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 ...
Why didnt you post the REST of that?
Here it is:
Licensed saloons became illegal speakeasies, and many common citizens took advantage of the high sales price of illegal booze by secretly manufacturing booze in their own bathtubs. That’s one of the major problems with all drug prohibitions — they greatly reduce the ability to make accurate judgments about the problem. There is no good way to count the number of illegal dealers, or the people who are secretly making gin in their own bathroom. Therefore, to make such a judgment, we have to rely on a number of indirect indicators.
By the greatest majority of indicators, the biggest drops in alcohol consumption and alcohol problems actually came before national prohibition went into effect. Those drops continued for about the first two years of Prohibition and then alcohol consumption began to rise.
By 1926, most of the problems were worse than they had been before Prohibition went into effect and there were a number of new problems — such as a drinking epidemic among children — that had not been there before.
The statement of Andrew Furuseth before Congress in 1926 describes what happened in the opening years of Prohibition:
When the prohibition amendment was passed and the Volstead Act was enacted, about three months after that I came through Portland, Oreg. Now there is a certain district in Portland Oreg. where there is the so-called employment district-— it is usually amongst the working people, called the “slave market”-— and I was the most astonished man you ever saw. Before that I had seen drunkenness there, dilapidated men, helpless, and in any condition that you do not want to see human beings. This time, three months after this act was passed there was an entire change. The men walked around from one place to another looking for employment, seamen and others. And they were sober. And they looked at the conditions, and they said, “No, we will wait a little.” There was more independence amongst them than I had ever seen before. That very class which is the worst and lowest class that we know of amongst the seamen and workingmen. And I became an ardent advocate of the Volstead Act.
Two years afterwards I came through the same identical place, staying in Portland for about three days, and went to the very same place for the purpose of looking at the situation, and the condition was worse than it had been prior to the passage of the law. As long as the prohibition legislation was enforced, could be enforced, as long as the bootlegging element had not been organized, and not get the stuff, everything looked well. But the moment that they could get it they got it. And they will find it when nobody else can. They will find it somewhere. If it is to be bought in the vicinity any where they will find it. And the condition is worse than it ever was, because the stuff that they drink is worse than ever.
Testimony of Andrew Furuseth, President of the International Seamen’s Union of America, The National Prohibition Law, Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Sixty-Ninth Congress, April 5 to 24, 1926”
It’s from here:
http://www.druglibrary.org/prohibitionresults.htm
And I clearly said...and I quote:
“alcohol use went down AFTER repeal”
Not until the 1960s did the consumption of alcohol surpass pre-Prohibition levels.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
“Seems like Buckley pretty much has your mind locked up.”
Gonna piss on Buckleys leg too?..On free republic?
“So yes/no back to you, is your purpose to say you really do think that it should be legal because they can get and use illegal substances/alcohol?”
My purpose it to get you to use logic instead of emotion.
“Illegal to them but not to me, if marijuana is legalized.”
Same as beer...yes?
“What is you point by throwing that in with the corpse?”
Selling drug to a minor should be a capital offense.
If that isnt good enough for you...perhaps abusing the corpse of the offender would be even better?
I mean really...how much tougher can you get than a death penalty for selling drugs to minors?
This article is apparently in response to the proposal to let the states decide if they want to legalize marijuana.
In that debate, do you want the criteria to be "is it good for you", or do you want it to be "should this be their decision to make, based on the original intent of the Constitution"?
I know how the nanny state bureaucrats in DC want it to be framed, and why, but I'm not inclined to take that bait.
“How many wasted decades do you have?”
I wasted no decades...been an electrician for 30 years too...
Happily married for 22 years...I raised three kids, bought several rental properties, including a lake property and ski boat...and just paid cash for a 2009 impala my wife took a shine to...my f150 is paid off as is my classic 73 pontiac and my 650 nighthawk...
I have an extensive lionel train collection and an HO slot car collection...
I know this is hard to wrap your herbert head around....
But you are making some pretty silly assumtions...
I did all that and didnt live like a pussy in fear of the federal govt.
I’m ok with were I spent my decades....
Can you rebuild a 350 small block from memory?
I can.
Cold Logic....cool aint it...
It's the antidote to the calculated emotional fearmongering of the left that's supposed to manipulate you into letting them control everything for your own good.
I love that.....fear only God who can destroy body and soul forever.
“If you are unaware of this liberal tactic employed by all liberal entertainment, talk shows, movies, lawyers, educators, politicians,etc. for decades then you need to stop all arguments until you wise up.”
I'm not in disagreement. But I will remain vehement regardless of specious titles of “Strawman” thrown my way.
There is a mind set for some on FR that has a well orchestrated argument that won't tolerate any common sense probing to their claims.
To wit, that marijuana use won't increase...etc.
They say no and say something about Prohibition and the increase afterward, when there is ample evidence that there is simply no way to say no to an increase after legalization.
It's a mantra....and I hate mantras...right or left.
____________________________________________________
“So yes/no back to you, is your purpose to say you really do think that it should be legal because they can get and use illegal substances/alcohol?”
My purpose it to get you to use logic instead of emotion.
“Illegal to them but not to me, if marijuana is legalized.”
Same as beer...yes?”
You still have not said what you believe.
_________________________________________________
“Gonna piss on Buckleys leg too?..On free republic?”
Worship him if you want....he's not God. Or, do you believe him infallible?
_________________________________________________
““What is you point by throwing that in with the corpse?”
Selling drug to a minor should be a capital offense.
If that isn't good enough for you...perhaps abusing the corpse of the offender would be even better?
I mean really...how much tougher can you get than a death penalty for selling drugs to minors?”
And again, why did this even come up? Logic? You debate by throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the fray.
logic, you said this then you comment about minors are going to use/drink anyway....from death to they'll do it anyway....so death for what minors are gonna do anyway.
How can I agree when it seems like a bipolar statement.
_____________________________________
“If that isn't good enough for you...perhaps abusing the corpse of the offender would be even better?”
This statement of yours was offered up because I suggested what, if anything contrary?
“I said, using what I did, to indicate that there is no way to establish that, for a certainty, what you said is true.”
I posted the link clearly that supports my statement.
You are of course free to reject it...
“You still have not said what you believe.”
I believe the war on drugs is a failure of epic proportions.
Only an idiot would double down on a failure.
Clear enough?
Worship him if you want....he’s not God. Or, do you believe him infallible?
I dont worship man nor beast.
I believe William F. Buckley’s intellect is vastly superiour to yours...
Clear enough?
“logic, you said this then you comment about minors are going to use/drink anyway....from death to they’ll do it anyway....so death for what minors are gonna do anyway.
How can I agree when it seems like a bipolar statement.”
What’s bi-polar about a simple statement?
I support capital punishment for selling drugs to a minor....(even though I know that will never be the penalty)
That’s whats called..”heading you off at the pass”....as you had already suggested that I would support drug use by minors...
My point is that you cannot stop it either way...
You cant stop minors from drinking...and you cant stop minors from smoking pot...right now...
I’m talking about “what is”...and you are talking about “what if”...
“What is”...trumps...”what if”...
Again, I suggested anything different? So then, why the death penalty if you can't stop it among minors? Is this not a logical question?
Why not legalize all the way to conception and make parents responsible for what the kids do, if they're going to do it anyway. But making parents responsible would require a law to obtain leverage to make the parents responsible for their children's actions that choose not to make them responsible, right? There is no standard of responsibility if we are not created by God.
This is where rational thinking fails, death penalty for selling to minors even if they are going to do it anyway.
If the fear of God fails in this country, anything goes, and no amount of logic can withhold it.
As a parent, the fear of God started with me. My son, a senior engineer at 26 years of age with a masters in physics and computer modeling and a very physical and skilled hockey player, was raised in a very simple manner that didn't require help from society/government. I told him that he could run around with whomever he wished, but, if he was with someone or in a group and mischief and mayhem was suggested, he had two choices, either lead the situation in a harmless direction....or leave, else, he and I would have a major issue betwixt he and me.
He violated that only twice.
He is highly responsible individual, and I rejoice in him daily and give thanks to the Lord for his wisdom in raising him. I'm too much of an idiot to have accomplished this by myself....you of course just require Buckley.
So...just what studies are you talking about? Got link?
Speaking of Buckley...
June 29, 2004, 12:07 p.m.
Conservatives pride themselves on resisting change, which is as it should be. But intelligent deference to tradition and stability can evolve into intellectual sloth and moral fanaticism, as when conservatives simply decline to look up from dogma because the effort to raise their heads and reconsider is too great. The laws aren’t exactly indefensible, because practically nothing is, and the thunderers who tell us to stay the course can always find one man or woman who, having taken marijuana, moved on to severe mental disorder. But that argument, to quote myself, is on the order of saying that every rapist began by masturbating.
General rules based on individual victims are unwise. And although there is a perfectly respectable case against using marijuana, the penalties imposed on those who reject that case, or who give way to weakness of resolution, are very difficult to defend. If all our laws were paradigmatic, imagine what we would do to anyone caught lighting a cigarette, or drinking a beer. Or — exulting in life in the paradigm — committing adultery. Send them all to Guantanamo?
http://old.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley200406291207.asp
The Drug War as a Socialist Enterprise by Milton Friedman
There are some general features of a socialist enterprise, whether it's the Post Office, schools, or the war on drugs. The enterprise is inefficicnt, expensive, very advantageous to a small group of people, and harmful to a lot of people. That was true of socialism in Russia, it was true of socialism in Poland, and it's true of socialism in the United States.
Does proper parenting prevent any and all dalliances into dark and dangerous areas by ones children? Not even. But, without due diligence on the parents part, a foray into such areas usually means a life long problem for the children, and by default, society. Ergo, politicians arise to cure the problems with an ever blossoming tree of laws.
The letter killeth, the spirit giveth life.
If my child had no experience in dealing with darkness, he would eventually succumb to it. Do you want minimal laws? It begins at home with the fear of God....not Buckley.
Listen, Puckster, I, personally, have no idea whether marijuana use will increase or decrease after we return to the way it was before it was un-Constitutionally illegalized in the 1930s.
I won't claim that I don't care, however, because I, personally, believe that, on the whole, sobriety is a good thing and it would be absolutely great if everyone in the nation were to suddenly stop smoking (cigarettes AND marijuana), stop drinking alcohol, stop watching mindless gameshows, cease eating Twinkies, go to bed every night at 9 o'clock sharp, etc.
But I do feel that it is simply not my place - and certainly not the responsibility of the Federal Govt. - to tell adult citizens what they can and cannot put into their bodies.
Regards,
You left out the creepy part of being a drugs pusher on your fellow countrymen children.
Shame on you.
My God is more about love then fear.
Forgiveness, rather then condemnation.
Charity, rather then greed.
Humility, rather then know it all vanity.
And there will always be those like Thomas Jefferson who diagree with your way of looking at politics as when he wrote the following...
"We discover in the gospels a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication ."
Perhaps personal religious beliefs should not dominate political discussion...at least until there is some sembelance of uniformity in the various beliefs.
You forgot admitting to being an evironmental terrorist by keeping an internal combustion engine running.
I didn’t forget anything.
People pushing for the legalization of drugs are pushing those drugs on the children of America.
What does your spiritual comrade Barney Frank say about that?
Here's a link for you:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/546409/posts
Once you know you're being played to get an emotional resonse, it doesn't work any more.
I forgot?
You are a lunatic.
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