Poll: legalizing marijuana

[calmloki]

The first Web site I found on this subject said:

The short-term effects of marijuana include:

Distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch)
Problems with memory and learning
Loss of coordination
Trouble with thinking and problem-solving
Increased heart rate, reduced blood pressure
Sometimes marijuana use can also produce anxiety, fear, distrust, or panic.

When high doses of marijuana are used, usually when eaten in food rather than smoked, users can experience the following symptoms:

Hallucinations
Delusions
Impaired memory
Disorientation
​

Effects of Marijuana - The Health Effects of Marijuana

Darn tootin. Sassafrass oil or MDMA is much better for people.

 

[haha]

Perhaps, but the main issues are usally limited to uncontrollable laughter, wanting to get all cuddly, and getting enormously hungry.

Sounds really awful, does't it?

 

[NW-Bound]

... and getting enormously hungry.

YES! That seems to be the indisputable effect that I read about and have seen in movies. YES! Appetite leads to obesity, and we all know how bad a shape our health care system is. That alone, my friends, makes it bad. Didn't some cities pass ordinances banning fast food or unhealthy food, etc...? And we have not discussed hallucinations, delusions, and disorientation.

 

[kumquat]

The first Web site I found on this subject said:

The short-term effects of marijuana include:

Distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch)
Problems with memory and learning
Loss of coordination
Trouble with thinking and problem-solving
Increased heart rate, reduced blood pressure
Sometimes marijuana use can also produce anxiety, fear, distrust, or panic.

When high doses of marijuana are used, usually when eaten in food rather than smoked, users can experience the following symptoms:

Hallucinations
Delusions
Impaired memory
Disorientation​

Effects of Marijuana - The Health Effects of Marijuana

I guess I will never know how serious these effects are, because I will not get to witness any clinical study myself.

Don't you trust your own experiences? Or others on this board?

Do you believe everything you find in the Interweb?

 

[NW-Bound]

Don't you trust your own experiences?

As posted, I have had no personal experience with it.

Or others on this board?

I have not seen any of you under its effect.

Do you believe everything you find in the Interweb?

This forum itself is on the Internet.

 

[Martha]

This forum itself is on the Internet.

 

[Tiger]

YES!!!!! I've been smoking for 37 years and I can stop any time I want to!

 

[NW-Bound]

If it is harmless, why stop?

 

[HFWR]

And we have not discussed hallucinations, delusions, and disorientation.

Sounds like my job...

 

[kumquat]

I will have to take exception to that.

I just voted in the older polls too.

Never smoke it. Never knew anyone who did, or rather never saw anyone smoking it.............. Call me a bigot.

So, there!

No, just uninformed.

YES! That seems to be the indisputable effect that I read about and have seen in movies. YES! Appetite leads to obesity, and we all know how bad a shape our health care system is. That alone, my friends, makes it bad. Didn't some cities pass ordinances banning fast food or unhealthy food, etc...? And we have not discussed hallucinations, delusions, and disorientation.

Really? Eating causes US health care problems? That's it? Well I guess the movies may be the best place to go for health related information.

The first Web site I found on this subject said:

The short-term effects of marijuana include:

Distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch)
Problems with memory and learning
Loss of coordination
Trouble with thinking and problem-solving
Increased heart rate, reduced blood pressure
Sometimes marijuana use can also produce anxiety, fear, distrust, or panic.

When high doses of marijuana are used, usually when eaten in food rather than smoked, users can experience the following symptoms:

Hallucinations
Delusions
Impaired memory
Disorientation​

Effects of Marijuana - The Health Effects of Marijuana

I guess I will never know how serious these effects are, because I will not get to witness any clinical study myself.

Well, do you think the people who make the decisions on the legalities should do [-]a bit more[/-] some research or just agree with you?

 

[NW-Bound]

Sounds like my job...

They pay you to hallucinate? Did they provide you with marijuana to facilitate that, or some other drugs? Sounds like a dream job to some.

 

[NW-Bound]

No, just uninformed.

That could be true. I really do not know how to inform myself. Experimenting with it myself? That is out of the question. Too old to get another potential vice.

Really? Eating causes US health care problems? That's it?

It appears you did not get my joke regarding some US city ordinances banning "bad food".

Well, do you think the people who make the decisions on the legalities should do [-]a bit more[/-] some research or just agree with you?

No, it is really up to the public now to decide, with the recent polls. It is not legal authorities, or me. It's every voter to decide. And perhaps the way to do it is to give all legal voters a pinch to try for themselves. Nah, I do not see that happen. So, where do we go from here?

 

[kumquat]

It appears you did not get my joke regarding some US city ordinances banning "bad food".

While it is a "joke", I thought you were using it as justification for you views, you weren't?

No, it is really up to the public now to decide, with the recent polls.

Interesting? I thought the US system ( or Canadian since there are posts that suggest we are both Canucks) let people vote for those who make law. There are exceptions like the recent California plebiscite but I'd suggest that very few laws are passed by "polls".

So, where do we go from here?

In all likelihood, nowhere.

 

[HFWR]

They pay you to hallucinate? Did they provide you with marijuana to facilitate that, or some other drugs? Sounds like a dream job to some.

No, they cause me to hallucinate...

 

[Westernskies]

Try some brownies sometime. You might like it.

Not a chance. I made a concious decision when I was about 10 years old not to smoke (anything). Watching my parents (both smokers) die of lung cancer ~40 years later only reinforced my decision.

Same decision on pot; I always viewed starting it as a slippery slope- why I also quit drinking ~20 years ago- to borrow a phrase from CFB- I was born without a volume control, just an on-off switch.

Personal choice, YMMV.

 

[NW-Bound]

While it is a "joke", I thought you were using it as justification for you views, you weren't?

It's my fault. I often confuse my friends when I mix serious talks with jokes.

As I stated, my current stance is against legalization. And as increasing appetite is an indisputable effect of pot, I jokingly use it for a reason to ban it, because "bad food" ordinances recently appear in some US cities.

Interesting? I thought the US system ( or Canadian since there are posts that suggest we are both Canucks) let people vote for those who make law. There are exceptions like the recent California plebiscite but I'd suggest that very few laws are passed by "polls".

No, I am not Canadian. Legalization has been talked about for at least 35 years, ever since I was here as a young adult. The recent Proposition 19 in California failed , as you noticed. Here in AZ, a proposition to allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes (we are behind CA by a few years) also failed, but with a very narrow margin.

In all likelihood, nowhere.

The proponents will keep on trying, and perhaps in my lifetime, it may happen. It's an unknown area to me, and since I do not use it, I feel more comfortable with the status quo.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Some people still see marijuana as a gateway drug to the bad stuff

Alcohol and tobacco use are legal almost everywhere in the world. Recreational use of marijuana, as alcohol and tobacco are typically used, is illegal almost everywhere in the world (subject to at least a ticket for posession). Maybe an international effort would be necessary to legalize it.

I don't see it happening.

 

[dex]

This forum itself is on the Internet.

That's going to leave a mark.

 

[KisKis]

Legalize it and tax the hell out of it, like cigarettes. Should help a lot to decrease black market drug trafficking. Those who are publicly intoxicated or operating machinery under the influence should be charged, like alcohol. Should be plenty of judicial/jail space opened up after decriminalizing sale and possession. The whole drug war is such a political scam.

 

[Nodak]

Legalize it and tax the hell out of it, like cigarettes. Should help a lot to decrease black market drug trafficking. Those who are publicly intoxicated or operating machinery under the influence should be charged, like alcohol. Should be plenty of judicial/jail space opened up after decriminalizing sale and possession. The whole drug war is such a political scam.

+1

 

[NW-Bound]

Legalize it and tax the hell out of it, like cigarettes. Should help a lot to decrease black market drug trafficking. Those who are publicly intoxicated or operating machinery under the influence should be charged, like alcohol. Should be plenty of judicial/jail space opened up after decriminalizing sale and possession. The whole drug war is such a political scam.

Same as others, I have wondered if that would work. In case it doesn't, how do we go back?

Recreational use of marijuana, as alcohol and tobacco are typically used, is illegal almost everywhere in the world (subject to at least a ticket for posession). Maybe an international effort would be necessary to legalize it...

Good point. I can see a side effect of unilateral legalization here. The US will become an exporter of it. If other countries still ban it, will the US become like Mexico now, where it is not legal but enforcement is apparently lax?

 

[REWahoo]

In case it doesn't, how do we go back?

Based on the US track record with the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, we don't.

 

[Gone4Good]

All legalization does is increase the problem and move it around from interdiction to cleaning up the dead, injured and impaired after the harm is done.

I don't think the analysis is that simple. True, there would almost certainly be an increase in usage, and therefore, an increase in usage related problems. But there would also be a reduction in the criminal enterprises that surround the underground drug trade. I don't think we can simply assume one side of the equation and ignore the other. How this ultimately balances? I have no idea. And I suspect no one else does either.

 

[FIREd]

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

How long before they make nutmeg illegal?

 

[calmloki]

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

How long before they make nutmeg illegal?

40 odd years ago in the Navy as we were onloading stores a substantial amount of the nutmeg was diverted for personal consumption - I tried it, but there are and were too many other ways to get high.