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 ...
“Someone on THIS thread PLEASE tell me how many deaths marijuana (illegal) has caused... and how many deaths alcohol (legal) has caused??????????????????????????????????”
Someone needs to get off the couch and read medical literature. Don’t depend on others – because I’m personally sick of repeating the same old studies to people who have already made up their minds, irrespective of the evidence. Schizophrenia hurts families.
But in any case, I love the two wrongs make a right logic. Someone also needs to remember that this isn’t just about death but narcissistic potheads making life difficult for others. I’ve lived in Europe, and the soft on drugs culture is a disaster. It creates more welfare dependency and crowded hospitals.
Yet almost all of us have witnessed the instant change into pot uniformity by teens, over, and over, and over, and over, it is the defining symptom and identifier of pot usage.
A teen starts smoking pot, and instantly it is as though a pod released under their bed and put the pot worm into their brain that makes them all cookie cutter copies of each other.
When we recognize a young physically healthy pothead, it is because we can recognize that brain change, their pothead mentality, their world view, their politics, their music, and again, the melding of their mind and personality into the smoky commonality of being one with all stoners.
Cannabis is doing something that they haven’t measured yet.
As soon as the demonization of smoking a cigarette quits...I’ll think about legalisation. (I am not a smoker, btw). Taxing pot could be very lucrative..but I want pictures and warnings and massive restrictions.
As soon as Libertarians run on the “L” ticket as opposed to the “R” ticket...
Number 1, number2 and number 3. You are dealing with kids who usually begin experimentation well, when they are kids. Kids don’t know the consequences of their actions in a lot of cases so why enable them? It’s up to the parents. Yes, I said it’s up to the parents.
how about magic mushrooms?
“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!”
No, it has it’s benefits. It releases stress, provides exercise, lowers the blood pressure. . .
all kinds of bennies to the disco till 5 am.
And the benefits of smoking pot are. . .
“Socialists love drug legalization. It creates dependence on government.”
It makes our young men passive idiots.
Just the way the commies want them.
I hate to see a stoned young man. It is just sickening.
The Commissioners of The Global Commission on Drug Policy:
» Asma Jahangir
- human rights activist, former UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions, Pakistan
» Carlos Fuentes
- writer and public intellectual, Mexico
» César Gaviria
- former President of Colômbia
» Ernesto Zedillo
- former President of México
» Fernando Henrique Cardoso
- former President of Brazil (chair)
» George Papandreou
- Prime Minister of Greece
» George Shultz
- former Secretary of State, United States (honorary chair)
» Javier Solana
- former European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Spain
» John Whitehead
- banker and civil servant, chair of the World Trade Center Memorial, United States
» Kofi Annan
- former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ghana
» Louise Arbour
- former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, president of the International Crisis Group, Canada
» Maria Cattaui
- Member of the Board, Petroplus Holdings; former Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce, Switzerland
» Marion Caspers-Merk
- former State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Health, Germany
» Mario Vargas Llosa
- writer and public intellectual, Peru
» Michel Kazatchkine
- executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, France
» Paul Volcker
- former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve and of the Economic Recovery Board, US
» Richard Branson
- entrepreneur, advocate for social causes, founder of the Virgin Group, cofounder of The Elders, United Kingdom
» Ruth Dreifuss
- former President of Switzerland and Minister of Home Affairs
» Thorvald Stoltenberg
- former Minister of Foreign Affairs and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Norway
I never claimed that the neurological and other medical effects of marijuana were similar to those of alcohol.
Heck, I never even used the word "like!"
I have compared the relative hazardousness of the two. One could likewise the relative dangers (to health, well-being, or societal stability) of tightrope-walking and smoking banana peels; that is legitimate. My point is that a substance which people voluntarily ingest should not be illegal merely because it is "bad." Rather, YOUR standpoint that of a nanny-state mentality.
Regards,
Pot is a weed that doesn’t need any refining, once legal, it will be free and everywhere, no one will be paying tax.
Making a Marlboro, a Bourbon, a Beer is complicated and is meant to please the palate.
Looks like a lot of UN and UN connected people there.
What a Red Herring and/or diversionary tactic!
Bubblegum is taxed! Disposable panty liners are taxed! Groucho Max fake glasses and mustaches are taxed! What do you think?
Regards,
The Middle East has depended on cannabis for thousands of years, and it shows.
I am against Drugs and I feel many if not most State Governments should control theses addictive substances.
But it is nonetheless my firmly held position that the Federal Government of the United States is NOT constitutionally empowered to prohibit a plan, drug, or any other substance within the boundaries of any State.
To that end I see FDA, ATF, and DEA agents as nothing more then criminals that should be arrested, charged, and shunned as such.
Try applying YOUR paranoia to hashbean420 on youtube... it doesn’t wash (correlate) dig?
YOU DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION!!!
I don’t fear the truth. I’ve been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.
Oh, and by the way, I’ve been an upstanding citizen, in my community AND in the service to my country having served in the US Army and in the US Air Force.
In closing (once again) YOU DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION!!!
You think the Merck manual is propaganda. Wow.
Indeed! Your really ARE a proponent of the "two-wrongs-make-a-right" logic! You understand that the nanny/welfare state is morally abhorrent and contraproductive, and yet you believe that that justifies persecuting people (many of whom AREN'T on welfare) who smoke a leave!
Regards,
If you were caught using pot in the US Army and in the US Air Force they would kick you out.
I agree with you. I had friends that smoked pot in high school, and I had friends that drank. Today I know alot of dysfunctional drunks but not one dysfunctional pot head. I know many that took a little something something else from the drug dealer and have been worthless since. Pot isn’t something I would want my children to use but I also think its crazy to lock anyone up for it. The reason you will lose your kids to hard drugs isn’t the pot so much as it is the guy selling the pot also sells the hard stuff. Most kids would just stop at pot if he didn’t. To say anything else is to not know what you’re talking about. I grew up in a hood, I’ve seen it a thousand times. If it was at the liquor store it would be the end of the chain like booze. Legalizing pot would truly hurt the remaining drug business and strangely enough stem a crap load of illegal immigration troubles. OK let it fly.
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