Posted on 06/22/2011 11:34:42 PM PDT by AustralianConservative
Government Senator Marc Bean recently called for a debate on the merits of decriminalising drugs in the wake of a report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy. A distinguished panel that wrote the report said the war on drugs had failed and recommended partial legalization as a solution to the blight of the illegal drugs trade on communities around the world.
Not so fast, warn medics.
Side effects of marijuana can include a heightened risk of psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, damage to memory and judgement and heart problems. Neurologist Dr Keith Chiappa said: “The use of marijuana, especially in younger age groups, should not be encouraged by any legalisation and should continue to be discouraged by specific programmes.”
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Chantelle Simmons said: “Cannabis use has been shown to be associated with difficulties in thought processes in 15-20 year olds.
“When you have a young adult, whose brain is still developing, there is a five times greater risk of schizophrenia.”
“It particularly adversely affects the developing brain and it’s also closely associated with psychosis.”
The Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute doctor added: “As a clinician, I try to focus on medical implications only, but I would have concerns that decriminalization would send a message that it was okay to encourage marijuana use.”
Dr Simmons added that studies had shown that marijuana use caused higher rates of depressive illness in adult women – four times the rate of depression found in non-users.
Teenage marijuana smokers have also been found to be less likely to complete high school and more likely to make poor career and life choices.
Dr Simmons said: “People say ‘it’s only weed, it’s natural’. It is a natural substance, but it can have significant adverse effects. It can not only cause psychosis, but exacerbate existing phychoses.”
(Excerpt) Read more at bermudasun.bm ...
I really hope they don’t. I believe it’s a lie that marijuana is not harmful. Dr. Paul being a doctor should know better. Barney Frank is nothing but a little ugly worm who makes my skin crawl.
And, of course, the societal costs (including erosion of the Constitution - specifically of the Bill of Rights) of the "War on (Some) Drugs" are not discussed.
That's why I say: "RE-legalize it."
Regards,
Poison Ivy is also a natural weed. Let's smoke some, right after we finish this delicious Night Shade salad!
Exactly. Did you know snake venom can make you dizzy too? These people are nuts.
I double dog dare you to wipe your butt with some poison ivy. It's a plant and so is Marijuana. Go for it.
Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.
I have heard that argument used so many times, and they always find a way to say that hemlock, nightshade etc. don’t count.
Going to a disco and staying out until 5 a.m. when you have to work the next day is likewise "harmful." Hey! Let's make that illegal, too!
Alcohol causes changes to the brain chemistry. 7-year-olds who drink two bottles of Jim Beam a day have a lower high school graduation rate... Hey, let's illegalize alcohol for everyone!
No one here is claiming that marijuana smoke is better for your lungs than fresh, pine-scented air. Rather, it is the recognition that the "War on (Certain) Drugs" has caused immensely greater harm than good, and squandered billions, while simultaneously encouraging the creation of a sprawling bureaucracy with para-military powers that tramples on our Constitutional Rights because - "It's for the Children, sniff!"
Regards,
It is funny how these leftists demand no cigarette smoking and vilify it at every chance they get....yet they glorify marijuana when the smoke is more toxic to the lungs.
Marxism has no logic....it makes evil good good, evil....everything is relative. They don’t care about the “children”....they want addicts and dysfunctional people who need government to take care of them.
If we had no welfare state...then fine, have no laws against marijuana...BUT since we DO have government interference in all aspects of life we can’t legalize it because then they do not suffer the consequence for their actions.
It is like the welfare queen....we pay women to have babies out of wedlock so Voila!! we get lots of it.
We legalize drug use and have government subsidize the losers...and Voila...we will get a lot of the dysfunctional addicted behavior....and a lot of the college kids I talked to who smoked marijuana said it made them lazy and they would skip classes or work etc.
Wow—how far from the Horatio Algers type who formed Reagan’s worldview.
Now we have dysfunctional, lazy people forming the worldview of our future generation....Great!
Me too. Socialists love drug legalization. It creates dependence on government. I know. I’ve witnessed it Europe. Ron Paul reminds me of cult leader though who is beyond accountability.
I’ve seen young locals in Afghanistan harvest scorpian poison glands, dry them, crush them and smoke them.
What lengths people go to in order to numb their senses! Ozzy explained it best when he said people do this because they don’t like who the are. He went on to state that if he like who he was, he wouldn’t have spent so much money on crap that he drank, snorted or injected to alter his perceptions.
You “have the right” to use a cordless drill on your forhead. Just sayin...
The science is very clear and saying that alcohol is like pot (a falsehood) and then pretending that two wrongs make a right is counterproductive. The brain imaging technology is very clear.
Points taken. It’s funny how the radical anti-American movement was dominated by potheads too.
Someone on THIS thread PLEASE tell me how many deaths marijuana (illegal) has caused... and how many deaths alcohol (legal) has caused??????????????????????????????????
Thanks for the propaganda dude. Let’s also ignore the brain imaging scans and studies from Oxford.When potheads get off welfare, produce some real studies, and stop trashing businesses in my area, then I’ll relax. I’m not comfortable with feral anarchists.
I double dog dare you to wipe your butt with some poison ivy. It's a plant and so is Marijuana. Go for it.
For the record: I smoked half a joint, once in my entire life, about 15 years ago. Period.
Now, to your objection: I am not advocating the consumption of marijuana, nor do I argue that - because it is "natural" - it must be healthful. Alcohol is likewise "natural" - but I wouldn't give it to my 3-year-old.
Rather, I am arguing that we should not 1) spend BILLIONS to incarcerate hundreds of thousands of petty minor "users" and that 2) the mere EXISTENCE of the drug-law enforcement organizations is ominous.
The "natural" argument (which is NOT my argument) is, I think, that marijuana is part of the natural world in which we live, like rocks, the air we breathe, trees, and roadside weeds, and is thus (theoretically) omnipresent and "mundane," and that it is therefore intellectually ingenuous to classify it (legally) like some artificial substance created in underground labs and which didn't even EXIST until some Swiss chemist formulated it.
Regards,
Do you think it should be taxed?
So, since we do have a 1984-style, Big Brother and/or Nanny State constantly infringing upon our freedoms "for our own good," rather than changing THAT, you would rather accept blatantly unfair, heavy-handed, INEFFECTIVE anti-drug laws?
It is funny how these leftists demand no cigarette smoking and vilify it at every chance they get....yet they glorify marijuana when the smoke is more toxic to the lungs.
Ad Hominem Fallacy! I, a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative who thinks that it should be allowed to carry hunting rifles openly, etc., assert that marijuana is perhaps as "evil" as nicotine, or as dangerous as even alcohol... But that we should revert to the situation we had in the late-19th century, when it was NOT illegal to grow, possess, and smoke hemp. Heck: It is well documented that both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were hemp farmers (though it is not recorded how often they "lit up").
Regards,
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