Marijuana

[vol_scouter]

A study by a major trauma center found that in 86% of motor vehicle accidents in which there was a fatality that one or more of the drivers were drunk or drugged. Legalizing more drugs will result in the serious injury and death of more innocent men, women, and children. As a physician who frequently cares for patients with cancer, marinol along with other anti-emetics is satisfactory. There is no medical reason to allow the smoking of marijuana.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

So, will you finally answer if you support prohibiting alcohol? Of that 86%, how does that break down to alcohol alone, alcohol + marijuana, marijuana alone?

 

And how do you justify saying that legalizing more drugs will lead to the " serious injury and death of more innocent men, women, and children"? Looks to me like you're assuming that consumption will increase, driving under the influence will increase, etc, which you haven't established.

[OldGreyEagle]

The Country tried Probibition on the number one mood altering substance known to man, it didnt work, all it did was make criminals rich

 

What makes us think that prohibiting new mood altering substanaces will work?

 

And that is from a guy who once head the skull of a drunk motorcycle driver while his brains leaked out his ears

 

We need societal values that would render mood altering substances superfluous

[GernBlansten]

I saw a study that showed cell phone use during driving impaired the driver more than alcohol. Dang crackberries.

[vol_scouter]

I believe that cell phones distract drivers rather than impair their cognitive function. Texting is extremely distracting. If talking on a cell phone (not including dialing) is compared to talking to friends in the car, I would argue that friends in the car are more distracting because most people look at those to whom they are talking whereas on a cell phone, one has no reason to not look at the road. So perhaps we should make all cars single seaters, get rid of texting, and have only voice dialing.

 

The answer to issues with the problems of abuse of alcohol is not to add more cognitive function altering drugs.

[Platypus96]

I personally have never partaken in the use of any (illegal) drug. However, I know some people who do. So I asked about ten of them if they would still smoke marijuana if it was legal. More than half of them said no.

 

 

[evmori]

Making illegal drugs legal doesn't guarantee they won't still kill.

[Frank17]

I can understand the logic behind banning it:

Cigarettes = bad from a health perspective

Alcohol = bad from an impairment perspective

Marijuana = bad for health and bad for impairment

 

BUT, I also think if an adult wants to do bad things to their health or be impaired in a responsible way, they have that right. I will stick to a big thick steak that is bad for me rather than the drugs.

[SR540Beaver]

Being a conservative leaning libertarian, I fall on the side of personal responsibility and good parenting vs the gubmint telling people what they can and can't do. I've never touched an illegal drug substance and some folks drink in one night what I drink in a year.....maybe two. Pot is no worse than alcohol. Legalize it, regulate it and tax it and watch the wind get taken out of the drug cartel's sails.

[Beavah]

Yah, but da problem is it's not just adults, eh? The attitudes of adult society, for good or for ill, tend to get multiplied in the young.

 

The news reports today that more high schoolers are smoking pot than are smoking cigarettes, and that marijuana use among young people from 8th grade on is on a marked upswing.

 

Those mostly likely to abuse are also those where the abuse is most likely to have more harmful long-term effects - young folks.

 

B

 

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Not sure I follow you Beavah; minors using an illegal drug at a greater rate than a legal drug looks like an argument for legalization. Instead of buying it from some guy on the street who sells to anyone, it would be carried by stores that card people.

 

Not everything legal is beneficial. Damn, now I'm practically quoting Corinthians...

[Beavah]

Ya, the increase directly correlates with the growth of medical marijuana clinics, eh? There's a reason why in the states with medical marijuana clinics, they all seem to open up around colleges and other schools, eh? Yeh don't see many of 'em near nursing and hospice facilities.

 

B

 

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Since Mj use was down for the previous 3 years, didid medical MJ establishments go down? I don't think so. So what you've got is two things increased this year. That would correlate with half of everything. The other half went down -- so that's an inverse correlation, too.

[Beavah]

Yeh should get a refund from your math teacher, eh?

 

Marijuana use has been increasing for the past three years among teens, so that now it has surpassed cigarette use on a "used this month" basis. It had been trendin' slowly down durin' the previous decade.

 

That correlates with da enactment and implementation of medical marijuana statutes in several states, and the prominence of "MJ is OK" media talk on the matter. Of course it also correlates with da economic downturn and fewer jobs for teens, too.

 

Beavah

 

 

[GernBlansten]

Probably also coorelates to the explosive growth in the "tos" food group.

Doritos, Cheetos, Fritos, Tostitos....