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Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

nytimes.com

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Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#91

Post by [deleted] »

sfifs wrote: post #88
contemporary2u wrote: post #77

The big question is why drugs are illegal at all? Drugs are a multi trillion dollar business. 100's of billions of dollars turning the wheels of the shadow economy every day. Who stands to lose all that money if drugs were legalized? Who is involved in drug business? think of all of the players in the chain.. We know examples of developed countries where drugs are legalized and everyone did not become a junkie over n…

Past experiences with widespread drug availability and addiction suggest social cohesion is lost as people become dependent on the next fix. Look up the history of opium war in China or for more recent experiences, drug problems in Punjab India or the drug dependency in the Middle East .

[deleted]

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#92

Post by xrstf »

will_brown wrote: post #74

>The D.E.A. and the F.D.A. insist that there is not enough scientific evidence to justify removing marijuana from Schedule 1. This is a disingenuous argument; the government itself has made it impossible to do the kinds of trials and studies that could produce the evidence that would justify changing the drug’s classification. This can not be overstated. I recently discussed a prior client of mine on HN who is one of…

Is your client possibly the same person who was interviewed for Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" on the "War on Drugs" episode[1]?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQS910WVlKc

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#93

Post by ryanlol »

qaq wrote: post #23
FreeFull wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any kind of smoke inhalation will cause cancer

Any kind of smoke inhalation CAN cause cancer

Pretty much any kind of anything CAN cause cancer.

WARNING: This comment contains words known to the state of California to cause cancer.

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#94

Post by [deleted] »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #37
Donzo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I have anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. Oftentimes drug use is a symptom of a greater psychological problem/issue. Perhaps the underlying issues are causing the negative behaviors and the drugs are only enabling it.

>anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. // What roles, in what areas, have they risen to in this time?

[deleted]

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#95

Post by ryanlol »

arca_vorago wrote: post #22
FreeFull wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any kind of smoke inhalation will cause cancer

Smoking isnt the only way to consume mj, btw. Tinctures, edibles, lotions, lip balms, etc all offer alternatives. From what I understand vaping reduces plant particulate the most, but the high temps can hurt throats, so an ideal setup would be a vape through a bong.

Dabbing is something worth looking at too, shares the benefits of vapes but generally requires far fewer hits.

Just gotta watch the dosage so you don't accidentally end up stuck on the couch for the rest of the day.

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#96

Post by thucydides »

martinald wrote: post #13

While I'm totally for drug (all drugs - not just cannabis) legalisation/regulation, I do think the "dangers" of marijuana have been really downplayed over the last few years. I know a lot of people at university who got into smoking it very often and basically lost 10+ years of their life to complete apathy to anything. Some have now stopped and are totally different people - just 10 years behind. While it doesn't ca…

Yes. Ceteris paribus, mutatis mutandis, all else equal, blah blah blah, marijuana decreases motivation. Period. How is this controversial today?

Here's an n = 1 study. A few years ago, I used a Pax to vaporize cannabis nearly every night for a year. I quit altogether after moving to an area where it was harder to buy.

After a month or two, I unexpectedly noticed a fog had lifted. It was easier to summon the right word to my tongue. It was easier to reason through difficult abstract problems. It was easier to start working on things.

If you are reading this and are thinking "yeah, but n = 1, man," you're right. I must be the exception. Being an egregious stoner doesn't decrease anyone's IQ or motivation, "studies" and "your lying eyes" be damned. YOU are not experiencing any deficits from smoking herb. Cannabis is NOTHING like soma, and in fact has no negative side effects at all. And you are certainly not rationalizing self-destructive behavior.

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#97

Post by theAnonMe »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #37
Donzo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I have anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. Oftentimes drug use is a symptom of a greater psychological problem/issue. Perhaps the underlying issues are causing the negative behaviors and the drugs are only enabling it.

>anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. // What roles, in what areas, have they risen to in this time?

I've smoked for 15+ years, I earn in the top 5% of the UK writing software for big players if that is a metric you respect. Only as a software developer although I've had the opportunity to be "promoted" I chose to write code...for more money. However I recognize that the amount I am smoking of current is affecting my cognitive load (I think). If I was drinking alcohol in the same amount I smoke cannabis I'd be an alcoholic like my father. Hmmm, wonder if there is a genetics issue...

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#98

Post by iRobbery »

martinald wrote: post #80
iRobbery wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mostly agree, but 10 years behind what? Your ideal, or socially accepted view of how a life should be lived? I wait for the day, drugs are unbanned, medicine cant be patented, religion is banned, and the world has one common global goal, space exploration! I'd stop smoking cannabis for that. ;-)

Behind where they want to be (not my opinion, theirs). They look round when they come out of the weed stupor and realise that everyone else is 10 years further ahead in anything . I'm not just meaning careers - often they never go on vacation abroad/travelling (past maybe Amsterdam). They look around and see their friends who have been all over the world after university, when they've done really nothing.

Ah okay i didn't think of that, that is a pity then yes, as travelling broadens/opens the mind better then cannabis hehe. Specially seeing how other people have to live, struggle or live glamorous, etc. Using cannabis (being high) does make it easy to postpone things, and before you know it its indeed postponed 10 years. Though i have had this idea/thought too, i'm still getting less convinced about this. I've seen too many different cases to be sure. I might consider videogaming/online multiplayer stuff ruined more time of people and or students around me then cannabis. And yes, they do 'work well' together :)

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#99

Post by ethanbond »

ryanlol wrote: post #33
mbrock wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of that might be because they are afraid if they go outside they'll be arrested.

Is that actually common? Don't know about the US but haven't seen very much of that in the rest of the world.

In the US, it basically depends on how poor and/or black you are. No joke.

Re: Stop Treating Marijuana Like Heroin

#100

Post by saulrh »

Retric wrote: post #56
67726e wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know both. I have family members who smoke routinely for basically their lives. You would never know, they don't let it interrupt their life. To them it is more like coming home and having a glass of wine and relaxing on the couch with a good book. I also know and lived with roommates for whom marijuana was a real problem. The kind of person who would smoke every day, even coming home on their lunch break and takin…

We seem to be ok with people dropping out and becoming monks, but somehow living a relaxed lifestyle is somehow a major problem. Is it ok for people not to be a cog in the machine that makes your lifestyle possible or not? Sure, I might be happier if my past self saved even more money, lived a vegan lifestyle, or learned to play an instrument. But, I don't think it's a problem that I have failed to optimize for makin…

> We seem to be ok with people dropping out and becoming monks, but somehow living a relaxed lifestyle is somehow a major problem.

Thank you for this reframing! I believe that it is useful and will likely use it in the future.

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