MARIJUANA

[Su]

Sure, legalize it.  Why not.  And while you're at it, eliminate the stupid "drinking age" too.  Or at least lower it back to 18.  You can join the military and vote but you can't buy a beer?  Idiotic. 

But the fact that people will choose to violate the law shows there is stupidity on the other side too.

People who use harmless stuff illegally have no qualms about contributing to death and mayhem elsewhere. People during the prohibition were willing to put up with the violence of the mob so they could get their drinks. People who smoke marijuana will put up with murdered priests and murdered people south of the border.

It reminds me of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It was meant to show the plight of people, but all people took away from it was their selfish concern of the quality of food. The dead and injured and abused people were not their concern.

[rbjmartin]

Sure, legalize it.  Why not.  And while you're at it, eliminate the stupid "drinking age" too.  Or at least lower it back to 18.  You can join the military and vote but you can't buy a beer?  Idiotic. 

Yep. Agreed on all counts.

[Old Salt]

Legalize opium then.

[rbjmartin]

Legalize opium then.

Nobody's making a serious case for that. Still, it hasn't destroyed Amsterdam.

[kgreen]

Cannabis in it's natural form has medicinal uses. Hemp is also very good for you. The problem with the street pot that you get is that it is chemically altered by the growers to make it make you high. If you found pot growing wild that wasn't messed with, it might alter your mind a little, but not like the stuff you buy from a drug dealer or something. Also, the government experiments with the stuff. The stuff made by the government is the worst. I can honestly say that from personal experience I have seen alcohol do far more damage and make people do more things they regret and shouldn't do than pot has done. Also, the withdrawal from alcohol is the only drug withdrawal that can actually kill you. Pot, you can just decide to stop smoking it and there won't be much of a physical effect at all.  There are a lot of factors behind the scenes in the drug trade that are too in depth for here, but as far as the sinfulness, and this is just my opinion, I wouldn't buy the stuff from a dealer off the street because it will mess you up, but if you find it growing wild (what we call "ditch weed" around here) it probably will have more of a relaxing, sedative effect and should be fine. My husband and I have a friend who is a good Catholic and often spends time with priests around here and is friends with several of them, and he smokes ditch weed. As long as you don't lose use of reason. Everything in moderation. But if you are a person seriously considering smoking pot and genuinely wondering about the sinfulness of it, ask a priest.

[rbjmartin]

Cannabis in it's natural form has medicinal uses. Hemp is also very good for you. The problem with the street pot that you get is that it is chemically altered by the growers to make it make you high. If you found pot growing wild that wasn't messed with, it might alter your mind a little, but not like the stuff you buy from a drug dealer or something. Also, the government experiments with the stuff. The stuff made by the government is the worst. I can honestly say that from personal experience I have seen alcohol do far more damage and make people do more things they regret and shouldn't do than pot has done. Also, the withdrawal from alcohol is the only drug withdrawal that can actually kill you. Pot, you can just decide to stop smoking it and there won't be much of a physical effect at all.  There are a lot of factors behind the scenes in the drug trade that are too in depth for here, but as far as the sinfulness, and this is just my opinion, I wouldn't buy the stuff from a dealer off the street because it will mess you up, but if you find it growing wild (what we call "ditch weed" around here) it probably will have more of a relaxing, sedative effect and should be fine. My husband and I have a friend who is a good Catholic and often spends time with priests around here and is friends with several of them, and he smokes ditch weed. As long as you don't lose use of reason. Everything in moderation. But if you are a person seriously considering smoking pot and genuinely wondering about the sinfulness of it, ask a priest.

Good post. To your point about "street pot" and its chemical alterations, this supports the argument for legalization, because then it could be regulated as alcohol is regulated.

[Old Salt]

Cannabis in it's natural form has medicinal uses. Hemp is also very good for you. The problem with the street pot that you get is that it is chemically altered by the growers to make it make you high. If you found pot growing wild that wasn't messed with, it might alter your mind a little, but not like the stuff you buy from a drug dealer or something. Also, the government experiments with the stuff. The stuff made by the government is the worst. I can honestly say that from personal experience I have seen alcohol do far more damage and make people do more things they regret and shouldn't do than pot has done. Also, the withdrawal from alcohol is the only drug withdrawal that can actually kill you. Pot, you can just decide to stop smoking it and there won't be much of a physical effect at all.  There are a lot of factors behind the scenes in the drug trade that are too in depth for here, but as far as the sinfulness, and this is just my opinion, I wouldn't buy the stuff from a dealer off the street because it will mess you up, but if you find it growing wild (what we call "ditch weed" around here) it probably will have more of a relaxing, sedative effect and should be fine. My husband and I have a friend who is a good Catholic and often spends time with priests around here and is friends with several of them, and he smokes ditch weed. As long as you don't lose use of reason. Everything in moderation. But if you are a person seriously considering smoking pot and genuinely wondering about the sinfulness of it, ask a priest.

Not true.
I grew Thai sense for a while and it gave me the strongest buzz ever, from only one or two hits.
I grew it from seed bought from an Hawaiian friend.

[kgreen]

well then I find that interesting. Maybe you are not used to smoking? Then I will modify to say in my experience the stuff you find growing wild will have less of an effect than the stuff you buy from a dealer. However, are you sure you didn't buy seed from a plant that had been modified?
And I still stand by my statement that alcohol has messed people up more than pot by far in my personal experience, and alcohol is the only drug whose withdrawal you can die from if you are addicted to it. I also stand by that pot is way easier to quit than alcohol, and other drugs. Also, cannabis does have medicinal uses. Please don't take my whole statement and say the whole thing isn't true. That's not fair at all.
Some other mind altering substances you will find in our food: MSG, food colorings, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors. MSG is an excititoxin which destroys your brain cells and you see no one calling for it to be illegal. I think that all the information about these substances should be made available to consumers and they decide for themselves. Laws are getting out of hand these days. Different things effect individuals  in different ways. That's why I only need 2 or 3 beers to feel the same way my husband does after more than 6 for example.   Sorry you had that experience. In my experience it's always the stuff that's laced that messes you up that way.

Edited to add:
This is a pretty informative article. It does say that asian and hawaiian varieties tend to be much stronger, and that THC levels vary. It doesn't really talk about the medicinal uses besides cancer:
http://www.psychedelic-library.org/high_culture11.htm

Some info on medicinal marijuana:
http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/Zeese_Research_0197.html

[rbjmartin]

kgreen, you are my new favorite poster.

[Old Salt]

It may be the exception, but I was a very experienced ganga smoker at the time and the guy I bought the seed from said it was from an all natural farm on Kauai.