PaulPisces wrote:
Pafret - Your post has some truths, some half-truths, and a good amount of opinion.
True: "Marijuana is an intoxicant and like any other intoxicant it will be abused by those who are unable to practice restraint."
One could apply the same "abuser" argument to guns, but I don't see any conservatives using that battle cry to restrict use for responsible owners.
Untrue comparison: "The arguments based on alcohol toxicity have no bearing"
You seem to be saying alcohol, being everywhere and being a natural process make it more OK. Cannabis is about as natural as can be had, with absolutely no processing required in order to use it. Left to its own it would certainly grow wild, and, considering we know it to have been around since about 2,700 BC, it's certainly no newcomer to the scene.
Opinion: "We do not need to create another industry devoted to physco-active mind benders."
Hanlf-Truth: "If Marijuana is to be legalized, why not LSD, Speed, Meth, Cocaine, Heroin or any other opioids?"
The implication here is that all intoxicants are equal in their benefit/risk proposition. This is of course untrue. LSD (the little I know of it) holds the potential for some pretty drastically awful experiences and permanent psychosis. The others you mention are physically addictive, which marijuana is not.
I full realize that I live in a culture (SF) that is OK with marijuana, so my outlook is perhaps biased. But I can tell you from my own experience that whatever drawbacks it has, I do not think it has earned its classification as a schedule 1 drug.
Pafret - Your post has some truths, some half-trut... (
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Very few people defend themselves with a marijuana cigarette, it is particularly ineffective for that purpose. No one abuses guns, they are used to abuse others and those who do so are known as criminals. Similarly, the expression "abused" in my statement was hyperbole, excessive use of any intoxicant can easily lead to criminal behavior, it is the nature of the beast, one is intoxicated and not in possession of his faculties.
My point about alcohol was that even animals have abused alcohol derived from fermenting fruit, to the point that they risk their lives to consume it. Men, as higher order animals are subject to the same stupidity but consuming fermenting fruits and grains was called eating. Rolling a joint of the harvested heads of a specific set of plants with no food value is a somewhat, less natural, activity.
Yes, that is an opinion, this is the forum for expressing opinion.
There was no attempt to establish parity of damage caused by various drugs. It is true that they all have their drawbacks yet, if the rule is "Are there any beneficial aspects to use of this drug" then most addicts will assure you that their poison of choice definitely is beneficial to their well being. They wouldn't necessarily be correct and philosophically it may be a pernicious evil but, whatever floats your boat.
For the alcoholic, booze is physically addictive. It takes an enormous effort of will to resist just as drug addict can resist through the same exertion of will. Very few succeed in staying "clean and sober". The pothead is no different, an addictive personality will always result in overuse and abuse of society.
Genetic Scientists are publishing findings that there seems to be a genetic difference between addicts and those who do not exhibit addictive behaviors. Several interesting scenarios suggest themselves. Due to wide spread clamor for drug access the government mandates that all persons submit to a genome map to determine if they have addictive genes. If so they are placed on a no fly, no high, list and draconian penalties applied for possession and use.
The government will license the use of drugs, there never has been any human activity which the government has not attempted to license. I expect a breathing license soon. How would you control contact buzz, concert goers have complained that marijuana smoke is so thick they have gotten high without smoking. How about occupations which require drug testing to assure performance capability, do these people have to wear gas masks to prevent accidental contamination?
On a darker note, suppose the government realizes that the populace can easily be controlled by introduction of drugs into their water supply. That coupled with propaganda as in Huxley's Brave New World: Soma, half a gram is better than a damn would result in everyone with a mentality higher than a cabbage being mind controlled through drug conditioning. At what point does our "recreational" use become the means of our enslavement?