Larry the Legend Loc: Not hiding in Milton

Depends. Do you like to get drunk, or do you prefer being 'high'? Then again, is being drunk and high your thing?

karpenter Loc: Headin' Fer Da Hills !!

Booze, Pot, Crack, Meth, Heroin
It's Just A Matter Of What Drug You Like...
Another Of My Fishing Partner's Points Of View

I Don't Have To Deal With Shady Characters In Potentially Dangerous Situations
Folks Don't Generally Get Gunned Down Over A $20 Bottle Of Wine

crazylibertarian Loc: Florida by way of New York & Rhode Island

I used to offer spirometries in my office. We could tell in an instant from one segment of the exam who was using pot & who wasn't Three joints a week gave worse results than 1 PPD of cigarettes.

iFrank Loc: San Antonio

That's a clever idea, I used to smoke me 20 packs of cigarettes a day, but since I lost one of my lungs, I had to cut my smoking in half. Lots of laughs, or not.

Paybacktimeishere

Alcohol Vs. Marijuann, Which Is Worse?

Paulpicses: Alcohol has put more American's "Behind Bar's", than Any "Pure Marijuana"! I was Never a "Pot Smoker", having tried some,
in the past, that had been "Spiked" with either
"Angel Dust" or "LSD". That experience, scared
the "Hell" out of me!!! Alcohol is Officially Legal,
& Very Ubiquitous, Compliment's of The FEDERAL GOV.'T. It's much TOO AVAILABLE, &
Young People(Underaged), haven't ANY Problem's, Obtaining this Legal Drug. Personally, I wish for The Legalization Of OPIUM, for people, aged 65 & above, for ongoing Severe OsteoArthritic, & Various Cancer
Pain & Discomfort, because, it is getting more &
more difficult, to Obtain Prescription Narcotic's, & "BIG PHARMA", charges a small fortune for, &
DR.'S are now being Federally Preasured, to limit their prescribing. IT'S Really Sad, that in a
Lot Of Third World Countries, It's much easier, &
more convenient, for "The Poor", to obtain Opium,
For Whatever Ailment is "Hurting Them", because they either can't Afford a Dr. Or even find one near their Village. That's just my Humble Opinion!? I'd much rather, be "Chasing
The Dragon", or "BITING CLOUD'S", than to continue to suffer, from severe osteoarthritis, &
severe, cervical & lower-mid, SPINAL PAIN!!!

Singularity

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1104848

You were probably doing it wrong. Numerous substantive peer reviewed research efforts do not correlate with your results. Especially the degree of difference you report.

What would the M and the M stand for at a hospital M&M Conference?

PaulPisces Loc: San Francisco

I'm not certain what drugs you are using, but they seem to be causing you to assign statements to me that I did not say.
Please adjust your "medication", whatever it is, and then re-join the debate.

Singularity

Many use marijuana for its demonstrable health effects. Google "compassionate use."

Paybacktimeishere

PaulPisces: I apologize, for getting you mixed up
with "Larry The Legend" & his question, about which "Drug", Whiskey or "M.J." is a bigger problem? Sometimes the side effect's of Potent, Narcotic Medicine, like
"OPANA", or "AKA-NUMORPHAN" for Severe Pain, can cause a period of "Foggy" Euphoria. That's Why I Do Not Drive My Camper-Truck, When I Have To Take The Medicine. I did NOT,
deliberately, target your POST!? I just try to do
the best I Can.

badbobby Loc: texas

haven't seen you in a while Larry
nice post

PaulPisces Loc: San Francisco

I appreciate the apology Payback. Even though I am liberal, I've been know to get confused sometimes too!
No harm done.

kenvrla Loc: East Tx Piney Woods

Known lots of folks who drink or smoke pot. No deaths due to smoking pot, nor have I ever heard of one, but many deaths from liquor, including my 42 yr. old brother. The data is in....alchohol kills tens.of.thousands a year. Pot-0.

Paybacktimeishere

Paul Pisces: Thank you for the acknowledgement, you may be one of those JFK, Liberal's; I broke down, & Cried, When He
Was "ASSASSINATED", by more than one of the
"Monster's", out there!!! I guess I could be "labeled" a "LIBERTARIAN NATIONALIST" I was
once a Democratic, Moderate. I came from a
Democratic Family, my Great Grandfather, was A U.S. SENATOR( But Very Conservative )!!!
PAYBACK

karpenter Loc: Headin' Fer Da Hills !!

You Can Google 'Detrimental Effects' Of Long Term Marijuana Use
And The Chemical Compounds It Contains

Almost All Use Is Recreational, Not Medicinal

Ambidextrous

I live and work out of Vancouver, British Columbia, a city sometimes called "Vansterdam" where there are known establishments such as the Amsterdam Cafe (next to the Marijuana Party Headquarters) where people can openly smoke marijuana or hash while having coffee or a meal.

There are several hundred "compassion clubs" where any licensed member can purchase up to X amount of a marijuana product, typically smoked for conditions such as glaucoma, or edible brownies, etc for people with chronic pain, nausea, or impaired appetite due to illness (and yes, many of the clubs are not as fussy as they are supposed to be when it comes to a member presenting a doctor's note).

A notable percentage of the local police advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana, simply because compared to the hard street drug use in our downtown core (the DTES or Downtown East Side, a section tied with Seattle for being the most likely origin of the term "Skid Row"), or almost ANY OTHER CRIME, marijuana is a waste of police and judicial resources.

As a west coast port city, Vancouver is one of the hardest hit by the fentanyl/opioid analogue crisis, which has a few hundred people a year dying from spiked heroin or even who knowingly choose one of the analogues after "developing a taste" for one specifically, despite the fact that variants such as carfentanyl have an LD50 of 3.5 milligrams.

(LD50 means the amount of a substance that will kill 50% of adults on average, for folks who don't know the metric system, a milligram is one thousandth of about 0.0357th of an ounce)

I have several younger friends who have managed to get themselves hooked on opioids, and at least a couple who would have died several times if it were not for the fact that many people in this city now carry Naloxone kits (cases containing 3 ampoules of an opioid counteracting medicine along with three syringes and typically a pocket mask for assisted ventilation in order to prevent brain cell death while attempting to restart someone's respiration).

THAT particular social ill can be traced directly back to the totally legal overprescription of synthetic opioids for ailments that could have been treated with less addictive painkillers, and I know for a fact that the US has the same problem. Neither alcohol nor marijuana holds a candle to that in terms of dangerous.

I work in the field of public safety, primarily as security or first aid for mass public gatherings/concerts/festivals.

For four years I worked as security for the 420/Cannibus day events at the Vancouver Art Gallery where up to 10,000 people would gather for music and to all "light up" simultaneously, creating a cloud of smoke that could be seen for blocks and incidentally typically making me light headed from my position doing overwatch over the crowd (I don't smoke weed more than once or twice a year, and I do not use any mind altering substance while working).

Over four years the worst medical situation that consistently I saw was young kids ignoring the repeated advice from the people on the stage and eating too much edible baked goods, and "greening out". Suddenly going to sleep when standing on concrete can be messy.

The worst social situation working those events was that some folks would be kind of slow to pick up on the fact that people in either security or medical uniforms should be made way for if they are forcing their way through the crowd.

I have worked beer gardens and concerts that serve alcohol.

Fights, sexual assaults/date rape, broken bones resulting from flat out stupid stunts, theft, alcohol poisoning, vomit, people pissing themselves, and just general jackassery.

I smoke a puff of marijuana about every 6-8 months, typically because it is offered to me as part of a special occasion and being able to say to someone that I'll do it in honour of that event is nice.

I'm about to have a sip of whiskey and drink a beer.

The latter substances are far more dangerous than what some call "Mother Ganja".

Facts:
A study done in the late 80's comparing use of marijuana in the US vs in Jamaica by Rastafarians found that while in the states where users expected to get "blotto" and did, Rastafarians who consider the smoke to be a sacrament and expect users to be able to carry on intelligent conversation and show dignity were able to do so. Field workers and bakers who smoked ganja were up to 30% more efficient due in large part to being meticulous and taking time with details.

As with almost any substance or even life experience, marijuana gives what one brings to it in terms of expectation.

Alcohol is consistently a disinhibitory central nervous system depressant.

I worked for 9 years at the biggest multi-day rave festival in Western Canada, one that has a functional field hospital and that was the pioneer venue for a dedicated psychological crisis intervention and response area and staff.

The rule of thumb for vehicle searches is that small personal amounts of illicit substances would be returned to attendees if they were up front about what they had and turned them over, and we did not find out that they had lied to us (better to let the kids have what they got from someone they know, than leave them prey to pushers).

Alcohol?

Poured out into giant bins with all of the other contraband.

Reason?

Sh*tty behaviour and the most likely substance to interact negatively with anything else, whatsoever.

More facts: Jesus supposedly wore hemp sandals, hemp sails were what spread European empires world wide (for good or for ill), Abe Lincoln grew the dang stuff, and one of the largest proponents of making marijuana (and by extension hemp) illegal was Du Pont, manufacturers of what?

Synthetic fibers that couldn't hold up to hemp.

Yet more facts:

The original reasons given for making hemp's more potent cousin illegal?

It made "coloured folks uppity, and lured white youth into listening to that jazz negro music".

A REALLY fun fact:

What is the typical first experience with a cannibinoid/endocannibinoid that a person has, the "Gateway" into reefer madness, psychosis, and kicking puppies?

Mothers breast milk.

It's a key factor in the formation of the human central nervous system, and along with mommie's heartbeat and cuddles is one of the first positive feedbacks that a newborn gets that all is right with the world, and they don't have to grow up to be sociopaths after all.

Funny how the cultures that consider the plant holy call it "Mother Ganja", eh?