Should The Government Revise Marijuana Laws?

[JoeMo]

Since the Reagan era, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule 1 drug - one that is highly addictive with no medical value at all.  However, over the past 5 years, certain marijuana derivatives have proven to be as or more effective than pharmaceuticals in treating certain conditions, like severe long-term spasms from acute spinal cord injuries, glaucoma, epilepsy, PTSD, Parkinson's disease, dementia, side-effects from chemo, even healing some cancers, and reversing opiate addiction.  Yet the federal government continues to keep it classified right up there with LSD, meth, and heroin.  No one has ever died of an overdose of marijuana. Yet, U.S researchers have extremely limited access to weed for research purposes; unlike researchers in places like Great Britain and Israel. 

I live in Colorado where recreational and medical weed is legal; and the only change I've seen is a drastic reduction in the price of weed (about a 70% reduction); and a willingness by people whom the medical industry has failed turn increasingly to CBD oils (the non-psychoactive part of weed)  for everything from relieving chemo side effects to arthritic pain and gastritis. They usually keep with it because it seems to work quite well with no to little side effects.  Shouldn't the DEA take a look at some of the research and reconsider its harsh rules against marijuana, so U.S. researchers can take a look at it as well?

[Gregory Matthews]

I would like to see more scientific research done.  Yes, I have some knowledge of the research that has been done.  But, U.S.; research in  this subject area has been crippled by government policy which needs to be changed.

 

[JoeMo]

I see that Canada is legalizing marijuana nation-wide in October.

[Lauralea]

Marijuana use raises the risk of schizophrenia about 16x in chronic users. Probably this is mainly in those with a genetic predisposition. Schizophrenia is a life-ruining disease. While making laws more uniform and less arbitrary may be fair, legalizing recreational marijuana would probably have unforeseen consequences. 

[Dr. Shane]

It probably has some medical value but it is very habit forming.  Since Ellen White favored Prohibition, I find it difficult to believe Adventists should support the recreational use of marijuana.

 

[JoeMo]

4 hours ago, Shane said:

It probably has some medical value but it is very habit forming.  Since Ellen White favored Prohibition, I find it difficult to believe Adventists should support the recreational use of marijuana.

 

I'm not saying Adventists should support it any more than Adventists supporting use of alcohol.  I live in a state where recreational weed has been legal for 3 years; and I've seen no drastic deterioration of society (of course - 3 years is still short-term. We'll see what happens over the next several years).

In today's world, people who want to smoke weed will smoke it - legal or not.  People who don't want to smoke it won't - legal or not.  But if some of its derivatives have potentially significant medical value, researchers in this country should still have access to it; and where it has already been proven to have medical value, medical use should be legal and simple.

[JoeMo]

4 hours ago, Shane said:

but it is very habit forming.

Psychologically; but not physically (like opioids, alcohol and nicotine).  Plus, no one has ever died from an overdose of weed.

[CoAspen]

Recreational use has increased the numbers of people driving impaired, according to the CHP. The other downside is the increased need for law enforcement. There are a lot of expenses incured by the state with the legalization for recreational purposes. But the monies the state collects in taxes were just too 'eye-popping' to pass up. I'm sure we will see other states climbing aboard as a way to gather more monies.  I think we have enough ways to 'blow your mind' w/o the adding more substances, but society seems to want more ways to 'cope'  with everyday life, the easy way.

Definately okay for medical research as some uses have already been found, more is needed. Medical use, in my book, should not be prohibited. But, we have enough 'Dr's' willing to call it 'medical need' on some very flimsy data. Personaly know of such happening.. ...

[JoeMo]

28 minutes ago, CoAspen said:

Recreational use has increased the numbers of people driving impaired, according to the CHP.

It has also significantly reduced the number of hospital admissions for opioid overdoses in Colorado - I want to say I read by 30%; but I can't find the reference.

It will be interesting to see what happens nationwide in Canada after recreational weed becomes legal nationwide in late October.

[JoeMo]

9 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

Also, the fake cannabis, called special K or K2 is making the rounds and killing people every where it goes, and the average person would not be able to tell the difference, so more deaths will be happening.

K-2 and Spice are NOT marijuana.  They are a combination of toxic herms that make you sick; not stoned.  It SHOULD be illegal.  It does kill people.  As far as edibles go, people should look before they jump.  If the package says "10 doses" on it, you shouldn't take the whole thing.

[GayatfootofCross]

14 hours ago, JoeMo said:

Psychologically; but not physically (like opioids, alcohol and nicotine).  Plus, no one has ever died from an overdose of weed.

But they think they have.

 

 

 

 

[JoeMo]

On 7/4/2018 at 9:30 AM, The Wanderer said:

most dont know how to tell the diff,

Oh; they know the difference.  They are just so desperate to get high that they ignore the risks.  Much to their detriment.  It's like any synthetic or "designer" drug.  May God help those that are that desperate.

[Richard Holbrook]

Don't eat too many brownies, if any, and definitely stay away from anything synthetic. If you just smoke the weed, you can only get so high and that's it. No matter how much you smoke.  And nobody has ever died from smoking it, just like the man said. I think the most detrimental thing about it is all the junk food someone might eat, after getting the munchies.

There's talk here in NC about it...legalization

I knew an SDA preacher who smoked weed, and I think he still does. He married the same woman twice. lol

And divorced her twice also..

[Gail]

Good to see you, Richard!

[Richard Holbrook]

Good to see you too Gail!! : ))

[JoeMo]

18 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

All Cannabis products are very dangerous and have potential to kill

I disagree.  THC, which is the part of cannabis that makes you high can indeed make you very sick and wish you were dead of you take too much (easier to OD on edibles than on smoke); but no one has ever died from an overdose.  CBD's - also a cannabis derivative, on the other hand, do not make you "high"; and have been demonstrated to be quite effective against several types of epilepsy, PTSD, opiate addiction treatment, Parkinson's, side-effects of chemo, chronic digestive problems, etc.

Let's say the herb is indeed a "dangerous" drug.  Is it more dangerous than heroin or cocaine?  The U.S. government classifies it as such. Has it killed even one percent of the number of who have been killed by legal drugs (nicotine and alcohol)?  Not that we need another legalized intoxicant; but why criminalize its use if worse drugs remain legal?

[Richard Holbrook]

18 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

 

I am sorry but I have to call you out on this part of your statement. Cannabis may seem harder to OD on to some people, but in actual fact, it is happening more all the time. Here in Canada, we have recently had two cops who decided to taste some edibles they confiscated from someone earlier in their shifts, but the effects were so strong that they both felt overwhelmed and had to call EMS for themselves! Also, more recently, a little girl, toddler age, ate a whole chocolate bar laced with cannabis, and had to be taken to emerg, and was in very serious condition.

 

You obviously didn't read or grasp the part of my post that you quoted

 

18 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

21 hours ago, Richard Holbrook said:

 If you just smoke the weed, you can only get so high and that's it.

No example you gave had anything to do with smoking weed. And may not have anything to do with cannabis at all. The way they make edibles now is with some kind of extract, and who knows what's really in it? Which is why I advised against the edibles..

[Richard Holbrook]

So I stand by my statement. Nobody has ever died from smoking weed. See if you can find one documented case in the history of the world. 

Actually I think that was JoeMo's statement.

[Richard Holbrook]

1 minute ago, The Wanderer said:

The part about "by smoking it you can only get so high" is what I was questioning. That just isnt true.

Have you ever smoked any pot? Because you can ask any pot smoker, who actually smokes pot (more than once or twice) and they will tell you the same thing. I can tell you from experience that after a couple of tokes of some good weed, you are as high as that particular strain of weed can get you. You can smoke the whole bag after that, but at that point you're just wasting good weed, because you're not getting any higher. 

[Richard Holbrook]

7 minutes ago, The Wanderer said:

 

For eg, it is almost impossible to get addicted to any drug, IF you really need it for pain, as in cancer or some other major and painful condition. 

Really? Wow, where do you get your information? The human body becomes dependent on a narcotic when taken for any extended length of time. It doesn't matter the reason why you took it!  How many thousands of people are addicted to opioids now because they had back surgery or something of that nature, where narcotics were needed. The stories are numerous.

[Richard Holbrook]

41 minutes ago, The Wanderer said:

I guess we could ask where you get your information too; but to answer, in brief, what I stated is sound knowledge; I initially learned during some post-grad special nurse-training

Oh I see, you're speaking out of a book, or from "book knowledge". That's fine, no point in arguing.. : ))

[JoeMo]

1 hour ago, The Wanderer said:

I had a friend in high school who was killed in a car accident after "just smoking weed."

The car accident killed him then; not the weed.  I know many people who have died or been severely injured when driving an an excess of alcohol (which, incidentally, is about 3 or 4 beers).  I also know of a few people who have died from acute alcohol poisoning.

There is a public service announcement here in the U.S, that says cigarettes kill more people than all kinds of cancer, murder, drug overdoses, car accidents, and heart attacks combined.  Why is tobacco so legal?

Again, you are addressing the dangers of the THC component of weed, many of which are arguably true.  What about the CBD's which have been shown to be beneficial for many otherwise untreatable (or only marginally treatable) conditions without making a person high?

[B/W Photodude]

1 hour ago, JoeMo said:

The car accident killed him then; not the weed.

Noting Wanderer's followup regarding an NRA type response, I was going to say reminds me of "people kill people, not guns!"

However, for all the guys that would wish to partake, do your research on long term effects of marijuana on your male hormones. There are a number of bad habits that affect men in a negative way, including drinking, smoking, marijuana, and the case might even be made for eating meat in an age of high levels of estrogen being used to fatten up chickens for market. Just saying'!

However, in hospice situations and certain other medical conditions, marijuana is a great help and should be considered a legitimate medicine.

[JoeMo]

"Cannabis use doubles the risk of being involved in a crash, says the research from The Canadian center On Substance Use. and Addiction. Drivers impaired by Cannabis are less able to track moving objects, or respond to more than one source of information or sudden changes in driving conditions"

I have no doubt that quote is true.  One of the theories about the physiology of being stoned is that it takes slightly longer for the brain to decode and interpret optical input.  So it takes a stoned person  a fraction of a second longer to see" (decode) an image than it takes an unstoned person after the image enters the eye.

[8thdaypriest]

17 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

It is all dangerous, but the degree of danger depends upon who is using it, how they use it, and why they are using it.

For eg, it is almost impossible to get addicted to any drug, IF you really need it for pain, as in cancer or some other major and painful condition. In such cases; at least here in Canada, such patients would be able to have a DRs prescription for it, and thus be assured of quality control and dosage accuracy. IF someone chooses to use any cannabis product, they really need to think about HOW and WHY they are going to use it. There are two things that would be the "best case scenario if one chooses to use it: 1) Discuss with your doctor. If you are on various medications, there could be serious consequences from adverse interactions with another medication that you take. 2) get a prescription for it. This way, not only your doctor, but other health care professionals will know you take it, should you have an emergency and cannot speak for yourself. Somebody should know all the medications you take. I am pretty sure I know which objections will now be brought forth. Bring them on. Cannabis is a drug, and as such, can be dangerous, and who knows how many deaths there have already been from it? Toxicoloy forensics are now barely keeping apace with HOW to screen a person, as we currently do for drunk drivers, but as the science catches up with things on the cannabis fron, there will be more death and disasters reported, regarding cannabis use.

I am in favor of medical use, with prescription and standardization.   I realize that folks will use it for "recreation".   The government might as well tax it.   I will tell you a story now.

This happened some 45 years ago.  I was a captain in the  USAF.  A fellow  captain - a surgeon rotating through out base, asked me to dinner.  He lived at another base some 25 minutes away, and did not finish his OR schedule until 7p.  So I was to drive over to meet him at his place.  I arrived about 7p but he was finishing the last operation.  I had my small beeper, and he sent a message through that to say he would be there soon.  Well he was late.  I looked around the place for something to eat.  I should have just left.  There was nothing nutritious, but there was a plate of brownies on the table.  The brownie tasted a little funny.  You can guess the rest.  I was sooooo wasted.  There was NO WAY I could go to dinner.  I couldn't even drive myself home.   I knew immediately when the drug hit me, what it was.   I spent the night curled up on his sofa watching his little TV.   If he had been the sort, he could easily have taken sexual advantage of my condition.    

He was a surgeon!!  It did not even occur to me that he would be using pot.