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...

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

Legalise it.

All pubs should only serve joints after midnight....

......what a different atmosphere the club districts would have........

[crystal**flake]

No

[colic2bullsgirlore]

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@siggie-reported-by-alarmists wrote:

Legalise it.

All pubs should only serve joints after midnight....

......what a different atmosphere the club districts would have........

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Awesome idea

...................and................

The surrounding businesses kebab and hotdog sales would explode

....jobs jobs jobs.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzzO1JOHlW0

Love the grille on that van... a work of art

[colic2bullsgirlore]

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@icyfroth wrote:

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@i-once-was-bump wrote:

Or should we be looking at making tobacco illegal?

Just because we have a legal substance that causes no end of harm is not a good enough reason to make another drug legal.

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Excellent post, bump!

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well then logically prescription drugs should be prohibited

Every day in the US, 2,500 youth (12 to 17) abuse a prescription pain reliever for the first time.

Prescription drug abuse, while most prevalent in the US, is a problem in many areas around the world including Europe, Southern Africa and South Asia. In the US alone, more than 15 million people abuse prescription drugs, more than the combined number who reported abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin.

In 2006 in the United States, 2.6 million people abused prescription drugs for the first time.

A 2007 survey in the US found that 3.3% of 12- to 17-year-olds and 6% of 17- to 25-year-olds had abused prescription drugs in the past month.

Prescription drug abuse causes the largest percentage of deaths from drug overdosing. Of the 22,400 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2005, opioid painkillers were the most commonly found drug, accounting for 38.2% of these deaths.

In 2005, 4.4 million teenagers (aged 12 to 17) in the US admitted to taking prescription painkillers, and 2.3 million took a prescription stimulant such as Ritalin. 2.2 million abused over-the-counter drugs such as cough syrup. The average age for first-time users is now 13 to 14.

http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/prescription-drugs/prescription-drug-abuse-results-in-one-deat...

One person dies every 19 minutes from prescription drug abuse in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An estimated 27,000 unintentional drug overdose deaths occurred in 2007, UPI reports.

The rise in unintentional drug overdose deaths has been driven by an increase in use of opioids, the CDC notes in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

For every unintentional overdose death linked to opioids, nine people are admitted for substance abuse treatment, 35 people go to the emergency room, 161 report drug abuse or dependence, and 461 report non-medical uses of opioids.

The rate of opioid misuse and overdose deaths are highest among non-Hispanic whites, men ages 20-64, and poor and rural populations.

The CDC says the two main groups at risk for prescription drug overdose are the nine million people who report long-term medical use of opioids, and the roughly 5 million who have used opioids without a prescription or medical need in the past month.

Happy pills....hmmm

....Would prohibition help this the biggest killer of all drugs Prescription medication???

If you believe not then how does prohibition "help' any drug addiction??

Education not prohibition.

[imastawka]

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@colic2bullsgirlore wrote:

---

@siggie-reported-by-alarmists wrote:

Legalise it.

All pubs should only serve joints after midnight....

......what a different atmosphere the club districts would have........

---

************************************************************************************************************************

Awesome idea

...................and................

The surrounding businesses kebab and hotdog sales would explode

....jobs jobs jobs.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzzO1JOHlW0

Love the grille on that van... a work of art

---

Win/win situation

[colic2bullsgirlore]

In the US alone, more than 15 million people abuse prescription drugs, more than the combined number who reported abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

mummys little helper

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/16/1055615705787.html

When Valium was unleashed on the world 40 years ago it was hailed as the wonder drug. But with so many people becoming dependent on it, it has proved to be not so wondrous, after all. By Julie-Anne Davies.

Bev Mason will celebrate her 80th birthday next February, a remarkable achievement in itself but even more impressive for a woman who spent 30 years hooked on drugs.

She's clean now and spends her time counselling others to kick their habit. Many are Bev's age, addicted to the same tranquillisers and sleeping pills that nearly killed her.

Her drug problem began innocently enough back in the 1960s when popping a Valium to take away pre-dinner-party nerves� was almost as common as� a seafood cocktail.

"My husband was a business executive and we entertained a lot and I complained once to my doctor about feeling anxious before social occasions," Bev recalls.

"So he gave me the pills and I'd have a quarter here and a quarter there, all my friends did, and we felt marvellous and just floated through our lives."

When Bev's husband died, she was prescribed more Valium to help her deal with her grief as well as the sleeping tablet Mogadon.

The drugs worked for a time, making her almost light-hearted in her despair. But then she had her first panic attack. From there she became agoraphobic, suffered terrible headaches and mysterious cramps,  and ended up in hospital sedated on another tranquilliser.

"I realise now of course that I was causing withdrawal because I was increasing and decreasing my dose but at the time I thought I was mad."

Finally, Bev decided to get off the drugs altogether, although she describes coming off that last tab of� Valium as a nightmare.

"It took months and months and my doctor actually said to me 'You'll never come off those pills, you've been on them too long', but I did."

Ask anyone to describe a typical Australian drug addict and almost without exception they will get it wrong.

Forget the sad, emaciated, usually young heroin addicts or stumbling, brain-damaged alcoholics.

Instead, picture your neighbour, your child's school teacher, your mother, or more likely, your grandmother.

These addicts score regularly, but legally, across their local pharmacy counter and most have no idea they have a drug problem.

They are hooked on benzodiazepines - more commonly known as tranquillisers and sleeping pills - which are prescribed in their millions every year by doctors at an annual cost to the community of nearly $55 million.

They tantalise users with promises of dulling emotional pain, chasing away anxiety and crooning them to sleep.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

These addicts score regularly, but legally, across their local pharmacy counter and most have no idea they have a drug problem.

Education............ Keh???

[darksideofthemoon]

Right on stawka... it's a great pain reliever and is used for terminally ill patients..  

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259482.php

In fact it has a lot of uses other than smoking it and losing your brain.

Hemp is used to make twine, rope, nets, canvas and 

Paper can be made from it and building materials.....  to name just a few things... in fact any country that de-criminalises it stands to make a whole new industry out of it.

[darksideofthemoon]

Well if we are going to talk about people misusing it and having severe affects because of it, and if this is the reason to insist it should not be made legal, then perhaps we should ban alcohol and smokes as well?

There will always be someone using things for the wrong purposes... many people are fool hardy enough to take doses of codeine due to the fact that it changes to morphine in the body and they are addicted to it... not a good idea to remove codeine from the pharmasies is it.