Posted on 08/25/2006 6:26:19 AM PDT by cryptical
Modern authors usually suggest that widespread opium use was a major health problem during the 19th century. However, the use of opiates must be kept in proper perspective with other contemporary health problems. Mortality from cholera, malaria, and dysentery was very high, and opiates provided some relief from these illnesses (Opiates remain the most effective treatment for dysentery.). Some authors have suggested that the easy availability of opiate-based medicines saved more lives than it took. As the deleterious effects of chronic opiate use became increasingly recognized during the late 19th century, several factors helped ease the need for opiates: the improvements in sanitation diminished cholera and dysentery, the drainage of swamp lands decreased malaria, and the introduction of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin; 1899) provided an alternative medicine for moderate pain relief.
http://wings.buffalo.edu/aru/preprohibition.htm
Show me the successful societies that tolerate legal and widespread recreational drug use.
____________
How about the United States of America. Read: Alcohol.
That's a single drug. That's not what I had in mind by widespread.
_________
Most people, I think, would interpret the word widespread, as used in this context, to mean "used by a lot of people", "pervasive", or something like that.
That you wish to exclude alcohol from being included in your definition of "widespread drug use" very much diminishes your point. I don't think it is helpful in these discussions to pretend that alcohol is not the most abused drug in America.
They want their guns, too.
Oh freedom, terrible freedom !
Another swing an a miss, my friend. At least three of us here answered the question you posed correctly---you just don't like the answer.
They want their guns, too.
Oh freedom, terrible freedom !
Nope, it's pot. Lots of other people want guns and freedom. Libertarians want pot.
Blah, blah, blah.
Two notes: Heroin was only made a controlled substance in England because Physicians were upset that Chemists (Pharmacists) were making all the money...so it was controled and they got their cut.
In one of our studies we found that babies of mothers using cocaine (you can't tell the difference in form when its in the body)were less likely to have problems than mothers of smokers.
See, THEY ARE ALL DRUGS. Now, just because they are the drugs YOU like....well, they don't count.
Man I hate hypocrisy.
At least you're consistent; you're against everything, eh?
Unfortunately, corrupt politicians and beholding judges have twisted things around.
My only question is...what if they had been drinking alcool or even coffee?? If you condone or accept that, you condone drug use. Then, it becomes a matter of preference. And, if you want to rank them by a "danger index" - pot falls WAAAAY below alchohol, and is MUCH less addictive than nicotine. So..it's probably just misinformed hypocrisy that you believe in (re-read article...or read it for the first time). Funny, you would put a black mark on your sons record in order to uphold the views of the corrupt politicians.
Same as all good fascists. Nazi's did the EXACT same thing.
I truly don't understand why we think lying is an effective drug policy. Marijuana can impair some memory functions, make you sluggish, get fat, etc. But that isn't "scary" enough for some folks. So we embellish, and we lose the trust of the kids when we tell them what long term heroin, ecstacy use can do to them because they know already that we lie.
How about the United States prior to the 1930 anti-drug hysteria. Coca-cola had cocaine in it (hence the name) back then.
:-)
ROFLMAO!
We always laugh when a 'don't do drugs' commercial is followed by a 'get this drug' commercial.
;-)
Banning pot wasn't about drugs. "It was about power", -- as libertarians put it.
How can you have a drug war history paper without mentioning the lies spewed by Anslinger and promoted by Hearst?
Those nigger jazz musicians are going to have sex with your little white girls using the evil weed!
Absolutely. If you take a look at the most horrible, freedom supressing supreme court rulings over the past 50 years, most of them have drugs at their nexus.
Interestingly, when you start tracing back precident cited in these rulings, most of them ultimately go back to prohibition. As most folks know, prohibition was eventually repealed. Unfortunately, supreme court rulings based on the existance of an unrepealed 18th amendment. In a sane world where the government wasn't so bloddy-minded about the continual increase of its power, those rulings would have been declared null and void in 1933 following the passage of the 21st amendment.
I'm not upholding the views of corrupt politicians. These are my views, formed from seeing 1st hand the destructive nature of drugs. Each one of the family and friends that I saw destroy themselves started on pot.
As for putting a black mark on my son's record, he did it to himself, he knew the rules, and he knew the consequences he would face if he brought that crap into my house. He also learned a valuble lesson in the process. He is now an E-4 Specialist in the Army, is married and has a little girl. He has told me that what I did in that situation was the best thing that happened to him. He was 19 at the time, half a$$ing his way through Community College, bouncing from one dead end fast food job to another, and hanging out with complete douchebags. He cleaned his act up after this incident, and is better for it. You won't change my mind, and I probably won't change yours, but I'm going to keep doing what I do.
Ha! What an interesting juxtapositon!
Kids, this is your brain on drugs:
Do you have ED?
You havin' problems crashing out at night?
Cholesterol got you down?
Maybe you have a "going" problem:
Surely you can no longer get it up . . .
Going bald?
Do your feet itch?
Oh, and remember, kids, drugs are evil. Especially marijuana.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.