Posted on 11/21/2004 9:15:23 PM PST by april15Bendovr
It seems like some of the WODdies have found that hobby - posting to these threads!
A heavy smoker puts away 1 or 2 packs a day, or more....40+ cigarettes. Pot smokers don't consume nearly that amount do they, even if the above numbers are correct.
I would love to see a study on the amount of people that smoke marijuana that are actually self medicating.
Where in the report is there an analysis of the efficacy of the existing laws? There is only a consideration of how the law as it existed should be applied based on the evidence. They were not charged with evaluating the efficacy of the law, and in fact at the time they did this study the law had just been passed. They had no historical data to judge it's efficacy on. Veracity counts. You get points deducted for spin.
Would you use the "pain and suffering" of a loved one to push a drug legalization agenda? Speak out right now. Are you for drug legalization or is this just a "pain and suffering" issue for you?
The results are going to be dependent on how you define "self medicating", but I'll wager if you apply the same criteria to alcohol users you get similar results.
"Our mandate was a broad one, covering, for example, the nature and scope of use, the effects of the drug, the relationship of marihuana use to other behavior and the efficacy of existing law.
Maybe. I'm willing to restrict freedom if the danger is sufficiently great. With cocaine you could make a plausible argument that it is, but marijuana doesn't even come close to the line. There are far stronger arguments for banning cigarettes, alcohol, and fattening foods. And of course, even if I decided that some hard drugs should be illegal, law enforcement would actually respect the rights of the citizens, and not go around seizing their property without charging them with a crime.
Well, everybody needs a hobby. Too bad blacksmithing has fallen out of fashion. You get beat the hell out of something with a hammer, and have something to show for it when you're done.
Okay, I stand corrected. That was part of the mandate. What is your opinion on judgements made on the efficacy of an existing law given little or no historical background to base that determination on, and by what standard do issues of efficacy render questions of constitutionality moot?
While we're at it, if the report was so supportive of the WoD, why were they so quick to reject the conclusions and recommendations?
What is your and Hazelden's position on the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health's recommendation that all kids in public school be screened for mental health problems?
They need to be educated more than they need to be screened. Let them learn what the problems are before the problems become self medicated.
I am curious though how many Freeper marijuana smokers are against the patriot act though?
Doctors Group Fights Prescription Reporting Bill
Newsmax.com ^ | 11/22/2004 | Dave Eberhart
Posted on 11/22/2004 1:55:48 PM CST by Born Conservative
The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) is warning all who will listen that “Big Brother will be soon snooping around your medicine cabinet!” The Arizona-based association has come out strongly against the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act. Already passed by the House, it is working its way through the Senate. “Do you want the government to have a record of every prescription you get?” asks the association in its campaign of flyers and e-mails reaching out to physicians and their patients around the country. “Every painkiller? Every anti-depressant? Every sleeping pill? And then to pass that information along to law enforcement to prosecute you and your doctor if they don’t like what they find?” AAPS is arguing that while masquerading as a law enforcement tool to help control the illegal use of painkillers, the national bill would “cast a net so wide that tens of millions of suffering patients & doctors will be snared in suspicion.” Not limited to prescriptions for painkillers, AAPS adds, the bill would create a central database affecting tens of millions who are not even suspected of a crime -- and the information will be shared with state and local law enforcement. “Prosecutors and law enforcement already second-guess doctors and prosecute them for prescribing ‘too much’ or if they decide the patient doesn’t ‘deserve’ treatment,” a spokesperson for AAPS told NewsMax. “Overzealous prosecutors have already frightened many doctors out of prescribing pain treatment for the almost 50 million patients who suffer from pain,” the spokesperson added. “We can’t let them do it to the rest of us as well.” In its current campaign the organization highlights: The National All Schedules Prescription Reporting Act allows government and law enforcement to monitor your prescriptions; Treats tens of millions of patients as potential criminals; Gives prosecutors & law enforcement power to decide who is “deserving” of medicines. AAPS emphasizes that in its opinion the bill as presently worded would potentially target every prescription that involves any type of scheduled drug for anxiety, depression, insomnia, or pain – “making the suspect doctors’ scripts readily accessible to the police and potentially to employers, newspapers, and blackmailers.” Kathryn Serkes, public affairs counsel for AAPS, pointed out that more than 48 million people who suffer chronic pain in the United States are "having difficulty finding doctors to treat them as a result of misguided drug policy, law enforcement, and overzealous prosecutions. “The ‘war on drugs’ has turned into a war on doctors and the legal drugs they prescribe and the suffering patients who need the drugs to attempt anything approaching a normal life,” added Serkes.
Does that mean you are against the New Freedom Commission's recommendation? What is Hazelden's position on that?
Let them learn what the problems are before the problems become self medicated.
Not sure what you're saying there. Could you restate that?
The truth about marijuana is that any article titled "The Truth About Marijuana" is bound to be full of lies and propaganda.
Sometimes talking to a Marijuana smoker about side effects and symptoms to their use is like trying to convince a liberal that there is no left wing mainstream media.
If you are willing to do that, then we can talk. If not, one can assume you are simply going to rely on silly hyperbole like comparing tar in cigs to tar in a joint - as if the amount of consumption were anywhere near the same.
The "Truth About Marijuana", to use your phrase, is that it has significant demotivational effects coupled with changes in perception, and long term smoking can have other adverse health effects. Heavy use makes you lazy and slow. And its harsh on your lungs. And that's it. Anything else you want to claim about it is simply not supported by the evidence.
As far as the schizophrenia crap goes, I'm sure you got far enough in school to know the difference between correlation and causation. And I bet you got far enough to know how to be deceptive by confusing the two.
What credible source is there to a marijuana smoker that they want to believe other than High Times Magazine?
As far as patients who need symptom relief, give them whateve they want. we already do not do enough to alleviate terminal patients' pain because of our moralistic attitude about drugs and fear "they will become addicted"( like they have time?).
Legalize drugs, all drugs.The WOD is a total fiasco, waste of tax payor money, contributes to organized crime and personal violent crime; puts people in jail that could be contributing members of society and we pay the price tag.
I, too , have worked in the substance abuse field and making alcohol or drugs illegal has never helped anyone into treatment when it comes to jailing them or putting them in prison. If someone commits a crime ( like driving while drunk) the legal aspects do have a possibility of getting someone into treatment. We now have almost no treatment for prisoners. We just warehouse them.
Neal Boortz had a great concept for driving a motorcycle without a helmet..make the person put up the money or complete insurance coverage so I don't have to pay for their treatment or disability.
We tried prohibition; didn't work. We legalize alchohol, cigarettes, pain meds..etc. I can't believe we still think making drugs illegal will work.
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