Massachusetts Voters

“	Originally Posted By: Nik BTW, pot IS a huge health risk, when used in high doses before the brain is grown out (teens). People who have a too high THC intake during pubercy end up completely debilitated, like brain dead (can't bind their shoes, dress themselves, etc.). Lesser grades of that inabilities occur with lesser intake. So it's not all cool. Teens, the peer group who is heavily in danger of abusing that in large amounts when legal, would end up in permanent care home in large numbers.	”

Source?
The smartest, hardest working people i know are pot smokers, and most have been since their teens...
All of the studies i have read, including those done by the FDA contradict what you are saying.

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“	Originally Posted By: SunWuKung So how do you justify the massive social problems inflicted by alcohol/tobacco? They may have wider "social acceptance" - but they are no less problematic than pot in terms of the damage they cause families.	”

Alcohol causes more problems IMO. To quote an old friend of mine " You never see a person lying in the gutter clutching a joint."

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I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me & through me.& when it has gone I will turn to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.Only I will remain.F.Herbert

“	Originally Posted By: Unkotare And round and round we go...	”

An answer would suffice.

You'll be lucky.

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“	Originally Posted By: Abijam An answer would suffice.	”

The existence of social ills is not a compelling argument for the deliberate inclusion of more social ills. The whole, "Yeah, but what about tobacco and alcohol?" holds about as much weight as the classic, "But what about the other kid?" defense a 7 year old might rely on when cuaght in some mischief.

What it all comes down to is the simple fact that folks who want to smoke pot just want to smoke pot, and nothing more. Everything else is utterly transparent excuse-making and desperate attempts at justification.

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Wolfgang says:

I could think of a million better things to do in Japan for a month besides jumping off of picnic tables. - x893

“	Originally Posted By: Unkotare The existence of social ills is not a compelling argument for the deliberate inclusion of more social ills. The whole, "Yeah, but what about tobacco and alcohol?" holds about as much weight as the classic, "But what about the other kid?" defense a 7 year old might rely on when cuaght in some mischief. What it all comes down to is the simple fact that folks who want to smoke pot just want to smoke pot, and nothing more. Everything else is utterly transparent excuse-making and desperate attempts at justification.	”

What ills are you refering to? I have made no attempt to justify canabis use by comparing it to other drugs. I believe it was SunWuKing who brought that up. I ask specifically what is the manner of the social ill concerning canabis? What is it that you fear for society?

It was on a medical report on german TV, and they have shown examples. It was not about smoking in general, but TOO HIGH intake of THC. There are artificially grown versions that have 10-20 times the concentration of THC in the leafs, so the impact is a LOT higher than with what the consumers were used to. The study has shown clearly that with a certain dose, the brain ceizes to naturally develop like normal during pubercy. The extreme examples were teens who were unable to dress or bind their shoes, simply because they forgot they wanted to while doing it. This is not about half a joint a day, but about heavy users who smoke very potent products over a long period of time several times a day. That kind of people does not fall into the "hard working" category, but into the kind who hardly manages to produce a remotely sane sentence that does not revolve around pot.

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“	Originally Posted By: Unkotare Everything else is utterly transparent excuse-making and desperate attempts at justification.	”

I agree by and large - I'm not really a fan of legalisation. Yet I'm puzzled by your ebullient attitude about this. On the one hand, you bemoan government interference in our private lives, yet support the classification of drugs for personal use as illegal.

When justifying that support, you mention the social ills those substances bring, yet defend alcohol/tobacco on grounds of "social acceptance". It's not consistent IMO - just indicates personal bias against certain types of people. Why don't you support an outright ban on all harmful substances?

Personally, I think tobacco should be banned outright (as well as cannabis etc) - it kills more people (directly) than most of the "illegal" drugs.

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Prohibition is folly in my opinion, it just incorrages stupid people to do stupid things and corrupt people to do evil things.

So why prohibit some drugs, and not others that are known killers

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Why not ban bleach, its very dangerous? Actually I dont believe I said that the prohibition of any drug was a good thing. Sorry SunWuKing if I have misconstrued your point.

Strictly speaking, bleach is not a drug, it's bleach.
What I'm asking is how do we decide to ban some substances and not others - either consistently for or against.

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“	Originally Posted By: SunWuKung Strictly speaking, bleach is not a drug, it's bleach. What I'm asking is how do we decide to ban some substances and not others - either consistently for or against.	”

Strickly speaking Crack Cocaine is not Canabis. I would not ban any substance and in reality there are no banned substances. If a drug were truley banned then there would be nobody using them, this is obviously fooey. People use drugs, they like to use them, they will go to inordinate lengths to use them, prohibition does not work in reality FACT.

Why bother spending stupid amounts of money in a futile attempt to stop people doing something that you cant stop them doing?

A considered intelligent answer to that last question would be very much apprieciated from anybody. Please bare in mind that people will take drugs, get off their faces, get spannered, intoxicated.....etc. Reguardless of your opinion.

“	Originally Posted By: Abijam Why bother spending stupid amounts of money in a futile attempt to stop people doing something that you cant stop them doing?	”

You can apply that pointless question to absolutely any illegal behavior.

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Wolfgang says:

I could think of a million better things to do in Japan for a month besides jumping off of picnic tables. - x893

Yet isn't that partly why prohibition failed?

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