Weed - should it be legal?

[i-need-a-martini]

Uruguay has just changed its legislation and is now the first country in the wrold to sanction the growing, selling and smoking of marijuana.

They have done it to put the illegal drug trade and drug traffikers out of business.

Personally I think it makes sense. If nicotine is legal than there is very little difference between the 2.

Your thoughts?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/uruguay-becomes-first-country-to-legalise-marijuana-trade-20131211-hv59x...

[joz*garage]

anything mood or mind altering substances can fry the brain if abused

and pot can worsen any mental issues that one might already have, no secrets in that

whats up if you think the so called stable contented state of mind - you have to turn to dope in the first place? hmmm

gotta ask yourself , why do i need the s....

[azureline**]

I personally have never tried it but had friends who did.............. and also lived near Nimbin for quite a few years. I witnessed the effects on the community I lived in, neighbours, my children's friends, their parents..........I have seen first hand the psychosis induced by it.I have read a lot about it too.

Sometimes people try it because they are teenagers who will try anything. It can trigger psychosis.

[polksaladallie]

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@azureline** wrote:

It is a proven fact.

Cannabis use can cause drug-induced psychosis, trigger the first episode of a psychotic illness or make a pre-existing psychotic illness worse. People who have, or may be at risk of developing, a psychotic illness should not use cannabis.

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It has been stated that it is unwise to use this drug before the brain has fully developed, because then it may cause an illness, and that after perhaps age 25, there is very little evidence of harm.

Not so with alcohol, it does cause damage if used before the brain has developed, and that damage cannot be undone.

[joz*garage]

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@azureline** wrote:

I personally have never tried it but had friends who did.............. and also lived near Nimbin for quite a few years. I witnessed the effects on the community I lived in, neighbours, my children's friends, their parents..........I have seen first hand the psychosis induced by it.I have read a lot about it too.

Sometimes people try it because they are teenagers who will try anything. It can trigger psychosis.

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yep and at the least (even if you are "normal") its a spirit killer too

[spotweldersfriend]

Alcohol has also been linked to psychosis.And of course there is cirrhosis of the liver and alcohol induced dementia.
One would think that if state governments banded together and decided to uniformly make cannabis legal,the booze lobby would open their cheque books and pull out all stops to prevent this from happening. Can't have people sitting at home listening to music or just chilling, when they should be out in clubs getting hammered on bourbon at 8 bucks a shot.It's jobs.It's the economy,stoopid:-)

[azureline**]

I can't really understand the connection to alcohol, the question was about legalising weed.

Cigarettes, obesity, alcohol, killer cars, are another subject.

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

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@azureline** wrote:

Look up Sane Australia and some medical sites...... the evidence shows  it.

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Post the evidence.

The 2013 Harvard Medical School report disagrees.  Can you discredit them Az.

I have not been able to find reports from psychiatrist that state pot causes mental illness.

They state genetics cause mental illness.

As stated earlier, it correlates with mental illness, not causes it.

[spotweldersfriend]

Vested interests.The plant's been used for many things-including recreation-for thousands of years.
Most of the negative news about the plant came about in the 30's in the USA primarily as it (hemp) was seen as a threat to certain peoples fortunes.Some of those were newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst,the Du Pont family,Anslinger and his father-in-law,Andrew Mellon (Secretary of the Treasury) abd probably the richest man in the USA at the time.
Anyway regardless at what happens,the stuffs been used for thousands of years and will be for thousands more.
Lunch time-pasta and pesto:-)

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Big Pharma... is not ready for Cannabis... it appears....and does not really want Cannabis medicine introduced into the

mainstream..... Not, at least until there are big dollars for Big (greedy) Pharma.... 

But... did you know ???

http://www.launc.tased.edu.au/online/sciences/agsci/alkalo/popindus.htm

Tasmania is the world's largest producer of opium alkaloids for the pharmaceutical market. Standards placed on the industry by the Federal, State and US governments are stringent with very high levels of scientific expertise necessary.

The industry is highly efficient. It produces about 50% of the world's concentrated poppy straw (CPS) for morphine and related opiates from merely 10.7% of the production area.

Other major players are Turkey with 23% of morphine CPS, France with 21% morphine CPS and Spain with 4%. India, by contrast, produces traditional opium from which the US extracts opium alkaloids. India's morphine production is similar to Tasmania. Tasmania has an alkaloid yield of about 9.3 kg/ha compared with France at 7.0 kg/ha, Spain 4.9 kg/ha and Turkey at 1.1 kg/ha.

Most of Tasmania's exports are codeine, thebaine and other opiates. GlaxoKlineSmith exports to Port Fairy poppy straw which is processed to produce norphine, codeine and thebaine.

http://www.gsk.com.au/about-us_poppy-production.aspx

 Leaders in Poppy Production

The Tasmanian Poppy Industry was pioneered by A Big Pharma (Glaxo Australia) in the early 1960s. It is one of the success stories of Australian agriculture and manufacturing.

Founded with the objective of providing a reliable and secure source of opiate alkaloids, Big Pharma (GlaxoSmithKline) has grown to become one of the world's major suppliers, with an international reputation for security, reliability and quality.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/secret-poppy-crops-trialled-in-victoria-20131207-2yyd2.html

The plots are well off the road away from the eyes of passing motorists, surrounded by grazing paddocks, potato fields or undulating hills.

They are small, but all six of them are a glimpse into what could be a lucrative future for Victorian agriculture.

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Tony Bower's Mullaways medicinal Cannabis Company "cleverman" strain can be supplied in completely Non psychotropic tincture form.

Even his Psychotropic tincture has less THC than Sativex. WHICH IS BIG PHARMAS (ADDICT ME TO THIS

SUBSTANCE PLEASE ) EFFORT

It is the way Cleverman has been bred and refined during processing that allows it act on the cannbinoid receptors so

that the body safely produces more of its own endocannabinoids.

 It is the  amount and point of the stimulation that Tony Bower has managed to control rather than mass dosing as

Opiate medicines work. This leaves the drug much less open to abuse. Opiates will never be able to do that

If Big Pharma could work out how he does it ( I hope they never do)....then Cannabis medicine would become legal... IMO

... everybody reading this has felt the "Cannabis" high (whether they like it or not)

Humans produce their own endocannabinoids internally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocannabinoid_system

Everybody reading this has cannabinoid receptors in their brain especially designed to  receive Cannabinoid

stimulation

(I wonder why brain researchers did  not call them once discovered "Opiatoid receptors"????????)

[9brumbies]

There is a lot of difference between cigarettes and marijuana. Marijuana is mind altering increases the chance of becoming schizophrenic. Take a walk around any psychiatric unit and see the result of people who have taken marijuana and their incidence of paranoid schizophrenia.