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...

[polocross58]

Bex used to contain Codeine and was highly addictive. google Compound Analgesic

Think Hillbilly heroin in powder form and there you have it..

After a couple of Bex you certainly needed a goooooood lie down

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Oh, ok, thanks .... so that's what it was --- Hillbilly Heroin

My mother was a Bex fan.  Down the street was Old Mary, who was a Vincent's APC girl

Mum said Old Mary would die from taking so many Vincents.  The old girl went through at least a packet a day, apparently

Then warnings began to appear in women's magazines which Mum translated to mean the powders would 'kill your kidneys' -- or maybe livers

I wasn't around when the powders must have been removed from sale, but imagine it must have sent users/addicts frantic

Funny thing is, Mum's still kicking and living independently at near 90.  Still smoking like a chimney

and Old Mary was a legend.  We'd called her Old Mary when I was a school-kid as did everyone.  She appeared genuinely old.  Thirty five years later, I was passing through the area and stopped at the shop Old Mary had owned.  Went inside.  Nothing had changed much.  And behind the counter was Old Mary.  Only change in her was the fact her hair was now snow white.  I didn't think she'd remember me after 35 years (well, I thought she'd be long dead)  but without blinking an eye, she greeted me by name and asked after my parents.  Vincent's hadn't rotted her kidneys or liver, obviously.  And her brain and memory were as sharp as ever.  She must have been 80 plus that last time I saw her.  For all I know, she could still be alive, athough denied her Vincent's APC, maybe she's had to move on to weed

My parents owned a rural general store for a few years and after school I had to make up the orders while the farmers had a few beers.  Nearly all those church-going farmers' wives included half a dozen or more packets of Bex or Vincent's in their weekly grocery orders.  A lot of people just need something to get them through.  Their business

[colic2bullsgirlore]

My mum had at least bex a night and a shot of cider vinegar

it was another common 'fix' for period pain

Laudanum.... now there was a wonder cure all??? drug

http://19thcentury.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/laudanum/

Laudanum, and its many uses

If you think drug addiction is a recent problem, think again! When I read Frankenstein recently I found dr. Victor Frankenstein used laudanum (an alcoholic tincture of opium), and I thought it would make a good post.

A drink of laudanum was made of 10% opium and 90% alcohol, and flavoured with cinnamon or saffran.

It was first used by the ancient Greeks, and in the 19th century mostly used as painkiller, sleeping pill, or tranquilizer. It was cheaper then poppy oil and could be drank like you’d drink scotch.

It took a while for the Victorian to figure out the negative side effect, only in 1919 the production and export of opium was prohibited, and in 1928 a law was passed that prohibited use.

Wikipedia’s list of laudanum-users is so incredibly long, it makes no sense to copy it. Here’s some notable users:

Lord Byron (of course!),

Kate Chopin ,

Samuel Taylor Coleridge,

Percy Bysshe Shelley,

John Keats,

Lewis Carroll,

Charles Dickens,

Edgar Allan Poe.
In literature, it’s mentioned in:

Mary Shelley’s character Victor Frankenstein uses laudanum to help him sleep after the death of his friend, Henry Clerval.

In Jack Finney’s Time and Again, the main character, Si Morley, wonders if a live baby in an 1882 display case has been “doped up with one of the laudanum preparations I’d seen advertised in Harpers.”

The character Cassy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin kills one of her children with laudanum to prevent it from growing up in slavery.

In Charles Dickens’ novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood it is the drink of choice for the sinister uncle Jasper.

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula Lucy Westenra’s maids are poisoned (though not killed) by Dracula with a dose of laudanum put into wine.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the poem fragment Kubla Khan immediately on waking from a laudanum-induced dream.

So, it was a pretty popular drug.

In fact: Innumerable Victorian women were prescribed the drug for relief of menstrual cramps and vague aches and used it to achieve the pallid complexion associated with tuberculosis (frailty and paleness were particularly prized in females at the time).

Nurses also spoon-fed laudanum to infants. The Pre-Raphaelite muse Elizabeth Siddal died of a laudanum overdose.

[spotweldersfriend]

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@colic2bullsgirlore wrote:

Mybe we could bring in the death penalty like the Saudi Arabians.......... that'll work

However, this doesn't compare to the dangers of doing what Abudllah does and illegally importing or selling drugs or booze, crimes for which perpertrators can be thrown in jail, lashed, or even publicly executed.

Increasingly, the mutawa are the ones responsible for finding and catching those deemed guilty of these crimes against Sharia.

http://www.vice.com/read/drug-dealing-in-saudi-arabia-sounds-like-a-very-stressful-business

Regardless of the law and the heavy penalties for breaking it, liquor and many other illicit substances are available in Saudi Arabia—it's just a question of knowing where to look.

A rare study on the topic, published by the World Health Organization in 1998, found that 24 percent of patients at a

hospital in Riyadh had abused alcohol.

More recently, WikiLeaks exposed the royal family's wild parties, which include liquor, cocaine, and prostitutes.

Despite its official status as one of the Middle East's "dry" countries, Saudi Arabians have a reputation for being some of the biggest lovers of black-label whiskey and hashish in the region.

I wanted to find out how true this was, and how easy it is to access illegal substances if you don't happen to be second in line to the country's throne, so I called up Abdullah—who is heavily involved in both the alcohol-and-drugs trade within the kingdom.

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Reminded me of an episode of Yes,Minister.They went to the Middle East on government business and got hammered on spirits.:-)

[colic2bullsgirlore]

"Joy to the world"

The first patented " Natural Pain Medicine" ..........purely vegetable........mind

Love this original pain killer ad I have sold a few Perry Davis "vegetable extract' bottles and ads along the way...Perry's addiction finally killed him

"PAIN KILLER" was patented by Perry Davis in 1845. It is believed to be the first nationally advertised remedy specifically for pain - as distinct from a particular disorder.

"Pain Killer" was distributed by Christian missionaries around the world.

In its heyday, Perry Davis' "vegetable elixir" was widely regarded as a wonderdrug.

Its ingredients, mainly opiates and ethyl alcohol, were entirely natural.

The concoction was created Perry Davis in 1840. Since "Perry Davis Pain Killer" was a registered

trade brand name, there was no legal requirement to make its ingredients public on the bottle.