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Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than You Think
Wall Street Journal ^ | January 3, 2019 | Alex Berenson

Posted on 01/03/2019 8:36:53 AM PST by reaganaut1

...

The most obvious way that cannabis fuels violence in psychotic people is through its tendency to cause paranoia. Even marijuana advocates acknowledge that the drug can cause paranoia; the risk is so obvious that users joke about it, and dispensaries advertise certain strains as less likely to do so. But for people with psychotic disorders, paranoia can fuel extreme violence. A 2007 paper in the Medical Journal of Australia looked at 88 defendants who had committed homicide during psychotic episodes. It found that most of the killers believed they were in danger from the victim, and almost two-thirds reported misusing cannabis—more than alcohol and amphetamines combined.

The link between marijuana and violence doesn’t appear limited to people with pre-existing psychosis. Researchers have studied alcohol and violence for generations, proving that alcohol is a risk factor for domestic abuse, assault and even murder. Far less work has been done on marijuana, in part because advocates have stigmatized anyone who raises the issue. Still, there are studies showing that marijuana use is a significant risk factor for violence.

A 2012 paper in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, examining a federal survey of more than 9,000 adolescents, found that marijuana use was associated with a doubling of domestic violence in the U.S. A 2017 paper in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, examining drivers of violence among 6,000 British and Chinese men, found that drug use was linked to a fivefold increase in violence, and the drug used was nearly always cannabis.

Before states legalized recreational cannabis, advocates predicted that legalization would let police focus on hardened criminals rather than on marijuana smokers and thus reduce violent crime.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: addiction; cannabis; dopefiends; freedom; godsplant; junkscience; libertines; marijuana; medicaluses; medicine; mrleroy; pitbulls; pot; potheads; tattoos; wod
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To: NobleFree

Pot is very bad for your mind, and it should be legal.

-
Because the WOD is very bad for our civilization.


41 posted on 01/03/2019 9:06:14 AM PST by babble-on
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To: JimRed

we live in a society where the government has to protect us and we don’t suffer the consequences of our behavior. In an ideal society your would have freedom to do that and if you lose your job, the government and taxpayers wouldn’t pay. The flip side of the coin of freedom is individual responsibility


42 posted on 01/03/2019 9:07:06 AM PST by morphing libertarian (Use Comey's Report; Indict Hillary now; build Kate's wall. --- Proud Smelly Walmart Deplorable)
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To: Deepeasttx

“I started suffering from anxiety while high. I hated it; it was scary. Therfore, I had to quit. I was wondering if anyone else had this side effect?”

A good friend began having that reaction so he stopped, although he doesn’t think it should be illegal.


43 posted on 01/03/2019 9:07:13 AM PST by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: livius

So what else was your best friend using? Most heads were not just smoking pot back in the day. Everyone I knew would use nearly anything available at least once, twice.

Don’t believe the LEO account. Nothing is 100%, there would be states with zero traffic fatalities to balance this state.


44 posted on 01/03/2019 9:07:50 AM PST by zek157
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To: cuban leaf

You are absolutely right and politicians can promised anything and still get elected by a doped-up, dumbed-down population!


45 posted on 01/03/2019 9:09:31 AM PST by notaliberal (St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,)
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To: reaganaut1
I worry that legalizing marijuana throughout the country will create more people who are unfit to work or parent. OTOH, I don't want to put people in jail for harming themselves. Do you think marijuana should be legalized?

I'm certain that marijuana will not create more people who are unfit to work or parent than alcohol, immaturity and mental issues already do.

The reason for my certainty is based on two factors:

1) Marijuana is simply not a very strong drug. It does not free social and moral inhibitions the way alcohol does, and it definitely does not trigger the sort of violence that excessive alcohol does.

2) Marijuana is already freely available to anyone who wants it. Any person who wants to use marijuana in the US can obtain it with minimal effort, regardless of legality. This has been the case throughout my entire life - one kid I'd known since the third grade was dealing in the parking lot in high school, in a very nice area of Silicon Valley.

We're only making drug smugglers rich and sending some dumb kids to prison by keeping marijuana illegal. Enough lives have been ruined, enough Central American and Mexican gang members have been made millionaires.
46 posted on 01/03/2019 9:09:50 AM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: JimRed
when the users have toked themselves into befuddled unemployability

There's no reason to think that people who were responsible enough to avoid marijuana when it was illegal, will after legalization be so irresponsible as to toke themselves into befuddled unemployability.

47 posted on 01/03/2019 9:10:29 AM PST by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
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To: allendale
1010’s-1920’s were a time of widespread narcotic addictions

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2016/09/prohibition-opiate-addiction-roaring-20s/

In 1914, six years before prohibition of alcohol, the Harrison Narcotic Act regulated the production, import, and distribution of opium, even among doctors. Before that, opium extracts were widely distributed with “Miracle Elixirs”

48 posted on 01/03/2019 9:11:32 AM PST by HangnJudge
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To: reaganaut1
Do you think marijuana should be legalized?

There is no way legal marijuana will ever be a financial boom to anyone in the business legitimately.

UNLESS. Unless they want to deal with ILLEGAL marijuana as harshly as possible.

Illegal alcohol was dealt with harshly. Illegal tobacco was dealt with harshly. Both were dealt with until it became unwise or unprofitable to do manufacture it illegally.

If people can buy illegal marijuana with no recriminations then why in the world would they buy legal marijuana that MUST cost much much more?

49 posted on 01/03/2019 9:11:46 AM PST by DouglasKC
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To: reaganaut1
This article states that marijuana can cause paranoia. I'm sure the pharmaceutical industry has plenty of drugs in the tube that will cure those effects.

My question is will people who find legal marijuana, medical and recreational, unsatisfactory to satisfy their needs? Will a lot of them move up the ladder to drugs that kill or incapacitate them?

I have a close friend who has been a marijuana user since returning from Viet Nam. (not around me) He and his son, both intelligent people with no physical, intellectual or mental problems they were born with, do not confront problems they encounter. They just accept what happens. Is that caused by marijuana use?

50 posted on 01/03/2019 9:13:00 AM PST by grania ("We're all just pawns in their game")
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To: NobleFree

“There’s no reason to think that people who were responsible enough to avoid marijuana when it was illegal, will after legalization be so irresponsible as to toke themselves into befuddled unemployability.”

True, and no reason to think that people who did use marijuana when it was illegal and went to work every day won’t continue doing so after legalization.


51 posted on 01/03/2019 9:13:15 AM PST by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: reaganaut1
I think there's a difference between decriminalization and legalization - though how you deal with this on a practical level is difficult. I think it should be decriminalized (it pretty much has already been), but not wholesale ‘legalized’.

The term legalization has become synonymous with commercialization - and that is not something I think would be good for the country in the longer-term. There are already beer companies investigating how they can utilize cannabis in their beverages somehow, and companies who want to sell cannabis baked goods, etc. It just normalizes cannabis in society, as though it is no different than a pop tart.

The reality is that it is a mind-altering drug, and if it were submitted to the FDA today for approval as a drug, it would likely have a hard time getting approval - as a lot about it remains unknown or unclear, including its long-term effects (particularly in young people - whose brains continue to develop well into their twenties).

52 posted on 01/03/2019 9:13:47 AM PST by neverevergiveup
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
We're only making drug smugglers rich and sending some dumb kids to prison by keeping marijuana illegal. Enough lives have been ruined, enough Central American and Mexican gang members have been made millionaires.

Guess what? They're not going away. If they're making money hand over fist selling it when it's illegal then why would they stop when it's legal? They're going to easily be able to undercut commercial pot.

The ONLY way to make them go away is to either make them the official dealers...in which case they're all for it. OR we have to have a war on drugs to end all war on drugs so it will no longer be profitable or wise to sell illegal pot.

53 posted on 01/03/2019 9:14:14 AM PST by DouglasKC
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To: DouglasKC

people should grow their own


54 posted on 01/03/2019 9:15:09 AM PST by morphing libertarian (Use Comey's Report; Indict Hillary now; build Kate's wall. --- Proud Smelly Walmart Deplorable)
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To: notaliberal

Bullcrap, most politicians love civil asset forfeiture.


55 posted on 01/03/2019 9:15:21 AM PST by Lurker51
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To: grania
Will a lot of them move up the ladder to drugs that kill or incapacitate them?

No - almost half of Americans have used pot, and most never move up the ladder.

56 posted on 01/03/2019 9:15:26 AM PST by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
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To: reaganaut1

Here is a side effect of legal pot some may not think of. I worked for a distribution company that had a warehouse near Denver. They drug tested employees (truck drivers, fork lift operators, etc) when they were hired then at random times afterwards. Staffing became a problem and closure was imminent as they could not fine clean employees. Pot stays in your system for about 30 days and if you test positive, you are considered unsafe to work in the warehouse. A lot of it was an Insurance requirement, but the local population became such stoners that they would not find anyone who could pass the test. Unfilled positions crippled the operation.


57 posted on 01/03/2019 9:15:34 AM PST by Jimmy The Snake
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To: DouglasKC
If people can buy illegal marijuana with no recriminations then why in the world would they buy legal marijuana that MUST cost much much more?

Excellent point. Let's take Massachusetts: For years they had medicinal pot and you can purchase an ounce for around $300+. So many buy this weed and resell it to their friends and neighbors. So along comes legal weed and they want $400+ an ounce. Guess what? People went back to buying the "medicinal" weed cheaper. When governments get greedy...

58 posted on 01/03/2019 9:16:59 AM PST by rhombus10
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To: DouglasKC

“OR we have to have a war on drugs to end all war on drugs so it will no longer be profitable or wise to sell illegal pot.”

Zero chance of that happening (or at least, zero chance of it succeeding) - that war would be more unpopular than the Vietnam war.


59 posted on 01/03/2019 9:17:28 AM PST by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: Jimmy The Snake

in the 1990s the Chief of police of a city in soCal declared he would hire pot smokers. Because so many applicants were smoking. The cops were having drug testing of applicants and some on the job. I don’t know where that went, if they can smoke pot. But not that it’s legal, employees have burden to prove they can’t have employees who smoke. The world has changed my friend and not every thing is better.


60 posted on 01/03/2019 9:18:03 AM PST by morphing libertarian (Use Comey's Report; Indict Hillary now; build Kate's wall. --- Proud Smelly Walmart Deplorable)
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