The Five F words of addiction.

[SketchImpressions]

nah what i was getting at is that altering your sate of mind is a natral human curiosity. I wasnt using that argument to defend my own drug use.

[Selur Top]

Originally Said by Mr. Definistrate

They should legalize it, but legalizing drugs is something I've thought good and then had second thoughts about. As a libertarian, I want to legalize all drugs, but then I think again and I'm not sure that people are responsible enough to handle drugs without getting addicted and screwing up all society.

any thoughts?

(BTW, I would be for legalization of MJ in an instant, but it's the heavier ones that I worry about.)

I don't think all drugs should be legalized. Ones like heroin and cocaine should stay illegal, because they are very deadly and addictive.

Marijuana on the other hand is the least deadliest. Actually, it isn't deadly at all. Some "experts" have said that weed contains more deadly chemicals and tar than cigarettes, but how many people have you heard about getting lung cancer or emphysema from smoking marijuana? I can bet you that you will not find one case in the world. Besides, if it was so horrible for your body, they wouldn't have a medical use for it. I smoke marijuana for spiritual enlightenment, rather than to "get high." I have noticed that when I smoke a small amount, my mind becomes open and I can think more clearly. There are three stages to smoking pot for me. The first stage is smoking only a small amount, which I said helps open my mind a bit. The second stage is more of a social point of view, just as someone would go to the bar with a few friends to drink (this is the only exception to wanting to get high.). The third stage is smoking enough to where I am about to pass out (for those of you who do not know, marijuana is a depressant) and it helps me sleep rather than popping a bunch of sleep aids that I could possibly become dependent on, whereas marijuana has no physical or mental dependability (at least not to me).

I am all for the legalization of marijuana. Most people are only against it because it is illegal. But if they actually knew more about it, then maybe they would be persuaded to vote in favor for it. The economy would be so much better if marijuana was legalized, and I guarantee the crime rate would decrease by at least 8%. They could sell joints just as cigarettes are sold in packs, only available to people 18 years of age or older. It would create jobs as well.

Also, if the United States legalized it, it may also influence the rest of the world as well to legalize it. So it would also help the worlds economy, too.

Now, of course, all the same rules would apply to marijuana as it is with cigarettes and alcohol. Such as, but not limited to:

1. Available to people 18 years of age or older
2. Illegal to operate a motor vehicle while smoking (DUI or DWI)
3. Employers can fire you for smoking on the job or going to work after smoking (equivalent to getting drunk then going to work)
4. Illegal underage use.
5. Etc, etc, etc...

What else can marijuana be used for other than smoking? Well, it could be used for tea, fertilizer, you can make rope from the hemp, paper made from hemp (which would save us from depleting most of the worlds' forests), aroma therapy (incense), and so on.

Here is a link to many uses of hemp. Click Here


There is basically no reason to outlaw this plant that has so many benefits. I should start a petition.

[EmperorChaos]

Originally Said by Selur Top

Marijuana on the other hand is the least deadliest. Actually, it isn't deadly at all. Some "experts" have said that weed contains more deadly chemicals and tar than cigarettes, but how many people have you heard about getting lung cancer or emphysema from smoking marijuana? I can bet you that you will not find one case in the world.

That's a statistical impossibility. People who don't smoke cigarettes or anything of the sort are also susceptible to lung cancer. Hell, you can get lung cancer from inhaling asbestos fibers so would there be a correlation between someone smoking marijuana and someone getting lung cancer? Yes. Probably a lot.

However, there is no evidence that smoking marijuana increases the risk of lung cancer. I only wanted to point out that statistically speaking there would be a correlation between those who get lung cancer and smoke marijuana.

I have noticed that when I smoke a small amount, my mind becomes open and I can think more clearly.

I feel the same way. I tend to be more creative and write better when I've smoked only a little bit of marijuana. I'm also more inclined to want to learn stuff. A lot of stuff I've taught myself has come through drug use.

[Selur Top]

Originally Said by EmperorChaos

That's a statistical impossibility. People who don't smoke cigarettes or anything of the sort are also susceptible to lung cancer. Hell, you can get lung cancer from inhaling asbestos fibers so would there be a correlation between someone smoking marijuana and someone getting lung cancer? Yes. Probably a lot.

However, there is no evidence that smoking marijuana increases the risk of lung cancer. I only wanted to point out that statistically speaking there would be a correlation between those who get lung cancer and smoke marijuana.



I feel the same way. I tend to be more creative and write better when I've smoked only a little bit of marijuana. I'm also more inclined to want to learn stuff. A lot of stuff I've taught myself has come through drug use.

Sorry about the first part. I tried staying on a more intellectual level, but sort of drifted into a mindless rant. However, I also incorporated a personal level, too.

[GoddessDivine]

Originally Said by Selur Top

Marijuana on the other hand is the least deadliest. Actually, it isn't deadly at all. Some "experts" have said that weed contains more deadly chemicals and tar than cigarettes, but how many people have you heard about getting lung cancer or emphysema from smoking marijuana? I can bet you that you will not find one case in the world. Besides, if it was so horrible for your body, they wouldn't have a medical use for it.

There are people who never have smoked a cigarette in their life that get lung cancer.

There are also drugs that are "bad" for you that have medical use. The whole problem is when people take those drugs that can be "bad" for you and abuse them, that is when they get "bad". My father was on morphine while he was in a coma and that calmed his body down, otherwise he probably would have had a hear attack due to the high temperatures his body was running and how fast his heart was beating.

In reality many of the over the counter drugs you might take for a cold might not be good for you, but people are so conditioned to pop a pill or take a swig of something filled with chemicals rather than take a vitamin or let their body work out the minor illness on its own. I dont think people give their body much credit, it has amazing healing power as long as it is treated right.

Also you said pot is a depressant, so how exactly is that "good" for you. If someone who is healthy takes a depressant I do not see how that is good for them.

I am all for the legalization of marijuana. Most people are only against it because it is illegal. But if they actually knew more about it, then maybe they would be persuaded to vote in favor for it. The economy would be so much better if marijuana was legalized, and I guarantee the crime rate would decrease by at least 8%. They could sell joints just as cigarettes are sold in packs, only available to people 18 years of age or older. It would create jobs as well.

Also, if the United States legalized it, it may also influence the rest of the world as well to legalize it. So it would also help the worlds economy, too.

I dont care if it gets legalized. I smoked a lot in high school, but i never felt the need to buy a pack of joints or smoke in public. If I did it to be more spiritual, I dont think I would want to do that out in the open anyways.

Same thing would happen even if it was legal that happens with everything else. Young kids would get it just like they get cigs and beer. And who is to say that a major company might take over a corner of the market and mass market your "joints in packs" idea but add a few chemicals in it like cigarettes. Its not as simple and easy as it seems.

Also other countries can be very slack with drugs. Its not like America sets the example for other countries. In fact I would say that
America is probably one of the countries with strict drug laws and every strick about things like nudity on tv. My ex would buy mushrooms when he was 15 from the corner store when he lived in japan and that was over ten years ago.

What else can marijuana be used for other than smoking? Well, it could be used for tea, fertilizer, you can make rope from the hemp, paper made from hemp (which would save us from depleting most of the worlds' forests), aroma therapy (incense), and so on.

I highly doubt any of that will happen, they have been trying to push hemp on consumers for years. But guess what the tea makeers dont want to give up their share of the market to hemp, the people who make money growing trees for paper dont want to give up their income, and so on. It just won't happen, at least any time soon. Soy has hardly take on how it should, so i look for soy to become a subsitute for more things over hemp. hemp has a stigmata against it that may never be dropped.

[foxyphoenix]

Originally Said by Selur Top

paper made from hemp (which would save us from depleting most of the worlds' forests)

That's false: because an acre of hemp would create less paper pulp than an acre of forest, more acres would need to be cleared for hemp farming. National forest lands can be selectively cut (new growth, thinned, etc) and still be a natural resource.

[my.dragons.lady]

After so many years of hearing pot referred to as a gateway drug, I've become convinced that's probably true specific to our government's ability to profit from legalization. E.g., if pot were legalized it could be taxed but that might lead to other drugs being legalized and merely taxed. Taxes are not as great a source of revenue.

As for THC in hemp used for bird seed, clothing and textiles, it has commercially unproductive/unprofitable amounts of THC.

Thought I'd add that 'legal' hemp is being commercially grown in the U.S., and though it's downplayed, Virginia has been gradually replacing tobacco with hemp over the last 10 years or so.

Industrial Hemp Movement Growing

Hemp sales grew from $5 million in 1993 to $75 million in 1995, according to Hemptech, a California firm that tracks the industry. Hemptech is projecting sales of $200 million in 1997, and $600 million by 2001. Ecolution, a hemp business based in Fairfax, Virginia, says it sales jumped 500% to $1.5 million in two years. Despite the success, Ecolution president Steve DeAngelo told NewsBriefs that it is difficult to get capital because of the perceived instability of hemp supply, a problem that he said would be addressed by legalizing domestic production.

Fashion designers, such as Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani are increasingly using hemp in their clothing lines. "Hemp produces a strong, clean yarn, with a structure that makes the cloth cool in summer, and warm and comfortable in winter," said Armani at a December 1996 press conference. Last year, Addidas sold 30,000 pairs of shoes made partly from hemp. Owen Sercus, a textile professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, said, "It's going to be a gigantic market" (See "Fashion Designers Rediscover Hemp," NewsBriefs, February 1995).

More timely:

Barney Frank and Ron Paul Introduce Hemp Farming Legislation - HR 1866

April 3, 2009

A federal bill was introduced yesterday that, if passed into law, would remove restrictions on the cultivation of non-psychoactive industrial hemp. The chief sponsors of HR 1866, "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009," Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX), were joined by nine other U.S. House members split between Republicans and Democrats.
Ron Paul

"It is unfortunate that the federal government has stood in the way of American farmers, including many who are struggling to make ends meet, from competing in the global industrial hemp market," said Representative Ron Paul during his introduction of the bill yesterday before the U.S. House. "Indeed, the founders of our nation, some of whom grew hemp, would surely find that federal restrictions on farmers growing a safe and profitable crop on their own land are inconsistent with the constitutional guarantee of a limited, restrained federal government. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to stand up for American farmers and co-sponsor the Industrial Hemp Farming Act," concluded Paul.

"With so much discussion lately in the media about drug policy, it is surprising that the tragedy of American hemp farming hasn't come up as a 'no-brainer' for reform," says Vote Hemp President, Eric Steenstra. "Hemp is a versatile, environmentally-friendly crop that has not been grown here for over fifty years because of a politicized interpretation of the nation's drug laws by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). President Obama should direct the DEA to stop confusing industrial hemp with its genetically distinct cousin, marijuana. While the new bill in Congress is a welcome step, the hemp industry is hopeful that President Obama's administration will prioritize hemp's benefits to farmers. Jobs would be created overnight, as there are numerous U.S. companies that now have no choice but to import hemp raw materials worth many millions of dollars per year," adds Steenstra.

U.S. companies that manufacture or sell products made with hemp include Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a California company who manufactures the number-one-selling natural soap, and FlexForm Technologies, an Indiana company whose natural fiber materials are used in over two million cars on the road today. Hemp food manufacturers, such as French Meadow Bakery, Hempzels, Living Harvest, Nature's Path and Nutiva, now make their products from Canadian hemp. Although hemp now grows wild across the U.S., a vestige of centuries of hemp farming here, the hemp for these products must be imported. Hemp clothing is made around the world by well-known brands such as Patagonia, Bono's Edun and Giorgio Armani.

There is strong support among key national organizations for a change in the federal government's position on hemp. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) "supports revisions to the federal rules and regulations authorizing commercial production of industrial hemp." The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has also passed a pro-hemp resolution.

Numerous individual states have expressed interest in and support for industrial hemp as well. Sixteen states have passed pro-hemp legislation, and eight states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia) have removed barriers to its production or research. North Dakota has been issuing state licenses to farmers for two years now. The new bill will remove federal barriers and allow laws in these states regulating the growing and processing of hemp to take effect.

"Under the current national drug control policy, industrial hemp can be imported, but it can't be grown by American farmers," says Steenstra. "The DEA has taken the Controlled Substances Act's antiquated definition of marijuana out of context and used it as an excuse to ban industrial hemp farming. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 will return us to more rational times when the government regulated marijuana, but allowed farmers to continue raising industrial hemp just as they always had."