New Study documents the brain damage caused by marijuana

[WildCat]

But it's also illegal in Mexico.
Maybe your argument could work if you said the poor like to use it.

Why is the legality in Mexico relevant?

Racism and fear of counterculture types like jazz musicians is why it was made illegal.

And the "they" in that is us, right? I mean the voters -- you know, the same category that got alcohol prohibition first instituted and then removed?

And? It will be voters who eventually make it legal.

 

[WildCat]

Seriously? A ton of gang violence, some domestic disputes, a pile of unknown shootings and it gets laid at the foot of the war on drugs? You hardly need to spin a deadly night in Chicago when there are much better examples of drug dealer violence or police on citizen violence to use.

Actually even the domestic killing was done by a gangbanger:

Police said Ibrahim Aysheh is a gang member.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...er-sister-on-nw-side-20121014,0,3827189.story

Hopefully we won't turn into Mexico.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Given that this thread has already diverged from just marijuana perhaps this graphic from Nutt's study in The Lancet will help. It's a summary of a detailed evaluation of the risks of various mind altering substances.

[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/thum_16272507e80db55cb2.jpg[/qimg]
You'll note that alcohol shows a higher aggregate risk than heroin, methamphetamine or cocaine. Perhaps it's time for a more rational approach to the status of all narcotics in society?

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

...
Pot addicts are no different. ...

By this standard, a cigarette smoker's addiction is equal to the heroin addict's. I don't buy it.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Which is low, hence mj has a low addictive profile, especially compared to cocaine and nicotine.

So the person who smoked every day for a couple decades then quits because they were pregnant and merely suffered a bit of appetite suppression was never addicted all along? The person in question has not smoked since and the child is now grown.

Er, ah, I'm asking about a friend.

That makes more sense to me then, trying to put this in perspective. Using every day is not necessarily a sign of true addiction.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

It was smoked mainly by african americans when the 1927 law was passed?

Mexicans and blacks, like WC pointed out.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

If you ever seen Reefer Madness that old anto pot propaganda film its hilarious:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azf320JDdqU

I still have a pamphlet from the 60s (or 70s) called "The Psychedelic Trap". It claims that someone smoked a couple joints, jumped out of a 2nd story window, killed someone in the apartment below, then ate a canary and choked to death on the feathers. I kid you not, that what it claims.

And I remember the video Sonny and Cher had to make as part of a drug bust sentence. It showed the gas stove burner looking like a flower and the kid high on LSD (I think) putting their hand in the fire. That crap was rampant back in the day.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Kind of like coffee, then? got it!

I had a coffee bean plant once, indoors. It produced one bean.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

But it's also illegal in Mexico.
Maybe your argument could work if you said the poor like to use it.

And the "they" in that is us, right? I mean the voters -- you know, the same category that got alcohol prohibition first instituted and then removed?

MJ is illegal in Mexico because the Mexican government get millions from the US to keep it that way.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

...

I think Washington State has the best chance at going "full legalization" with a ballot measure this election cycle, but I haven't seen poll numbers on it.

Voters Weigh Eased Pot Laws

Two years after California voters rejected an initiative to legalize marijuana, advocates are promoting similar measures on the ballot this fall in Colorado, Oregon and Washington state—and recent polls suggest at least a couple of the campaigns have realistic chances of success.

 

[beachnut]

Once and for all dispelling the myth that pot is 'harmless' to it's users, Australian researchers have documented scientifically the brain damage caused by smoking pot

http://www.medicaldaily.com/article...mage-memory-learning-drug-habit-addiction.htm

What about a lot of beer?

that frequent heavy marijuana use damage the brain's memory and learning capacity.
Read more at http://www.medicaldaily.com/article...-drug-habit-addiction.htm#DmGbilLv9ybryEuz.99

How much is heavy?
How often is frequent?

 

[Bill Thompson]

Once and for all dispelling the myth that pot is 'harmless' to it's users, Australian researchers have documented scientifically the brain damage caused by smoking pot

http://www.medicaldaily.com/article...mage-memory-learning-drug-habit-addiction.htm

When my sister-in-law was a nurse (before she died -- she would still be one today) she noticed that immediately after known pot heads died in the hospital their brains smelled almost like poo in an autopsy.

In the military, my peers who confessed to having smoked a lot in high school were slower and more accident prone and seemed to do things without thinking.

But, you know, it is all worth it cause it makes you so cool. And don't believe me because I have some sort of agenda. Whatever, cuz.

 

[catsmate]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

The entire article is available on The Lancet's website (link), requires free registration if you don't otherwise have access.

 

[Dancing David]

But it's also illegal in Mexico.

Was it illegal in 1927, that is when the Anslinger act made mj a narcotic, which it is not.

 

[Dancing David]

By this standard, a cigarette smoker's addiction is equal to the heroin addict's. I don't buy it.

Most cigarette smoker do not meet the criteria for substance dependence, now, do they?

Until they get a diagnosis of cancer and continue smoking. Almost none will suffer significant decreases in functioning in work or relationship. now, will they?

I am using the substance dependence criteria as addiction, which I did not clarify.

 

[Dancing David]

That makes more sense to me then, trying to put this in perspective. Using every day is not necessarily a sign of true addiction.

Gosh no, it is the impact on functioning, continuing use despite significant negative consequences and the desire to quit.

 

[marplots]

When my sister-in-law was a nurse (before she died -- she would still be one today) she noticed that immediately after known pot heads died in the hospital their brains smelled almost like poo in an autopsy.

In the military, my peers who confessed to having smoked a lot in high school were slower and more accident prone and seemed to do things without thinking.

But, you know, it is all worth it cause it makes you so cool. And don't believe me because I have some sort of agenda. Whatever, cuz.

When you can convince BT, you've won.

 

[RandFan]

When my sister-in-law was a nurse (before she died -- she would still be one today) she noticed that immediately after known pot heads died in the hospital their brains smelled almost like poo in an autopsy.

My best friends father-in-law has an uncle whose mother is a brain surgeon and she says this isn't true. We all know the power of anecdotal hearsay evidence in a skeptics forum. It's the best kind and since my source outranks yours, checkmate.

In the military, my peers who confessed to having smoked a lot in high school were slower and more accident prone and seemed to do things without thinking.

More anecdotal evidence. I'm curious how you controlled for bias?

But, you know, it is all worth it cause it makes you so cool. And don't believe me because I have some sort of agenda. Whatever, cuz.

My problem isn't with your agenda but the low quality of your evidence and your willingness to trot it out in a skeptics forum and think it would convince anyone of anything.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Most cigarette smoker do not meet the criteria for substance dependence, now, do they?

Until they get a diagnosis of cancer and continue smoking. Almost none will suffer significant decreases in functioning in work or relationship. now, will they?

I am using the substance dependence criteria as addiction, which I did not clarify.

I've seen many people suffering from severe COPD and emphysema who continued to smoke. It's not just cancer.

Earlier in the thread there was a lot of painting of daily pot smokers as meeting the definition of addicted. I said they weren't addicted but rather only habituated. The way you are defining addiction is closer to the way I define it. And I have no argument that there are a small number of people with significantly destructive pot addictions.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

Personally don't have a problem. I have been a daily smoker for epilepsy for a long time, and it helps to stop my seizure "aura" activity before a seizure. When I start having the flashing lights in my left eye, if I can smoke a bit, it often settles down and the seizure doesn't happen.

But I'd be seizing like crazy if I stopped taking my anticonvulsants daily.

I have gone lengthy periods (years) without smoking any cannabis at all. If it's addictive, it must be just-barely-fitting-the-definition.