The good old canabis debate

[CROOKED-POPO]

OK. I went to coffeescience.org and read everything on the site. Everything that they had posted showed that coffee and caffeine had no proven health risks but had some significant health benefits such as helping to not develop colon cancer. I didn't drink coffee before I went there, but after everything I read I think I might take it up. Granted it was just one site and, hey, who can you trust, but they had nothing negative to say about coffee and caffeine. Now to research the good and bad of cannabis.
On your other train of thought, if you legalize cannabis I can think of at least 35-40 guys in my beat alone who would be instantly unemployed. What are they gonna do, stand on the corners all day long undercutting the prices at walgreens. Nah, they'd have to start stealing and robbing. With it illegal, they have a service to provide.

 

[Buddha 3]

Okay, here's some facts from weedland (Netherlands).
Driving while under the influence of anything is bad, mmkay.
Caffeine does have health risks (big ones!), don't believe me? Go talk to a friend of mine who got hospitalized (twice!) for a caffeine overdose. His freaking veins started to turn black, it was visible from the outside! Real ugly stuff.
Cannabis is one of the best things to counter the symptoms of migraine. This does not mean it is a cure, but it does mean that when someone gets one of them 'no sir, aspirine ain't gonna do ya no good' pounding headaches, a big spliff will most of the times get rid of the headache. Although I have to say that it is not per se required to smoke it, pills made out of cannabis are also available nowadays.
The best oil to use for cooking (healthwise) is hemp oil. The stuff has next to no saturated fats in it.
And the list goes on....

Seriously, cannabis has been seriously demonised by it's association with drugs like heroin and cocaine. Where in reality it is way less harmful than alcohol, which has wrecked more lives and families than you can imagine, plus the health risks involved in alcohol abuse are tremendous.
Making cannabis illegal and alcohol legal is a bit hypocritical in my opinion.

Anyway, I can see that for a lot of people this is a matter of principles, which means that people can hardly ever be convinced, even when their arguments are pointless and the other side's aren't. It's just programmed into a person's brain that way, by things like culture and upbringing. So continuing this discussion is pointless, I'm off.

Peace

 

[Wookie]

Further info....

THC (active ingrediant) is only active in 4 of the 209 different isomers of that chemical structure.

Known the experimentation to have a half life in the body of about 3 hours (i.e. three hours after getting wrecked, you feel a lot better, but you still have a long way to go) but can stay in fat deposits (glycogen stores in adipose tissue (I think)) for anything up to three months).

It is legally grown in four counties in the UK for the purposes of animal feed and high quality paper. The variety grown is THC chemically inert (quote of the day: "You would have to smoke a field of it to get a hit")

Active THC has severe implications on depth perception and timing, hence the reason it is so dangerous whilst driving: you can neither judge distances nor the times you make subconsciously whilst driving.

UK Police are trialling a sweat test means of testing for drivers in the "obvious" demographic (17 - 30). This can be carried out at the road side and would have serious implications for anyone caught. However, as yet they do not have a reliable way of calibrating it as the levels differ depending on body chemistry. They can also check for dilation of the pupils.

As for caffeine-cannabis, which is worse. I would say caffeine. I have ended up in hospital twice to have my heart stopped and restarted because of long term caffeine drinking. I have never once suffered a cardiac arrhythmia from smoking. I still have the scars from the last time I had free NHS electricity from caffeine.

All the above might be out of date by the way... It's been a long time since we did that sort of thing at Uni and I've forgotten most of the stuff I was taught.

Wookie

 

[ABBA]

Well, i'm liking the fact the people are actually informed instead of brain washed!
I'm still waiting for someone to post a reason for it to be illegal.
I'm now going to recant a personal story for you....
When my mother was ill with cancer she had morphine, which is a standard treatment for that sort of pain. Morphine is strongly chemically addictive, throw in the pyschological addiction to the pain being gone and you've got a nice dependance. If cannabis had been used, the pain wouldnt have been there so there would still be a psychological addiction but not a chemical one. When without morphine, addicts don't eat or sleep well which isn't really useful when battling a disease. THC on the other hand, as everyone knows, puts you to sleep and increases appitite. Which would you rather have?
I wont go into to how in made her behave but I will say its not nice seeing your mother for the last time knowing she doesnt know who you are, and seeing her struggling with her environment.
As i said, if you can come up with a reason for it not to be decriminalised i would like to her it.

 

[Wookie]

One reason...

The difficulty of testing for it in your system. The fact that the police would have a hard time checking for it (unlike alcohol which you can smell a mile off) is enough to put the skids under it.

Another one is pride. The governments around the world has spent millions upon millions of the tax payers' money banning it. How could they go back on that now? They'd just be admitting that they were wrong.

However, someone once said that prohibition (what we have now) is the final act of a government before legalisation.

Good point about the theraputic use of THC for chemotherapy patients. THC is exactly what most patients would want. It has far fewer (note: I did not say _no_) side effects than the other antiemetics that they use. In america, the drug they use to combat the effects of chemo is disgusting... Apparently dereived from THC, it does not increase appetite, doesn't do much for the pain and barely stops you feeling sick. But, it _is_ made by/for the US government and that is why it is used.

I would like to reccommend people read Howard Marks' book of dope stories. True, I think that he is an arrogant ****er and his first book was mostly self-publicity, but he raises some very good points in it.

And as for other health effects.... Fact: A splif contains about four times as much tar as a normal cigarette. Solids (cannabis resin that is) usually contain a lot of other nasty chemicals (plastics, toluene/benzene type organic chemicals, solvents etc) that are both carcenogenic and poisonus. Grass has been known to be sprayed with PCP to make **** grass feel like strong skunk. It has also been found with plastics sprayed on it for the same reason.

You used to be able to by grass and _know_ it was as pure as the day was long. Now, I am not so sure. The whole world (of smokers that is) would be a lot safer and better off if they were allowed to grow their own at home. One day, I will get round to analyzing some random samples of both solids and grass and let you know what I find.

One final point... To the people saying that the Lambeth/Brixton "decriminalisation" experiment did no harm... That's rubbish. The police no longer patrol round there, so yes, drug related arrests have fallen. However, petty crime is up because there are no police around. I went to a club there after the Campaign Cup and after only two hours of being in the club, I came out and found that some little **** had broken into my car and nicked all my CDs. In fact, they had done all the cars along that road. This had _never_ happened to me all the times I had parked there before whilst drugs were "illegal". It's now a place I do not like going to at night.

Wookie

 

[ABBA]

just adding to wookies post;

the thc derivative in america is called marinol and is synthetic and basically doesnt work because they synthesised the wrong chemical!!!

the fact about tar is correct but the experts now reckon that its more down to the radiation in the tar than the amount that causes cancer (i'll find out more detail if you want)

 

[Wookie]

But of course....

<Picard>Make it so!</Picard>

Wookie

(spent far too much time coding today)

 

[}{y8ri|)]

Well this was 1 of my better THREADS

Hey ppl
All i can add to the matter now is Forget the debate
(LETS GET STONED AND BE HAPPY)



CHEERS BATTY

 

[QuikSilver]

I just got myself a nice little 10 sac of ji, so I am happy

 

[Tyger]

See, you guys are all telling nice stories about how marijuana is all good, and less harmful than caffeene, and t's not addictive and it's not an entry drug and all that happy stuff.

Let me tell you something.

I am living in proof that it's not all happyness in a smoke cloud. I can't go into details on a public server because of legal problems it presents but I can say that my wife's ex-husband admitted in open court that he smoked pot "Several" times a week. He lost both the lawyers he hired to defend himself in the divorce, he lost custody, and lost everything. And a lot of this was due to the fact that he smokes pot regularly.

I can also tell you that the chemical instability of the man was also in quesiton. After the divorce he had himself checked into a mental health facility for, as I recall, fear that he would take his own life. He stormed out of court saying that he wouldn't be around to be served the divorce papers. There was also a police escort for the judge and many other people for fear that he'd snap and go postal on people. Oh, and armed guards outside the home for a year and change.

And a lot of this mental instability was from drug use. This isn't my lone opinion, but the opinion of somoene appointed by the courts to see how fit he would be as the guardian of the children.

And where is he now? He's been sued for sexual harrassment and found guilty, he now lives in another state making wild claims that his children are afflicted with "Child Alienation Syndrome", and that by living with me the children are in a "Warlike and negative environment with a soldier wannabe." I find this intresting because I met my wife playing paintball, and I have a blast playing with the "kids".

Marijuana is not a harmless drug. This man has been smoking for many, MANY years, and it's my opinion that he has little to no grasp on the reality of his situation. That's my reality, that's what I see. And, like it or not, there it is.

You can't convince me that it's as harmless as you thin it is, I see a shattered life, and the scars worn from many other peoples involvement becasue of this "harmless drug".

-Tyger