Dems mistakenly push for marijuana legalization

[robocop (actually)]

This as this news article hits the street:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-older-adults-brain-cells-young.html

Older adults grow just as many new brain cells as young people: study

With brain cells still growing, marijuana is still not good after 25.

 

[sun rise]

The push in Congress is for decriminalization.

Based on what I know and personal experience, I think there will be negative health consequences from that drug especially consumed in large quantities. But I don't see locking someone up for 20 years for smoking a joint is worth anything.

 

[Sunstone]

I believe it should be decriminalized. The rate at which people are sent to prison for the "crime" of using a drug that appears -- even in light of these new studies -- no worse than alcohol, and possibly even less dangerous than alcohol, is obscene.

 

[Subduction Zone]

The push in Congress is for decriminalization.

Based on what I know and personal experience, I think there will be negative health consequences from that drug especially consumed in large quantities. But I don't see locking someone up for 20 years for smoking a joint is worth anything.

You are right. Fifteen years is plenty

 

[Subduction Zone]

Seriously I did vote for legalization in my state. The harm from categorizing possession as a felony is worse than the harm from using it.

 

[columbus]

Seriously I did vote for legalization in my state. The harm from categorizing possession as a felony is worse than the harm from using it.

This.
I think using pot, especially smoking it, is a mistake and a health hazard. But it doesn't cause nearly as much damage as the laws against it.
Tom

 

[Father Heathen]

This as this news article hits the street:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-older-adults-brain-cells-young.html
Older adults grow just as many new brain cells as young people: study
With brain cells still growing, marijuana is still not good after 25.

"Does Marijuana kill brain cells?"
Let's do some research beyond D.A.R.E. pamphlets from the 1980's.

 

[Curious George]

This as this news article hits the street:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-older-adults-brain-cells-young.html

Older adults grow just as many new brain cells as young people: study

With brain cells still growing, marijuana is still not good after 25.

I do not think it is coherently contested that marijuana is a health risk. But I do not rightly think it can be called a public health danger. If people want to smoke marijuana they should be able to do so. I cannot see any good reason to keep/make marijuana illegal. Especially when doing so has proven to empower gangs and cartels, increase prison population and prison costs, and leaves unregulated a massive industry within the United States.

Compare that to some people introducing carcinogens into their own bodies and possibly losing brain cells. It seems like a no-brainer.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Marijuana Madness: Hopped-Up Weed May Pose Risks for Users

 

[Drizzt Do'Urden]

This as this news article hits the street:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-older-adults-brain-cells-young.html

Older adults grow just as many new brain cells as young people: study

With brain cells still growing, marijuana is still not good after 25.

What's the big deal with weed, eh?

Take a look at a person who is drunk, then look at a person high on weed.

Both people are impaired and having fun, it's not a big deal, I assure you.

Fact is, alcohol is more toxic, damages internal organs, creates more misery and anguish in people's lives than pot ever would. With alcohol, you experience hangovers from the use of it, with weed there is none of that at all. Within an hour of smoking it you're set and ready to go, no long term side effects.

You cannot overdose and die from weed whereas with alcohol, you can die if you drink too much of it.

That being said, I don't think kids should partake in it as their brains are still developing to full adulthood and shouldn't be altered with THC just as it shouldn't be with alcohol.

It may be true that adult brains grow as many new brain cells as young people, I haven't looked at the study just yet. The point is that an adult's brain has lost a lot of it's plasticity. An adult brain is hard wired to what it's going to be the rest of it's life.

 

[Father Heathen]

Marijuana Madness: Hopped-Up Weed May Pose Risks for Users

So does high proof alcohol. And super-sized fast food combos.

 

[Twilight Hue]

What's the big deal with weed, eh?

Take a look at a person who is drunk, then look at a person high on weed.

Both people are impaired and having fun, it's not a big deal, I assure you.

Fact is, alcohol is more toxic, damages internal organs, creates more misery and anguish in people's lives than pot ever would. With alcohol, you experience hangovers from the use of it, with weed there is none of that at all. Within an hour of smoking it you're set and ready to go, no long term side effects.

You cannot overdose and die from weed whereas with alcohol, you can die if you drink too much of it.

That being said, I don't think kids should partake in it as their brains are still developing to full adulthood and shouldn't be altered with THC just as it shouldn't be with alcohol.

It may be true that adult brains grow as many new brain cells as young people, I haven't looked at the study just yet. The point is that an adult's brain has lost a lot of it's plasticity. An adult brain is hard wired to what it's going to be the rest of it's life.

Aside for medical purposes I think using marijuana is a bad choice. But I do support bringing back sin habits because I believe people should be responsible for themselves For The Better or For Worse.

 

[Twilight Hue]

So does high proof alcohol. And super-sized fast food combos.

Yep.

 

[Father Heathen]

Yep.

In fact, I'm willing to wager that fast food has killed far, far more than cannabis ever has (heart disease, diabetes, etc.)

 

[Sunstone]

High fructose corn syrup versus cannabis?

 

[Father Heathen]

bringing back sin habits

Eh?

 

[Drizzt Do'Urden]

Aside for medical purposes I think using marijuana is a bad choice. But I do support bringing back sin habits because I believe people should be responsible for themselves For The Better or For Worse.

Decriminalize it at the very least.

The US spends more than 51 billion dollars a year interdicting it (and other drugs), apprehending offenders, prosecuting offenders, and paying more than 25,000 a year to keep these people locked up.

It's a natural plant that god created, but so is the coca leaf people say, but the coca leaf has to go through a chemical wash, with gasoline no less, in order to become the drug cocaine. In it's natural form the coca leaf is a harmless and mild stimulant comparable to coffee.

Anything done to extremes, ie chronic dope smoking, chronic cocaine use, excessive caffeine, too much sugar, et al is bad for people, but marijuana is completely harmless when done infrequently.

If alcohol is OK for public consumption, marijuana at the very least should be as well. As I said, it isn't toxic to humans, alcohol is...

Think about how many otherwise good people have been forced into prison because of using or dealing it. People who weren't hardened criminals for the most part... But after years in the pen having to live besides real bad people they just come out worse off, and without a chance to get a real good job that will support them.

They will then have to scrape by doing illegal things just to survive.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I have absolutely no experience with this or any other illegal recreational drugs, but can we actually guarantee that the illegal trade would just vanish if marijuana, or any other such things, did become legal. That is the main worry I have, that many will just go for the cheapest option regardless of any legality.

 

[Sunstone]

I have absolutely no experience with this or any other illegal recreational drugs, but can we actually guarantee that the illegal trade would just vanish if marijuana, or any other such things, did become legal. That is the main worry I have, that many will just go for the cheapest option regardless of any legality.

After cannabis was legalized in Colorado, it drove down the price of illegal Mexican weed not only in Colorado, but in surrounding states. So the cartels turned to shipping in heroin, which still had good mark up.

On the other hand, a lot of people were reported to have switched from illegal opiads to cannabis. So it's kind of been a mixed bag.

 

[robocop (actually)]

The point is, if Marijuana stunts your growth if taken too early, and if now the human brain can grow many new brain cells at any age, then it can always be too early.