I'm sure your personal anecdotes are all well and interesting, but they don't carry one bit of scientific scrutiny or methodology.
The time we now live in will be known many years later as the era in which clueless morons clothed their ignorance in science, and paraded around the town square with noses held high in contempt for any viewpoints other than their own narrow perspective.
I can cite all the scientific studies you could possibly like. Where would you like to begin this debate?
All of this stupidity (of yours) could be avoided if you simply smoked a joint, thus educating yourself through personal experience. Instead you decide to prance around in public proudly while demonstrating your thorough ignorance.
Marijuana can be harmful, and I'm not even just referring to inhaling smoke or the psychosis that affects a small percentage of the population.
Then what exactly are you referring to, since you never bother mentioning anything else other than these two incorrect and utterly disproved ideas.
Inhaling smoke is harmful? No, that's just your common ignorance speaking. Inhaling marijuana smoke reduced the risk of cancer in a long term study by Dr Donald Tashkin of UCLA, a government researcher--a man who went into the study with the same ASSumption you hold (that smoke is inherently harmful), only to be disproved.
The psychosis is utter lies and propaganda (like any lie, based on a kernel of truth) pushed mainly by the UK establishment. It never seems to gain any traction here in the U.S. since we happen to know it's bullshit, yet propaganda mouthpieces like you continue to spout it anyway. Name one NON-government study without some hidden obvious agenda that shows ANY correlation between marijuana use and psychosis. You can't. It's all anecdotal.
Next time consult some scientific studies and maybe you'll see that yes, marijuana does have a darker side that your post woefully ignores and it isn't a happy, harmless wonder drug.
Actually, that's exactly what it is: a happy, harmless wonder drug. Your choice to believe lies and spread them does not change this basic fact.
Not especially. Smoke of all kinds is not good for you;
According to a study by Dr Donald Tashkin of UCLA on long term marijuana and tobacco studies, there is no correlation between increased risk of lung cancer among heavy marijuana users. In fact there was a slightly reduced risk, compared to the control group.
The most harmful part of tobacco is nicotine (a literal poison), not the smoke.
Sorry, but although tobacco [nicotine] might be considered very addictive (by many definitions of the word, and according to certain uses), it is not at all "intoxicating" (it does not distort reality perception, cause hallucinations, impair judgement or critical thinking, affect communication or reaction time, etc)
Due to it being highly addictive it changes ones psychological makeup prepping one for further addiction.
Then how is it I managed to quit, then? The same way my great grandmother did sixty years ago: by just putting the cigarette down and not smoking another one?
You don't have a clue about what "addiction" even is.
But if you have the attitude that authority and law [...] should be rejected when you personally feel like it — well, that is a view that is not compatible with a democratic society based on the rule of law
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." – Thomas Jefferson
Legalizing doesn't make the psychosis go away. In the Netherlands it's legal and there are plenty of fucked up people smoking themselves into an even more fucked up state, instead of dealing with their crap and getting on with their life without smoking.
Name one.
Sounds more like your prejudice and ignorance talking here, not experience.
However, under the right conditions and a vulnerable individual, it can cause severe anxiety, racing thoughts (exacerbated even by paranoia of doing something illegal)
The right conditions being: certain strains.
The vulnerable individual being: someone who is a complete newb and/or nervous/anxious and clueless about marijuana.
Those who KNOW what panic attacks are and how to fight them, simply don't have them. The "problem" here is caused by ignorance, not the plant.
It isn't "paranoia" if they really ARE out to get you.
I'm about as laid back as they come and bother no-one. The other day my lighter ran out of fluid, so I went out in the garage to my car's lighter, then sat there in the driver's seat with the window rolled down smoking my joint in peace. Right as I was finishing up I noticed a cop drive by. There is no way he could have possibly seen me smoking but I got a bad feeling right then so I tossed out my blunt, rolled up the window, locked the car, then calmly walked in the house.
As I rounded the corner leaving the garage I saw that the cop had pulled into the next driveway down, kinda creepin along and riding his brakes, just like he was scoping out his rearview and thinking of getting out to walk my way. Thank God he missed his chance. I think he must have either smelled it as he drove by, or some anonymous do-gooder somewhere (no clue who it could be because I saw nobody else around) called him. Either way:
You see now why stoners are paranoid? Just like that one can get arrested, put in jail, and life ruined, even when one is totally and completely minding one's own business and hurting nobody.
After losing the "high" you will have less concentration and less short term memory capability for days, weeks and even months to follow, depending on how long and how much you smoked before.
From my own (extensive) personal experience? Wrong.
How are you measuring "less concentration" and "less short term memory capability"? Through some bullshit test somebody made up? In my personal experience, my memory and concentration is just fine. If there is any loss it is not high enough to matter. I'm a heavy every-day-all-day smoker.
When one is high on marijuana, it alters the flow of information through the brain. With a casual/inexperienced smoker, they simply don't/haven't smoked enough for their brain to adjust and learn to process information most effectively when high. This explains their apparent deficits in certain mental abilities. Take one of Plato's cave dwellers and put him in the middle of a ballroom and see how confused and screwed up he acts at first. Come back a year later and he might own the place. Your static "social abilities test" taken two days before and after the change of venue proves nothing.
Even though there might be a slight drop in what some might perceive as "short term memory" (more like: verbal memory), there are also huge gains in other areas, i.e. creativity. The overall effect is a gain in intelligence and mental ability, not the opposite.
I smoke a ton of weed and wouldn't care if they made baby food out of it, but it can trigger psychotic episodes in mentally ill people.
Bullshit. There is no evidence of this whatsoever. This is propaganda commonly trotted out in the UK and apparently believed by the masses there. In this U.S. this is rarely ever asserted because people know it's bullshit.
On the side of Marijuana, there is a slight lung cancer risk
No. At least one long term study (conducted by Dr Donald Tashkin at UCLA) has shown that people who smoke marijuana have normal (baseline) risk of lung cancer.
Funny, but seriously, caffeine = legal crack. Caffeine junkies are far more numerous (and self-righteous, and ignorant) than heroin junkies. The withdrawal can be as bad as or worse than nicotine withdrawal. This example only serves to illustrate the absurdity of the War on (Some) Drugs.
Every fiscal problem is a direct result of social spending and that is the direct result of too many poor people getting rich (I know, logic, right?) off of government spending
No, idiot.
The problem with this social spending is it keeps people poor. These people become dependent on aid, and unable to subsist without it.
No problem in the history of humanity has ever been solved by the hand of government. It only gives us different problems. The problems that we face today are the same problems humanity has always faced for thousands of years, and will continue to face until we either die off or change into something else entirely.
It has nothing (or close to nothing) to do with public services.
I'd say it's more like you have no clue what you're talking about. The housing bubble is just a convenient excuse, and the straw that broke the camel's back. The problems run much, much deeper than that.
What are you talking about? Spain has an excellent healthcare programme. It did get suckered by construction companies into building a load of houses, however, and failed to take account of the fact that socialist programmes would increase lifespan such that it would become necessary to change pension provision.
What on Earth are you talking about??
But this crisis is mostly manufactured as an excuse to get people to accept worse conditions.
Every single motherfucker in the country is affected by the stock market, regardless of their level of investment, or lack thereof, in the stock market.
Wrong.
People are affected by the stock market only to the extent they choose to be.
I am self employed. I know several high value trades. I have barrels full of fresh water in the basement, shelves full of food, and money in the bank.
Please explain to me again how any negative development in the stock market could possibly hurt me?
Slashdot Mirror
Perhaps you can explain why this hasn't been the case with tobacco.
There has been no concerted effort to make tobacco more potent. Why?
Getting high is for cowards who can not face life full on.
Says the coward.
I'm sure your personal anecdotes are all well and interesting, but they don't carry one bit of scientific scrutiny or methodology.
The time we now live in will be known many years later as the era in which clueless morons clothed their ignorance in science, and paraded around the town square with noses held high in contempt for any viewpoints other than their own narrow perspective.
I can cite all the scientific studies you could possibly like. Where would you like to begin this debate?
All of this stupidity (of yours) could be avoided if you simply smoked a joint, thus educating yourself through personal experience. Instead you decide to prance around in public proudly while demonstrating your thorough ignorance.
Marijuana can be harmful, and I'm not even just referring to inhaling smoke or the psychosis that affects a small percentage of the population.
Then what exactly are you referring to, since you never bother mentioning anything else other than these two incorrect and utterly disproved ideas.
Inhaling smoke is harmful? No, that's just your common ignorance speaking. Inhaling marijuana smoke reduced the risk of cancer in a long term study by Dr Donald Tashkin of UCLA, a government researcher--a man who went into the study with the same ASSumption you hold (that smoke is inherently harmful), only to be disproved.
The psychosis is utter lies and propaganda (like any lie, based on a kernel of truth) pushed mainly by the UK establishment. It never seems to gain any traction here in the U.S. since we happen to know it's bullshit, yet propaganda mouthpieces like you continue to spout it anyway. Name one NON-government study without some hidden obvious agenda that shows ANY correlation between marijuana use and psychosis. You can't. It's all anecdotal.
Next time consult some scientific studies and maybe you'll see that yes, marijuana does have a darker side that your post woefully ignores and it isn't a happy, harmless wonder drug.
Actually, that's exactly what it is: a happy, harmless wonder drug. Your choice to believe lies and spread them does not change this basic fact.
Being high impairs judgment
Wrong
which as we know from another legal substance,
Alcohol, I presume?
can and often does negatively affect other people.
Because it's alcohol...a completely different drug than cannabis.
This is a large part of the problem: ignorance, and people's misperceptions because they don't realize that being high is nothing like being drunk.
Not especially. Smoke of all kinds is not good for you;
According to a study by Dr Donald Tashkin of UCLA on long term marijuana and tobacco studies, there is no correlation between increased risk of lung cancer among heavy marijuana users. In fact there was a slightly reduced risk, compared to the control group.
The most harmful part of tobacco is nicotine (a literal poison), not the smoke.
Sorry, but although tobacco [nicotine] might be considered very addictive (by many definitions of the word, and according to certain uses), it is not at all "intoxicating" (it does not distort reality perception, cause hallucinations, impair judgement or critical thinking, affect communication or reaction time, etc)
Neither does marijuana.
Don't be naive.
LOL
Due to it being highly addictive it changes ones psychological makeup prepping one for further addiction.
Then how is it I managed to quit, then? The same way my great grandmother did sixty years ago: by just putting the cigarette down and not smoking another one?
You don't have a clue about what "addiction" even is.
But if you have the attitude that authority and law [...] should be rejected when you personally feel like it — well, that is a view that is not compatible with a democratic society based on the rule of law
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." – Thomas Jefferson
Yes.
Legalizing doesn't make the psychosis go away. In the Netherlands it's legal and there are plenty of fucked up people smoking themselves into an even more fucked up state, instead of dealing with their crap and getting on with their life without smoking.
Name one.
Sounds more like your prejudice and ignorance talking here, not experience.
However, under the right conditions and a vulnerable individual, it can cause severe anxiety, racing thoughts (exacerbated even by paranoia of doing something illegal)
The right conditions being: certain strains.
The vulnerable individual being: someone who is a complete newb and/or nervous/anxious and clueless about marijuana.
Those who KNOW what panic attacks are and how to fight them, simply don't have them. The "problem" here is caused by ignorance, not the plant.
Sorry, is "paranoia" a mental disorder?
It isn't "paranoia" if they really ARE out to get you.
I'm about as laid back as they come and bother no-one. The other day my lighter ran out of fluid, so I went out in the garage to my car's lighter, then sat there in the driver's seat with the window rolled down smoking my joint in peace. Right as I was finishing up I noticed a cop drive by. There is no way he could have possibly seen me smoking but I got a bad feeling right then so I tossed out my blunt, rolled up the window, locked the car, then calmly walked in the house.
As I rounded the corner leaving the garage I saw that the cop had pulled into the next driveway down, kinda creepin along and riding his brakes, just like he was scoping out his rearview and thinking of getting out to walk my way. Thank God he missed his chance. I think he must have either smelled it as he drove by, or some anonymous do-gooder somewhere (no clue who it could be because I saw nobody else around) called him. Either way:
You see now why stoners are paranoid? Just like that one can get arrested, put in jail, and life ruined, even when one is totally and completely minding one's own business and hurting nobody.
After losing the "high" you will have less concentration and less short term memory capability for days, weeks and even months to follow, depending on how long and how much you smoked before.
From my own (extensive) personal experience? Wrong.
How are you measuring "less concentration" and "less short term memory capability"? Through some bullshit test somebody made up? In my personal experience, my memory and concentration is just fine. If there is any loss it is not high enough to matter. I'm a heavy every-day-all-day smoker.
When one is high on marijuana, it alters the flow of information through the brain. With a casual/inexperienced smoker, they simply don't/haven't smoked enough for their brain to adjust and learn to process information most effectively when high. This explains their apparent deficits in certain mental abilities. Take one of Plato's cave dwellers and put him in the middle of a ballroom and see how confused and screwed up he acts at first. Come back a year later and he might own the place. Your static "social abilities test" taken two days before and after the change of venue proves nothing.
Even though there might be a slight drop in what some might perceive as "short term memory" (more like: verbal memory), there are also huge gains in other areas, i.e. creativity. The overall effect is a gain in intelligence and mental ability, not the opposite.
I smoke a ton of weed and wouldn't care if they made baby food out of it, but it can trigger psychotic episodes in mentally ill people.
Bullshit. There is no evidence of this whatsoever. This is propaganda commonly trotted out in the UK and apparently believed by the masses there. In this U.S. this is rarely ever asserted because people know it's bullshit.
On the side of Marijuana, there is a slight lung cancer risk
No. At least one long term study (conducted by Dr Donald Tashkin at UCLA) has shown that people who smoke marijuana have normal (baseline) risk of lung cancer.
and a moderate risk of depressions.
From smoking marijuana alone? No.
Funny, but seriously, caffeine = legal crack. Caffeine junkies are far more numerous (and self-righteous, and ignorant) than heroin junkies. The withdrawal can be as bad as or worse than nicotine withdrawal. This example only serves to illustrate the absurdity of the War on (Some) Drugs.
50% youth unemployment is because of excessive borrowing?
never mind the millions of people that the programs help.
What about the millions that they hurt?
Nothing is free in life my friend.
Every fiscal problem is a direct result of social spending and that is the direct result of too many poor people getting rich (I know, logic, right?) off of government spending
No, idiot.
The problem with this social spending is it keeps people poor. These people become dependent on aid, and unable to subsist without it.
No problem in the history of humanity has ever been solved by the hand of government. It only gives us different problems. The problems that we face today are the same problems humanity has always faced for thousands of years, and will continue to face until we either die off or change into something else entirely.
It has nothing (or close to nothing) to do with public services.
I'd say it's more like you have no clue what you're talking about. The housing bubble is just a convenient excuse, and the straw that broke the camel's back. The problems run much, much deeper than that.
He doesn't realize that he's being hand held in many areas of his life too,
Maybe he does, and maybe he's fucking sick of it?
Don't automatically assume everybody wants to be a serf, as you apparently do.
What are you talking about? Spain has an excellent healthcare programme. It did get suckered by construction companies into building a load of houses, however, and failed to take account of the fact that socialist programmes would increase lifespan such that it would become necessary to change pension provision.
What on Earth are you talking about??
But this crisis is mostly manufactured as an excuse to get people to accept worse conditions.
Oh...I see. You're not on Earth.
Google is evil.
Every single motherfucker in the country is affected by the stock market, regardless of their level of investment, or lack thereof, in the stock market.
Wrong.
People are affected by the stock market only to the extent they choose to be.
I am self employed. I know several high value trades. I have barrels full of fresh water in the basement, shelves full of food, and money in the bank.
Please explain to me again how any negative development in the stock market could possibly hurt me?