings in 1997 about such issues as dependence on Cannabis, adolescent developmental problems, permanent cognitive impairment as well as involvement in and the development of psychosis.

Cannabis can precipitate or exacerbate a schizophrenic tendency in a characteristic manner ... [and] the range of symptoms is quite extensive.

Patients are left with the well-recognised and permanent symptoms of memory loss, apathy, loss of motivation and, paranoid ideation. These symptoms known as "the Amotivational Syndrome" in the past are usually permanent.

You can't escape it by smoking less though.

There is accumulating evidence that smaller amounts will do damage
...
Caspari found "patients with previous cannabis abuse had significantly more rehospitalizations, tended to worse psychosocial functioning, and scored significantly higher on the psychopathological syndromes "thought disturbance" (BPRS) and "hostility" (AMDP). These results confirm the major impact of cannabis abuse on the long-term outcome of schizophrenic patients".

A recent Dutch study showed that teenagers who indulge in cannabis as few as five times in their life significantly increase their risk of psychotic symptoms.

But what about medical uses? Could we refine it? Sadly not...

Volunteers taking cannabis-based therapeutic drugs as part of a controlled trial, which had been approved by an ethics board as safe for the subjects, experienced psychotic effects just as strong as if they had smoked cannabis.

As for the "doesn't happen to my friends" theory:

Today, there are over 30 published scientific research papers linking marijuana to schizophrenia or other mental disorders (see below). The increase in evidence during the past decade could be tied to the increased potency of marijuana. A review by the British Lung Association says that the cannabis available on the streets today is 15 times more powerful than the joints being smoked three decades ago.

Suicide is rife with this illness.

A Swedish study of 50,000 military conscripts found heavy use of cannabis increased the risk of suicide by four times. A Victorian study of 2332 adolescents found weekly use increased the risk of suicide attempts among females by five times. Weekly use as a teenager doubled the risk of depression and anxiety. Daily use at the age of 20 boosted the risk of depression and anxiety by five times.

The symptoms of the psychosis are very nasty indeed.

Thacore and Shukla (1976) found that compared to paranoid schizophrenia, cannabis psychosis is characterized by agitation, violence, flight of ideas, and less thought disorder.

Bottom line is, if you're gonna do a drug, pick a different one. I've been informed that psychosis from cannabis doesn't immediately manifest itself and that it can be many years before the effects are noticed (so much for the "hasn't happened to me/my friends yet" argument.)

As for therapeutic uses, we are beginning to show the caution we need to exercise in order to gain from cannabis. Personally I think that it's fine - if the patient's symptoms are worse than schizophrenia. Careful measures would have to be exercised before a patient is given cannabis and I truly believe that only extreme cases should merit the use of this drug.

Finally, what schizophrenia does to you. I know a man who we call "Junior". He was about to take his college exams and suddenly was struck with CIP despite having not used cannabis for many years. He's now 26 and will probably never be able to function properly in life. He still thinks that ghosts are punching him, saying that he can hear their whispers and feel their strikes. It's an extreme, but it's what CAN happen.



Rich::

 

[DawnCt1]

Thank you for posting that Rich. It will however be discredited by those who wish to delude themselves into thinking that marijuana is just a "misunderstood, maligned drug that is harmless". I personally agree with it. As to its addictiveness? Rats given cannibis did not experience withdrawal symptoms from use......until a drug that blocked the brain receptors of marijuana was administered and then the withdrawal symptoms equalled that of cocaine and heroin. One could suppose then that the withdrawal symptoms are lessened by the lengthy half life of cannibis. (THC is still present in the urine up to 28 days) and there has been evidence that it is stored in the fat much longer.

 

[shortbun]

It should stay illegal. i know many people who have used it "suuposedly harmlessly" for years and they are idiots. most of them don't keep a job and most of them can't have an intelligent conversation. Pot kills brain cells and is very dangerous.

Wow-you should change the people you "know." Ridiculous argument and I could find idiots that "do" almost anything to back up anything I want ruled out. Like for instance, I know many people who have voted Republican suppossedly harmlessly for years and they are idiots AND just look at the mess this country is in now that we have a president who is a Republican AND even has admitted to drug and alcohol abuse. My my! The current presidents policies and ideas have killed many people and are very dangerous.
I rest my case.
Legalize pot, we could fund the war with the taxes!

 

[dcentity2000]

It's so simple. There is staggering evidence that marijuana is an incredibly hazardous drug to the one in ten that are susceptible and absolutely diddly squit to suggest otherwise.

There's even a condition attributed to it: Cannabis Induced Psychosis.

As far as medical use goes, it's fair enough when the potential upsides outweigh the potential downsides. But given the evidence, it's a hefty hurdle.

Only naïvety can account for those who consider marijuana harmless or near harmless.



Rich::

 

[wvrevy]

Ask your doctor which one of these is least likely to kill you, based on all current medical science.

Now ask your congressman why it's the only one that is illegal.

As to "drug induced psychosis...it can happen with any drug, not just cannabis. Marijuana is considerably less harmful to you than alcohol or tobacco, both of which are, of course, completely legal.

Marijuana is completely non-addictive. The only way it can be called "addictive" is in the same way that surfing this website is: emotionally or mentally. There are no physical "withdrawl" symptoms from ceasing marijuana use.

It's been labelled a "gateway" drug. In my experience, that's also a myth. I know quite a few people who have used marijuana, and never had any desire to try any of the actual "hard" drugs that are out there.

Then, there's the legal angle. Marijuana offenders are almost never violent, and the few times they are it's usually do to some other factor. If there is such a thing as a "mean stoner" - as there is plenty of evidence of "mean drunks" out there - then I've neither heard of it nor seen it.

The anti-marijuana movement is made of nothing but fear and ignorance. The simple truth is, we should never need a reason to "make something legal" in this country. The evidence against marijuana is certainly a lot thinner than that against alcohol and tobacco, so you simply cannot justify being against legalization unless you are also for the prohibition of both cigarettes and alcohol.