Legalize Drugs?

ThePlaidRanger · 07-30-2003, 10:10 PM

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Originally Posted by IndoGuy

I reckon they should make them illegal, but I don't think it will help too much, especially in developing countries.

So you think we should make useless laws? For what reason?

jbleau · 08-11-2003, 05:59 PM

Why do we care if drugs are illegal? What does that have to do with any of us? Even if they were legal, I would not smoke pot. Done it enough times to know that it is simply an opener to harder drugs. Know that many of my friends have either ended up in prison or dead because of those harder drugs. Marijuana dumbs a person down big-time also. Not too many benefits for smoking marijuana. I know there are some medicinal benefits, but in all honestly, does a person need to smoke it? Nope, they have a pill in development that removes the high.

I drink a little, but, that is Biblical. Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine to help heal his physical problems. He didn't tell him to go and smoke the weed of the ground.

JerryLove · 08-11-2003, 10:11 PM

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Why do we care if drugs are illegal? What does that have to do with any of us?

Drug related crime, drug related accidents, loss of GDP, higher nationala medical costs, high deficit to coloumbia. Some of us have kids.

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I drink a little, but, that is Biblical. Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine to help heal his physical problems. He didn't tell him to go and smoke the weed of the ground.

Didn't tell him not to either.

jbleau · 08-12-2003, 01:37 AM

So what is the ultimate purpose for smoking weed? To party. What good does that do for a society, especially if it is condoned by the society? Legalizing marijuana is a popular thought today, and yet we thought that legalizing alcohol would help to stop much of the crime that came about after the prohibition began. It didn't...crime went waaay up, and those alcohol runners became bookies, murderers, etc. Where in the Bible is their advice to smoke a plant?

**slap_j** · 08-12-2003, 01:44 AM

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Originally Posted by jbleau

So what is the ultimate purpose for smoking weed? To party.

One person's purpose is different than someone else's.

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Legalizing marijuana is a popular thought today, and yet we thought that legalizing alcohol would help to stop much of the crime that came about after the prohibition began.

It stopped the vast majority of boot legging. I think the only things they bootleg today is moonshine and absinthe.

Mike Graham · 08-12-2003, 08:21 AM

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Originally Posted by jbleau

So what is the ultimate purpose for smoking weed? To party. What good does that do for a society, especially if it is condoned by the society? Legalizing marijuana is a popular thought today, and yet we thought that legalizing alcohol would help to stop much of the crime that came about after the prohibition began. It didn't...crime went waaay up, and those alcohol runners became bookies, murderers, etc. Where in the Bible is their advice to smoke a plant?

You know, if we legalized theft, that would totally cut down on crime!

Our motivation for making things legal and illegal should not be based on how many people are breaking the law.

jbleau · 08-12-2003, 10:27 AM

I'm just not to sure that legalizing marijuana would solve all of our nation's problems. I'm sure that it is inevitable, but myself, coming from a scene filled with drug use, see the negative effects. Shall we have Federally legalized prostitution also? Shall we mirror our nation after Amsterdam?

Now, if they had a legal form (which has been in development) of marijuana for medicinal purposes, that destroys the high, I'd support that. Especially if one didn't need to smoke it, as we all know that smoking is bad for your lungs. I'm not going to have my taxes fund some low-life's want to get high everynight, by using state-funded money to buy publically grown weed.

Sorry, most that smoke weed do so to party.

jbleau · 08-13-2003, 12:02 AM

My previous post makes it sound like I was a major drug user in the past. I wasn't. I knew many people that got heavily involved with drugs. I smoked weed once in awhile, got drunk more than I did high. Just wanted to clarify that for you all.

JerryLove · 08-13-2003, 12:20 AM

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I'm just not to sure that legalizing marijuana would solve all of our nation's problems. I'm sure that it is inevitable, but myself, coming from a scene filled with drug use, see the negative effects.

It went from "legal" to "illegal". Why do you feel a reversal is inevitable?

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Shall we have Federally legalized prostitution also? Shall we mirror our nation after Amsterdam?

Prostitution is not federally prohibited; hence why it is legal in some parts of the US.

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Now, if they had a legal form (which has been in development) of marijuana for medicinal purposes, that destroys the high, I'd support that

There are two target markets for marijuanna that I am aware of. One is for glaucoma treatment. I believe this is handled adequately by other drugs. The second target market is for chemo patients.

There are three primary effects on chemo patients. It inhibits nausia (which, since the 90s, has been doable with other drugs). It stimulates the appetite (which no other drugs given to cancer patients currently do) and believe me, a sense of euphoria would have been welcome during my month in the BMT ward.

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Especially if one didn't need to smoke it, as we all know that smoking is bad for your lungs.

So is chemo

That said, I can't imagine it could not be distiled to at least an injectable.

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I'm not going to have my taxes fund some low-life's want to get high everynight, by using state-funded money to buy publically grown weed.

As opposed to perscription anti-hystimines? Or perscription opates? Or any of a dozen other drugs you can get high on? Heck, you can do it with Niquil or whippits... but why would the fact that something was legal mean it would be state-funded?

**slap_j** · 08-13-2003, 12:28 AM

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Originally Posted by jbleau

Especially if one didn't need to smoke it, as we all know that smoking is bad for your lungs.

Using a tilt pipe or vaporizor elimates that problem. It destroys the carcinogens.

Than · 09-12-2003, 02:07 PM

I'm starting to rethink my policy on legalizing drugs after sitting in my psych class. Drugs like ecstasy affect the brain in a tremedous way. It eventually will burn out neurotransmitters, etc. The end result is that frequent use of the drug can result in permanent, clinical depression, as serotonnin levels are permanently lowered, along with a host of other problems. We're just starting to get into it, so if anyone could expand on it, that would be appreciated. My question is: Is it the government's role to directly intervene in matters of health like that?

MisterAgreeable · 09-12-2003, 02:30 PM

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Originally Posted by Than

I'm starting to rethink my policy on legalizing drugs after sitting in my psych class. Drugs like ecstasy affect the brain in a tremedous way. It eventually will burn out neurotransmitters, etc. The end result is that frequent use of the drug can result in permanent, clinical depression, as serotonnin levels are permanently lowered, along with a host of other problems. We're just starting to get into it, so if anyone could expand on it, that would be appreciated. My question is: Is it the government's role to directly intervene in matters of health like that?

You're not referring to this study, are you?

Than · 09-12-2003, 02:34 PM

No...what she was saying today was that prolonged use of ecstasy affects the seratonin and dopamine levels in the brain. After a while, your neurotransmitters can't maintain the level that the drug keeps them at, so they burn out. Eventually heavy drug users will experience the loss or burning out of these neurotransmitters. What this does is affect the amount of chemicals produced (most notably seratonin), which can lead to permanent depression.

MisterAgreeable · 09-12-2003, 03:10 PM

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Originally Posted by Than

No...what she was saying today was that prolonged use of ecstasy affects the seratonin and dopamine levels in the brain. After a while, your neurotransmitters can't maintain the level that the drug keeps them at, so they burn out. Eventually heavy drug users will experience the loss or burning out of these neurotransmitters. What this does is affect the amount of chemicals produced (most notably seratonin), which can lead to permanent depression.

hmm... sounds like she was very likely referencing the now discredited study.

Try this link:
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,60389,00.html

Search for dopamine, then read the linked article. There's still some question about the seratonin neurotoxicity, but there's only one study to conclude that, and it was by the geniuses who adminstered amphetamines instead of MDMA for their other tests.

Also, they were administering the drug the wrong way. It's never injected in the "real world." If you know of another study, by all means provide a link. There's precious little real data to suggest that MDMA has any long-term effects.

Than · 09-12-2003, 04:29 PM

Ahh ok...she didn't provide a study, she just taught it as fact. I'll ask her if she can provide a cite to back that up. Until then, I'll concede the point to you.