New Study documents the brain damage caused by marijuana

[Mycroft]

Yes, and we all know 2 wrongs make a right.



PS I have mixed feelings about the stuff (and used it some as a young punk) but some of the logic used here to justify legalizing it has it's share of holes.

I don't think comparing marijuana to alcohol justifies legalizing it as much as it highlights that we haven't sufficiently justified criminalizing it.

The question is far more complex than simply deciding if it's harmful or not. It is harmful, to some degree. Exactly what that degree is is open to some debate, but nobody can claim the harm is zero. At the same time, it's hard to identify anything that isn't harmful in some way, so finding and making comparisons is a useful way to gain perspective.

Even if someone concludes that using marijuana is wrong, it doesn't necessarily follow that continued criminalization is right. There is this enormous cost to society to maintain this prohibition, from the sheer costs to our criminal justice and prison systems, to the lost productivity of people criminalized for a recreational activity and the people who have to maintain that criminal justice system who could otherwise be doing something more productive, to the income the prohibition generates for violent criminal and even terrorist organizations worldwide.

So if you're going to argue that two wrongs don't make a right, consider that maybe the "wrongs" of someone possibly doing pot and not being as motivated as they otherwise would be combined with the "wrong" of that person possibly having some degradation of their memory after years of over-use, doesn't make it "right" to ruin lives by throwing people in jail, costing the taxpayers billions, and driving the profits up of extremely violent international crime syndicates.

 

[asydhouse]

Meanwhile, in other news:

http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/breaking-news/cannabis-may-help-stroke-recovery/story-fnjbnxon-1226774100340

CANNABIS may help to reduce brain damage after a stroke, new research suggests.

Chemical compounds found in the plant could help shrink the area of the brain affected by stroke, the study says.

Cannabinoids in the plant, as well as those that can be made artificially and those found naturally in the body, can also help improve brain function after a stroke attack, the authors said.

The study, which is to be presented to the annual UK Stroke Forum, examined previous studies conducted on the effect of the compound.

The authors, from the University of Nottingham, examined 94 studies evaluating the effects of cannabinoids on 1022 male rats, mice or monkeys.

They say the chemical "shows promise as a neuroprotective treatment for stroke".

But experts cautioned that the effects of cannabis on the brain are highly complex and called for more research to see whether the same effect is noted in humans.

 

[asydhouse]

OK so marijuana causes brain damage. I may be mistaken but I feel fairly certain that there are studies indicating alcohol is bad for you as well. It damages the liver and the brain. There is one big difference in that alcohol is legal. Personally, I think if people want to poison themselves that's nobody's business but their own. Why doe government think it has any right to ban this activity?

The OP is not settled, and there's some question as to the validity of the design and/or reporting of the study cited, and the provenance of the study.

 

[Barking Spyder]

The OP is not settled, and there's some question as to the validity of the design and/or reporting of the study cited, and the provenance of the study.

A big part of the problem is that the stuff has not been studied very well because it's been illegal and the government wasn't allowing to be studied and are not giving away any grant money to do so.

My feeling is it doesn't matter what it does to you if you are not forcing someone else to do it it's nobody's business, especially not the government. Alcohol is legal and it's poison. Drink enough and you die. Pot just makes you sleepy and gives you the munchies. Not any real chance of an overdose.

Certainly people who are high on anything and who drive are a problem, but only if and when they cause damage to someone else. I don't believe there should bed any such thing as a victimless crime. Without a victim there can be no crime. YMMV

 

[Barking Spyder]

Pot is not harmless. A lot of things are bad for you and yet perfectly legal: alcohol, tobacco, sugar, and gambling come to mind.

The argument I'd make instead is that marijuana prohibition laws are much more harmful to society than the drug itself.

The classification of pot in the same category as heroin is asinine. Anybody who thinks pot is in the same league should be lobotomized immediately. As has been pointed out there are things that we have known are bad for you and are legal. I don't think this has ever been about harm but about the fact that when it was made illegal it was because like coke it was mostly used by black people and that meant if whites wanted it they had to consort with them. Some of them were (gasp), women.

Now that it's obvious that the DEA is a failure and prohibition is a failure, why do we bother wasting money on putting people in jail for any of this. I forget the percentage of people in jail for drug offenses but it is a big number and there's no reason for it other than idiocy.

 

[Barking Spyder]

Pretty much, yeah.

Why? We banned it before and created a behemoth called organized crime. Without Prohibition, it's very likely they would have stayed where they were, small time.

Why is any of this stuff illegal? Why is it any of the government's business? Until and unless someone harms someone else, it should not matter.

 

[cosmicaug]

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell did a video on cannabis legalization a year and a half ago:

 

[8enotto]

I worked in places for years where most of the crew were casual drug users. Some were hard core users that lit up at work whenever they could.
It sucked to be on a crew with the big time users. They were clearly affected in a bad way and it was easy to see. No better than the heavy drunks.

For our employer it was clear not using drugs or being a heavy drinker made the better employees.

Making that stuff legal just moves the sorting out process to the job interview and drug tests for jobs that require driving or something that concentration is critical.

Why limit your employment opportunities especially when you have a difficult job market?

 

[JihadJane]

I worked in places for years where most of the crew were casual drug users. Some were hard core users that lit up at work whenever they could.
It sucked to be on a crew with the big time users. They were clearly affected in a bad way and it was easy to see. No better than the heavy drunks.

For our employer it was clear not using drugs or being a heavy drinker made the better employees.

Making that stuff legal just moves the sorting out process to the job interview and drug tests for jobs that require driving or something that concentration is critical.

Why limit your employment opportunities especially when you have a difficult job market?

Why submit to boom/bust capitalism which only benefits a small elite?