Why recreational marijuana is dangerous

[Bucky]

I think there needs to be a clear establishment that supporting medical marijuana is different than supporting recreational marijuana. Marijuana is a drug, it isn't candy. As more and more research is being done, higher-potency marijuana is potentially harmful to our mental health leading to paranoia, psychosis, and schizophrenia:

Overall, the study's findings have clear implications for public health. The authors warn that young people who have a family history of psychiatric conditions or have responded strongly to drugs previously should be particularly cautious around marijuana during their adolescence.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317170.php

There is also possible evidence that marijuana can increase violence:

Because marijuana can cause paranoia and psychosis, and those conditions are closely linked to violence[,] it appears to lead to an increase in violent crime. Before recreational legalization began in 2014, advocates promised that it would reduce violent crime. But the first four states to legalize — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — have seen sharp increases in murders and aggravated assaults since 2014, according to reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Police reports and news articles show a clear link to cannabis in many cases.

The role of weed in rising violent crime rates in legalization states is a hotly contested question, especially in Colorado, where murders in Denver are at a 10-year high. Berenson admits he can’t say for sure whether those upswings are due to legal weed, but the raw data, he says, definitely contradicts advocates’ claims: “What I want people to stop saying is that legalization reduces violent crime. It doesn’t.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politic...ur-children-marijuana-crime-mental-illness-1/

Overall I think more research needs to be done. There is also not enough evidence that marijuana is more effective or less addictive as a pain killer than opiates.

 

[Felis Leo]

I think there needs to be a clear establishment that supporting medical marijuana is different than supporting recreational marijuana. Marijuana is a drug, it isn't candy. As more and more research is being done, higher-potency marijuana is potentially harmful to our mental health leading to paranoia, psychosis, and schizophrenia:



https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317170.php

There is also possible evidence that marijuana can increase violence:





https://www.motherjones.com/politic...ur-children-marijuana-crime-mental-illness-1/

Overall I think more research needs to be done. There is also not enough evidence that marijuana is more effective or less addictive as a pain killer than opiates.

That people are made to think that taking unprescribed mind-altering drugs that radically shift one's mental state without any lasting side effects whatsoever is the height of folly. I think twenty to thirty years hence, those of us still alive and our descednants will look back on these days of the freeing up of recreational marijuana use with the same horror that we look back at the years of the heavy prescribing of thalidomide, and the suffering and misery that it caused.

 

[Wayne Jr]

Marijuana should be legal for as long as alcohol and tobacco are legal.

 

[ThoughtEx.]

I think there needs to be a clear establishment that supporting medical marijuana is different than supporting recreational marijuana. Marijuana is a drug, it isn't candy. As more and more research is being done, higher-potency marijuana is potentially harmful to our mental health leading to paranoia, psychosis, and schizophrenia:



https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317170.php

There is also possible evidence that marijuana can increase violence:





https://www.motherjones.com/politic...ur-children-marijuana-crime-mental-illness-1/

Overall I think more research needs to be done. There is also not enough evidence that marijuana is more effective or less addictive as a pain killer than opiates.

That people are made to think that taking mind-altering drugs that radically shift one's mental state is the height of folly. I think twenty to thirty years hence, those of us still alive and our descednants will look back on these days of the freeing up of recreational marijuana use with the same horror that we look back at the years of the heavy prescribing of thalidomide, and the suffering and misery that it caused.

*Hits the Bong*

*Blows it in the haters faces*

I already live in a country that has legal recreational marijuana. I can grow it myself and everything...

And 30 years if we are still alive? With Descendants? What are you 70 not expecting to hit 100?

Pretty sure most of us will be alive.

Right now I'm smoking DelaHaze, super high thc content sativa strain. Bought off the internet had it delivered in the mail.

100 Percent Legal.

The mail lady even asked me if it was a good kind, and if I would recommend it.

So hate away haters, I'm free, and it feels great!

 

[HumblePi]

It's just a proven fact that alcohol is far more dangerous to health than marijuana is. The statics are just out there for anyone to view. Alcohol related deaths are high while death related to marijuana smoking is pretty much not even a statistic at all.

"More than 30,700 Americans died from alcohol-induced causes in 2014. There have been zero documented deaths from marijuana use alone."

"In 2014, 30,722 people died from alcohol-induced causes in the US — and that does not count drinking-related accidents or homicides. If those deaths were included, the number would be closer to 90,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"Meanwhile, no deaths from marijuana overdoses have been reported, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A 16-year study of more than 65,000 Americans, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that healthy marijuana users were not more likely to die earlier than healthy people who did not use cannabis."

 

[Grand Mal]

I think there needs to be a clear establishment that supporting medical marijuana is different than supporting recreational marijuana. Marijuana is a drug, it isn't candy. As more and more research is being done, higher-potency marijuana is potentially harmful to our mental health leading to paranoia, psychosis, and schizophrenia:



https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317170.php

There is also possible evidence that marijuana can increase violence:





https://www.motherjones.com/politic...ur-children-marijuana-crime-mental-illness-1/

Overall I think more research needs to be done. There is also not enough evidence that marijuana is more effective or less addictive as a pain killer than opiates.

So what? Is any of that enough reasn for the government to make pot illegal?
Damn. You conservatives sure can talk the talk but you sure dont walk the walk.

 

[Grand Mal]

Marijuana should be legal for as long as alcohol and tobacco are legal.

They should all be legal always and all other drugs too.

 

[FreedomFromAll]

I think there needs to be a clear establishment that supporting medical marijuana is different than supporting recreational marijuana. Marijuana is a drug, it isn't candy. As more and more research is being done, higher-potency marijuana is potentially harmful to our mental health leading to paranoia, psychosis, and schizophrenia:



https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317170.php

There is also possible evidence that marijuana can increase violence:





https://www.motherjones.com/politic...ur-children-marijuana-crime-mental-illness-1/

Overall I think more research needs to be done. There is also not enough evidence that marijuana is more effective or less addictive as a pain killer than opiates.

Not much into liberty?

 

[Bucky]

So what? Is any of that enough reasn for the government to make pot illegal?
Damn. You conservatives sure can talk the talk but you sure dont walk the walk.

Question, If you have kids, or pretend you do have kids.

Would you be okay if your kids smoked pot? Would you allow it in your household?

 

[Bucky]

It's just a proven fact that alcohol is far more dangerous to health than marijuana is. The statics are just out there for anyone to view. Alcohol related deaths are high while death related to marijuana smoking is pretty much not even a statistic at all.

"More than 30,700 Americans died from alcohol-induced causes in 2014. There have been zero documented deaths from marijuana use alone."

"In 2014, 30,722 people died from alcohol-induced causes in the US — and that does not count drinking-related accidents or homicides. If those deaths were included, the number would be closer to 90,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"Meanwhile, no deaths from marijuana overdoses have been reported, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A 16-year study of more than 65,000 Americans, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that healthy marijuana users were not more likely to die earlier than healthy people who did not use cannabis."

But the first four states to legalize — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — have seen sharp increases in murders and aggravated assaults since 2014

 

[Grand Mal]

That people are made to think that taking unprescribed mind-altering drugs that radically shift one's mental state without any lasting side effects whatsoever is the height of folly. I think twenty to thirty years hence, those of us still alive and our descednants will look back on these days of the freeing up of recreational marijuana use with the same horror that we look back at the years of the heavy prescribing of thalidomide, and the suffering and misery that it caused.

I think that conservatives can't walk the walk. Does the government belong in your life to the extent that it tells you that using pot will be enough to put you in jail? Do you like to have the government dictate your personal choices? Choices that harm nobody else?
The longer I live the more I'm confirmed in the belief that conservatism is the biggest threat to personal freedom in society.

 

[Hawkeye10]

Hicks nailed it:

 

[HumblePi]

But the first four states to legalize — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — have seen sharp increases in murders and aggravated assaults since 2014

There is absolutely zero proof that marijuana is responsible. The problem in Alaska is meth and cocaine, not pot.

 

[Grand Mal]

Question, If you have kids, or pretend you do have kids.

Would you be okay if your kids smoked pot? Would you allow it in your household?

Ya know, that's so far off what you intended you probably wont believe it. A couple years ago my son and a half-dozen of his friends came up here to camp for a long weekend and they were stoned on acid for much of the time. I send him a supply of pot I've grown every year, and lately a batch of cookies made with pot butter.
You guys know so little about this subject I wonder how you feel like you can speak about it.

 

[Bucky]

There is absolutely zero proof that marijuana is responsible. The problem in Alaska is meth and cocaine, not pot.

A good book was written this month about the subject. I am going to post the link from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1...03663&linkId=5d5155131c3869cfbe4542965cbbbb67

Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states. Almost all Americans believe the drug should be legal for medical use. Advocates argue cannabis can help everyone from veterans to cancer sufferers. But legalization has been built on myths– that marijuana arrests fill prisons; that most doctors want to use cannabis as medicine; that it can somehow stem the opiate epidemic; that it is not just harmless but beneficial for mental health. In this meticulously reported book, Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, explodes those myths:

• Almost no one is in prison for marijuana;
• A tiny fraction of doctors write most authorizations for medical marijuana, mostly for people who have already used;
• Marijuana use is linked to opiate and cocaine use. Since 2008, the US and Canada have seen soaring marijuana use and an opiate epidemic. Britain has falling marijuana use and no epidemic;
• Most of all, THC—the chemical in marijuana responsible for the drug’s high—can cause psychotic episodes. After decades of studies, scientists no longer seriously debate if marijuana causes psychosis.

Psychosis brings violence, and cannabis-linked violence is spreading. In the four states that first legalized, murders have risen 25 percent since legalization, even more than the recent national increase. In Uruguay, which allowed retail sales in July 2017, murders have soared this year.

 

[Bucky]

Ya know, that's so far off what you intended you probably wont believe it. A couple years ago my son and a half-dozen of his friends came up here to camp for a long weekend and they were stoned on acid for much of the time. I send him a supply of pot I've grown every year, and lately a batch of cookies made with pot butter.
You guys know so little about this subject I wonder how you feel like you can speak about it.

I have smoked pot, so I can speak of the subject matter based on personal experience. The THC can definitely cause psychotic episodes/breaks. Definitely even violent outbursts.

To say that marijuana does not alter one's behavior or actions is not a true statement. When I ate edible food laced with THC, I could not function. I can't imagine what would have happened if I got behind the wheel.

 

[HumblePi]

The 'Methiest' States in the country are in dark blue. Just my opinion but it seems like the majority of meth labs are in red states. It's not marijuana that people should be freaking out about.

 

[Felis Leo]

*Hits the Bong*

*Blows it in the haters faces*

I already live in a country that has legal recreational marijuana. I can grow it myself and everything...

And 30 years if we are still alive? With Descendants? What are you 70 not expecting to hit 100?

Pretty sure most of us will be alive.

Right now I'm smoking DelaHaze, super high thc content sativa strain. Bought off the internet had it delivered in the mail.

100 Percent Legal.

The mail lady even asked me if it was a good kind, and if I would recommend it.

So hate away haters, I'm free, and it feels great!

I don't hate any such thing. I see the widespread use of unprescribed psychotropic drugs as folly. And again, to draw the parallel, thalidomide was really good at curing nausea in pregnant women. But years later, we see the effects of it. You enjoy your marijuana as responsibly as you can, and I wish you and yours the best of health. I only hope that I am wrong and all my concerns and fears come to be unfounded.

 

[Felis Leo]

I think that conservatives can't walk the walk. Does the government belong in your life to the extent that it tells you that using pot will be enough to put you in jail? Do you like to have the government dictate your personal choices? Choices that harm nobody else?
The longer I live the more I'm confirmed in the belief that conservatism is the biggest threat to personal freedom in society.

You appear to be confusing my position, which is social conservatism, with libertarianism, Grand Mal. And I am not a libertarian. As I see it, personal freedom is simply an open road by which people can travel to lead their best lives and achieve their greatest happiness. But freedom can only be enjoyed by men and women possessed of virtuous hearts and a capacity for self-restraint. I believe Benjamin Franklin said it best:

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

I do not want to be anyone's master, Grand Mal. I want people to master themselves and free themselves of their most base desires, lest we fall into a collective dissolution and dissipation so terrible that people will beg for a tyranny to restore social order.

 

[Grand Mal]

I have smoked pot, so I can speak of the subject matter based on personal experience. The THC can definitely cause psychotic episodes/breaks. Definitely even violent outbursts.

To say that marijuana does not alter one's behavior or actions is not a true statement. When I ate edible food laced with THC, I could not function. I can't imagine what would have happened if I got behind the wheel.

So what? Should it be illegal to use a drug that might be harmful? Do you have no respect for my personal freedom? No respect for my right to make my own choices?

 

[HumblePi]

Alex Berenson is a reporter and a writer of spy novels. His credentials are not scientific, he has degrees in history and economics. His book is nothing more than an opinion piece. Anyone such as yourself that uses Alex Berenson's fictional book as validation about the effects of marijuana use is only grasping at straws to make a point.

If you want facts you need to depend on scientific and medical studies conducted by accredited agencies such as the NIA (National Institute of Health), the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, or the Journal of Neuroscience.

 

[Bucky]

So what? Should it be illegal to use a drug that might be harmful? Do you have no respect for my personal freedom? No respect for my right to make my own choices?

Give me a break my friend. Unless it is for medical purposes, smoking marijuana has nothing to do with personal freedom.

 

[HumblePi]

I have smoked pot, so I can speak of the subject matter based on personal experience. The THC can definitely cause psychotic episodes/breaks. Definitely even violent outbursts.

To say that marijuana does not alter one's behavior or actions is not a true statement. When I ate edible food laced with THC, I could not function. I can't imagine what would have happened if I got behind the wheel.

Four years ago in my town, a young woman was returning from a BBQ with friends. Her two kids were in the back seat of her car when she swerved over the middle lane and crashed head on into a truck killing her two children. She survived and her blood alcohol taken at the scene measured 2.00. She claims she wasn't drunk, "only had a couple of beers" she said. Drinking and driving is much more common and many times more dangerous.

If more physicians wrote more scripts for medical marijuana than they do opioids for pain management, we wouldn't be experiencing an opioid crisis in this country.

 

[Grand Mal]

You appear to be confusing my position, which is social conservatism, with libertarianism, Grand Mal. And I am not a libertarian. As I see it, personal freedom is simply an open road by which people can travel to lead their best lives and achieve their greatest happiness. But freedom can only be enjoyed by men and women possessed of virtuous hearts and a capacity for self-restraint. I believe Benjamin Franklin said it best:

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

I do not want to be anyone's master, Grand Mal. I want people to master themselves and free themselves of their most base desires, lest we fall into a collective dissolution and dissipation so terrible that people will beg for a tyranny to restore social order.

Well, people can't be legislated into virtuosity. They can only evolve. And I flat-out guarantee that nobody in government is qualified to legislate virtuosity. You have to start from a position of people being free to make their own choices if you want them to eventually make good choices. Anything else only encourages defiance. And we all know what prohibition leads to.

 

[Grand Mal]

Give me a break my friend. Unless it is for medical purposes, smoking marijuana has nothing to do with personal freedom.

Of course it has. How could you say such a thing? I grow plants, I harvest them, I smoke them and cook with them, I harm nobody else doing those things and you say I shouldn't be free to do that? Why?
You really are a fan of big strong government, aren't you.