Marijuana 'damages adolescent brains' (Article)

[michel]

Originally Posted by mr.guy

Not necessarily micheal. But the history of marijuana prohibition is rife with outright lies. I've never said "there's nothing wrong with pot", yet i'd also hesitate to say "there's nothing wrong with sugar". You're all welcome to your opinions, be they based on experience or propaganda, but it's wears thin on one to cycle through a subject so heavily subject to misinformation (kinda like the condom debates).

Well, we'll have to agree to differ on this one; you call it misinformation, I call it the truth that you don't want to hear; Just take this post below, to see what point I am making..........................

Originally Posted by Moses the God Archetype*

Yes weed can have adverse affect on mind and body,but if used in careful moderation it can help in bringing you to higher spirtual levels and closer to your transpersonal other,and intergration of the god within,but if abused it can magnify the negative aspects allready exsisting within the unintergrated self,its all about your use and your responsibility to it.

but if used in careful moderation

That says it all; in moderation ? what is in moderation when beginning to smoke marijuana soon becomes more than that, by habit of use.

Look, it's no skin off my nose if you drug yourself up to the eyeballs, but please don't rubbish factual evidence by calling it propaganda; be honest with yourself.

[mr.guy]

Originally Posted by michel

Well, we'll have to agree to differ on this one; you call it misinformation, I call it the truth that you don't want to hear;

Am i that infamous for screaming with my head in the sand already? I thought i'd get away with it for some time yet...as previously stated, of course there are detriments to pot use; i can't stress that enough. But they don't outweigh it's benefits. The campaign against pot ignores the bulk said benifits outright while focusing on pot as if it's root of all evil. Not to say i've heard you say as much nor suspect you'd go to quite this length micheal, but i don't see how pot is put to this extraneous scrutiny whilst so many other legal, socially sanctioned, and more certainly dangerous substances are given a carte blanche.

For example, do you suppose the british police have more trouble on the whole with pot-heads, or drunks?

That says it all; in moderation ? what is in moderation when beginning to smoke marijuana soon becomes more than that, by habit of use.

Basically, that is it; in moderation. The same can be said of everything you can injest; and this isn't a flippant statement on my behalf, i promise. Seriously, one can easily damage oneself with overuse of caffine, sugar, nicotine, alchohol...the list goes on. Pot, like anything else on the face of the planet, can be easily abused.

Look, it's no skin off my nose if you drug yourself up to the eyeballs, but please don't rubbish factual evidence by calling it propaganda; be honest with yourself.

In honesty, micheal, i have to admit to being a stimulant junkie. I'm on my second pot of coffee today, sixth cigarette after this post, and i'll probably break down and have a pop later today (i used to abstain from sugar, so that's alot for me). Oh yeah, and i've smoked about a gram of weed altogether over the last 3 months. I can tell ya, i've suffered far more at the hands of my other addictions physically and psychologically than i have by the evils of pot. Not saying it's the best snakeoil out there, but the cases against it are frequently overstated and, yes, part fabrication.

[Crystallas]

Diffrent people have diffrent effects from marijuana.

So if someone shot down this thread, are they pro-marijuana? If someone agrred, are they anti-marijuana? What happened to pro-choice?

What gets me is the "new" research done daily that proves this or disproves that. People are going to use whatever they can find to fuel whatever it is that they believe in.

If people want to try it, they should. There's consiquences, they know this and it becomes one of life's many risks. If people don't want any part of it, then who says they have to? Does it matter? People breathe in so many chemicals in a day, and default to corrupt systems allover the world. Heh, I guess if you want to live a stressful life, its all up to you. Its as simple as having control of yourself, and knowing that.
Marijuana bad for you, or good for you...who cares. You cant trust scientists, you cant trust drug abusers, you cant trust your local news. People pretty much know this, yet they continue to feed off of it. To much drama for me. I'd rather live my life in peace, do what I think is right for the appropriate time, and make what I want of myself. I don't need scientists trying to tell me the 100 benefits of marijuana or tell me the 100 negative side-effects. Worry about why people get to the point in their life where they need substances to make them happy. The problem is dead set infront of everyone, yet people become so distracted over meaningless technicalities.

[michel]

Originally Posted by Crystallas

Diffrent people have diffrent effects from marijuana.

So if someone shot down this thread, are they pro-marijuana? If someone agrred, are they anti-marijuana? What happened to pro-choice?

What gets me is the "new" research done daily that proves this or disproves that. People are going to use whatever they can find to fuel whatever it is that they believe in.

If people want to try it, they should. There's consiquences, they know this and it becomes one of life's many risks. If people don't want any part of it, then who says they have to? Does it matter? People breathe in so many chemicals in a day, and default to corrupt systems allover the world. Heh, I guess if you want to live a stressful life, its all up to you. Its as simple as having control of yourself, and knowing that.
Marijuana bad for you, or good for you...who cares. You cant trust scientists, you cant trust drug abusers, you cant trust your local news. People pretty much know this, yet they continue to feed off of it. To much drama for me. I'd rather live my life in peace, do what I think is right for the appropriate time, and make what I want of myself. I don't need scientists trying to tell me the 100 benefits of marijuana or tell me the 100 negative side-effects. Worry about why people get to the point in their life where they need substances to make them happy. The problem is dead set infront of everyone, yet people become so distracted over meaningless technicalities.

If people want to try it, they should. There's consiquences, they know this and it becomes one of life's many risks

A commendable reality; however, let me put this hypothetical one to you:-
(and I have just looked at your profile and don't give your birth date, which leads me (right or wrong) to surmise that you are not 'young'.

If you saw your father, or your son, drinking two bottles of wine a day, would you still sit back, and be detached sufficiently to say "Well, it's his choice " ?

Are not all we humans (to some extent) morally duty bound to point out the dangers to other people, who are not so well informed as us ? Would you ignore a man who was about to jump off a bridge, and walk away, unconcerned ?

[jamaesi]

As the brain is still developing, I'm not surprised that it would alter it.

As for adults, in moderation, I don't see the big deal.

[Crystallas]

What should I do to someone who is about to jump off a bridge? Should I preach to him that in my faith, suicide is unacceptable? The average cry for attention is no longer acceptable in todays society. You are a distraction, you are someone elses problem, you aren't worth the time. How can you not ignore someone who was about to jump off a bridge? There is little trust between strangers. You can never tell if someone today, who is willing to truelly kill themselves can put you into any danger, or others if you bother them. Suicide bombings, unstable emotion, all of the problems going on in their head. Maybe life was so hard, and so many choices were removed by law drove them to the isolation that they had felt. Thats a scenario that is very much so unlikely. If and when it would happen to someone, there will be more to it than just the A-B situation. You have to factor in the moods of both people, the way each person wants to help and be helped. There is no absolute, but thanks to modern day society, I don't see many people doing a whole lot about that stranger on the bridge. If it were my father or son, as I said; Worry about why people get to the point in their life where they need substances to make them happy.
Not everyone has much control over anyone in their family, but the leading point that set them up for failure cant be ignored. People who marry someone that they don't love, people who chose the wrong career, fill-in-the-blank insecurity. The alcoholic/abuser uses the substance to cover up whatever it was and most people buy it. I don't know what it is that makes people ignore real problems just so they can glorify an issue. I wish I knew what it was. I'd like to read an article about scientists researching the chemical in the brain that causes humans to ignore real problems in favor of controversy.

[mr.guy]

Originally Posted by Crystallas

Diffrent people have diffrent effects from marijuana.

physiologically? I don't think they do. Your statement has been used to suggest that marijuana "triggers" latent schizophrenia, as suggeted by a New Zealand study last year. Most people citing this study fail to mention that the researchers went to no effort to deduce whether their subjects were prone to schizophrenia anyways. In all fairness, the definition has changed somewhat in thirty years (the scope of the trial).

So if someone shot down this thread, are they pro-marijuana? If someone agrred, are they anti-marijuana? What happened to pro-choice?

That's largely the problem. "Anti-choice" arguments have a pretty narrow field to make their case, leaving the rest of us wondering how they can tolerate half of what floats around legally. Not that there's no room for critics, but (in north america, at least) the "evidence" one is mostly presented is just insanity and lies.

What gets me is the "new" research done daily that proves this or disproves that. People are going to use whatever they can find to fuel whatever it is that they believe in.

Doesn't mean the research shouldn't be done. If more benifits (or deterents) can be discovered for pot, so much the better. It's safe use is also of paramount importance; for example driving whilst stoned. In Canada, this has been among the last lines of defense for anti-pot advocates, worried silly about what might happen if stoned drivers flooded the roads. The data (mostly from UK studies) is still largely confliciting on the adverse effects of driving under the influence of the evil weed.

Marijuana bad for you, or good for you...who cares. You cant trust scientists, you cant trust drug abusers, you cant trust your local news. People pretty much know this, yet they continue to feed off of it.

can you trust the internet forums?

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by michel

I wrote an article on the subject, on this forum; it was shot down in flames by pro marijuana members...........

I don't remember shooting down anything and I'm pro... (well I used to be).

It's like anything in life. Moderation and Balance make it sustainable.