For those that whine about our drug laws..

[ziggyselbin]

Are you kidding? Many states have three strikes laws. In Michigan 3 misdemeanor duis turns into mandatory 1 year or more. Not in jail but in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison. In Virginia 3 misdemeanor marijuana possesions gets you the same deal. Not to mention all the people there indirectly for drugs.

The myth is the one you are trying to promulgate. Sure people are in prison for drugs; for dealing in them. You know the guys that kill each other over territory and money. An don't be callow and think it is limited to narcotics and cocaine. Marijuana is big money a literal cut throat business. I could not care less whether drugs are legalized. But stop trying to pass the myth that users are in prison. If they are it is because they choose it. They are offered treatment and therapy etc, etc. I emphasize. Most won't stop so they take a bit of jail time. But it is their choice as alternatives are almost always offered.

Legalization will do nothing regarding the social and public health aspect of drug abuse.

[Sstashmoo]

People are being sent to prison for crimes they committed related to drugs. Robbery and assaults to get drugs or drug money. These are the poor and unemployed, think those crimes would stop? If they were to legalize [[haha), drugs won't be free. They would still be expensive and there would still be a black market. Think the South American drug cartels would just close up shop?

[Sstashmoo]

What about this, the long term effects of pot usage among teens? What these researchers are finding out has been very obvious for years. Users being applied names like "stoners" and "burnouts".



Quote: "Medina’s Oct. 12 presentation, titled, “Neuroimaging Marijuana Use and its Effects on Cognitive Function,” suggests that chronic, heavy marijuana use during adolescence – a critical period of ongoing brain development – is associated with poorer performance on thinking tasks, including slower psychomotor speed and poorer complex attention, verbal memory and planning ability. Medina says that’s evident even after a month of stopping marijuana use. She says that while recent findings suggest partial recovery of verbal memory functioning within the first three weeks of adolescent abstinence from marijuana, complex attention skills continue to be affected.
“Not only are their thinking abilities worse, their brain activation to cognitive tasks is abnormal. The tasks are fairly easy, such as remembering the location of objects, and they may be able to complete the tasks, but what we see is that adolescent marijuana users are using more of their parietal and frontal cortices to complete the tasks. Their brain is working harder than it should,” Medina says."
"She adds that recent findings suggest females may be at increased risk for the neurocognitive consequences of marijuana use during adolescence, as studies found that teenage girls had marginally larger prefrontal cortex [[PFC) volumes compared to girls who did not smoke marijuana. The larger PFC volumes were associated with poorer executive functions of the brain in these teens, such as planning, decision-making or staying focused on a task.""

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1014111156.htm

What about the increases in risk amongst men for testicular cancer?

[ccbatson]

Yes, I agree, minors are off limits...for many things, not just currently illegal drugs

[Blarf]

What about this, the long term effects of pot usage among teens? What these researchers are finding out has been very obvious for years. Users being applied names like "stoners" and "burnouts".

None of us are talking about legalizing drugs so minors can buy them. Why do you keep bringing it up?

If the health of teens if your real concern, than you would be in favor of legalization and regulation. I was never carded to buy pot back when I was in highschool. Alcohol was more of a pain in the ass to get than anything.

And speaking of which, you don't seem to have a problem with people poisoning their bodies with alcohol, or liquor stores selling their drug that eventually winds up in the hands of kids.

Your "alcohol is legal and that's enough" explanation doesn't make sense, come up with something better.

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "Alcohol was more of a pain in the ass to get than anything."

Wrong. Kids steal from their parents. Dads football refrigerators were raided en masse.

Quote: "Your "alcohol is legal and that's enough" explanation doesn't make sense, come up with something better. "

Two wrongs don't make a right? Just worse.

Quote: "What about the increases in risk amongst men for testicular cancer?"

I'm getting crickets on this one. So you guys are all for legalizing a known cancer causing substance?

[Django]

Get over yourself Mr Rocker, was just coincidence. I hadnt even read the second page when I posted. Ive been fighting this fight Im sure long before you got here.

His statements on this subject are a joke anyway, thats just common knowledge. I sometimes wonder why I even bother, its as if he just does it to provoke.

I have to say, six years ago this thread would have had many more anti legalization folk spouting non sense. Im impressed by the number of folks who have come around to their mensas [[<joke)

What would Batts have said 6 yrs ago, I forgot?

[johnsmith]

I'm getting crickets on this one. So you guys are all for legalizing a known cancer causing substance?

Yes. 100% for it.

[elganned]

Concur. 100% for it.

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "His statements on this subject are a joke anyway,"

Yes the majority of Americans use illegal drugs on a regular basis, that's why they should be legalized. Sstashmoo is just out of it.

I hate to break it to you, but you're in a very small and dying minority. Drugs ain't cool anymore, grow up.

[elganned]

Hot News Flash: They never were cool. But that doesn't keep people from using them, now or in the future.

[ccbatson]

Sstashmoo...urging the libertarian principl of ejecting government from individual life is not the same thing as condoning, endorsing, or approving of self destructive and stupid individual choices.

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "approving of self destructive and stupid individual choices."

That we tax payers pay for. Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to use this crap and fry their lobes useless, hey more power to them. But when they turn to taxpayer funded assistance later is when I have a problem with it. It is irresponsible and adolescent reasoning to think this would turn out any other way.

Besides all that, I'm in the majority of our country that does not want drugs legalized. We just don't want it.

[Blarf]

I'm getting crickets on this one. So you guys are all for legalizing a known cancer causing substance?

Yes.

Just about everything causes cancer anyways.

Just because it's legalized doesn't mean you HAVE to smoke it. If you don't like it than don't smoke it.

[Blarf]

Quote: "approving of self destructive and stupid individual choices."

That we tax payers pay for. Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to use this crap and fry their lobes useless, hey more power to them. But when they turn to taxpayer funded assistance later is when I have a problem with it. It is irresponsible and adolescent reasoning to think this would turn out any other way.

We tax payers are already paying for a Drug War that doesn't work. If are money is going to be wasted like it is now, I'd rather it be wasted on letting people have the freedom to choose what they put into their own bodies.

[Jimaz]

An ad on page 10A of today's hardcopy Detroit News caught my eye. In large red letters it said "Get legal" and had an image of a marijuana leaf. It referred the curious to www.finallylegalpot.com.

Interesting times.

[ccbatson]

Blarf, do you mean that maybe it is a bad idea for government to take from producers and give to drug addicts? Hmmm...good point...now just apply it much more broadly.

[Blarf]

Blarf, do you mean that maybe it is a bad idea for government to take from producers and give to drug addicts? Hmmm...good point...now just apply it much more broadly.

I'm not sure yet. I'd rather the government just stay out of the issue completely, but that's probably not going to happen.

Stash claims some of his friends have died from drug abuse, yet he calls for harsher penalties for drug users. Maybe his friends who died could have been helped, but they didn't seek help for their addiction due to fear of punishment. When you admit to using illegal substances, chances are you're going to treated as a criminal and/or looked down upon.

Which is why I say our drug laws usually do more damage to people than the drugs themselves. There is a big difference between use and abuse, which I think is why I think that poster posted the definitions at the top.

[ccbatson]

I agree...as bad of a decision as it is, it isn't the job of government to make these decisions.

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "Just about everything causes cancer anyways."

Oh really? And the FDA just looks the other way? Hmmm, what are we paying them bastards for anyway?

[terryh]

How about that legal drug caffiene? Causes many users to fell anxiety-depressed when they 'crash'....one cup is too many three is never enough! How many of us drag directly to the coffee pot when we wake up? Got a headache from not getting enough caffeine, take a pill or too that contains what? you guessed it-caffiene. You dont see any caffeindes wandering aimlessly hussling for their caffeine fix because it is a legal and inexpensive hight.

[Blarf]

Quote: "Just about everything causes cancer anyways."

Oh really? And the FDA just looks the other way? Hmmm, what are we paying them bastards for anyway?

In my opinion, the FDA is more about profit than safety. Ever notice how all the meds providided by the pharmaceutical companies often have possible side effects that are worse than than the actual problem they are suppose to cure?

What is your take on the fast-food industry? Heart disease is one of the highest causes of death in this country, if not the highest. Should these types of foods be allowed to be sold?

[Blarf]

How about that legal drug caffiene? Causes many users to fell anxiety-depressed when they 'crash'....one cup is too many three is never enough! How many of us drag directly to the coffee pot when we wake up? Got a headache from not getting enough caffeine, take a pill or too that contains what? you guessed it-caffiene. You dont see any caffeindes wandering aimlessly hussling for their caffeine fix because it is a legal and inexpensive hight.

Don't forget all that Ritalin prescribed to children, which is chemically similar to cocaine.

[ziggyselbin]

Don't forget all that Ritalin prescribed to children, which is chemically similar to cocaine.

So what. Lots f things are "similar" to each other.That is why we have the word similar to indicate alike but not identical.

It is none of your fucking business who or who is not on Ritalin or any other medication. If these medications work for those taking them what difference should it make to any of us?

I am all for legalization...or not; I don't really care. Just remember legalization will not solve the despair and cost of addiction.

[elganned]

No, ziggyselbin, legalization will not solve the despair and cost of addiction. Nothing will.

What legalization will do is free up the courts to pursue more important criminals, reduce the cost of running and maintaining prisons, remove a source of corruption in the legal and law enforcement communities, and cut off an enormous source of funding for street gangs and criminal syndicates.

All good things.