Why Cannabis should be legalised. Inc wall of text.
So, I'm new to the forums, thought I'd introduce myself by taking some evil propaganda I read here: NIDA - Publications - Marijuana: Facts for Teens
and tearing it to bits. Wasn't really difficult, you'd think they'd put some better brains in the government, but these things are seemingly written by retards.
??Q: What is marijuana? Are there different kinds?
A: Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. You may hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed, grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana.?
herb, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, chronic? Perhaps it??s just my dialect but I have never heard these names before, and it seems to me that these names are invented purely to make the drug seem worse and more illegal than it already is.
?Sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah; it??s a Spanish word), hashish (??hash? for short), and hash oil are stronger forms of marijuana.
All forms of marijuana are mind-altering (psychoactive). In other words, they change how the brain works. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals. Marijuana??s effects on the user depend on it??s strength or potency, which is related to the amount of THC it contains(5). The THC content of marijuana has been increasing since the 1970s. For the year 2006, most marijuana contained, on average, 7 percent THC.?
Nothing to say here.
??Q: How is marijuana used?
A: Most users roll loose marijuana into a cigarette (called a joint or a nail)??
A nail? What the fuck is a nail? See my first comment.
??? Or smoke it in a pipe or water pipe, sometimes referred to as a bong. Some users mix marijuana into foods or use it to brew a tea. Another method is to slice open a cigar and replace the tobacco with marijuana, making what's called a blunt. Marijuana cigarettes or blunts sometimes contain other substances as well including crack cocaine.?
Yes, since you cannot truly come up with powerful enough reasons against Marijuana, it makes perfect sense for you to cleverly hint towards other, stronger drugs. Not drugs that are more dangerous, because after all Marijuana isn??t really dangerous.
??Q: How long does marijuana stay in the user's body?
A: THC in marijuana is rapidly absorbed by fatty tissues in various organs. Generally, traces (metabolites) of THC can be detected by standard urine testing methods several days after a smoking session. In heavy users, however, traces can sometimes be detected for weeks after they have stopped using marijuana.?
Unfortunately this is true, allowing the state to further prosecute us for an imaginary crime invented by our many governments only recently to stop us from having fun.
??Q: How many teens smoke marijuana?
A: Contrary to popular belief, most teenagers do not use marijuana. Among students surveyed in a yearly national survey, only about one in seven 10th graders report they are current marijuana users (that is, used marijuana within the past month). Fewer than one in five high school seniors is a current marijuana user (10).?
You surely don??t have a lot to worry about then?
??Q: Why do young people use marijuana?
A: There are many reasons why some children and young teens start smoking marijuana. Many young people smoke marijuana because they see their brothers, sisters, friends, or even older family members using it. Some use marijuana because of peer pressure?.
I am yet to meet anyone who was peer pressured into smoking Marijuana, there comes a point in adulthood when you become bored with the two drugs that we already have available (both more dangerous than Marijuana anyway) and so people make a conscious, adult decision to try the drug, they may like it, they may not. Naturally, people with family members or friends who smoke Marijuana are more likely to try it, because the temptation is there and it is more readily available to them, you cannot take these statistics and use it as proof of your imaginary peer pressure.
?Others may think it??s cool to use marijuana because they hear songs about it and see it on TV and in movies. Some teens may feel they need marijuana and other drugs to help them escape from problems at home, at school, or with friends.?
??Need marijuana and other drugs to help them escape?.?? So they need other drugs as well then?
People use all drugs, legal and illegal, to escape the mundanity of the society that you people have created. Not everyone is going to be happy working 9 to 5 and coming home to a flash car and a decent television and reading night time stories to their children. If this is all that life has to offer do you not find it quite natural that not everyone out of 7 billion people is happy living this way?
And if Marijuana is portrayed as cool, then so is alcohol, nicotine, McDonalds, Car Insurance, and countless other quantities of crap that we see daily in films and television adverts.
?No matter how many shirts and caps you see printed with the marijuana leaf, or how many groups sing about it, remember this: You don??t have to use marijuana just because you think everybody else is doing it. Most teenagers do not use marijuana!?
If groups singing about Marijuana, or t-shirts and caps with the marijuana leaf is somehow indoctrinating our teens into taking Marijuana, then you??d better make McDonald??s adverts illegal, since this seems to be having an effect on our youngsters as well by leading them into a terrible fast food addiction which often results in obesity and death.
??Q: What happens if you smoke marijuana?
A: The way the drug affects each person depends on many factors, including:
· User??s previous experience with the drug;
· How strong the marijuana is (how much THC it has);
· What the user expects to happen;
· Where the drug is used;
· How it is taken; and
· Whether the user is drinking alcohol or using other drugs.
Some people feel nothing at all when they smoke marijuana. Others may feel relaxed or high. Sometimes marijuana makes users feel thirsty and very hungry??an effect called "the munchies."
Some users can suffer bad reactions from abusing marijuana. They may experience sudden feelings of anxiety and have paranoid thoughts. This is more likely to happen when a more potent variety of marijuana is used.?
Damn right, but don??t we also get worse hangovers if we drink a more potent form of alcohol?
??Q: What are the short-term effects of marijuana use?
A: The short-term effects of marijuana include:
· Problems with memory and learning (11);
· Distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch) (6);
· Trouble with thinking and problemsolving (5);
· Loss of motor coordination; and
· Increased heart rate?
Yes. This is because you are stoned my friend, this was the entire fun point to us having taken it in the first place.
??Effects can be unpredictable, especially when other drugs are mixed with marijuana.?
Yet again, you can only reinforce your ideals on how evil Marijuana is by commenting on other drugs.
??Q: Does marijuana affect school, sports, or other activities?
A: It can. Marijuana affects memory, judgment, and perception (11). The drug can make you mess up in school, in sports or clubs, or with your friends. If you??re high on marijuana, you are more likely to make mistakes that could embarrass or even hurt you. If you use marijuana a lot, you could start to lose interest in how you look and how you??re getting along at school or work.?
Please provide us with proof of ANYONE doing sports when they are high.
I took less care of my appearance when I sat and played WoW solid for a fortnight, and since I smoked no marijuana during that time I can safely say that this videogame makes me look like more of a ruffian than Marijuana does. School, at least in the U.K, is so damn easy that a heroin addict could probably pass all of his GCSE??s, so if you failed your tests because you??re a stoner, you were doomed to a job requiring low intelligence anyway.
?Athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC. Also, since marijuana can affect judgment and decision making, its use can lead to risky sexual behaviour, resulting in exposure to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.?
Professional Athletes are little more than sporty Mormons who do not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol excessively for the very same reasons as they do not smoke Marijuana.
I do not know about anyone else here, but when I am stoned I am at the very least likely to have unprotected sex because I am so lazy. If, as was written by these people, Marijuana makes you feel ??Relaxed? is it not impossible for the same drug to make you want to get all energetic and shag someone? Alcohol can cause AIDS this way, Marijuana most certainly cannot.
??Q: What are the long-term effects of marijuana use?
A: Findings so far show that regular use of marijuana or THC may play a role in some kinds of cancer and in problems with the respiratory and immune systems.
· Cancer
It??s hard to know for sure whether marijuana use alone causes cancer, because many people who smoke marijuana also smoke cigarettes and use other drugs. But it is known that marijuana smoke contains some of the same, and sometimes even more, of the cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Studies show that someone who smokes five joints per day may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day (15) .?
??It??s hard to know for sure?? I stopped reading there.
If it??s hard to know then this clearly means you cannot prove it. If Marijuana causes Cancer and Nicotine causes Cancer why are cigarettes legal and Marijuana not?
· ??Lungs and airways
People who smoke marijuana often develop the same kinds of breathing problems that cigarette smokers have: coughing and wheezing. They tend to have more chest colds than nonusers. They are also at greater risk of getting lung infections like pneumonia.?
But this is surely, due to the same reasons that you have stated above, because almost all Marijuana smokers are also cigarette smokers? You cannot forget and ignore things that you have already stated as fact.
· ??Immune system
Our immune system protects the body from many agents that cause disease. It is not certain whether marijuana damages the immune system of people, but both animal and human studies have shown that marijuana impairs the ability of T-cells in the lungs' immune systemm to fight off some infections.?
If it is not certain then don??t bother putting it up here. If it is not certain then it is not proof and cannot be used as a reason for anything. Plus, you have a typo.
??Q: Does marijuana lead to the use of other drugs?
A: Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana (7). For example, the risk of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs.
The only reason that people try other drugs after having tried Marijuana, is because Marijuana is illegal when it should be legal, a drug that is less dangerous than alcohol and nicotine is made illegal, and so when some poor wasted youth tries out Marijuana, they think to themselves ??Fucking hell! Illegal drugs don??t seem that bad!? and then proceed onto cocaine or other drugs because of their happy experiences with Marijuana.
And yes, I can also believe that when Marijuana smokers are forced to buy Marijuana from drug dealers whenever they want to get high, that they would also be more tempted to try other drugs.
But if Marijuana was legalised, people could buy it from shops instead, and people would no longer think of it as an illegal drug and thus no longer judge more dangerous drugs by their experiences with Marijuana. Any idiot could easily come to this conclusion. So the fact that teens are taking Cocaine is in fact your fault is it not?
??To better determine this risk, scientists are examining the possibility that long-term marijuana use may create changes in the brain that make a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine. Although many young people who use marijuana do not go onto use other drugs, further research is needed to determine who will be at greatest risk.?
Scientists examine infinite possibilities.
??Q: How can you tell if someone has been using marijuana?
A: If someone is high on marijuana, he or she might
· Seem dizzy and have trouble walking;?
You stated earlier that stoned people have a loss of co-ordination. No need to repeat yourself.
· ??Seem silly and giggly for no reason;?
God forbid that anyone laughs and enjoys themselves.
· ??Have very red, bloodshot eyes; and
· Have a hard time remembering things that just happened.
When the early effects fade, over a few hours, the user can become very sleepy.?
And god forbid that anyone gets drunk and forgets what happens, then wakes up the next morning with red, bloodshot eyes feeling sleepy. Really people, fuck off, do you think that our teens are stupid enough to be sucked in by your nonsense and wander off believing this crap?
"Q: Is marijuana sometimes used as a medicine?
A: There has been much talk about the possible medical use of marijuana. Under U.S. law since 1970, marijuana has been a Schedule I controlled substance. This means that the drug, at least in its smoked form, has no commonly accepted medical use.?
Professional Doctors however, have of course contested this since these drugs were made illegal.
THC, the active chemical in marijuana, is manufactured into a pill available by prescription that can be used to treat the nausea and vomiting that occur with certain cancer treatments and to help AIDS patients eat more to keep up their weight. Scientists are studying whether THC, and related chemicals in marijuana (called cannabinoids) may have other medical uses. Because of the adverse effects of smoking marijuana, research on other cannabinoids appears more promising for the development of new medications.?
Sorry, what were the adverse effects of smoking Marijuana? Some people may not take to it, but some of us do, and find no adverse effects in smoking it, since we are already smokers anyway and couldn??t give a damn about the cancer scare stories.
??Q: How does marijuana affect driving?
A: Marijuana affects many skills required for safe driving: alertness, concentration, coordination, and reaction time. Marijuana use can make it difficult to judge distances and react to signals and sounds on the road.
Marijuana may play a role in car accidents. In one study conducted in Memphis, TN, researchers found that, of 150 reckless drivers who were tested for drugs at the arrest scene, 33 percent tested positive for marijuana, and 12 percent tested positive for both marijuana and cocaine (1). Data have also shown that while smoking marijuana, people show the same lack of coordination on standard "drunk driver" tests as do people who have had too much to drink (8).?
The difference here of course being, that although co-ordination is equally dysfunctional, a drunk driver will happily, boozily pelt down the road at 100 miles an hour, whereas a stoned driver will ooze his way along, terrified by the speed of 20 miles per hour. Though I do not condone being intoxicated while driving, it is clear that one is worse than the other.
Liked how you tried to link Marijuana and Cocaine together again. Really subtle.
??Q: If a woman is pregnant and smokes marijuana, will it hurt the baby?
A: Doctors advise pregnant women not to use any drugs because they could harm the growing fetus. Although one animal study has linked marijuana use to loss of the fetus very early in pregnancy, two studies in humans found no association between marijuana use and early pregnancy loss. More research is necessary to fully understand the effects of marijuana use on pregnancy outcome.?
And so, because you were proven wrong, you need to do more research. I think you will keep researching until you can contort statistics somewhere to your liking.
?Studies in children born to mothers who used marijuana have shown increased behavioral problems during infancy and preschool years. In school, these children are more likely to have problems with decision making, memory, and the ability to remain attentive(2).?
These are statistics, which you will doubtlessly have taken from the Marijuana users who were also led into the dark depths of actual drug abuse with the likes of Cocaine and Heroin, led there by your own shoddy lawmaking, and as such are not something I am going to believe. You do not state how great this increase is, you do not state the magnitude of the decision making and memory problems and as such I consider this passage little more than statistic bending indoctrination.
?Researchers are not certain whether health problems that may be caused by early exposure to marijuana will remain as the child grows into adulthood. However, since some parts of the brain continue to develop throughout adolescence, it is also possible that certain kinds of problems may appear as the child matures.?
Why write this when the researchers aren??t certain?
??Q: What does marijuana do to the brain?
A: Some studies show that when people have smoked large amounts of marijuana for years, the drug takes its toll on mental functions (4). Heavy or daily use of marijuana affects the parts of the brain that control memory, attention, and learning. A working short-term memory is needed to learn and perform tasks that call for more than one or two steps.
Smoking marijuana causes some changes in the brain that are like those caused by cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. Scientists are still learning about the many ways that marijuana can affect the brain.?
So it doesn??t kill you then? Doesn??t turn your brains or liver or lungs to mince? OK then. Why is it illegal?
??Q: Can people become addicted to marijuana?
A: Yes. Long-term marijuana use leads to addiction in some people. That is, they cannot control their urges to seek out and use marijuana, even though it negatively affects their family relationships, school performance, and recreational activities (9). According to one study, marijuana use by teenagers who have prior antisocial problems can quickly lead to addiction (3). In addition, some frequent, heavy marijuana users develop ??tolerance? to its effects. This means they need larger and larger amounts of marijuana to get the same desired effects as they used to get from smaller amounts.?
Marijuana addiction is very uncommon, so it is not fair to scare people by saying it causes addiction in ??some? people. ??Some? is used here because the actual percentage of people who feel withdrawal symptoms from the drug is incredibly less impressive than the word ??some?
It should also be noted that Skunk is much more addictive than normal Marijuana. And why was Skunk invented?
Because some tosser made Marijuana illegal, and someone wanted to get a better high than the badly mixed crap he gets off the toothless smackhead down the pub. Thus, the blame for many Marijuana addictions rests in the hands of the state.
??Q: What if a person wants to quit using the drug?
A: In 2004, over 298,000 people entering drug treatment programs reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse. However, up until a few years ago, it was hard to find treatment programs specifically for marijuana users.?
Drug addicts will use Marijuana as their primary drug of abuse because it is the least harmful, and in the absence of a REAL drug they will turn to Marijuana. They are self-medicating themselves and thereafter also seek outside help. It is difficult to find treatment programs specifically for marijuana users because although Marijuana is the most commonly used of the illegal drugs, it also provides the least amount of people who would be considered addicted to it.
?Now researchers are testing different ways to help marijuana users abstain from drug use. There are currently no medications for treating marijuana addiction. Treatment programs focus on counselling and group support systems. There are also a number of programs designed especially to help teenagers who are abusers. Family doctors can be a good source for information and help when dealing with marijuana problems.?
Treatment programs focus on counselling, and there are no medications for treating Marijuana addiction BECAUSE:
Marijuana is so harmless that there does not exist a substitute drug which addicts could use in its absence. There is Methadone to Heroin, Pro Plus to Cocaine (at least that??s my own personal preference), and nothing to Marijuana.
Thus, In all these pages of steaming crap, you have not provided any real reasons why Marijuana is illegal, rather proved reasons why it should be legalised, you have not given any proof of Marijuana being harmful than legal recreational drugs. You have also proven yourself to be indoctrinating people against Marijuana with falsified and bent statistics. You have done little more than prove the lengths you are willing to go in an attempt to prove with false information how you believe Marijuana to be some evil scourgeous plant that wants to suck out our souls, when in fact it is little more than a fun recreational drug, and one that should in fact be promoted over Nicotine and Alcohol.
