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Researchers: Alcohol Health Risks Underestimated, Marijuana Relatively Safe

schwit1 writes Compared to other recreational drugs — including alcohol — marijuana may be even safer than previously thought. And researchers may be systematically underestimating risks associated with alcohol use. They found that at the level of individual use, alcohol was the deadliest substance (abstract), followed by heroin and cocaine.

398 comments

  1. FFS by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is only news to those who have had their head in the ground, listening to fox news and government shills.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:FFS by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Hopefully more of the anti-drug warriors will start actually listening to this stuff.

      Heroin isn't all that bad as long as it's medical quality and administered professionally.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    2. Re:FFS by sysrammer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Heroin isn't all that bad as long as it's medical quality and administered professionally.

      I imagine the same thing can be said for alcohol.

      sr

      "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    3. Re:FFS by ganjadude · · Score: 2

      clearly. The news has been overwhelming for decades now the studies have been done (and buried) by the government since at least 76.

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    4. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      For every one of these research papers, there is another one citing the dangers of the drug. The same journal has a study showing pot-smoking teens are 60% less likely to finish high school than ones who don't. You can't cherry pick your science by headlines. The proper argument for legalizing should be freedom, not safety.

    5. Re:FFS by fustakrakich · · Score: 1, Troll

      I always thought that my father's generation would be the last of the prohibitionists. Imagine my disappointment at seeing people my age voting for people like Reagan and his racist drug policies, twice! And to this day voting for business as usual while enjoying their after dinner spliffs. Maybe Obama can still surprise us by pardoning everybody in the system for pot, like Maher asked. It's almost 80 years overdue.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    6. Re:FFS by ganjadude · · Score: 2

      why go back to reagan??? obama promised to leave states alone, and not 2 months into office his people are busting innocent people who he promised (when needing votes) to leave alone.

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    7. Re:FFS by Dutchmaan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's a difference between physical danger and social effects.

    8. Re:FFS by 0123456789 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Causation is hard to identify in your example though: does smoking pot encourage teens to drop out; or are the teens that are on track to drop out, more likely to smoke pot?

    9. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is only news to those who have had their head in the ground, listening to fox news and government shills.

      Uh, hey just so you know, that would be the majority of society there, dumbass, in case you haven't been paying attention to where this counts; at the voting booth.

    10. Re:FFS by mwehle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's a difference between physical danger and social effects.

      Glad to see someone making this point. The article cited is about the relative lethal dose of various drugs. Discussion of the risks/benefits of marijuana use do not generally include a debate around the risk that someone will smoke to the point of death, unlike discussion of campus alcohol consumption, which must take into account frat and other alcohol poisoning deaths. Actual deaths, though, are not the most significant social effect of widespread alcohol or pot consumption.

      --
      Wir sind geboren, um frei zu sein - Rio Reiser
    11. Re:FFS by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There's a difference between physical danger and social effects.

      It is important to note that this study ONLY looks at the physical danger of the drug itself. I don't think it surprises even the most ardent opponent of weed that people very, very rarely die from THC overdose. That is NOT the reason they oppose it. The only meaningful comparison is when you include the "social effects", such as deaths from intoxicated driving, and also the economic cost of alcoholism, apathetic potheads, etc. But the argument that "weed is not as bad as alcohol" really isn't a convincing argument for legalization. Instead you need to compare the costs and benefits of legalized dope, with the costs and benefits of dope prohibition. I think that Colorado and Washington make a pretty clear case for legalization.

    12. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The proper argument for legalizing should be freedom, not safety. BECAUSE YOU ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS BE A JUNKIE.

    13. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Could it be that pot smoking teens got kicked out, or otherwise detained and kept out?

    14. Re:FFS by mujadaddy · · Score: 1

      Don't confuse the issue with your pesky linear time. I see your very username itself is stuck in opposite brain wrongthinking forward modes.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
    15. Re:FFS by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      the best argument is the constitutional one.

      They needed an amendment to outlaw alcohol. so the same should hold true with X Y and Z

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    16. Re:FFS by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Yellow politics has a very long history. I didn't vote for Obama, or Reagan. I already knew they are liars. I am only criticizing the people that do vote for them despite the lies. For this I will be attacked. Introspection is just not on the table.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    17. Re:FFS by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      Causation is hard to identify in your example though: does smoking pot encourage teens to drop out;

      The answer is absolutely yes, it can cause some kids to drop out of school.

      I have witnessed my best friend go from a straight A student throughout high school to dropping out the last half of his senior year so he could smoke pot. This set him back a long way, and he had to go back and get a GED 3 years later. It was a clear case of pot's impact on this particular kid, it didn't have the same impact on my or other close friends who all started about that time.

    18. Re:FFS by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

      See also: gateway drugs.

    19. Re:FFS by Bender+Unit+22 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the anti-drug warriors are more interested in the money that are to be made from "fighting" drugs and locking people up.

    20. Re:FFS by rrohbeck · · Score: 1

      I don't think so. In university some pharmacy or chemistry guys could scrounge pure ethanol. (98 or 99%.) Screwdrives with that were nasty.

    21. Re:FFS by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      You mean "slippery slope fallacy drugs"?

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    22. Re:FFS by mi · · Score: 0

      I don't think so. In university some pharmacy or chemistry guys could scrounge pure ethanol. (98 or 99%.) Screwdrives with that were nasty.

      But nobody became addicted to that after 1 or 2 dozes, have they? Heroin, on the other hand, is so addictive, a decent percentage of humans get hooked after only a few dozes.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    23. Re:FFS by gweihir · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Indeed. There are quite a few older heroin addicts that are productive member of society. They tend to have money and education, as the unregulated market is the main risk. These results just show that the "War on Drugs" is not something rational and does untold harm.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    24. Re:FFS by gweihir · · Score: 2

      Actually, no. At the levels needed to get the desired effect, Alcohol is far more dangerous than Heroin.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    25. Re:FFS by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      oh it was no attack at all on my part, I was just curious on your reasoning for choosing him. being the most vocal in the WoD, it was a good one to go with

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    26. Re:FFS by gweihir · · Score: 1

      While I agree on freedom, careful study of the research results show that the "War on Drugs" is not fact-based. That can be used to discredit its proponents.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    27. Re:FFS by rrohbeck · · Score: 1

      This isn't about the addiction potential, only about the purity. And I wasn't exactly serious.

    28. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might want to reread the article, they listed Meth as the second safest drug. So yeah, they are full of shit.

    29. Re:FFS by MrBigInThePants · · Score: 1

      In other news the risk of becoming an informed citizen after reading slashdot comments is also close to zero.

      The risk of the opposite gets closer to 100% every day...

    30. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ie, susceptibility varies a lot. Be nice if there were a way to characterize it, other than by hindsight.

    31. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am not under the alcafluence of incahol as some thinkle peep I are.

    32. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well nicotine is even more addictive than heroin and tobacco is sold everywhere.

    33. Re:FFS by camg188 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Every single person that I know that drinks alcohol drank milk first.

      Milk. Not even once.

    34. Re:FFS by ZorglubZ · · Score: 1

      Nor am I as think as you drunk I am, yuo scroundel!

    35. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They didn't need a Constitutional amendment, the temperence merely used one to make the universal ban compulsory and tie the hands of government.

      Bad practice that, with a narrowly tailored mandate, but no worse than some states have done.

    36. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a difference between physical danger and social effects.

      Glad to see someone making this point. [...] Actual deaths, though, are not the most significant social effect of widespread alcohol or pot consumption.

      kind of hard to find much significant impact from pot smoking that I've ever seen or heard about. however there are stories in the news daily about alcohol and I've personally seen many incidents. That's all anecdotal and useless facts.

      The real issue is that the lethal dose for alcohol is very very close to the recreational levels many people try to maintain. The same is not true for pot.

    37. Re:FFS by gatfirls · · Score: 2

      Really, it's what happens when you politicize a topic. All of the facts fly out the window and it becomes special interest and ideology.

      It's the epitome of Colbert's 'truthiness' about the way he feels in his gut about the facts.

    38. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So it was his choice to drop out and smoke pot that led to his change. People have done similar when they've fallen in love. You still have not demonstrated pot itself was the cause since you'll find a considerably larger number of people who smoked pot and still graduated without suffering.

    39. Re:FFS by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      :-) I meant the downmod... But it's not all bad.

      After Nixon, it was Reagan who really got the ball rolling on the sentencing that has bumped up the prison population so dramatically. And of course the damn democrats have proven useless or worse, complicit. Civil forfeiture is a Biden thing, to which they are taking baby steps to atone, just enough to keep voters from straying.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    40. Re: FFS by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      10th amendment says if it is not in the constitution, the federal government has no say in it

      as such, states are well within their rights to have laws on the books here, the feds abusing the interstate commerce clause to outlaw products it doesnt like is clearly outside the scope of the intended use

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    41. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know, right? A study can't possibly be valid if its conclusions don't agree with my preconceptions! Obviously!

    42. Re:FFS by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Actually, no. At the levels needed to get the desired effect, Alcohol is far more dangerous than Heroin.

      That depends on so many different factors that it's a pointless thing to say. A person who has developed a tolerance for heroin might daily take what would be a near-lethal dose for others.

      The main thing here, though, is that OP is misleading. TFA explains (though not very straightforwardly) that they are measuring potential harm based not only on actual exposure, but also on the proportion of the population likely to be exposed. By that measure, alcohol being highest "risk" is a foregone conclusion.

    43. Re:FFS by DeathElk · · Score: 1

      www.youtube.com/watch?v=0or9-xYdU0k

    44. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They think alcohol is bad, they should look at tylenol.

    45. Re:FFS by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      And they breathe air.

      You know who else who breathed air? Hitler. That's who.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    46. Re:FFS by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      It was his choice to smoke pot, which led to his skipping school. It makes sense that it affects different people differently, if you want to assume otherwise go ahead. Compared to those who have accidents, "a considerably larger number of people" who drive drunk arrive at their destination with no incident. That would be foolish logic to apply.

      My friend knows very well it was smoking pot, he admits it freely and regrets it. It is quite clear in this situation that if he didn't start smoking he would not have dropped out.

    47. Re: FFS by Shakrai · · Score: 2

      And the Supreme Court says that the Congressional power to regulate interstate commerce extends even to plants that you grow for personal use with no intention of resale.

      I don't really like or agree with those rulings but they are the law of the land, for better or worse....

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    48. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No it does not

    49. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS have all been pro weed all along? I don't think so. And Bill O'Reilly /= Fox News, just a subset of it. (And I happen to think he's wrong on this too)

    50. Re:FFS by sfcat · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't think so. In university some pharmacy or chemistry guys could scrounge pure ethanol. (98 or 99%.) Screwdrives with that were nasty.

      But nobody became addicted to that after 1 or 2 dozes, have they? Heroin, on the other hand, is so addictive, a decent percentage of humans get hooked after only a few dozes.

      If that was really the case then people who were given morphine drips in hospitals would have high rates of addiction after leaving the hospital. But this doesn't happen. People who get addicted to Opioids either are in constant, on-going pain (due to injury or other reason) or are purely recreational users who are likely responding to external stresses. Basically, the entire model of addiction you are using is wrong and the numbers on addiction bear this out quite clearly. And before you tell me about "soldier's sickness" after the Civil war, remember that most of those soldiers had on-going, serious pain management issues (due to missing limbs and poor quality surgery at the time). This is why our "war on drugs" has been such a monumental failure, our basic model of addiction is wrong and leads you to believe non-sense (like your post). Heroin is certainly addictive but addiction is a response to stress and pain, not a moral failing or a bio-chemical crutch. A better model is provided by the Rat Park research. Policy using this model as a basis will be much more effective if for no other reason than its a far more accurate model of how humans behave than the practically medieval way we deal with addiction right now.

      --
      "Those that start by burning books, will end by burning men."
    51. Re:FFS by speedlaw · · Score: 1

      Godwin's law...score ! It is nice to travel to places where it is legal or tolerated. A trip to Colorado is instructive. I await the east coast....

    52. Re:FFS by Pumpkin+Tuna · · Score: 1

      Good point. I'm befuddled by the recent trend of pot enthusiasts attacking alcohol and overstating it's dangers the way people overstate the dangers of pot. It's a weird way to try and prove your point.

    53. Re:FFS by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 4, Informative

      The same journal has a study showing pot-smoking teens are 60% less likely to finish high school than ones who don't.

      I would suspect alcohol also has an undesirable effect on high school graduation rates.

    54. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are countless "illegal" laws on the books, put there by corrupt administration after corrupt administration.

    55. Re:FFS by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      The Rat Park link is an interesting read.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    56. Re:FFS by Technician · · Score: 1

      I wonder where other common items in the diet would fall.

      How does table salt compare against booze ounce for ounce?

      Big deal, you can eat an entire plant and live. This does not mean I'm going to not have any salt, as it is essential to life. Moderation is essential with most everything consumed. in large amounts, drinking water is deadly.

      By no means am I suggesting you should not ever drink any water or anything containing water as ingredient. Same for alcohol. Limit intake to safe levels.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
    57. Re:FFS by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Godwin's law...score !

      It is nice to travel to places where it is legal or tolerated.

      I don't know, I think Godwin's law is legal, if not tolerated, world-wide.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    58. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Think things through" does not mean "set up a false dichotomy between a strawman and my desired conclusion".

    59. Re:FFS by Sperbels · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not a recent trend. It's been the biggest argument for decades. Alcohol kills people. Alcohol turns regular people into assholes. Weed? Waaaaay more benign.

    60. Re:FFS by Sperbels · · Score: 1

      I suspect all those pot-smoking teens are drinking too.

    61. Re:FFS by rahvin112 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Instead you need to compare the costs and benefits of legalized dope

      The only comparison that should be made is, does the guy smoking/drinking "X" impede on your personal rights. If the answer is no there shouldn't even be a law on the subject. Alcohol and drug prohibition do not work because they are trying to protect people from themselves. Prohibition actually makes the problem far worse by not only increasing the desire to do them, but putting crime networks behind the highly lucrative trade and sale.

      Prohibition has failed twice now, it doesn't work and you'd do well to acknowledge that fact. You'd also do well to get off the Nanny state bandwagon.

    62. Re:FFS by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's why "pure" heroine and professional administration eliminate OD. A hardened user that makes up his usual dose, and it's "borrowed" by a new user is how so many new users OD. That and the users that are used to one cheap line from one dealer, who switch to a more pure one, and OD from that. OD is caused by the illegality of it. Alcohol OD is caused by it being a poison. A touch of arsenic isn't deadly, nor is a touch of rat poison. But you don't want to use them regularly to unconsciousness, as so many do with alcohol.

    63. Re:FFS by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Godwin's law...score !

      It is nice to travel to places where it is legal or tolerated.

      I don't know, I think Godwin's law is legal, if not tolerated, world-wide.

      Yes. Who's going to protect us from Godwin's law abuse?

      Think of the CHILDREN!!!

    64. Re:FFS by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Yes, one is real.

    65. Re:FFS by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Lots of stuff isn't fact-based. Lots more is based on facts that people decided should be true, regardless of whether they were or not.

      Practically speaking, the attempt to force people to be moral is futile, whether your law is an amendment to the US Constitution or Sharia.

      If you want people to be "moral", show them why it's better to be "moral". Don't ram it down their throats. It just doesn't work.

    66. Re:FFS by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      The same journal has a study showing pot-smoking teens are 60% less likely to finish high school than ones who don't.

      I would suspect alcohol also has an undesirable effect on high school graduation rates.

      Nonsense! Half my high school class went out and got drunk after graduation!

    67. Re:FFS by dryeo · · Score: 1

      They think alcohol is bad, they should look at tylenol.

      But it mostly kills kids and takes long enough for them to die of liver failure that they can pretend otherwise.
      Aspirin also kills a lot of people, generally through stomach bleeding. When we were kids we used to try to get high on aspirin + coca cola, way more hazardous then if we'd access to pot or even alcohol.
      Have to remember that people, including kids, who are heavily attracted to drugs are trying to escape from their horrible life and are more likely to abuse the drugs. Tylenol mostly kills kids who thinks it is candy.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    68. Re:FFS by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Yeah, you gotta be careful, but heroine is the safest, most effective drug there is for pain relief. Just one more reason why it is illegal. Most users don't make the news.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    69. Re: FFS by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      such insight. I must change my views at once!

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    70. Re:FFS by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Because Ronald (Get the Government Off the Backs of the People) Reagan is the one who presided over the passage of the laws that say that until you prove yourself innocent each and every time you apply for a job and get hired you're repeatedly assumed being guilty of being an illegal immigrant drug addict. Yes, there are jobs you can apply for that don't have the drug-test part, but most of the better-paying ones and pretty much all the government ones do. Except for congressthings. Who probably have a higher addiction rate than you'd find in the ghetto.

      We got the drug tests because 2 idiots got stoned while driving an Amtrak train. I don't know precisely what triggered the proof-of-citizenship thing, but considering all the screaming we've done over the last decade or so about illegal immigrants, I don't think that that one's working.

      I don't agree that Ron and Nancy Reagan's drug policies were racist, although statistically it's plain that enforcement has been.

    71. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try taking that argument to court. You won't get far. The 10th Amendment has no teeth and one of the first things the Federal Gov't did was tax liquor. They could have done the same, and effected prohibition the same way.

      Really, hanging your hat on the 18th Amendment is just a bad idea, it's really important to recognize what it was, an attempt to compel government across the whole country to behave in a certain way, not because it establishes any principles regarding federal authority on its own.

      As I said, though, it's no worse than some states have done with their own amendments. And the 18th Amendment didn't even require a popular referendum. It was just the work of movement with a particular agenda. Hmm, kinda reminds me of TRAP.

    72. Re:FFS by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      The same journal has a study showing pot-smoking teens are 60% less likely to finish high school than ones who don't.

      What laws were the control group regularly breaking?

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    73. Re:FFS by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      . I don't think it surprises even the most ardent opponent of weed that people very, very rarely die from THC overdose.

      Has there ever been one? I've read where you'd die of asphyxia before THC OD if you smoke it, and you'd die of gastric rupture or such if you ate MJ brownies or something. And I don't know of anyone who distilled THC to an injectable drug to force an OD.

      Every THC OD I've ever seen has been a OD on something else with THC present.

      That is NOT the reason they oppose it.

      No, racism and ignorance are the big reasons they are against it.

      This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.
      --Harry J. Anslinger

    74. Re:FFS by enzo1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Your arguments are invalid. You are incorrectly equating heroin to morphine. Heroin is both a stronger opioid and more short-acting, making it more addictive. Morphine and other opioids used for chronic medical conditions are not addictive in the same sense because the brain does not receive a pharmacologically intense pleasure signal, which is the basis of addiction. (They do cause physical dependence, which results effectively in addiction.)

    75. Re: FFS by chihowa · · Score: 1

      Well, the Supreme Court also said that the Supreme Court gets to decide the Constitutionality of laws, even though that power isn't assigned to them in the Constitution.

      I agree with them that someone should be in charge of judicial review and they are probably the best equipped to handle it, but at the same time they seem to be taking on a lot of authority that wasn't delegated to them and using that to give undelegated powers to other branches.

      What actually is the "law of the land" is on pretty shaky ground, constitutionally.

      --
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    76. Re:FFS by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      You forget about the one thing the drug war does that nothing else does. Strips the black man from his vote. Putting black people (estimated to use drugs at the same rate as whites) in prison more (estimated at 10x the rate of whites), does more to strip rights from the underclass than anything else ever could. If it weren't for the permanent loss of rights for criminals, I don't think there'd be any resolve for a drug war. But when the drug war gives a way to strip primarily black people from their vote, then it has a great reason to exist. For those who don't like black people.

    77. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real issue is that the lethal dose for alcohol is very very close to the recreational levels many people try to maintain. The same is not true for pot.

      Thank goodness, because if somebody hit LD50 on THC via weed, every fucking White Castle in Ohio would be taken out in a mellow shitstorm.

    78. Re:FFS by kimvette · · Score: 1

      > I don't think it surprises even the most ardent opponent of weed that people very, very rarely die from THC overdose.

      "very very rarely" in the case of cannabis means never. It takes tens of pounds of cannabis to obtain enough THC to overdose.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    79. Re:FFS by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Some people can take a drug like heroin a few times and then leave it. Some take it a few times and can't do without it. This is fact. Alcohol can be seriously addictive as well while some may only drink socially. Every case is different and different drugs affect different people in different ways. At one time opium was legal in the US. It was banned due to serious problems with it's abuse. Alcohol was at one time banned as well but it proved too popular to ban. If people don't like a law they don't obey it and all prohibition did was cause organized crime to flourish. It's the same with all drugs, if people want to do them then the market will serve them. I'm all for legalizing the recreational use of drugs for adults with some limitations but then I am a Libertarian who feels that people are and should be responsible for themselves. When they fuck their lives up with these drugs they should entirely bear the burden of their choices. Failing that then no.

    80. Re:FFS by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      One of the most addictive drugs is nicotine, hence tobacco.

      Most addictions come from 'abuse' or more precisely continued mindless usage. Heroine itself is not particular addictive. That you get addicted from it after a 'few dozen' usages is a myth.

      Being addicted is mainly a psychological problem, not really connected to the substance(s) you use.

      --
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    81. Re:FFS by sound+vision · · Score: 1

      Spliffs are better before dinner, to enhance the meal. Of course, you can always smoke before AND after, that's usually what I do.

    82. Re:FFS by Kevin+Fishburne · · Score: 1

      This is only news to those who have had their head in the ground, listening to fox news and government shills.

      Before clicking the article the words "head up their ass" were already on my fingertips. Nicely done.

      --
      Buy your next Linux PC at eightvirtues.com
    83. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ya well Ive try both quite regularly and I can tell you Alcohol is worse in every way.

      if you not convinced yet... try it yourself. Make sure its a through test though :)

    84. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rubbish, there are 1000s of jobs that do not require a drug test. 1000s if not millions of software developers are hired every day with no drug test and those are some of the best paying jobs. I've had multiple defense jobs and not had a drug test.

      Yes, Reagan started the ill-planned war on drugs and a bunch of other crap but the notion that you can't get a quality job without a drug test is complete and utter rubbish.

    85. Re:FFS by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      I swear the only time I ever hear about fox news is from people who claim to hate it who just randomly bring it up in conversation. It's as if they watch it all the time so it's always on their mind every time they want to talk about any given subject.

    86. Re: FFS by Shakrai · · Score: 2

      What actually is the "law of the land" is on pretty shaky ground, constitutionally.

      Not really. Congress and the Executive never disputed Marbury v. Madison, therefore it is the de facto law of the land. I find it highly unlikely that either branch of Government is going to contest it now, 200 years after the fact. Congress would be best equipped to do so, since they exercise a lot of power over the structure of the judiciary (not to mention their budget), but do you honestly see any appetite in today's political climate to challenge the concept of judicial review? More to the point, do you really think it's a good idea?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    87. Re:FFS by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      In university some pharmacy or chemistry guys could scrounge pure ethanol. (98 or 99%.)

      ...

      Its called Everclear, you buy it at any liquor store. They didn't exactly have to do much scrounging.

      Screwdrives with that were nasty.

      No shit, EVERYTHING with 98% pure poison in it is nasty. You do realize alcohol is a poison by definition, right?

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    88. Re:FFS by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Morphine != Heroine, but you probably think crack and powdered cocaine are the same as well, right?

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    89. Re:FFS by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      When I was in high school, everyone who smoked (tobacco) also smoked marijuana or pot, on parties.

      One or two smokers (don't remember the non smokers) dropped out of school early and took other career paths. No one 'dropped out of life' or had major issues in life.

      My graduation class was about 70 people. The year before my class was more or less the same, but I did not pay attention about who was dropping out.

      People usually dropped out because they could not handle the stress of graduation, to many meaningless tests in subjects they only took because the ministry of education forced them to do so.

      Completely idiotic grading rules e.g. you write a test in english or german, have more then like 5 spelling errors per page, you get the worst grade possible. Regardless of 'what you actually where writing about'. Does anyone have an idea how to teach students spelling? Obviously not, or students would know how to spell.

      They even tried to extend that idiotic rule for math, physics, social sciences, geography and other topics.

      You are supposed to answer math questions like this: "If 13 workers need 24 hours to plaster 100m of road, how long do 5 workers need for 12m?" with a sentence like this "5 worklers need X hours for 12M" As I fabricated 2 spelling errors into the answer I would get likely less then half the point the calculation was worth (if the ruling would have been established, luckily it wasn't)

      I really doubt that dropping out of school has much to do with what drugs you take during school.

      Your friend had also dropped out if he had drunk or used heroine or simply had enjoyed sleeping into the day.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    90. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Arguing that weed is not as bad as alcohol is a convincing argument for legalization if you accept the premise that by making a substance illegal, the government is curtailing individuals' rights.

    91. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not "quite clear". Your friend could habitually deflect his own shortcomings onto other objects or persons so he doesn't feel bad for himself. And I bet to justify & make it easier for himself to do so, he smokes weed. Weed doesn't make you a lazy ass, a criminal, or whatever bullshit one may try to blame on it. You were always lazy, always a criminal, or always a bullshitter but weed makes you not care and be ok with it.

    92. Re:FFS by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 1

      Were you in the other half that drank too early and never graduated?

    93. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NOTE to other readers: Rabid did not specify if that half participated in said graduation only in what time frame said slackers got drunk.

    94. Re: FFS by chihowa · · Score: 1

      The constitutionality of judicial review isn't determined by the degree of contest from other branches of government, but from the powers delegated by the Constitution. If your argument is that any power usurped by the government that isn't contested by that same government is the law of the land, then you're no longer discussing a constitutional state.

      To bring this back on topic, I think that the zany antics displayed in Wickard v. Filburn, and the near complete absence of a check on that sort of topsy-turvy decision, pretty clearly demonstrate that the Supreme Court is not really suited to handle judicial review.

      The public discussion of judicial review is pretty sparse, partly because it's been around for so long that most people genuinely think that it's an enumerated power (an easily corrected mistake that is pretty pathetic in its own right), but that doesn't mean that the process is universally accepted. Of course the government, which is benefitting greatly by not being bound by a constitution, isn't debating the validity of the process. They get to claim the validity of being a constitutional state while simultaneously acting free from any well defined constitutional rules. What's to complain about?

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    95. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reply the study doesn't appear to control for ease of access.

      Alcoholic beverages are easy to get. I can think of four places of access within a hundred yards.

      Marijuana is still illegal in most places and was always more difficult, and dangerous to get a hold of in quantity.

    96. Re:FFS by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      But fun, I'll bet. Anyways, the caveat about "administered professionally" comes into play here.

      Support Your Local Bartender or Mixologist

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    97. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, most of the alcohol ODs are caused by the drinking age.

    98. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't think so. In university some pharmacy or chemistry guys could scrounge pure ethanol. (98 or 99%.) Screwdrives with that were nasty.

      But nobody became addicted to that after 1 or 2 dozes, have they? Heroin, on the other hand, is so addictive, a decent percentage of humans get hooked after only a few dozes.

      Yep, any human who only has a few dozes, immediately becomes addicted to sleeping for the rest of their lives.

    99. Re:FFS by bigfinger76 · · Score: 1

      Nixon started it, actually.

    100. Re:FFS by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 2

      It takes tens of pounds of cannabis to obtain enough THC to overdose.

      Just curious, can you provide a cite for that? I've only ever heard that LD50 has never actually been established for THC even in lab conditions, only estimated.

      According to the DEA in 1988 in docket 86-22;

      A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response

      Admittedly that's not a terribly recent report so I was wondering if you knew of a more recent study.

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    101. Re:FFS by blind+biker · · Score: 1

      Sorry to interject, but it should be noted that morphine and heroin are quite different when it comes to addictiveness. I am not supporting nor denying the OPs claim that people get "hooked" after a couple of tries with heroin (as far as I know, that's not true for most people), but your reply is non-sequitur.

      --
      "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    102. Re:FFS by segwonk · · Score: 1

      "The same journal has a study showing pot-smoking teens are 60% less likely to finish high school than ones who don't."

      Wait a minute, I thought *everyone* already agreed that, due to its affect on brain development, teenagers shouldn't be smoking pot?

      Having said that, I assume Colorado and Washington won't sell to under 21. But I don't know - am I wrong about that?

      --
      - ------ Go 'til ya know.
    103. Re:FFS by DeBaas · · Score: 1

      probably the same can be said of people not wearing glasses. I say: let's make wearing glasses compulsory!

      --
      ---
    104. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes

      Drop by my place Saturday and let's give it a good try, shall we?

    105. Re:FFS by znrt · · Score: 2

      bullshit.

    106. Re:FFS by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

      Drop by my place Saturday and let's give it a good try, shall we?

      I'm keen, but the stuff I got just recently is so good I've found I just can't extract my arse from the couch. :(

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    107. Re:FFS by Firethorn · · Score: 2

      No link, but I heard on NPR that back during the Korean/Vietnam war absolutely embarrassing numbers of troops were addicted to heroin.

      The military tried an experiment- they dried them out and had them ride out the physical addiction over there in special centers BEFORE shipping them back to the states.

      Their success, measured by how many soldiers(and ex-soldiers) fell back into addiction, was all out of line of the thinking of the time.

      They came to the conclusion that a large part of the addiction must have been environmental - the sharp change between the war zone and the USA resulted in the vast majority of them NOT seeking out heroin.

      Which is why many treatment centers talk about changing the environment to beat addiction.

      By the way, I think the study isn't all that great - it only looks at the chance of death, not other possible long and short term negative effects from consumption. It's relatively easy to kill yourself by overdosing on Heroin, but from what I've read, if you can successfully ride that line(not difficult for a doctor), you can take it pretty much for life without other negative effects. You're addicted, but in about the same way a diabetic is addicted to insulin.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    108. Re:FFS by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 2

      A significantly higher proportion of teens who smoke pot will go on to develop schizophrenia than those who don't. It is not a benign drug. You wouldn't get high if it was.

      --
      -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
    109. Re:FFS by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Yea, they should have made alcohol consumption illegal 95 years ago. But I guess there wasn't idea on the danger of alcohol consumption.

      While pot may be safer then alcohol it doesn't mean that it is good for you. Alcohol consumption has a wide cultural background for good or for bad. Pot and tobacco much less so. We want to get people to stop smoking tobacco too. Why should we just green light pot just because it is less bad, but still bad.

      Now for legit medical use, it makes sence and it should be legal for medical. But for recreational use it should fall under the same category as pain killers.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    110. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Heroin is the same chemical formula as diamorphine which is widely administered intravenously in hospitals for severe pain management. There might be contamination in heroin sold on streets which could change its properties but other than that there is no reason to consider one more stronger than another.

    111. Re:FFS by beerbear · · Score: 1

      Until you take the weed away - then (some?) mellow weed users also become assholes. Nevertheless, I still think weed is the lesser evil.

      --
      Hold my beer and watch this!
    112. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That specific argument is still in the correlation or causality phase of research. It's possible people who will later develop schizophrenia are more likely to calm themselves with cannabis.

      There's however quite clear research that young brains that do a lot of cannabis use (as is the same with alcohol) will fall lower on the IQ scale as adults. Lasting changes. The same research is clear on that effect not being there for those who begin cannabis use as adults.

      So - legalize with age restrictions. Seems reasonably close to a lot of other things sold over the counter - with age restrictions - every day already.

    113. Re:FFS by dclydew · · Score: 3, Informative

      Later studies (2013) debunked the older studies (2011 and before) that marijuana causes schizophrenia in teens. A Harvard study which included pot smokers and their families (both with and without psychotic illness). The data indicates that if you're genetically predisposed to psychotic illness, you're likely to have psychotic illness and marijuana may have an effect on onset age. If you're not genetically predisposed to psychotic illness, then you're not likely to have a psychotic illness, even if you're a teenage stoner. It appears that young people with genetic predisposition to psychotic illness may seek out self-medication with marijuana, but the numbers show a very strong correlation with family traits and no statistically significant correlation with Marijuana use.

      http://www.schres-journal.com/...

      That's not to say that Marijuana is completely without risks, especially in adolescents with a predisposition to genetic or psychological issues. However, most recent studies do seem to indicate that without the predisposition, 'harm' is relatively limited. In adults, most recent studies indicate no long term effects at all.

      Its a shame that the government shut down research on marijuana for so many decades. Who knows how many people could have been helped if doctors had accurate information.

      --
      Get a life, not a lifestyle. - Hikem Bey
    114. Re:FFS by dclydew · · Score: 1

      Recent studies seem to support that among some individuals, there may be genetic predispositions which pot may effectively set off. IT seems that pot may be a trigger for an underlying situation that already exists. I also had a friend that went from straight A's to dropout. However, pot was only a part of a much larger issue. It took him 10 years to eventually come to realize that it wasn't 'just the pot'. It was a combination of some genetic and social (home life) factors... pot was a part of the problem, but not the cause.

      --
      Get a life, not a lifestyle. - Hikem Bey
    115. Re: FFS by MichaelMacDonald · · Score: 1

      No, it can't. Dosing alcohol is difficult. The pharmacology of the drug is very unpredictable. Alcohol is very addictive to a significant portion of society as well. It is worse, in every way, than marijuana.

    116. Re: FFS by MichaelMacDonald · · Score: 1

      Correllation, also, doesn't equal causation. What percentage of kids flunking out of school start smoking pot because they now have extra free time to do so?

    117. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alcohol isn't a poison you dirty mozlem!

    118. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's Islamic talk! Creeping sharia FTL!

    119. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everything is a poison in a high enough dose. Even water. Alcohol can be perfectly metabolized by your organism. In fact, ripe fruit will most probably contain some alcohol. Of course, if you overload your system with alcohol you can even die. But you can say the same about ANYTHING.

    120. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do we get to ask why it is in the first world, with all the wealth and opportunity at our feet, that we feel the need to escape into drugs?

    121. Re:FFS by buck-yar · · Score: 1

      Everclear is illegal in many states. Illegal in my state and both neighboring states.

    122. Re: FFS by MichaelMacDonald · · Score: 1

      Your friend could be lying. It's easy to blame other things for your failures. He could have quit when he realized, for example. I'm sorry, but pot isn't tremendously addictive, and even if it were people quit addictive things every day. The truth is that your friend didn't want to graduate. He should get his ged if he regrets it, and start doing what he has to to be more productive. My guess is that he doesn't want to, and if he couldn't blame pot he would blame something else. I think people should be free to do what they want if it doesn't hurt anyone. And I think that it's the people trying to steal our freedoms by publishing falsified or poorly executed scientific data that are the real problem.

    123. Re: FFS by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      Your friend could be lying. .

      LYING? I was with him the whole time, there is nothing to lie about, a blind man could see what was happening. You are lying to yourself if you have to try that hard to take blame off pot.

      Unbelievable! You have no clue about the situation, and you accuse him of lying because you don't like the association. That says a lot about you. Good day.

    124. Re:FFS by Drethon · · Score: 1

      Heroin isn't all that bad as long as it's medical quality and administered professionally.

      I imagine the same thing can be said for alcohol.

      sr

      "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"

      Alcohol used for an emergency disinfectant is quite effective, or so I've heard. Oh, you were probably talking about consuming it.

    125. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Please account for the fact that the United Kingdom frequently prescribes diamorphine (heroin) in place of morphine. This is one of the "other opioids" being used for chronic medical conditions that you've mentioned, yet pain patients in the UK aren't facing significantly different addiction rates than those of other Western countries.

      Also, having in the past been addicted to various opioids for a number of years, morphine delivers a "pharmacologically intense pleasure signal" just fine. It may not have the rush of heroin, but the enduring high is essentially the same, given that heroin is primarily and rapidly metabolized into morphine, anyhow.

      I'll leave you with this Wikipedia quote: "However, this perception is not supported by the results of clinical studies comparing the physiological and subjective effects of injected heroin and morphine in individuals formerly addicted to opioids; these subjects showed no preference for one drug over the other. Equipotent injected doses had comparable action courses, with no difference in subjects' self-rated feelings of euphoria, ambition, nervousness, relaxation, drowsiness, or sleepiness."

    126. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is just me personally, but while I don't care if you smoke marijuana or whatever generally.

      However I care if I have to breathe your poison walking down the street, or my kids do. I would ban all public smoking of any kind but you can do whatever you want with your friends or by yourself in private places.

    127. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or possibly he was using drugs in some manner of self medication. Teenagers don't really understand their minds or their bodies or why they do they the things they do.Furthermore changes are happening at that time and various mental disorders begin manifesting themselves more strongly. Your story seems similar to those identifying a casual relationship between autism and vaccines. I smoked tons of weed all day long for 15 years. A good friend never made it out of high school, one was a successful entrepreneur, I have a PhD, and the rest have had varying (good) outcomes. Your anecdote isn't evidence of anything, and probably upon further study would disprove the point you are trying to make.

    128. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5sOh4gKPIg

    129. Re:FFS by jittles · · Score: 1

      Heroin is certainly addictive but addiction is a response to stress and pain, not a moral failing or a bio-chemical crutch.

      Long term use of these drugs do create a change in your biochemical system. Not a permanent change, but there are, in my opinion, two types of addictions: a chemical addiction and an emotional one. You are either trying to escape pain/stress, as you say, or your body stops producing the chemicals provided by the drug. You could have a procedure done to block the pain and would still have a hard time quitting long term opioid use.

    130. Re:FFS by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I know. Marijuana in vogue, alcohol falling out of favor.

      Their argument is that you take like 1/20 the amount of alcohol needed to kill you (20 beers = death) versus 1/1000 the amount of THC needed to kill you (1000 joints = death), therefor alcohol is worse for you than marijuana. That's a very unscientific approach.

      It's part of the propaganda movement to ban alcohol for anyone under the age of 25.

    131. Re:FFS by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      Yet many people receive long term treatment on heroine and similar substances (like the highly addictive morphine) for extended periods and then, after leaving the hospital, the vast majority of them just... stop.

      No addiction.

      The evidence is growing ever more that addiction is not primarily a biological but a psychological phenomenon. It has biological symptoms and they get more severe (heroine withdrawal is ugly) but there seems to be a growing scientific consensus that the chemistry is not the major factor. The reality of people getting addicted to activities like gambling supports this too.

      And the high success rate of Portugal's drug rehab programs (coupled with full decriminilization) can be partly attributed to those programs being based around fullfilling unmet psychological needs (such as the need for human connection) which is more likely the true cause.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    132. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      You are incorrectly equating heroin to morphine.

      It's the same. (It's in the Esters of morphine category.)

      Heroin is both a stronger opioid and more short-acting, making it more addictive.

      No, it's basically identical. You're drawing false distinctions between two different names for the same thing. Hospitals use diamorphine all the time.

    133. Re: FFS by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Well he could have been experiencing severe suicidal depression due to his asshole friends not recognizing his psychiatric burn-out, and turned to marijuana as a coping mechanism. I've done similar, but without involving any drugs;sleep for 18 hours a day isolates me from the world better than psychotropics.

    134. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alcohol is especially dangerous because it puts others around the user at risk. Such as the other drivers on the freeway. The opiates limit the risks to just the user-- he'll be on the nod in some corner, not out on the road.

    135. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The kids who are never going to finish high school are more likely to use pot to escape the classroom boredom than the ones who are interested in their schooling? Wow! Who'dah thunk it?

    136. Re:FFS by Slashdot+Parent · · Score: 1

      I'm sure it depends on the person. There are some people who are going to complete school irrespective of pot use and there are some people who will drop out irrespective of pot use. There are still others who might have finished school had they not become a stoner, but unfortunately, their drug use pushed them into the dropout category.

      Personally, I was in the first category: I was always going to complete school, and my drug use did not change that.

      --
      They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
    137. Re: FFS by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      If your argument is that any power usurped by the government that isn't contested by that same government is the law of the land

      Apparently you don't know what the words "de facto" mean.

      I think that the zany antics displayed in Wickard v. Filburn, and the near complete absence of a check on that sort of topsy-turvy decision, pretty clearly demonstrate that the Supreme Court is not really suited to handle judicial review.

      And what do you think would be better suited? I can't fathom that someone smart enough to know about Marbury would want Parliamentary Supremacy.

      The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority

      Congress passes a law, the President signs it, some aggrieved third party says it's unconstitutional. Exactly who do you think should review said law and make the final determination? Near as I can tell, your entire argument against judicial review is that you're unhappy with some of the results.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    138. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. This had nothing to do with his parent's divorce, his GF of 3 years being drug off to Europe when her Dad got the new job, or Eddy's death-- you remember Eddy? The guy your friend did everything with until he got himself killed by that drunk driver?

      Naw. It was the pot that messed him up, caused him to drop out. Not any of those things that led him to smoke so much dope.

    139. Re: FFS by chihowa · · Score: 1

      My entry into this conversation started by me saying that the "law of the land" is on pretty shaky ground, constitutionally, to which you quipped that it is the de facto law of the land (non sequitur much?). In the same post, I specifically conceded that the Supreme Court is probably best suited for judicial review, though certain cases make me skeptical. We appear to be arguing past each other.

      My entire argument is that judicial review, as it is, is not constitutional. As such, the framework surrounding it is not adequately designed and the power is not properly checked. Certain cases illustrate that well, where the only real check would be a constitutional amendment which could be further misinterpreted.

      Your entire argument seems to be that the Constitution should have no bearing on the powers claimed by our government. It sure seems that's the case in practice, but if so we're no longer a constitutional state.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    140. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes there's good reason for this. Many medications can do severe damage to you. And who pays for the care of the individual who is stupid about taking unregulated meds? The tax payer.

    141. Re: FFS by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      My entire argument is that judicial review, as it is, is not constitutional.

      Your argument fails on the merits. See Article III snippet above. If the judiciary has the power to consider cases and controversies arising under the Constitution (this is spelled out in Article III, so I don't think you can dispute that it has such power) then how do you purpose that it exercise such power? Congress passes an infringing law, an aggrieved party sues, and then what happens?

      Frankly I don't see how you can dispute the notion of judicial review. It really seems to me that you're just unhappy with some of the results (as I am, FYI) so you deem it appropriate to condemn the entire system. Why exactly do you think it's unconstitutional?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    142. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Relatively" safe. Bogus.

    143. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Yes, let's ignore any evidence that skunk, in particular, contributes greatly to psychosis with prolonged use.

      The ones with their head in the sand are pro-weed fanatics who refuse to believe anything bad about their beloved substance.

      I drink alcohol and smoke tobacco, but at least I don't think they're going to help me live forever.

    144. Re:FFS by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      "pure" heroine

      An amusing typo in a thread about alcohol and drug abuse.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    145. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It isn't at our feet, but slightly beyond our grasp. It is a ruthless competition out there, with winners and losers. The losers don't always commit suicide. They anesthetize themselves instead.

    146. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm all for legalizing the recreational use of drugs for adults with some limitations but then I am a Libertarian who feels that people are and should be responsible for themselves. When they fuck their lives up with these drugs they should entirely bear the burden of their choices.

      Even if there was a way to enforce this financial, there would still be the emotional damage that people close to them could suffer. Unless one has a way to predict whether they would end up being an addict, experimenting with recreational drug use could lead to disaster, and they would become a burden to others, whether they want to or not. There's plenty of documented examples of this happening. Unless you live in a cold and heartless culture, there will be people who try to help you, whether you like it or not, and some of them will not mind the burden. A society that coldly ignores drug addicts would seem sociopathic. Is that possible?

      When you start using, your ability to take responsibility for your actions is questionable. The more dangerous the drug, the more irresponsible you were for taking it.

      There's millions of cigarette smokers that claim they are not a burden on anyone. But when they get lung cancer(or throat/tongue etc) it's others who are subsidizing their medical bills. They also seem to think that their butts are biodegradable and flick them all over the place. If you see someone smoking in public, they are probably going to litter in the next 5 minutes. Needle users can be even scarier with their littering.

      I'm not advocating another prohibition. I'm just saying that people being responsible for themselves is not a good reason for legalization.

      Cue the drug addicts!

    147. Re: FFS by chihowa · · Score: 1

      Your argument fails on the merits. See Article III snippet above.

      That's somewhat of a stretch to say, considering that the language in Article III isn't as explicit as you claim and even Jefferson disagreed with the court's original claim on that power. (It's even quite ironic that the court claimed the power of judicial review in a case that centered on the limited Article III powers of the court!)

      I emphatically agree that judicial review is necessary. Judicial review, as it is currently stands however, allows four people to renegotiate (or reinterpret) the terms of the contract between the government and the citizens in a way which would require a constitutional amendment (deliberately the most arduous undertaking in our system of government) to reverse. This gives the court vastly more power than intended (as supported by Jefferson's words on the case) and has no effective check in any other branch (which makes it stand out as suspect anyway).

      Instead of just crying about the current implementation being a fait accompli, what should be done is defining a more balanced judicial review process that has proper checks. Of course, I know that I'm way too idealistic and there's no way that our current government (or even the citizens) would do anything to fix this situation. So it is the de facto law of the land, even though its constitutionality is questionable.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    148. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suspect that teens who are less likely to graduate are more likely to smoke pot. Teens that get into the counter culture where marijuana is ubiquitous are the sort that have other challenges that make graduation less likely.

    149. Re: FFS by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      That's somewhat of a stretch to say, considering that the language in Article III isn't as explicit as you claim

      I never claimed it to be explicit, I merely pointed out that Article III vests the judiciary with the power to resolve cases and controversies arising under the Constitution. Judaical review stands to follow from that; if you dispute that Congress has the power to do X where else do you turn but the Judiciary?

      This gives the court vastly more power than intended (as supported by Jefferson's words on the case) and has no effective check in any other branch (which makes it stand out as suspect anyway).

      No effective check? Congress could increase the size of the court tomorrow and the President could appoint new members. It's been suggested before. Congress can also impeach Justices, if push comes to shove, for whatever reason it wishes, and there's no effective check on this power.

      I really don't understand where you're coming from with this whole line of argument, except that you're sore over a few high profile cases. I'm sore about some of them too but I'm not ready to undermine one of the branches of Government because of it....

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    150. Re:FFS by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Was something else going on in his life at the time? You may not know; guys tend not to share that sort of thing.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    151. Re:FFS by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      If you are injured these days, you get a lot of small opiode shots, separated in time.

      In the Vietnam era, when a soldier was injured they gave him one big old shot. Giving him the 'squirt in your pants' opiod rush. That rush is what junkies spend the rest of their lives chasing.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    152. Re:FFS by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      You do realize that, if you make things people want to do illegal, they will perform more illegal actions. If people could buy pot like they can buy tobacco, they wouldn't typically have anything to do with illegal drug dealers, and wouldn't be exposed as much to illegal drugs.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    153. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The blame can't be taken off pot, because it was never on pot to begin with. Your friend made his own decisions, and one hundred percent of the responsibility for those decisions lies with him and him alone.

    154. Re:FFS by cas2000 · · Score: 1

      you say that as if addiction itself is an inherently and undeniably bad thing, but just stop and think about that for a minute: as long as the addict has a good, clean supply what's so bad about addiction?

      in any case, addiction is a result of miserable social and economic conditions rather than any drug - this has been proven in numerous studies.

    155. Re:FFS by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 1

      No, it is regulated much the same way as alcohol.

      Where the states are screwing it up is over taxation. (greed, plain and simple) It is still much cheaper to buy it black market. Medical prices are nearly the same and sometimes less, but retail is taxed at IIRC 25% or so. (WA, don't know about CO)

      They have not realized that they are competing with an entrenched, intelligent black market that has operated for 70+ years right under their noses.

      Now we have a glut of retail pot. The idiots issued way too many grow licenses, but way too few store licenses. Retail growers have gone from it being $20 per gram last year, to $4 per gram this year due to there being far too few retail outlets. Medical and recreational cannot be cross sold, if you grow for retail it must be sold into the (nearly non-existent) retail market. Meanwhile the medical side seems to of found the production/sales balance point.

      Anecdotal observations and opinions from living here.

      Growing pains, of the U-Dub Purple variety...

      --
      Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
    156. Re:FFS by cas2000 · · Score: 1

      Having received morphine and other opiates in hospital for intense pain, i can assure you that it is indeed very pleasurable. One moment you are in excruciating pain, the next in bliss. I've tried street heroin once too, many years ago and IMO it wasn't anywhere near as good or pleasurable as the morphine - probably because i wasn't in any significant physical or emotional pain at the time....it certainly wasn't even good enough to be worth bothering to repeat the experience.

      i've also had numerous prescriptions for oxycodone (aka "hillbilly heroin", reputedly far more addictive than heroin) for chronic pain management over the years, and have managed to remain non-addicted (i.e. i take it when i'm in pain and don't even think about it when i'm not in pain). this is because aside from occasional bouts of excruciating pain, my life isn't terrible.

      It has been proven many times that addiction is a result of miserable living conditions - social, economic, and/or psychological - not a result of the drugs themselves. the addiction is to the relief of pain, whether physical or psychological.

    157. Re:FFS by cas2000 · · Score: 1

      At one time opium was legal in the US. It was banned due to serious problems with it's abuse.

      it was banned because it was popular with chinese immigrants, thus giving police (and the white society who owned them) the power to harass imprison them

      Alcohol was at one time banned as well but it proved too popular to ban.

      alcohol was too popular with WHITES to remain banned.

    158. Re: FFS by chihowa · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure how else to explain my position without repeating myself, so I guess I'll just let it drop. I think I've made my case better than just indicating that I want to undermine the government because I'm sore about an ancient court case, but if that's all thats getting through then I'm just wasting my time here.

      Cheers.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    159. Re:FFS by __aanbvm4272 · · Score: 1

      Yep then they get smarter and realize only losers drink

    160. Re:FFS by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      That's irrelevant. There are always going to be things going on in people's lives. I can tell you for certain that nothing else significant changed in his life during that timeframe other that smoking pot. We were the type of friends that spend all of our free time together.

      I'm seeing a lot of attempts to deflect any blame from pot. I find it quite interesting. I've had one person call him a liar, others claiming it must be some other cause. And now you searching for something else.

      Here's the thing... there are always multiple factors that affect people's behavior. In that sense, the word 'cause' becomes the excuse for others to deflect because it certainly can't be proven philosophically, and certainly there are a list of contributors. But there is a level of common sense that can be applied and it is clear that smoking pot is, if it makes you feel better, a primary contributor.

      I could claim that when a drunk driver kills a family, we should not blame the role of alcohol, that there must have been some reason he drank so much and acted so irresponsibly. But that would be avoiding the real point, and the fact that alcohol was a primary contributor.

      So please, everyone, stop looking for excuses for pot. Its OK to use common sense and admit that a mind affecting substance can have a negative impact on people's lives. There is ample evidence, I've seen if first hand. It doesn't mean its an evil substance, or that you are wrong for using it. Denial and scapegoating is your own problem, not mine or my friends.

    161. Re:FFS by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      They lame it out to 151 proof here.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    162. Re:FFS by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      You haven't seen 'asshole' until you hang with a serious alcoholic trying to detox.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    163. Re:FFS by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      THC OD is unpleasant as hell, but not dangerous.

      Typically happens when you eat to much and don't realize it takes a good hour for edibles to hit.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    164. Re:FFS by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      California has it right. No central database, no state licenses. Just a good old fashioned market economy.

      Also allows for a really nice trade with more backward states. The real money is in growing in CA than exporting to NY.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    165. Re:FFS by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      I think we have different definitions of OD. I use it to indicate a potentially lethal dose. It's more about the LD50 than the non-lethal effects.

    166. Re:FFS by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      A society that coldly ignores drug addicts would seem sociopathic. Is that possible?

      Why would you consider it in the least unlikely? Here in the USA, our laws and social nets routinely ignore (I"m sorry, I meant "tacitly encourage") rape and murder in our prisons, people's consensual sexual choices, people living under bridges (hell, it forces them to live under bridges), their need for healthcare...

      I don't know what makes you think it's some kind of unthinkable step to ignore someone with a drug problem. Right now our "solution" is to jail them, declare them a felon, and ruin their future. Big step to saying "you took it, you deal with it"? Perhaps. But in the direction of kindness instead of worse.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    167. Re:FFS by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      Heroine itself is not particular addictive.

      Speak for yourself. Personally, I found Inara Serra to be extremely addictive. You should have seen me when they cancelled the show.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    168. Re:FFS by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      And we hear from another damned pillow-hugger...

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    169. Re:FFS by disambiguated · · Score: 1

      I was hospitalized once for about 9 weeks, 2 of them in intensive care. I was on a lot of pain medication, so much that it had to be administered by an anesthesiologist. When it came time to start weaning me off, I didn't know what was happening at first. I felt sick like I had the flu. I had hot & cold flashes. I was nervous and irritable and couldn't sleep. The sheets had to be changed twice a day because I was sweating so much. It was awful. And that was in a controlled environment, weaning me off over a period of many days.

      When I asked a nurse what was going on she told me I was going through withdrawal from all the pain meds I had been on. I was certainly addicted at that point, and going through physical withdrawal. I wasn't going through psychological withdrawal though, and I think that's because my brain had never made an association between the high and any behavior of mine. The withdrawal was terrible, but I never thought "I'd feel better if I just got some more." The drugs were being administered by the doctors and in a time-release way throughout the day. If I had taken the same amount of morphine and Oxycontin and whatever else on my own, in a way that made allowed my brain to associate it with a behavior (shooting the drug or whatever) then I would have been an addict by then.

      I think that's partly how nicotine replacement therapy works, too. You put on a patch and get a steady dose of nicotine throughout the day, breaking the link between the drug and the behavior (smoking.) You don't go through physical withdrawal, because you're getting nicotine, but you still miss the behavior. As long as you don't smoke, eventually the brain stops associating the drug with the behavior. Then when it comes time to wean yourself off the patch, you're brain is in the situation I was in in the hospital: it wants the drug, but that no longer motivates the behavior of smoking since the association has been broken.

      It has been proven many times that addiction is a result of miserable living conditions - social, economic, and/or psychological - not a result of the drugs themselves. the addiction is to the relief of pain, whether physical or psychological.

      I don't think that is true: some drugs are inherently addictive. However, I have seen studies showing that the brain doesn't really distinguish emotional pain (from a shitty life, abusive relationships, whatever) from physical pain, so that could explain how people in those situations are more willing to take risks and continue doing things even when the negative consequences start to stack up, but once you're addicted you're addicted -- pain or not.

    170. Re:FFS by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Well, that is rather difficult. Not because you cannot show them, but because most people are not equipped to distinguish truth from clever deception and are hence easily manipulated.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    171. Re:FFS by niftymitch · · Score: 1

      This is only news to those who have had their head in the ground, listening to fox news and government shills.

      This report is interesting in a couple troubling ways.

      The most important one is that it is an example of "consensus science".

      The two groups are presented as expert and citizen at large. The problem with
      this is the experts are experts in sciences unrelated to alcohol or drug addiction.
      Well educated "experts in their field" are notoriously under informed on other issues
      but the ego and strength of conviction is often extreme and extraordinary.

      Way too many smart or conscientious individuals were hoodwinked by the
      the fabrication behind science reported by Andrew Wakefield. His extreme
      and extraordinary conviction on the topic elevated his biased study of
      twelve selected children to the global horror it is now. Worse the issues
      with the MMR vaccine were ignored because the vastly larger numbers of
      Autism cases (1 in 16) while serious febrile seizures in children is perhaps 1 in a
      million doses.

      The good news is that with the dismissal of the Wakefield tomfoolery and
      all that was built on it -- new studies and new methods are at least making
      some progress on the febrile reactions. Mild reactions are common yet
      vastly less risky than any of the three childhood diseases in MMR vaccines.

      The bad news is that Autism research has no clue that I know of for the
      increase in our population. This increase is larger than I can ascribe to
      school districts over diagnosing it to pad the special education staff and
      budget. It is possible that the responsibility to report in schools gets them to report
      any sniff or suspect behaviour and try to classify it. A spectrum diagnosis
      can be astoundingly easy to make as I suspect we all have behaviours that
      are suspect. Too quiet, too noisy, too social, not social enough. Statistics
      indicates that 50% of our students across the nation are below average and
      we must boost our standings in local, state and national tests so that 95% of the
      the student body is above average.

      --
      Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
    172. Re:FFS by niftymitch · · Score: 1

      Well nicotine is even more addictive than heroin and tobacco is sold everywhere.

      Yet withdrawal is not life threatening the way heroin and alcohol are.

      Nicotine might be a much safer anti anxiety drug than the long list of
      too easy to abuse drugs available to doctors.

      Separated from Tobacco there is no Po210 in a nicotine product.
      Some suspect Po210 combined with tar and dust is the most likely
      trigger for lung cancers.

      A vapor (E-cig) or patch that contains nicotine might replace many
      mood altering prescriptions. There are those that daemonize nicotine
      because cigarettes and tobaccos are so clearly associated with
      the big C. The over reaction reminds me of C++ and some programmers.
      But I should not overload this here.

      Cancer is one ugly motherF*&^$r

      --
      Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
    173. Re: FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heroin withdrawal may be unpleasant but it isn't dangerous. Alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal can be fatal if not medically managed.

    174. Re:FFS by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      That rush is what junkies spend the rest of their lives chasing.

      Normally the pain of being shot or otherwise injured negates that.

      How about we go with the generally accepted option:
      1. War sucked, the climate mostly sucked, the area sucked for US personnel, etc... Especially during Korea/Vietnam
      2. Unlike WWII, heroin was readily, easily available.
      3. Ergo, soldiers used often.

      Dry them out from their chemical dependency and ship them home, where heroin is harder to get and life doesn't suck so much, and they don't feel the need to go back. Resulting in expected failure rates of 80% for ceasing use dropping down to over 80% staying off it for at least the period of the multi-year study.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    175. Re:FFS by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The evidence you presented was that you had a friend who started smoking pot heavily and losing interest in school and dropping out. By itself, that doesn't imply anything. Your friend could have gotten hooked on pot, for some reason, and that caused him to ignore school. Your friend could have developed some sort of learning disability and turned to pot to deal with it (much less likely). Your friend could have had something happen in his life that caused him to drop out and smoke a lot of pot, and that, without further information, is quite likely. A smart high school senior, for example, might develop depression.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    176. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the answer is no there shouldn't even be a law on the subject. Alcohol and drug prohibition do not work because they are trying to protect people from themselves.

      When the guy next door consumes an alcoholic beverage, I don't know about it because it's either in his container or in him.

      When the guy next door smokes (tobacco or cannabis), I not only know, I'm forced to close up my house or I'm sharing the smoke as it's floating through the air. On top of this I am asthmatic so it's a health risk to me and others who share my condition.

      I've seen the above argument many times, but it is commonly used until situations like mine arise, which are commonly disregarded in favor exercising one's personal rights. At least with the prohibition in effect, there is some force driving the marijuana smokers away from anyone who may report them, such as myself.

    177. Re:FFS by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      I understand that. But overdose != fatal overdose.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    178. Re:FFS by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      These days they 'titrate' the pain level with many small doses until the pain is managed, even in a war zone.

      Back then they shot them up with a 'good strong hit' and made a mark on their forehead (so they wouldn't get another and OD).

      As you say this is old history and is pretty well understood. They tracked the vets that went through this and found a lot of them having opiate problems. Much more than similar vets without the injury and treatment.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    179. Re:FFS by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Far more people manipulate themselves, however.

    180. Re:FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know I sure was...

    181. Re:FFS by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

      Man.. the person i replied too pointed out the causality issue... are kids who are apathetic more likely to smoke pot, or does smoking pot make them apathetic... it's same issue surrounding the 'gateway' drug argument.

      The kids who start out smoking pot, and then move to more potent drugs are most likely responding to a thrill seeking/risk taking aspect in their personality -- and would wind up engaging in equally risky/poorly conceived behavior regardless of their relationship to marijuana.

      In other words, the 'gateway drug' argument is total bullshit.

    182. Re:FFS by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      That girl actually is one of the most attractive women ever :D perhaps I should get the DVDs of the show once.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    183. Re:FFS by nobodie · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, I was a nicotine addict, and an alcohol addict, so really I think I have to disagree with you, and with another person up above who said that addiction was the need to repeat a pleasurable experience. Cigarette smoking is not, in and of itself, pleasurable. The results are not noticeably pleasurable, it just stops the desire for a cigarette by providing one. (or a drink as well) The true test that I use when talking about addiction is what happens when you do stop: For me, when I quit I suffered extreme discomfort and dislocation of my sense of self and connection to time and space. Basically I was both in pain from withdrawal and confused and dislocated from the present experience.

      Now to point out why marijuana is of a different nature entirely, when I quit smoking pot, after 25 years of daily use, I had no withdrawal symptoms, no desire to smoke afterwards at all. It was over, I quit and have never looked back. While I have no desire for any of these three drugs at this point, the reason I will never smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol again is that I don't want to go through withdrawal and pain/confusion like that again. I won't smoke pot again cause I just don't want to, not afraid of anything, just over it.

      --
      Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
  2. I'll skip both. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No thanks.

    1. Re:I'll skip both. by sysrammer · · Score: 2

      I'll call your skip and raise a toast.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    2. Re:I'll skip both. by invictusvoyd · · Score: 2

      pass me that joint first

    3. Re:I'll skip both. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol, I'm stoned and this is very funny to me.

  3. Stupid Graphic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This headline is based on a comparison of a recreational dose versus a lethal dose, not a study of long term health effects.

    1. Re:Stupid Graphic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. Things like water and oxygen would probably be higher risk than cannabis on a graph like that.

    2. Re:Stupid Graphic by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      This headline is based on a comparison of a recreational dose versus a lethal dose

      So LSD should be one of the safest drugs by that measure. I'm not sure there has ever been an LSD death from toxicity.

    3. Re:Stupid Graphic by TheReaperD · · Score: 3, Interesting

      True, but the number of deaths for doing something stupid while on LSD is another matter. With it, and other substances, you need to take into account the actions people take while their behavior is modified. It does make it a complete mess to try and scientifically track the adverse effects of these substances.

      At this point, I see making these substances illegal, all of them, is causing more problems than they solve. It's time to make drugs legal and create a (sub)-Department of Harmful Recreation Substances to track quality, adverse reactions and to make sure the public is properly informed on the actual effects of all these substances. It would save an incredible amount of money, $225 billion in anti-drug enforcement in the U.S. alone and create new revenue to deal with the problems caused by people being stupid. People try to say that drugs would be even more available but, you can go less than a mile in almost every town in the U.S. and purchase any drug you wish. Criminalizing it is not keeping it off the street and it never will. It would save lives by minimizing health issues from inconsistent dosing, poor to no quality control and lack of reliable information of these substances to say nothing of the current arms race between the new designer drugs that have never been tested and the DEA.

      --
      "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
    4. Re:Stupid Graphic by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      True, but the number of deaths for doing something stupid while on LSD is another matter.

      Oh, I agree with you. Just that this is a silly measure. If we're going to judge safety by the stupid things people do, alcohol should be reclassified as schedule 1.

      People try to say that drugs would be even more available but, you can go less than a mile in almost every town in the U.S. and purchase any drug you wish.

      It depends on the drug and the city. I haven't paid attention in decades, but cocaine, heroin, and other "imported" drugs were generally coastal, or boarder drugs. It becomes expensive and riskier to transport them to the Midwest. That's why meth became so popular. It could be homegrown.

      Criminalizing it is not keeping it off the street and it never will. It would save lives by minimizing health issues from inconsistent dosing, poor to no quality control and lack of reliable information of these substances to say nothing of the current arms race between the new designer drugs that have never been tested and the DEA.

      Totally agree.

    5. Re:Stupid Graphic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > . I'm not sure there has ever been an LSD death from toxicity.
      > True, but the number of deaths for doing something stupid while on LSD is another matter.

      Where's the mods on this one? He already stated specifically, NOT FROM TOXICITY, then you go and fill the rest of your post with worthless evangelizing about your own beliefs. You're not contributing, you're trolling.

    6. Re:Stupid Graphic by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      LSD is nontoxic. It causes no physical damage.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    7. Re:Stupid Graphic by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

      It would save an incredible amount of money, $225 billion in anti-drug enforcement in the U.S. alone

      An excellent post Mr. Reaper. May I add that this money saved might do well going some small way towards the beginnings of a living wage, maybe combined with some unbiased, factual drug education?

      That issue aside (and more important than the money society spends) is the premium that illegality adds to drugs. This simply railroads massive funding directly to those organisations we least want receiving money: drug lords, gangs and criminals in general.

      I think most of the initial appeal of drugs for the young is down to their illegality. What better way for the stereotypical disaffected youth to raise his middle finger to The Man than by getting involved in the sale and/or consumption of drugs? Certainly once somebody is high, drugs become their own reward, which does complicate things.

      That said I don't think drugs would suddenly take off in usage if they were legalised, because as you succinctly point out, anyone who feels like getting high on just about any drug can obtain it quickly and easily despite their illegality. More likely the appeal would diminish to the level of say, alcohol. That may not sound like much of a win but it would cut the life-support to one of the nastiest segments of criminality in society. That alone would be a significant win for us all.

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    8. Re:Stupid Graphic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would save an incredible amount of money

      - and there you have it, the reason why it's not gonna happen.

    9. Re:Stupid Graphic by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      People do suicidal things while under the influence of some psychoactive drug mixed with unknown other chemicals that the dealer called LSD, sure. That's evidence that LSD is harmful, but not that strong.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    10. Re:Stupid Graphic by TheReaperD · · Score: 1

      Funneling billions upon billions of dollars a year into criminal gangs and militarized police forces to combat them over drugs is one of the stupidest things we have done in the last century.

      And, thank you, by the way. I think that is the nicest complement I have ever received online.

      --
      "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
    11. Re:Stupid Graphic by TheReaperD · · Score: 1

      I agree. I just wanted to point out the difference of trying to accurately portray the actual life cost of LSD. It gets really hard to track once you count in behavior while on the drug. But, even with that factored in, its death rate is no where near the level its current drug classification implies.

      --
      "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
  4. The facts are irrelevant! by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We've known this for many years. It doesn't matter in a dogmatic political system that profits from human suffering.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:The facts are irrelevant! by delt0r · · Score: 1

      Err no. Look at the data. It does not tell the story that the headline portrays. If i pick a random person in society, what is it that is currently bad for them? If i do X what is my increased mortality rate? That is the difference. It is like the last study post on /. here. Some very awful statistics there, and a clear axe to grind.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
    2. Re:The facts are irrelevant! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      So, what, you want to maintain prohibition also? Look, regardless of the studies, nobody has the right to prohibit the stuff. Enough studies have been done to confirm that. This is the angle to attack the prohibitionists from. We just gotta tell them to fuck off. I would prefer that it not be done with bombs and bullets, but they are inevitable if the fascists keep pushing. It boils down to simple self defense. Prohibition kills.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    3. Re:The facts are irrelevant! by delt0r · · Score: 1

      WTF are you ranting about? And did you even read my post? Little too much foam in the mouth there dude.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
    4. Re:The facts are irrelevant! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Everybody, including you is trying to find fault where there is none. The study is just another of many confirmations that pot is harmless, unless a bale of it falls from an airplane and lands on top your head, especially compared to legal intoxicants. You're calling it an *axe to grind*. Another guy calls it *pro-pot propaganda*. Sounds like you two are saying the same thing. What would that axe be? What is the implication of your post? Is civil rights an *axe*? No, all that crap sounds like code words in defense of the status quo. The fact is no more studies are needed. Prohibition must end. Personally I don't care how it is done.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    5. Re:The facts are irrelevant! by delt0r · · Score: 1

      Bad statistics is bad statistics. Suck it up or get the statistics right. I don't care what side is spinning what. I am always going to call deliberately misleading statistics out. Yea when its deliberate, is because their is an axe to grind. Regardless if that axe "drugs are awesome" or "beer is evil" or "all hurricanes are SUVs fault". It is done far too often in the scientific community by people that should know better.

      Yea its old but i have been sick.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
  5. Not what it sounds like by pla · · Score: 5, Informative

    FWIW, TFA talks about the therapeutic index (LD50 vs effective dose) of these drugs, not their long-term effects.

    So no, this doesn't add more information to the "alcohol is good for you this week / alcohol is bad for you next week" debate. Just saying that we typically drink a significant fraction of the amount it would take to kill us.

    1. Re:Not what it sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FWIW, TFA talks about the therapeutic index (LD50 vs effective dose) of these drugs, not their long-term effects.

      So no, this doesn't add more information to the "alcohol is good for you this week / alcohol is bad for you next week" debate. Just saying that we typically drink a significant fraction of the amount it would take to kill us.

      If that's the case, then this entire study is pretty much pointless. The only value you could possibly get out of that argument is to enlighten people that weed is not "deadly". In fact, the LD50 levels are basically immeasurable with humans, as it's essentially impossible to kill yourself by consuming marijuana in ANY amount.

      Of course, those who already knew this aren't the ones needing an education here.

    2. Re:Not what it sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If that's the case, then this entire study is pretty much pointless.

      Exactly. It's a study to promote an agenda.

    3. Re:Not what it sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In fact, the LD50 levels are basically immeasurable with humans, as it's essentially impossible to kill yourself by consuming marijuana in ANY amount.

      It's the stupid shit that a person does while consuming marijuana that kills them, like falling off balconies and breaking their necks.

    4. Re:Not what it sounds like by pla · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...While no one has ever said "hold my beer and watch this!"

    5. Re:Not what it sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Lets see.

      Alcohol is more dangerous as it is easy to consume enough to kill you. Pot is not.
      Alcohol is more dangerous because it causes you to do stupider stuff then stoners typically do.
      Alcohol is more dangerous as it harms children more then pot.
      Alcohol is more dangerous to your health over the long term. Smoke pot, your liver will thank me.

      How many other canards do you wish to trot out you wanker. People who want to keep the status quo are fucking idiots. It doesn't work and its fucking backwards anyways.

    6. Re:Not what it sounds like by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      Alcohol is more dangerous as it is easy to consume enough to kill you. Pot is not.

      Umm; it's pretty hard for someone without tolerance to get to the LD50 of ethanol without first throwing up or passing out.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    7. Re:Not what it sounds like by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      I don't believe that's true. Quite a few people down a bottle of spirits and pass out and never wake up. It's probably next to impossible to kill yourself with beer purely through the acute toxicity of alcohol, but the same is not true of (say) vodka.

      It's normally kids without sufficient experience to understand that although it's physically possible to drink an entire bottle of vodka in a few minutes, it's quite likely to end your life. The LD50 of ethanol translates to a little under half a litre of vodka (or gin, or whatever). That's not very much.

    8. Re:Not what it sounds like by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      I want to meet the person who has no drinking experience that can down half a liter of vodka without throwing most of it back up. Keep in mind there's a time component too, if you kill a bottle of vodka over the course of an evening you're going to just wake up slightly dehydrated (good stuff) or with a nasty hangover (bottom shelf); if you kill it in five minutes you're liable to have some problems.....

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    9. Re:Not what it sounds like by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

      I don't disagree with you - I'd never get away with downing half a litre of Vodka without purging till my eyeballs bled - but there certainly have been some sad examples of this happening to kids who haven't learned their tolerances yet.

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    10. Re:Not what it sounds like by delt0r · · Score: 1

      Alcohol is more dangerous as it is easy to consume enough to kill you. Pot is not.

      Perhaps. In my experience its a even split of people going to the hospital. Also i know of almost no one that smokes only pot, they are also typically drunk as well.

      Alcohol is more dangerous because it causes you to do stupider stuff then stoners typically do.

      Citation required. At least everywhere i have been where there are plenty of stoners, they do just as crazy shit as everyone else. I could cite the police reports to prove it.

      Alcohol is more dangerous as it harms children more then pot.

      You literary just made that up.

      Alcohol is more dangerous to your health over the long term. Smoke pot, your liver will thank me.

      Again with the made up shit.

      Lets be clear we know alcohol can be bad for you. But we just don't have good data on pot. Mostly because it has been illegal. There is nothing to suggest that if was as widely used as alcohol and as widely abused that it would be any better.

      This is what i hate about the drugs debate. The pro side is "totally harmless" the con side is "OMG your going to eat your friend when high one day". The truth is neither, and the best we can say from the data right now is that pot is *mostly* harmless for limited use depending on the person (if there is a history of metal issues in your family you may want to be a little more careful). And this study is another example of the bullshit that can come out with the science label slapped on it.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
    11. Re:Not what it sounds like by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      In other words, of the drunk people that wind up in the hospital, about half smoke pot, and this is supposed to show that pot is dangerous?

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  6. Ratio..? by ichthus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ratio between toxic dose and typical human intake? That's their scale. Pretty meaningless. Yeah, put water on that scale, and I'd bet it would be somewhere down around heroin's risk.

    --
    sig: sauer
    1. Re:Ratio..? by gurps_npc · · Score: 3, Informative
      That's simply not true.

      But there are quite a few substances people think are 'harmless' that if you consume more than the normal dose you can kill yourself.

      Chief on the list is salt substitute. Many people buy the 'low sodium salt substitute" Potassium Chloride to replace table salt Sodium Chloride. But it is the exact same substance used by several states to execute death penalty cases.

      Nut meg is also up there, along with our friend Vitamin A

      All three of those substances are typically sold to consumers in containers that, if used all at once, can kill you.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    2. Re:Ratio..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chief on the list is salt substitute. Many people buy the 'low sodium salt substitute" Potassium Chloride to replace table salt Sodium Chloride. But it is the exact same substance used by several states to execute death penalty cases.

      Lots of things are more dangerous if you inject them. Salt substitutes are not a problem if you don't shoot them up.

      Orally, potassium chloride is toxic in excess; the LD50 is around 2.5 g/kg (meaning that a lethal dose for 50% of people weighing 75 kg (165 lb) is about 190 g (6.7 ounces)). However, this is not far from oral toxicity of sodium chloride (table salt), of 3.75 g/kg, thus potassium chloride is harmless for alimentation (and even good for health, see previous paragraph). But intravenously, without the step of digestive absorption, this is reduced to just over 30 mg/kg.

    3. Re:Ratio..? by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      Chief on the list is salt substitute. Many people buy the 'low sodium salt substitute" Potassium Chloride to replace table salt Sodium Chloride. But it is the exact same substance used by several states to execute death penalty cases.

      Misleading. It's deadly when injected. So are many other things, including table salt. There is a substantially bigger safety buffer when eating it.

    4. Re:Ratio..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Has anyone tested how lethal injecting man juice would be?

    5. Re:Ratio..? by Headw1nd · · Score: 2

      No, he's right. The LD50 dose for water is somewhere around 6-10L in a sitting. With an average "dose" of maybe .5-1L, this would put it in the same range as alcohol. Of course, it is incredibly difficult to actually achieve that, since the quantity consumed is so large, which incidentally is the exact problem with comparing alcohol and heroin on this basis. Consuming a lethal dose of alcohol is generally a time consuming process, injecting a lethal dose of heroin is no more complicated than injecting a regular dose.

    6. Re:Ratio..? by unrtst · · Score: 1

      That's simply not true.

      What isn't true? That water can kill you in high doses, or that the ratio between toxic dose and normal intake would rank it fairly high on their charts?
      If you drink enough water within a relatively short time frame, you will die. Look it up. You have to drink a lot, but it's not an obscene or unreachable goal, though you would probably be very uncomfortable.

      Nutmeg's ratio wouldn't come close on their chart. Sure, it's sold in quantities that *may* kill a human, maybe a child, but the regular dose is a light dusting of it. It's overdose ratio is probably up there near cannabis.

    7. Re:Ratio..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Vitamin A

      One of the early North (or was it the South) Pole exploration teams ended up eating their dogs to satisfy their hunger, only to die from the overdose of vitamin A from those arctic dogs.

    8. Re:Ratio..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It does seem to carry a high risk of parasitic infection for women.

    9. Re:Ratio..? by artfulshrapnel · · Score: 1

      He's off, but not by as much as you'd think, and including water would probably put that scale in better perspective.

      If we assume that a "typical intake" of water is one 8oz (~.25 liter) glass, and the LD50 of water is about 6 liters for an average (165lb) person, then we're looking at a ratio of approximately 1:25. That would make the bar for "water" about twice as big as the one for "meth" on this chart.

      Ignoring that this is a stupid way to measure danger, their ratio on Alcohol is way too low (though I see elsewhere that they may be talking about injecting alcohol, which completely invalidates the point of the findings since that's not how we typically consume it).

      In their own paper they say that the range of low to average usage is 1-4 drinks a day by typical users, then give it a ratio of "1:1.5" between typical usage and fatal dosage. How the heck does that work out? That makes the "lethal" dosage from 1.5-6 drinks a day, which seems way too low. To get to the level of drunk where you risk any sort of death drug-related death (suffocation by vomiting and choking if you happened to fall asleep) you'd have to get to a BAC of 0.2% which is about 8 drinks in one hour for our illustrative 165lb male. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... )

      Even if their average dose of "X drinks a day" was actually "X drinks in an hour", the lowest plausible ratio is between 1:2 and 1:4 depending on what you consider "average" daily drinking. To get anywhere near LD50 I'd expect you need to get closer to 1:7 ( ~0.3%+ BAC ) which would be where you start to add unconsciousness and respiratory depression as effects. That would put it between Cocaine and Tobacco, closer to the latter, on their chart, which seems about right.

      tl;dr Article should be named "Scientists find new, bad way to measure 'danger' which shows alcohol 10x more dangerous than meth, meth nearly twice as dangerous as water".

    10. Re:Ratio..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      5-10L is what, 11-22 pints? That's quite achievable for boozers. I used to play competition darts, one of the men on our team would down 20 pints of lager in a couple of hours and would actually improve his performance. You could actually see his belly expanding.

    11. Re:Ratio..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My mother worked at a mental health facility. One of her patients ODed on water. She says it is one of the worst things she has ever seen. Basically, the woman drown because her body couldn't keep the water from flowing into her lungs.

    12. Re:Ratio..? by gurps_npc · · Score: 1

      Your core numbers are wrong. Normal human beings do not drink 1 liter of water in a single sitting. Diabetics and other people that are expected to drink a lot tend to drink 1/2 a liter. You are expected to take in 2-3 liters over an entire day - and that number INCLUDES the water you get from eating food. Typical servings for water is 1/4 liter. 1 liter bottles are intended for multiple people/long term use. As per this web page: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015... It takes 17 water bottles to kill you, far different than the alcohol ratio.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    13. Re:Ratio..? by gurps_npc · · Score: 1
      You are correct about nutmeg.

      But water is not near the ratio to kill you.

      On average, 6 people die from alcohol poisoning each year. Almost no one dies from drinking too much water. But that is in part due to behavior - most people that drink enough water to kill them are athletes and they often have medical personnel near them.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    14. Re:Ratio..? by unrtst · · Score: 1

      You are correct about nutmeg.
      But water is not near the ratio to kill you.

      The LD50 of water is, admittedly, high (90, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...)

      However, the graph in the article is a ratio between the toxic dose (based on LD50) and the typical human intake.

      The median lethal dose (LD50) for a human of 75kg when the amount taken is taken all at once is apparently 6 liters of water (ref: http://www.compoundchem.com/wp... ). I don't know what it is if you spread that over 16 hours (typical waking day) etc etc.

      The typical human intake... well, here's part of where their stat/graph go wonky. What's the timeframe? I usually chug about 1/4 - 1/2 a liter, then I don't drink for a while, and I usually have a nice healthy 6-8 glasses a day. Ratio between normal daily intake and the 6 liters is really low - like heroin low!

      How much water can one drink in an hour before hitting the LD50? I don't know, but I'm guessing it's 8-10 liters.
      How much does one typically drink in an hour? That's going to vary wildly.
      On the high side, if it's 1 liter, then it's tying esctacy in their graph.
      On the low side, if it's 1/8 liter, then water is still TWICE as bad as cannabis (around 80 vs 150).

      The point is, their statistic sucks.

  7. What that tells me by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    We should also legalize heroin and cocaine.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:What that tells me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, actually we SHOULD legalize heroin and cocaine. We should legalize ALL drugs.

      Legalizing and treating addiction as a mental illness is demonstrably more effective towards the goal of improving public health and safety than prohibition. The evidence is overwhelmingly one-sided when it comes to this.

    2. Re:What that tells me by fustakrakich · · Score: 4, Interesting

      US soldiers are dying in the ongoing and perpetual Afghan Opium War to bring the finest kind to Russia/Europe/America. As the graph shows they were entirely successful. Here Bush's *Mission* was definitely accomplished, in spades! I don't know whether prohibition or legalization leads to more profit in these times. Prohibition definitely *creates jobs*. So the incentive to abolish it remains diminished.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    3. Re:What that tells me by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The Taliban actually did a good job of destroying the opium trade. Too bad about everything else they did.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    4. Re:What that tells me by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      The only important thing was reopening the supply lines. And notice how quickly it was done, talk about military efficiency! I believe the Taliban didn't destroy the crops or the infrastructure. They just tried doing an OPEC style embargo. It is insane to give this war any more credibility than Iraq. Since Vietnam we watched them lie, and they're doing it now. In fact we are seeing and hearing the very same identical liars from all the way back to Nixon. They have poisoned more than one generation.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  8. For children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The research about children and marijuana is pretty damning. The effects on the developing brain ain't good and shouldn't be minimized.

    1. Re:For children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And? Legalizing would make it less accessible to children, not more.

    2. Re:For children? by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      no one is saying kids should have access. this is a moot point

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    3. Re:For children? by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      And? Legalizing would make it less accessible to children, not more.

      qft

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  9. Whatever by irrational_design · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Alcohol is good for your health! Alcohol is bad for your health! Smoking is good for your health (says the 1940s doctor)! Smoking is bad for your health! Marijuana is bad for your health! Marijuana is good for your health! The only guarantee is that next year what is good will be bad and what is bad will be good.

    1. Re:Whatever by BlackPignouf · · Score: 2

      Wait, what?
      When was alcohol considered really good for your health?
      When was marijuana considered really bad for your health?
      The worst side effects for marijuana have always been those linked to prohibition :
      * landing in jail
      * supporting mafia

      As far as marijuana being possibly linked to mental illness, I think it's more of a correlation than causation.
      The same goes for those studies about heavy marijuana use at a young age. If you can smoke pot all day long at 14, I think you're life isn't screwed solely because of weed.

    2. Re:Whatever by irrational_design · · Score: 1

      Alcohol - http://health.howstuffworks.co... Marijuana - I'm pretty sure the police officer who talked to us in 3rd grade said that we would die if we smoked marijuana. I consider death to be bad for my health ;-)

    3. Re:Whatever by troll+-1 · · Score: 1

      When was marijuana considered really bad for your health?

      Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug. The Federal government classifies it as a poison. Meth, BTW, is a Sched II drug, less harmful than pot, according to the Feds.

    4. Re:Whatever by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

      So, according to your model, we'll all be able to drink hydrofluoric acid next year? I'll let you go first.

      --
      That is all.
    5. Re:Whatever by blue9steel · · Score: 1

      Meth, BTW, is a Sched II drug, less harmful than pot, according to the Feds.

      Which is completely ridiculous, anyone who has ever met meth heads & pot heads can tell you that meth is far more dangerous.

    6. Re:Whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When was marijuana considered really bad for your health?

      Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug. The Federal government classifies it as a poison. Meth, BTW, is a Sched II drug, less harmful than pot, according to the Feds.

      Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug for the same reason it was put on the list in the first place; because it was harmful to someone's profits.

      It has NEVER truly earned that Schedule. Ever.

    7. Re:Whatever by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

      Which is completely ridiculous, anyone who has ever met meth heads & pot heads can tell you that meth is far more dangerous.

      Well, exactly, which leads one to conclude that the decision to leave MJ on Sched I is a purely political in nature.

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    8. Re:Whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're almost all true, but because people tend to polarize everything they can't understand that the world is not black and white and that there are both positive and negative aspects to just about everything. Health is not a two-dimensional system where something is either "good" or "bad".

      Smoking marijuana in a typical fashion is really bad for your lungs, possibly worse than cigarettes if you smoke a lot. At the same time, THC and other compounds in marijuana reduce the incidence of cancer, and also provide pain relief and appetite stimulation that can help people who are ill. Nearly all substances that temporarily impair brain function (ie, recreational drugs), when used by humans who are still developing (ie, children and teens) or used too frequently can leave lasting and permanent affects on the brain, but when used in moderation by adults, most drugs don't really do much harm.

      Small doses of alcohol (typically wine, but there have been some studies about other sources of alcohol as well) have been linked to positive side effects such as decreased dementia and Alzheimer's, and improved cognitive function and memory. At the same time, alcohol is pretty awful for your body in large doses, is often addictive, and often causes dangerous social behaviors.

      It's not just alcohol and marijuana, but the same balance goes for things in your diet like fats, carbs, salt, etc. It seems like every day you hear contradictory studies, because they tend to be simplified and polarized. If you actually read and understand, turn on your brain and think, you'll see that almost everything in life boils down to moderation and variety. Paleo, Zone, Vegan, South Beach, Atkins... they're all partly right, and all partly wrong.

    9. Re:Whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, however that isn't a ringing endorsement. Every pot smoker I've met who has done it for a long period of time has no motivation, no ambition, no long term plan, and in many cases can't even remember what he had for breakfast. It's a different kind of messed up than meth heads, but certainly no less detrimental. The only difference is with pot it takes longer to get to the relatively same end destination.

  10. Alcohol more deadly than cocaine you said? by zoffdino · · Score: 1

    Prohibition 2.0 coming up next. Because the first one was a total success and Al Capone was simply a businessman delivering the goods people wanted.

    And the War on Drugs is also a resounding accomplishment too!

  11. Smoking, by stavrica · · Score: 1

    ...is bad for you.

    And brownies may lead to weight gain --but then again, pot alone does a good enough job by itself.

  12. title should be: "chance to overdose" by placerburner · · Score: 1, Informative

    Using their science, I'm sure tobacco would be even "safer" than weed.
    Sure, their facts might be correct - but they are extremely skewed, it's not based on overall safety or mortality rates.

    1. Re:title should be: "chance to overdose" by radio4fan · · Score: 1

      Using their science, I'm sure tobacco would be even "safer" than weed.

      Well, no; it's right there between cocaine and ecstasy and looks to be at least 10 times 'more dangerous'.

    2. Re:title should be: "chance to overdose" by Rockoon · · Score: 2

      How is this informative? Nicotine isnt exactly hard to overdose on.

      Those that modded this guy informative are partisan assholes.

      dumbfucks

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    3. Re:title should be: "chance to overdose" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Using their science, I'm sure tobacco would be even "safer" than weed.
      Sure, their facts might be correct - but they are extremely skewed, it's not based on overall safety or mortality rates.

      The ONLY thing this study should be used for is to enlighten people about the fact that cannabis is NOT deadly. In fact, it is essentially the opposite.

      And since cannabis pretty much stands alone here with an immeasurable LD50 level (even drinking water to excess can kill a human), it was rather pointless to compare it to anything else, so this one fact is essentially the only value add here.

      That said, it's a pretty big fact when flying it in the face of 100 million citizens who still think weed is "deadly", and a "gateway drug". We don't need more reasons to continue to spend billions waging a pointless war against a fucking plant. We need tax revenue from it. And with these kids of studies coming out, you sure as hell aren't going to turn more health-conscious people away from choosing cannabis over most anything else.

    4. Re:title should be: "chance to overdose" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tobacco (nicotine) is on their list and using "their science" it isn't. Did you even read the article (or the study)? Or do you just not know that the reason tobacco is smoked is nicotine?

      Mods, quit voting stupidity as informative.

    5. Re:title should be: "chance to overdose" by ZorglubZ · · Score: 0

      Where are my mod points when I need them... -1 Just Plain Wrong

  13. Useless comparison by wbr1 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I drink.. I used to smoke, and I used to smoke marijuana, but I wont bore you with anecdotal personal stories. TFA mainly looks at the ratio of LD50 compared to the effective dose. For alcohol, the LD50 is close to the dose many consume. Closer than the LD50 of THC is to the used dosage. By that measure, LSD is safer than asprin because the ration there is so far apart.

    Yes alcohol has long term health effects, so does any other substance. Eating has long term health effects. The real measurements are immediate risk, long term risk, and gain from consumption.

    This addresses none of those in a useful fashion.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
    1. Re:Useless comparison by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I used to smoke marijuana

      Why did you stop?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Useless comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What really really really ticks me off is 'the its good for you crowd' are being little children. Trying to come up with any reason to make their bad decisions good ones.

      99.99999% of the people out there who smoke it do it because they get high. Thats it.

      Do I care you get high? Only if it affects me in some way, but 99.999999999% of the time it does not so I do not care. It is the little lies people tell themselves that I find piss me off. Those little lies lead the way to addiction, both physical and mental (mostly mental in this case).

      Be honest with yourself and those around you. You do it to get high. Not because it tastes good, or is good for you. You want a buzz or to tune out of your life.

      Oh and I am sure there will be 30 people telling me why I am wrong. But they are not being honest with themselves and just telling me more lies or half truths.

    3. Re:Useless comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh and I am sure there will be 30 people telling me why I am wrong. But they are not being honest with themselves and just telling me more lies or half truths.

      Preemptively declaring anyone who disagrees with you to be a liar only shows that you have no confidence in your position and/or your ability to intelligently argue that position.

      It's also hypocritical in your case, since your "99.99999%" figure is something you made up out of thin air (in other words, a lie).

    4. Re:Useless comparison by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      What could be the LD50 of McDonalds burger?

    5. Re:Useless comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100 burgers maybe .. without cheese

    6. Re:Useless comparison by wbr1 · · Score: 1

      Probation. And increasing paranoia that the tinfoil couldn't keep out.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    7. Re:Useless comparison by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      ouch

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    8. Re:Useless comparison by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      It's better for me than the hallucinogenic prescriptions I've been given for my migraines in the past. Every single migraine treatment is a hallucinogen, with the exception of marijuana and Excedrin Migraine (and I'm allergic to the combination of acetaminophen and aspirin; ironically, it gives me migraines). Can't be productive with a migraine, can't be productive tripping on migraine meds, but I can take a couple of draws from my vaporizer and be back to work within 15 minutes.

      That's not to say I don't toke up recreationally on occasion, of course I do. Maybe once or twice a month I'll vape an entire bowl in one sitting; enough to pick up and maintain a buzz, but I hate being stoned. The once or twice a week I take one or two draws from the vape to quelch a migraine certainly trumps the recreational use, though, and I go through about an ounce over the course of a year. By volume, I use a lot less than any of the hallucinogens I've been prescribed since I was 5 years old, over the same span of time, and was financially ahead in the first year, even considering the $300 I dropped on a high-end portable vaporizer and a spare battery.

      That's why I toke up. I suppose I'm lying to myself, though, and I was making up the migraines for 25 years just so I could start smoking weed 2 years ago, right?

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    9. Re:Useless comparison by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

      And increasing paranoia that the tinfoil couldn't keep out.

      +1 Impossibly Perfect Response To A Question On Slashdot

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    10. Re:Useless comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be honest with yourself and those around you. You do it to get high. Not because it tastes good, or is good for you. You want a buzz or to tune out of your life.

      These are not mutually exclusive. Getting high can be good for your health. Getting a buzz is certainly not bad for you health. Tuning out of your life is fucking essential for the good of your health, at least every now and then. You should probably try it.

    11. Re:Useless comparison by wbr1 · · Score: 1

      The spice must flow.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
  14. Suspicious ... by Kittenman · · Score: 1

    This sounds like one of those "Listening to Mozart makes your kid smart, while listening to heavy metal makes them dumb" articles. As in, it's targetted to appeal to the audience. I'm guessing the majority of /. are hopheads? (no offence)

    And no, I didn't RTFA.

    --
    "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Suspicious ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hopheads? We resent that term.

      This is a geek news site, so the correct term is "recreationally polypharmic".

  15. WTF by troll+-1 · · Score: 1

    It wasn't too long back that the government told us marijuana and homosexuality were such dangerous threats to the underlying moral fabric of society that people had to go to jail over them. What does this tell us about the government and the society we live in?

    1. Re:WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That it changes over time? Slavery used to be fine and dandy too.

    2. Re:WTF by Gavrielkay · · Score: 1

      I think it says that the social policies were more about puritanism than science. When we make policy based on fear and ignorance instead of any actual evidence of harm then we're bound to have to change our minds as it becomes more and more obvious the policies are stupid. The sad thing is how invested we are in the war on drugs which has clearly made things worse rather than better. Making something forbidden often just makes it more desirable.

  16. Mostly Republicans trying to legalize. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    This is only news to those who have had their head in the ground, listening to fox news and government shills.

    I've noticed that it seems to be mostly Republicans who are putting up the legalization legislation trial balloons.

    (Can't speak about Fox. I don't follow 'em all that much since, during the (especially the last) presidential campaigns, they proved the right-hand side of their claimed "fair and balanced" coverage consisted of flogging the Neocon faction and ignoring or slamming the others - especially the "Liberty" faction and Ron Paul.)

    But I haven't checked Thomas.gov to see whether this is accurate, or just an artifact of the media only covering it when a Republican does it, on the "man bites dog IS news" principle.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  17. Protip by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do whatever you enjoy in life. Drink, smoke, eat meat, take drugs. Don't listen to the alarmists, everything is bad for you. Instead, learn to enjoy in moderation, at the right moments.

    Just don't let it become a habit. There is no savor in habits, only self contempt and other bad things, like addiction.

    1. Re:Protip by Gliscameria · · Score: 1

      What about rituals? Daily rituals...

      --
      X
    2. Re:Protip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why smoke? It is disgusting...

    3. Re:Protip by msobkow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Somebody beat me to it. :)

      No matter what you do in life, you are going to die. There is no escaping that.

      So live a life of wonder, mystery, and enjoyment, rather than spending it fretting about exactly what might be the thing that kills you. Eat a bacon sandwich. Put cream in your coffee. Have a steak once in a while. Have a doughnut once a month. And by all means, have a glass of wine with your meal and spark a bowl of cannabis afterwards.

      --
      I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    4. Re:Protip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um, actually, there are.

      For a reference, allow me to joke: "It's okay to kiss a nun - just don't get in the habit".

      AC 'cause I'm going to hell for that one

    5. Re:Protip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just don't let it become a habit. There is no savor in habits, only self contempt and other bad things, like addiction.

      You mean like the habit most people have where they spend every sunday (and some Saturdays and Wednesdays) worshipping a savior? I've been telling them for YEARS that there's no savior there but they're addicted and this particular place of worship was O so full of self loathing. Catholics entertain me.

    6. Re:Protip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe in a philosophy of "everything in moderation, including moderation" which you explained quite nicely. Don't do whatever the hell you want all the time, because you'll end up dead by 45, but if you want to eat a pile of bacon covered in chocolate every once in a while, go ahead. With a few exceptions, your body is only going to get fucked up from repeated behaviour, not infrequent binges.

    7. Re:Protip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No matter what you do in life, you are going to die. There is no escaping that.

      Here's a terrifying thought - you *MAY* live forever. Just in the past 100 years, we've come a very long way with medicine. Today they're talking about printing organs and such. Cure those pesky blood vessels that tend to split over time, you may make it well into your hundreds or more. They're even able to take stage 4 cancer patents and make them live, perhaps for decades. Something that used to kill in 6 months.

  18. Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after all by elcano · · Score: 2

    'Even Casual Marijuana Use Harms Young Brain, Study Finds' http://www.elementsbehavioralh... Marijuana might not be dangerous in a fully developed brain, but it causes damage to a young one. Sure, many used it years ago and nobody became a depressed looser... Or, did they?

  19. The benefit of Science by mcrbids · · Score: 2

    There is a tremendous amount of ignorance and stupidity the world over. People get ideas from random sources, make their choices, and are very prone to making the mistake of believing everything they think. So we have people who *still* swear by Laetrile as a cure for cancer, or Scientology as a cure for arthritis caused by grumpy souls stuck in their elbows.

    However, science offers a way out of the maze: the idea that ideas are only as valuable as they can be *validated* by peer review and experimentation. Validating ideas is painful, costly, and time consuming, so it takes *time* to find all the stupids and work them out, one by one. Combine that with the often significant economic interests in the ideas being cross-checked, and you can see it often takes even more time and expense to get the word out.

    The change of tune that you point out is perhaps the single biggest strength of science, not some evidence of *ahem* irrational design.

    --
    I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    1. Re:The benefit of Science by irrational_design · · Score: 1

      The question is, when do you know the science is "finished"? I swear every year there is a new study saying something is good for you, followed by more studies saying it's bad for you, then more saying it's good for you. Sometimes it seems like science flip-flops worse than a politician. I'm not saying that science or the scientific method isn't great, it's just hard to know when to know the final word is in to know whether it is beneficial to ingest some substance to improve my health.

    2. Re:The benefit of Science by irrational_design · · Score: 1

      Heh, I just saw a link to this article on USA Today ;-) http://www.usatoday.com/story/...

    3. Re:The benefit of Science by mcrbids · · Score: 1

      It never is, and never will be if all goes well. Wouldn't you rather be honest about what you (don't) know than work on stupid old data, like "cloved hooves are bad to eat"??

      We continuously learn more, and the "flip flops" are the result of continuously better understandings. Your life expectancy has increased as a result, and this continues to improve each and every year.

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    4. Re:The benefit of Science by irrational_design · · Score: 1

      Yes, but I have kids and we've always been told not to feed them peanuts till they are a certain age. Now it looks like that was bad advice. http://www.usatoday.com/story/... But, how do I know that a new study won't come out next year that will say "Hold everything! Giving babies peanuts is actually a deadly thing to do!" It's just so frustrating that it causes paralysis to set in since I don't know when to trust the science and when not to trust the science. In this case, the science is saying to give kids peanuts, but I think I'll stick with the old recommendations for my kids.

    5. Re:The benefit of Science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I swear every year there is a new study saying something is good for you, followed by more studies saying it's bad for you, then more saying it's good for you. Sometimes it seems like science flip-flops worse than a politician.

      Have you considered the possibility that media outlets choose to publicise contrary viewpoints alternatively to sell papers, rather than periodically reporting on the seldom changing consensus?

      No news isn't always good news.

    6. Re:The benefit of Science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, and that age is 6 months. Why exactly would you give a newborn a peanut butter sandwich? Its probably more dangerous as a chocking hazard then a allergy hazard.

      http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/food-allergies-in-children.aspx

    7. Re:The benefit of Science by Yaztromo · · Score: 1

      The question is, when do you know the science is "finished"? I swear every year there is a new study saying something is good for you, followed by more studies saying it's bad for you, then more saying it's good for you.

      My guess is you don't read the studies, but just go by what you read in the press.

      Look, learning about new discoveries from the newspaper/radio/TV/Internet isn't a bad thing -- but it's only a first step. Unless you're reading specialized research magazines or journals, however, you're probably not getting more than a glimmer of useful information.

      As an example (not to be confused with a real-life example; I'm too tired to start researching references for a /. post...), a researcher may do a study, and release a paper saying "X dose of compound Y, commonly found in alcoholic beverage B, lessens human cell type Z mortality by K% in a petrie dish". It will also include a whole pile of caveats, and probably the statement "more research is needed" somewhere towards the end, along with a section on some future research directions.

      Mr. Science Desk Writer hears about it from somewhere, looks up the average human lifespan L, and publishes an article with the headline "New research shows drinking alcoholic beverage B will increase your lifespan by K%!". You read it, and decide to go and hit your alcohol cabinet for a drink.

      Of course, the column doesn't properly represent the research. It takes data out of context: in this case a) by not properly correlating the dose X of compound Y with how much alcohol you would need to drink to get those dose, b) whether that chemical is converted by your liver to something else before it gets to where it needs to go, c) whether that chemical is even absorbed by the bloodstream to get to human cell type Z, d) whether what was found to be true in a petrie dish will also be true inside a human body, e) that what is found to be true of cell type Z may not hold true for other types of cells, f) whether any benefits attributable to cell type Z are negated by negative effects on any other types of human cells, or any other part of human physiology, and g) that you can't correlate a reduction of cell death to a whole body (i.e.: you can't just take two numbers you read in studies and multiply them together, in this case human lifespan and some cell death reduction percentage).

      On top of this, as things turn out, a year later some other researcher (Researcher B) gets some research funding, and decides to replicate the experiments from the original paper. Maybe they do this because they find the statistical methods used by the original researcher don't make for a particularly strong case, or maybe they just want to verify the results. Researcher B sets up the experiment, but does it on a much larger scale (perhaps they have better funding) in order to get more data. After doing a detailed analysis of the data, they find that the effect either a) isn't anywhere as strong as the original paper described, or b) the effect doesn't exist at all, or c) that there was an error in the experimental setup that accounts for the effect (i.e: they found out that in order to help prevent compound Y from breaking down too easily for the experiment, that it had been refrigerated to 5C before being applied to the cells in the culture, and this had a sort of cryonic effect on the cells that extended their lifespan -- that the nature of the compound Y had nothing to do with the measured results). They publish their own paper, again with "more research needed" caveat, and a list of possible future directions.

      Mr. Science Desk Writer, of course, may never see this paper, and so may continue to report on the original research. Or they may have moved on to some other area, like whatever the latest NASA probe photographed. Or perhaps they even wind up reporting on the latest research -- and you read it, and suddenly decide "those crazy scientists don't know what they're talking about! They keep ch

    8. Re:The benefit of Science by Yaztromo · · Score: 1

      Yes, but I have kids and we've always been told not to feed them peanuts till they are a certain age. Now it looks like that was bad advice.

      Yes, but who was the one telling you this? Did you read it in a paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal? Or was it something your co-workers mother told you because she saw it on Oprah? Or did you just read it in the newspaper?

      The problem with what most people "believe" about science is that they don't read the actual science. They read someone else's summary of what they think the science says, and then go by that, believing they "know what science has to say on a subject".

      I'll note here FWIW that in my experience, most Medical Doctors are bad scientists. They don't do primary research, and don't necessarily read the primary research. And if they do, they don't necessarily understand the limitations of the primary research. Or they might make a recommendation based upon an overabundance of caution based on incomplete research (which is probably the case of what you thought you knew about peanuts).

      Again, as I extolled in another recent post to you -- read the actual research if you want to get an idea of what "science" has to say about a subject. And don't take what you read as cannon until it's been backed up by a number of studies reproducing the first, along with a meta-analysis of all such papers published. Until the scientific community has labelled something as either a "law" or a "theory", it pretty much needs to be considered as not-necessarily-100%-reliable.

      Yaz

    9. Re:The benefit of Science by irrational_design · · Score: 1

      Do you not have children? It has been the established recommendation in every book I've ever read, from every pediatrician I've ever talked to, etc. not to give children peanuts/peanut butter before 36 months. I just did a google search out of curiosity and apparently there were a number of large scale studies that led to this recommendation.

    10. Re:The benefit of Science by Yaztromo · · Score: 1

      Do you not have children?

      Yup -- we have a 4yo. The recommendation we received was to give her some small smears of peanut butter around the age of 1 now and then, and to simply watch for any negative reactions.

      She had none, which of course doesn't prove anything in and of itself.

      I should note that the results from the recent study aren't new. Here are a few papers worth checking out on the subject:

      Interestingly, the above link does mention that the advice you received was common advice (at the time of publication in 2008) in the UK, Australia, and in the past in North America (so I don't disbelieve that you received this advice -- although "common" doesn't necessarily imply "supported by research").

      Yaz

    11. Re:The benefit of Science by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

      It's just so frustrating that it causes paralysis to set in since I don't know when to trust the science and when not to trust the science.

      That's a valid criticism of scientific journalism that I think many of us share to some degree.

      Is this crap reporting, or just an unfortunate consequence of our rapid advance in technology perhaps? Will we look back on this period as significant due to the sheer number of postulations and subsequent harpoonings of many seemingly-valid theories? Will we see this as a great period of enlightenment?

      Grandiose suppositions aside, I agree it's bloody confusing.

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    12. Re:The benefit of Science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Getting parenting advice from whatever passes as "science reporting" in this day and age is probably a lot less safe than just getting it from people with a track record of results based on a long history of empirical evidence... like your parents. I bet they even give your kids peanuts.

    13. Re:The benefit of Science by thsths · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately nutrition advice is a lot more pseudo-science that science.

      Like "low fat": eating less fat should make you less fat - that much seems obvious. But there was never any scientific evidence for it, and now we found that actually low fat products tend to make you fatter. It even makes some kind of sense, if you understand how the metabolism works.

      Peanuts are very much the same, I think. Yes, eating peanuts can cause an allergic reaction, but not eating peanuts can cause allergies to develop. Finding the best possible action takes time, large studies and a serious amount of statistics.

      Personally I tend to ignore most of the nutrition advice out there. There is some good science out there: for example there are clearly bad substances that should be avoided, and an excess of sugar can cause all kinds of health issues. But a lot of the more sensational statements of the form "x is good for you" or "y is bad for you" are just made up.

    14. Re:The benefit of Science by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I very much approve of reading the actual papers. However...

      Scientific papers are usually dry and hard to read. In some fields, I simply cannot understand them with the level of knowledge I've got. It's hard to find them, unless you're a university student or something. If papers come to conflicting conclusions, it's hard to figure out which is right. If you're in the field, you read the papers (or at least glance at the abstracts), and have a good sense of which studies have been confirmed and which disproved.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    15. Re:The benefit of Science by Yaztromo · · Score: 1

      I very much approve of reading the actual papers. However...

      Scientific papers are usually dry and hard to read.

      I agree -- however, I find most people with some background in at least one science can at least glean something from reading the abstract, and hopefully some bits and pieces of the statistical analysis (something I admittedly wish I had better background in. If I could afford the time and money to go back to University, I'd love to take stats and philosophy of science).

      If papers come to conflicting conclusions, it's hard to figure out which is right. If you're in the field, you read the papers (or at least glance at the abstracts), and have a good sense of which studies have been confirmed and which disproved.

      I think part of the problem for many peoples that the state of knowledge in science isn't a binary proposition. In much of science, the answer to 'Is X true?" boils down to five possibilities: 'yes', 'yes with caveats', 'no', 'no with caveats', and 'uncertain' ("more research in this area is required"). So if you're seeing only a few studies, and they seem to be contradictory, the conclusion you need to take is simply "this area requires more research".

      And that is my problem with how most people approach science. They see one study, and say 'Science says X!", when in reality, it's really just one study that says X. Unless you have a massive body of scientific work behind a concept (such as evolution, or gravitation), one can't really make any claims as to what "science" says. Consequently, you also shouldn't be disappointed if future research on a new or lightly researched area of science later produces a paper with a contradictory view -- you can't feel that this means that "Science was wrong!". Science is seldom, if ever, "wrong" -- but how much importance people put into preliminary/early/initial results can certainly make them mistakenly feel that way.

      I'm somewhat reminded of how people with multiple sclerosis reacted to Dr. Paolo Zamboni's "liberation therapy". Here was a medical doctor who produced a paper where he looked at the neck veins of a group of people with MS, found they had some narrowing of the veins and iron deposits in the brain, and came up with an angioplasty procedure to open these veins up, believing that MS was caused by "chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency" (basically, insufficient blood drainage from the brain). He tried it on his own wife, she subjectively said she felt a bit better, and suddenly MS sufferers around the world were flying to third-world countries to have this done to them (for a fee, of course), and in some countries (like Canada) were begging their national governments to bring the procedure on-shore and to make it part of the social healthcare system.

      Unfortunately, Dr. Zamboni's research was deeply flawed. Firstly, his study wasn't "blinded". It also didn't have a comparison group -- he didn't even look for vein narrowing in non-MS populations. Thirdly, he didn't disclose that he had financial ties to a company that made equipment to treat the condition he had "discovered". These are all problematic, but IMO the worst was really the lack of a comparison group for control purposes. As two further studies have shown, the type of vein narrowing Dr. Zamboni detected are equally prevalent in both people with MS and people without MS.

      Now MS is a terrible disease. People who suffer from MS live in a sort of quiet bravery, in constant struggle against their condition, and with a lot of hope for a cure. I hope one is found. Unfortunately, all too many of them jumped on this one, and got ill-advised procedures done, which in some cases has led to a worsening of their symptoms, and even death. Damage has been done, all because one p

  20. All I can say is... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    ...thank God.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  21. Marijuana is new to the West by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Western civilization has been around marijuana for only the last 100 years, so it has not been completely tested, unlike alcohol, which has been around for thousands of years. Marijuana has been much more tested, than it was 50 years ago. Marijuana might lower IQ 10 points, and make people less motivated, especially in young people. So, for older adults, in jobs that don't need high IQs, marijuana is safe enough. For younger people, or in higher IQ jobs, it is still unknown.

    Marijuana, and maybe LSD, should just be legal for people over 40.

    1. Re:Marijuana is new to the West by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Define "West". According to these guys it was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans--the founders of what we think of as "western civilization". It's probably true that general knowledge of it has waxed and waned at various times though. If you confine "The West" to the USA, then it's probably true that the majority of people weren't aware of it until the early 20th century when racially fueled scares began. Pot was a Black and Hispanic habit, and fear of those groups drove the onset of the current prohibition.

  22. Great judgement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm glad that you don't think for yourself, and instead read the news headlines to know what's right and wrong. And thank you for not investigating the stories past the headline level, so we don't have to worry about an educated citizen's opinion.

  23. Alcohol is better for you than water by viperidaenz · · Score: 5, Informative

    Woman drinks 30 - 40 glasses of water and dies. * http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...

    You're 'supposed' to drink 8 glasses a day. A 5x increase of water intake can lead to death.

    Women are 'supposed' to limit themselves to 2 standard drinks per day. Drinking 10 standard drinks does not result in death.

    1. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The 8 glasses of water is a minimum, 2 drinks a day is a maximum, your conclusion is invalid.

      So you kind of blew it, guy.

    2. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      You are silly. Try eight 8 oz glasses of vodka and get back to us on how much safer than water that is.

    3. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The entire article was about the ratio of normal usage to fatal dose. By that measure water is worse than alcohol. That makes it a terrible waste of time to create this article and to read.

      Only an idiot would say flat out that water is more dangerous ounce for ounce than alcohol.

    4. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An 8 oz. glass of vodka is not a 'standard' drink. A standard drink for vodka (presuming 80 proof) is 1 oz. What you are suggesting is 64 standard drinks.

      Now who's silly?

    5. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woman drinks 30 - 40 glasses of water and dies. * http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...

      You're 'supposed' to drink 8 glasses a day. A 5x increase of water intake can lead to death.

      Women are 'supposed' to limit themselves to 2 standard drinks per day. Drinking 10 standard drinks does not result in death.

      Apples to oranges, or a false equivalency. Water is a more-or-less pure substance (i.e., 100% water). If you were to drink 100% ethyl alcohol (the kind in alcoholic beverages) you'd be dead WAY before ten 8 oz. glasses full, let alone 30 - 40.

      There is little chance at you smoking yourself to death on marijuana in one sitting. There is a very high chance of drinking yourself to death in one night of binge drinking. *That* is the point of the article and the research. What is the likelihood of a lethal dose if abused, the margin of exposure approach. But, yes, water might have also been in the study for educational purposes if not for sheer shock factor. You could also have put table salt in there, too. Plenty of other common things can cause death if abused.

    6. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by flopsquad · · Score: 1

      A single 8oz glass of vodka is pretty close to 10 standard drinks. How can you be so obtuse?

      --
      Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
    7. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These "women" are also supposed to fix my food, wash my clothes, clean my house, and suck my dick on command so you might want to get ahold of your people and have that looked at.

    8. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by delt0r · · Score: 1

      You know where that 8 glasses of water a day came from. An advertising campaign for a bottled water company. It has nothing to do with anything real.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
    9. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      are you really this dense? He's talking about the ratio you fucking idiot.

    10. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      You are. "Standard drinks" don't matter, ounce for ounce alcohol far more toxic than water

    11. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      Normal usage of alcohol is zero. But you'll die without water.

    12. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      Nope, shot is ounce and a half. Five standard drinks in eight fluid ounces. And 80 proof vodka is watered down, it comes out of the still at 110 proof. How can you be so obtuse?

    13. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      Convert "standard drink" to 10 grams of alcohol. It's about 1oz of vodka.

      http://www.alcohol.org.nz/alco...

    14. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by flopsquad · · Score: 1

      Mea culpa, I should know better than to rely on Slashdot for my facts--in this case, that 1oz of hard liquor is a "drink." I should've consulted an authoritative source like urbandictionary, which tells me one drink is actually equal to casual sex.

      Could I still try to argue that my 1 glass was closer than 8? Well, yeah, but a) that would be pretty obtuse, and b) drinking any positive integer number of 8oz glasses of vodka is inadvisable in any case.

      --
      Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
    15. Re:Alcohol is better for you than water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...
      Can't argue with logic like that.

      And also:
      Whoosh.

  24. What they really said by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aside from the limitations in data, our results should be treated carefully particularly in regard to dissemination to lay people. For example, tabloids have reported that “alcohol is worse than hard drugs” following the publication of previous drug rankings. Such statements taken out of context may be misinterpreted, especially considering the differences of risks between individual and the whole population.

    I doubt very many people here understand what MOE is. I sure don't based on what I read in the article and linked abstract. But their conclusions seem to be based on a lot of assumptions .

  25. Re:Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't think anyone is advocating that young people should be getting intoxicated. I mean, how would they even be able to pay for it? No mooching off my stash.

  26. Is it good for you/ bad for you by drummer315 · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of an old cartoon: Fellow presenting to a large auditorium full of people announcing "After many years of research, we have finally discovered the primary cause of cancer in rats: scientists!"

  27. Is it not true? by gatfirls · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pointing out that MJ is relatively safe (from accidental overdose) after decades of propaganda showing it to be a "dangerous" drug and comparing it to other "dangerous" drugs is a pretty important message.

    Especially when you drop alcohol underneath the really nasty stuff.

    It's making a really valid point. You put alcohol abuse up against MJ and the others for long term health affects you will probably see smoking climb the chart and fight alcohol for top run while MJ stays the same.

  28. The actual methods by damn_registrars · · Score: 1
    The abstract link from the summary goes to a page that has the full-text of the paper, however the paper refers to another paper for the actual methods. Digging into that paper (which is helpfully available full-text from anywhere - or at least from my home which certainly has no journal subscriptions) gives us:

    The assessment of toxicological endpoints and BMD for the selected known and suspected human carcinogens was generally based on literature data, as own doseâ"response modeling would have gone beyond the scope of our study. Suitable risk assessment studies including endpoints and doseâ"response modeling results were typically identified in monographs of national and international risk assessments bodies such as WHO IPCS, JECFA, US EPA and EFSA. For substances without available monographs or with missing data on doseâ"response modeling results, the scientific literature in general was searched for such data. Searches were carried out in September 2011 in the following databases: PubMed (US National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD), Web of Science (Thomson Reuters, Philadelphia, PA), Scopus (Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and Google Scholar (Google, Mountain View, CA).

    The BMD/MOE approach was used for risk assessment.13, 14 In short, the BMD is the dose of a substance that produces a predetermined change in response rate (benchmark response) of an adverse effect compared to background based on doseâ"response modeling.14 The benchmark response is generally set near the lower limit of responses that can be measured (typically in the range of 1â"10%). The result of BMD-response modeling can then be used in combination with exposure data to calculate a MOE for quantitative risk assessment. The MOE is defined as the ratio between the lower one-sided confidence limit of the BMD (BMDL) and estimated human intake of the same compound. It can be used to compare the health risk of different compounds and in turn prioritize risk management actions. By definition, the lower the MOE, the larger the risk for humans; generally, a value under 10,000 used to define public health risks.15

    So really, this is about the overall health risks of a substance. Certainly important but that is far from being an endorsement of any of the substances for routine use.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:The actual methods by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      It is only something that confirms that prohibition isn't about public health. It is strictly for revenue generation and crowd control.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:The actual methods by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

      Wow, you didn't know what I said or what you said. Nice double, there.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    3. Re:The actual methods by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Weird, man!

      You're only trying to rationalize the status quo.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    4. Re:The actual methods by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

      Are you trying the smitty "write first, read never" approach to discussion now? I'd ask if we were in the same discussion but the answer to that question is quite obvious.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    5. Re:The actual methods by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Now you with the projection. Eh, birds of a feather you two...

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    6. Re:The actual methods by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

      Projection? Nonsense. I read your comment. It had nothing to do with what I wrote. Pointing that out is not a projection.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    7. Re:The actual methods by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      It had nothing to do with what I wrote.

      Boilerplate bullshit coming from you.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  29. Re:1st! by riverat1 · · Score: 1

    Sorry, you got stoned and you missed it.

  30. Re:Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hear it affects spelling. Not sure if it improves it or impairs it though, or what effect on grammar?

  31. Re:Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am curious. How much does alcohol damage a young persons brain. And which damages it more?

    See your argument is pointless. Alcohol is indisputably worse. On top of that its moot. No one is suggesting you give it to kids without a Drs prescription.

  32. Re:1st! by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 1

    Kinda rolled right by...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
  33. Where is my maths wrong? by ishmaelflood · · Score: 1

    FTFA "A comparative risk assessment of drugs including alcohol and tobacco using the margin of exposure (MOE) approach was conducted. The MOE is defined as ratio between toxicological threshold (benchmark dose) and estimated human intake ....The benchmark dose values ranged ...to 531mg/kg bodyweight for alcohol (ethanol)"

    So that's 1/2 a g per kg, or say 50g for me. A bottle of wine masses 750g, and at 13% would contain 97.5 g of alcohol

    So according to this paper if I drink half a bottle of wine without excreting I am in danger of toxicological thresshold

    Alarmist nonsense.

    1. Re:Where is my maths wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A bottle of wine masses 750g, and at 13% would contain 97.5 g of alcohol

      13% by volume not mass.

    2. Re:Where is my maths wrong? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      13% is by volume (ABV), not by mass.
      Wikipedia says ABV x 0.78924 = ABW {density of beverage at 20C in g/ml}

      Which would be 10.26% and 76.7 g.

    3. Re:Where is my maths wrong? by ishmaelflood · · Score: 1

      OK, thanks, make that 2/3 of a bottle then. Still isn't LD50 within any definable experimental period. It's still alarmist nonsense

    4. Re:Where is my maths wrong? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      The sensitivity analysis based on human data for ethanol shows that the average MOE result is similar to the result based on animal LD50.

      At least be thankful they didn't use humans to derive those numbers.

      But I don't think that number is the LD50:

      BMDL1.5 = 0.4g/kg bw (liver cirrhosis mortality)
      bAn estimate of BMDL10 is obtained from LD50 by division by 10.2 using method B of Gold et al.25. See Supplementary Table S1 online for distribution functions used for calculation.

      I think they're talking about body damage that eventually ends in death - 1/10 of the LD50. Notice how they say liver cirrhosis mortality and not acute alcohol poisoning.

      Still not real clear why those numbers were chosen.

  34. Re: Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after by elcano · · Score: 1

    Actually, as far as I remember (when asking the same question) alcohol causes more deaths (out of car accidents and violence), so yes, it is more dangerous, but it doesn't cause brain damage. Can you find your source?

  35. Re: Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after by elcano · · Score: 0

    It is not advocacy. It is unintended consequences. I know about many teens that celebrate each time that the media asserts that cannabis is safe. Safer than tobacco and alcohol? It is even legal in some states, so it must be very safe, regardless of what adults say. They kids that I'm talking about are a special case (each one have a mental disorder diagnosis, in addition to their substance abuse problems), but the same logic applies to the general population. If it is safe, then it is safe. Period. Unless it is not.

  36. marijuana vs alcohol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the 70s, I found out that 1 joint ( about $3 then, good stuff) was a LOT cheaper to get women than 4 or 5 bar drinks...
    And they never puked up on my shoes, or in my car, or passed out, or had diarrhea in the morning...
    Me neither.

    So who wins? both, with the herbal alteration,
    maybe neither, with alcohol...

  37. No Shit!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No Shit!!!

  38. The danger of Marihuana ... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 0

    There are two dangers:
    First, marihuana is mainly smoked, together with tobacco. So the health danger comes from the tobacco.
    Secondly, canabis does not only contain THC but also Cannabidiol, which partly counteracts the effect of THC and partly is psychoactive.
    Modern breeds have mainly emphasized THC, so the 'compensation' of CBL is missing.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    1. Re:The danger of Marihuana ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There are two dangers:
      First, marihuana is mainly smoked, together with tobacco. So the health danger comes from the tobacco.

      Ah, don't you just love statistics based on UK demographics?

      For the majority of users, no, "marihuana" is not mainly mixed up and smoked with tobacco in the form of spliffs where you are consuming a considerable amount of tobacco.

      For hundreds of years man has rolled up cannabis in paper, and yet we cannot find any evidence of long-term harm with users who have smoked nothing but joints. Lung capacity is often found at near full capacity even after decades of exclusive use.

      Vaporization is fairly new in the overall history, and removes pretty much every single counterargument here, which is why vaping cannabis is growing in popularity. (You really are left with zero argument when vaping.)

      Secondly, canabis does not only contain THC but also Cannabidiol, which partly counteracts the effect of THC and partly is psychoactive.

      Yes, the specific balance or ratio of THC to CBD can be rather key in prescribing various strains for various ailments, along with using temperature control (vaporization). Yes, it's mildly psychoactive, but the key here is the fact that out of millions of daily cannabis users, you don't hear stories of users "tripping balls" from smoking weed, with tobacco or not. It's not LSD. It's not even mushrooms. You get high. That's it. And for the overwhelming majority of users, it's a very controlled and predictable high, which are not usually terms used by those using true psychoactive drugs.

      Modern breeds have mainly emphasized THC, so the 'compensation' of CBL is missing.

      Those who emphasize only THC do not understand the balance necessary for proper medication. And it's understandable that we have both medical strains being focused on (where balance/ratio is key), along with more of a focus on strong THC delivery for recreational purposes. (Wait, what do you mean I can buy 5% ABV beer along with 95% Everclear?) Yeah, I think you get my point, let's not get hypocritical here, we obviously market alcohol to extreme levels, and cannabis is a growing legal industry in certain states in the US for recreational purposes.

      The bottom line is if the 'compensation' of CBL may be done with specific purpose these days. (it could also be done out of ignorance, but we also still have people running moonshine stills)

  39. Marijuana is NOT safe! by xtal · · Score: 1

    A drug conviction can ruin your life, or at least, substantially alter your possible outcomes.

    Yes, I understand the difference. Does it matter?

    --
    ..don't panic
  40. You know.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know who else thought of the children?

  41. Pharmaceutical Industry by seoras · · Score: 1

    Allowing consumers to self medicate with marijuana for depression, pain, MS, cancer, etc, etc isn't in the interests of the Pharmaceutical Industry.
    With it's deep pockets and lobbying power common sense just doesn't stand a chance against it's power and money.

    1. Re:Pharmaceutical Industry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With it's deep pockets and lobbying power common sense just doesn't stand a chance against it's power and money.

      Nor do the rest of us stand a chance against your gratuitous apostrophe abuse. Please, God, won't somebody think of the punctuation?

      Just teasing - in case you weren't aware, its is a word. It's is short for it is. :) I appreciate that English may not be your first language.

    2. Re:Pharmaceutical Industry by omnichad · · Score: 1

      There's plenty of money in marijuana, which is now quasi-legal in many states. This is the start of big tobacco all over again and I can only wonder who funded this research.

  42. Re: Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after by bigfinger76 · · Score: 1

    Are you actually serious?

  43. Re:Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    2 things about that link;

    1- You cannot take a site seriously when they feel they have to pad out the article using SUCH A BIG FONT!
    2- Half of the damage they describe, can easily be seen in young minds that are indoctrinated into religious beliefs.

  44. Re:FFS - Can't stereotype potheads. by IcyWolfy · · Score: 1

    In our school, we had very easy access to pot.
    The biggest users, the top echelon of the students.
    Football players, valedictorian, the upper 10 percentile of the school.
    I must say, that it really is more a matter of the person using it and their mental discipline, rather than the substance.
    Three of my friends went downhill fast, becoming complete stoners and basement dwellers using it as an escape.
    Many more, including myslef, all graduted at or near the top of our respective classes.

    caveat: Canadian Education. We actually learned about drugs and alcohol in our school district, and how to experiment with them.
    More importantly, how to understand and/or deal with the effects you'll be experiencing (mindfullness, grounding self into reality, having music around to keep time flowing well, how to clear your mind and focus on this reality (for psychedelics), how to escape mental traps/holes)
    I assume it was a much different an experience than places where kids are basically throwing a dart and then crawling around in the dark from there.

  45. Doesn't affect my ability to do anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When people tell me that smoking pot doesn't affect their ability to drive, do their jobs, or most anything, I have to ask them, "If it has so little effect on you, why do you smoke it? Kinda defeats the purpose.".

    1. Re:Doesn't affect my ability to do anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because it helps me smile despite the weirdness and brutality I see in the world around me. Smile, reach out, and share my Doritos (tm).

  46. Re: Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

    I know about many teens that celebrate each time that the media asserts that cannabis is safe.

    I know about many adults that do the same! To us, it suggests a time when we might collectively agree to re-prioritise the energies spent on policing the substance.

    So in this group *I* may very well be a drop-kick but the other people I'm referring to are not. None are under 40 years in age, several of them own and manage businesses and are doing very nicely for themselves. All are good people leading productive, healthy lives. All happen to enjoy Mary Jane.

    I will admit one of my friends in this group did give up marijuana but apparently it was purely to do with her quit-smoking campaign; reportedly it wasn't helpful to smoke anything at all when trying to give up cigarettes. Incidentally it took her several years to fully chase the need for nicotine out of her system but she never seemed to miss the MJ.

    .

    They kids that I'm talking about are a special case (each one have a mental disorder diagnosis, in addition to their substance abuse problems)

    Eek. I hope you don't think that's the only type of person who wants to see some intelligent marijuana law reform! :)

    --
    ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
  47. Re:Alcohol vs addictive drugs: a story by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

    What hogwash.

    --
    ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
  48. Re:Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another study found that children who start with a daily joint at 6 years old develop cognitive and emotional function at a faster rate and reach higher levels than the non-smoking control group.
    Studies are a dime a dozen and one can be found that proves anything you like. The best plan is to follow scientific and medical consensus... which is that pot is harmless if not weakly beneficial.

  49. Re: Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after by elcano · · Score: 1

    Sure. Source please. I agree on following consensus of sound studies. Those using proper scientific method and having statistical power ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...). Also, those that are valid for current context, like the much more potent concentration of the active ingredient of cannabis that exists today. Ignoring activism, there is huge amount of poor studies. Serious scientists read and evaluate them. You propose a consensus of all studies, the good and the bad together. What PhD program did learn this from? :-D I really don't care how you do your decision making or whether you smoke with your 6 yo children. But I don't want my taxes to be paying welfare to those loosers because their brain is too damaged to learn how to fry potatoes at a McDonald. Finding jobs is going to be difficult without having brain damage, anyway. I assume that you will not be interested to evaluate studies and create public policy based of statistical or simulation-based forecasts, but Nate Silver's 'The Signal and the Noise' is excellent advise on evaluating scientific advise. As he says, averaging results of sound studies is wise as you can expect most times (not always) to obtain better results than when siding with one study (which could be right or wrong). Consensus.... blind consensus as proposed above? Of course not.

  50. A counterargument to Protip's advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Protip advises to eat/drink/smoke anything that you happen to enjoy, just don't let it become a habit and exercise some moderation. This is very vague advice. Surely one should determine what things should be avoided, what things should be only lightly used, what things may be freely indulged in. If there are dangerous things out there, one should surely know about them.

    It's true that anything can kill you. Drinking too much water for example is dangerous, it can cause swelling in the brain and death. Should one avoid water, of course not, but there is some limit to how much water one should drink. Competitions where one should drink as much as possible are dangerous and often result in people dying as a result.

    So anything can kill you. This should tell you something, the human body is fragile. One of the peculiar aspects of our culture is that we believe we are invulnerable, it won't happen to us. Drink anything, smoke anything, it won't happen to you. But the human body is a finely balanced chemical environment that agents and pathogens can upset. It's not for nothing that there is a blood-brain barrier, this is because the brain is a very finely balanced organ that can be affected by things like drink and drugs.

    Do you really want to be messing with your brain, how it operates? If even water can kill you and your body needs a blood-brain barrier to maintain correct operation, and this barrier must have evolved because it was necessary, do you really want to be messing with how your brain operates? And that is what happens when you get drunk, when you get high, your brain is malfunctioning. It's not operating according to specifications.

    So the idea that anything in moderation is okay has to be evaluated in this light. If I can induce my brain to operate in a way that it shouldn't, what is the impact of that? Could it not cause trouble down the line? Surely one must take the approach that less is more.

    The other thing to think about is the so-called lifestyle effects of drink and drugs. You may be hanging out with the wrong friends, getting into bad habits, not being focused enough on work or self improvement, etc. Where is your life going, where is it headed? Is it getting better, is it developing to where you want it to reach? Are you going to become what you want to become? Partying and all that is not going to take you there.

    The main thing to realize is, we are all fragile, even Protip acknowledges this. He says, don't listen to the alarmists, do what you like and don't worry. What he is saying is, don't worry about messing yourself up, we all die eventually. Does this sound like a successful attitude to have?

  51. I Like the Libertarian Approach by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am just fine with people who want to smoke pot. After all, I have no right to tell them what to do, so long as they are not infringing upon my rights.

    That all changes the second they ask government to give them some of MY money when they can't get or keep a job. Then again, libertarians want to abolish welfare anyway, so it's a win win just the same. In the meantime we can just deny welfare benefits to pot users.

  52. Any good meta-studies out there? by jopet · · Score: 1

    This is not my field of expertise, so I do not know the literature. But I know that I read more or less an identical assessment in a scientific report that was created for the Australian legislators in the 1980'ies upon which i stumbled by chance. I read similar assessments in a number of books on recreational drugs later, so this cannot be new at all and must already be backed by dozens, if not hundreds of studies?
    Could we not finally start to just accept these insights as facts?

  53. Yup... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...I'm sure all that smoke you inhale, and try to hold in as long as possible, is great for you...all those fun carcinogens and all.

    1. Re:Yup... by neminem · · Score: 1

      Only if you smoke it... which is not even remotely necessary to gain the effects people go for. :p

  54. Propoganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Notice a massive uptick in marijuana studies since states have been legalizing? This is all propaganda for the marijuana movement.

  55. Not really by azav · · Score: 1

    Weed can be a MASSIVE demotivator. And it can set the mindset of "things are OK; I don't need to do anything that requires effort."

    I've seen too many people who got caught in this trap, never graduated high school and went on to lead dead end lives.

    --
    - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
  56. Huxley was wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the novel "Brave New World" implied that Government would find a way to force people to drug themselves into complacency, apathy, and harmlessness.

    the reality? People are fighting, and DEMANDING their Soma be legalized so they can pay for it themselves.

  57. Not in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the UK it is. In the US, it's a DEA Schedule I drug with no (legally) accepted medical/therapeutic use. My understanding is that the UK NHS almost exclusively uses diamorphine for end-of-life / terminal pain management, where the addiction risks aren't a concern.

    There are some studies showing that addicted people often aren't able to distinguish heroin from other strong opioids like morphine and hydromorphone. I don't know if it's been done with opioid-naive subjects. I suspect not. Of course, just the subjective experience of using those drugs doesn't tell the whole story.

    Anecdotally, and without having done a whole lot of research in to it yet, I think there's likely a strong genetic factor underlying opioid addiction. Maybe someday we'll have a test that could tell people in advance if they're at risk. Of course, then there'd be very valid concerns about receiving inadequate pain management with that sort of result in your health record. An interesting time to be alive.

    More reading: http://www.nature.com/news/1998/980813/full/news980813-6.html

    1. Re:Not in the US by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 1

      I was given morphine for pain in the US after splenectomy due to trauma (mid-70's)

      Contracted pneumonia, so they dropped the morphine immediately and started harassing me to walk around (dragging the IV around like a rolling crutch) because the death rate from pneumonia as a complication of pneumonia is pretty damned deadly

      Not certain if it was the withdrawal from morphine or moving around with a foot long incision through all of my abdominal muscles that was the biggest bitch, but it left a lasting impression and I have had a deep seeded dislike for any opiates for the past 40 years

      Maybe near death and torture-like treatment is an effect means of opiate avoidance

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
  58. Re:Protip Shel Silverstein by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  59. Re:Adding a reference to that by Terry+Pearson · · Score: 1

    I looked up some information about your statement. Having never used it myself, I speak only from talking to others and from research. Found some interesting facts to support your text:

    Why is marijuana illegal

    From reading a couple articles (including the linked one above, it appears that there was a perfect storm of 'enemies' to the use of the plant including:

    • -Incidents of poisoning from individuals that laced the drug with other substances
    • -North / South rivalry (Prohibition hurt the south and forced other alternatives)
    • -Competition and propoganda by Alcohol industry
    • -Prejudice against certain groups who were more frequent users (Mexican and African Americans)
    • -Overall "prohibition" attitude that believed society could be whitewashed by laws to fix various societal issues.

    Not only did opinion turn against the plant in the early 20th century, but it actually turned opposite of the historical stance. There was a point in certain colonies that people were punished if they did not grow the plant.

    Most people would agree that this is not a "poison" as some see it. They would also acknowledge that classifying meth as less dangerous than pot can't be attributed to science in any way. Clearly, the schedule system imposed by the FDA and DEA is flawed and influenced by politics. Even for someone who feels it should be banned, they could at least be intellectually honest enough to say their ranking of pot as more dangerous than meth is flawed.

    But on the other hand, the drug war is big business right now. According to the Bureau of Justice, drug offenses account for about a quarter of all reasons for incarceration. Not only that, but 1 in 8 state employees in the country are employees of a corrections agency.

    It seems to me that there are a lot of people with a vested interest in not reexamining the issue and in keeping the status quo. Obviously, people have important concerns about health and what you put in your body. I just wish we could focus on more facts and less politics so people could make the decisions based on more than just waves of political opinion.

  60. Re:Being a depressed couch potato is safe, after a by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    Lots of scientific studies turn out to be wrong in their conclusions. It's in the nature of how we do science: individual papers can easily be wrong, but the problems can be rectified later. Most papers are correct, but there's lots and lots of scientific papers, and some bad or unlucky ones will get through.

    Moreover, you're linking to a site that says "Study Finds", meaning you aren't dealing with science at all but with science journalism, which is in a disgraceful state. Marijuana is a hot political topic, which means that people are interested in presenting studies that favor their views, and so we have no reason to think that study wasn't cherry-picked and/or misinterpreted.

    So, you'll excuse me if I pay no attention to your cite.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  61. For Hero's Sake by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Actually, a heroine is more like a person that eats the hero, than the sandwich itself. As it should be.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  62. How did the henhouse get raided? by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Well, the Supreme Court also said that the Supreme Court gets to decide the Constitutionality of laws, even though that power isn't assigned to them in the Constitution.

    Can you imagine what rules the fox would put in place, given the authority to guard the henhouse?

    Welcome to how the US government operates, in direct opposition to article five. Article three does not assign article five powers, or anything remotely resembling them, to the judiciary.

    Any legislation or ruling contrary to the constitution is unauthorized use of power by definition. There's a great deal of it. A good argument can be made that our government is pathologically out of control based on this alone.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  63. Constitutionality by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Congress passes a law, the President signs it, some aggrieved third party says it's unconstitutional. Exactly who do you think should review said law and make the final determination?

    Congress shall make no law. Congress makes a law. We should send the congresspersons home and tear the law up. No third party required. No delay required. No court required.

    [thing] shall not be infringed upon. Congress makes a law that infringes. We should send the congresspersons home and tear the law up. No third party required. No delay required. No court required.

    All other rights and powers go to the states. Congress makes a law that takes some of those powers unto itself. We should send the congresspersons home and tear the law up. No third party required. No delay required. No court required.

    Congress nor states may make ex post facto laws. They make ex post facto laws. We should send the makers home and tear the laws up. No third party required. No delay required. No court required.

    Search and seizure may not be pursued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, which allows a judge to choose to issue a warrant, which in turn must specify the things to be searched for and the place(s) to be searched. Congress or a state (or a TLA, effectively) makes a law that breaks this chain: We should send the makers/breakers home and tear the law/rule up. No third party required. No delay required. No court required.

    Authority? The US constitution, which lays out the limits of government, barring use of article five. As these people are all obviously in violation of the limits, they are no longer qualified to be a part of it, and sending them home amounts to no more than the courtesy of paying for their ticket. They clearly didn't belong where they were.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:Constitutionality by chihowa · · Score: 1

      So who is the "we" in all of this, and by what process do "we" actually do all of these things?

      What you're describing is what we had prior to Marbury v. Madison, which is why the Supreme Court took it upon itself to actually carry out the actions you describe (except for the part where legislators that pass unconstitutional laws are punished).

      We don't need a vague demand for justice, but an actual accountable process for determining and doing away with unconstitutional laws.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    2. Re:Constitutionality by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      If the citizens cared, any number of means could be provided. But frankly, no one cares. The number of people I have met who actually know what the constitution says is appallingly small. We live in a corporate oligarchy inside a banana dictatorship shell, in the main populated with ignorant couch potatoes.

      except for the part where legislators that pass unconstitutional laws are punished

      Yeah... the part that might have made it work. :/ Instead, they just arrogated article 5 powers unto themselves, also without oversight (and they have used that freedom from oversight to outright ignore the constitution over and over again.)

      You notice how laws have consequences? And that's the basis, we hope anyway, for people to obey them even if they'd like to disobey? Notice that the laws, supposedly the highest in the land, in the constitution have zero punishment / teeth? You know why that was? Because people were expected to act with honor in public service. Good grief, what an error that was.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    3. Re:Constitutionality by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      We don't need a vague demand for justice, but an actual accountable process for determining and doing away with unconstitutional laws.

      Well, see, if we say you are forbidden from doing X, and you do X, and we do nothing, what we have done is set up a situation where when forbidden from doing Y, you will see absolutely no reason not to do Y, too. Welcome to the US state and federal legislatures.

      To these people, no does not mean no. Because they are sophist bullshit artists. And we won't show them no does mean no. So that's the end of it.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    4. Re:Constitutionality by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      Perhaps it should be the job of the president. Oh, that'd stir up the hornet's nest a bit. :)

      Executive order #xxx: congressman Ex P. Facto, supporter of the Add Punishment After Conviction bill (APAC, HR 666), goes home to [State] today, never to return to legislative service. [State], if you want representation this term, time for an off-season election. Try a little harder so you pick someone who can read this time around, and see to it that they read and understand that thing they swear an oath to.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  64. Neck deep in bananas by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    If the judiciary has the power to consider cases and controversies arising under the Constitution (this is spelled out in Article III, so I don't think you can dispute that it has such power) then how do you purpose that it exercise such power?

    Just the way a circuit judge exercises the power of laws at his/her level: By enforcing them. Not by re-defining or ignoring for some trumped-up "cause."

    INTRASTATE commerce. Make NO law. shall NOT infringe. ...powers not assigned here SHALL go to the states. NO ex post facto laws, state OR federal. Warrant REQUIRED. And so on. Where's the (honest) controversy? This stuff is forbidden, plain and simple, and any time it comes up, and I mean *any* time, the whole thing is an exercise in constitutional violation and unauthorized use, or attempted use, of power.

    The constitution wasn't written for sophist lawyers to dance on the head of a pin. It was written to restrict and define the role of government in plain English, by and for the citizens. Step outside that, it's not government -- it's just a banana dictatorship -- "because the government says so." Yeah, we're neck deep in this crap and sinking fast, but that does not, and never will, make it right.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  65. Not a good reason by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    That is NOT the responsibility of the individual. It is the responsibility of the legislature that decided they were going to pay for it. The taxpayers have recourse, too -- tell their legislators they don't accept paying for it. If enough do so, it'll stop. You see the government paying for housing for those the taxpayers are happy to see living under a bridge? No. Think about it.

    On the other hand, if the representatives get the message that we're compassionate enough to offer to help those who want to be helped? Well then, that's how it'll go. And of course, there is some small chance that private charity will address a problem. Very small.

    It still doesn't give anyone the right to tell another person what to do, or not do, with their own body or those of others who consent (and even if you try to arrogate such a right, you will inevitably find that it won't "take." Witness the failure of prohibition and the drug war and the sex worker / sex client war and the pro-heterosexuality war and slavery.)

    These things have two obvious things in common: First, the laws themselves, far more than the things they make illegal, cause immense harm. The second is that they make legislators look incredibly stupid in front of anyone who can think their way out of a paper bag. The former is a damned shame. The latter, I'm afraid, we already had ample proof of.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  66. Death by Pot by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    There are only three ways you can easily kill someone with pot.

    First, put them in jail. Rape and murder are potential outcomes. Then, once released as a felon, suicide may get them when they find the doors of (legal) opportunity have closed and they are permanently ranked lowest-class-irredeemable by society's permanent retribution stick. Finally, if they try to make it in the underground economy, the system will likely get another whack at them in its rape-and-murder parlors. Also, as the government has created a violent black market in pot with its laws, competition in the underground economy is also a potential source of death.

    Second, stuff enough pot into their windpipe to completely block their breathing. That'll do it.

    Third, drop a 100 kg bale of pot on their head from about 100 meters above. That'll do it pretty much every time. See? Pot can be dangerous.

    There are other ways, but they are more difficult to set up and generally require many bales of pot and restraint of the victim.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  67. common sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its pretty much common sense that you can smoke a pound of marijuana and survive, where you drink a pound of 190 proof Everclear, you're probably dead.... I don't think we need an article to point that out

  68. oh yeah pot is safe sure, ...for your physi health by johncandale · · Score: 1

    Long term pot use is disastrous for your ability to function emotionally, but hey at least your liver will still be working. So go ahead and smoke up. I will be LOLing when nobody worthwhile wants to deal with your addled mentality at 40 years old while my Alcohol greased social life will be fully functional. Protip:it's the addiction that is bad with any drug.