Hang on you say it not about booze then immediately go on about weeds recreation uses. You're making it about all recreational drugs right there. It's my right to compare and i will so don't tell me what it's about. You're not the opinion enforcer. It won't make your kidney or liver fail, it won't poison your blood, it alter your mind to the point you're defenseless and you won't die face down in pool of your own vomit. It has and is. As the medical facts come through it's being further legalised across the globe. Rome wasn't built in the day, we're not going wake up and it be legalised everywhere. Tories would never make it legal because it requires infrastructure, Tories don't install infrastructure, they tare it down.
I must have read the op wrong, as i seemed to have missed out all the medical benefits etc. Perhaps i can only see a short version.
My wife has MS and someone has mentioned using cannobis oils for medicinal purposes. Haven't read much into yet but I wouldn't let her do it alone. I'm not thoughtless.
A lot of people with MS are being treated using cannabis, in other countries where it is legal. Different people will respond differently to the treatments though, like any medication. In these places there are qualified expert doctors who don't ask you to read up on it yourself, they explain it all to you.
My ex's husband's got MS. Smoking it helped alleviate some of the symptoms for years. As Bri says, there's great potential for medical use over a massive range of chronic illnesses. I'm also very much aware of the darker side of it. Its trying to find a balance that promotes its wider benefits without rewarding and mainstreaming the suppliers that the politicians just can't seem able to resolve yet.
Cannabis has only been illegal since the end of the alcohol prohibition in the USA. Why ? cos the man in charge of the war on alcohol was scared of losing his job http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-i...a-is-banned_b_9210248.html?pbx=25&te=Upworthy : Across the world, more and more people are asking: Why is marijuana banned? Why are people still sent to prison for using or selling it? Most of us assume it's because someone, somewhere sat down with the scientific evidence, and figured out that cannabis is more harmful than other drugs we use all the time -- like alcohol and cigarettes. Somebody worked it all out, in our best interest. But when I started to go through the official archives -- researching my bookChasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs -- to find out why cannabis was banned back in the 1930s, I discovered that's not what happened. Not at all. In 1929, a man called Harry Anslinger was put in charge of the Department of Prohibition in Washington, D.C. But alcohol prohibition had been a disaster. Gangsters had taken over whole neighborhoods. Alcohol -- controlled by criminals -- had become even more poisonous. So alcohol prohibition finally ended -- and Harry Anslinger was afraid. He found himself in charge of a huge government department, with nothing for it to do. Up until then, he had said that cannabis was not a problem. It doesn't harm people, he explained, and "there is no more absurd fallacy" than the idea it makes people violent. please log in to view this image Harry J. Anslinger, commissioner of the Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics, poses for a photo on September 24, 1930. (AP Photo) But then -- suddenly, when his department needed a new purpose -- he announced he had changed his mind. He explained to the public what would happen if you smoked cannabis. First, you will fall into "a delirious rage." Then you will be gripped by "dreams... of an erotic character." Then you will "lose the power of connected thought." Finally, you will reach the inevitable end-point: "Insanity." Marijuana turns man into a "wild beast." If marijuana bumped into Frankenstein's monster on the stairs, Anslinger warned, the monster would drop dead of fright. Harry Anslinger became obsessed with one case in particular. In Florida, a boy called Victor Licata hacked his family to death with an axe. Anslinger explained to America: This is what will happen when you smoke "the demon weed." The case became notorious. The parents of the U.S. were terrified. What evidence did Harry Anslinger have? It turns out at this time he wrote to the 30 leading scientists on this subject, asking if cannabis was dangerous, and if there should be a ban. Twenty-nine wrote back and said no. Anslinger picked out the one scientist who said yes, and presented him to the world. The press -- obsessed with Victor Licata's axe -- cheered them on. In a panic that gripped America, marijuana was banned. The U.S. told other countries they had to do the same. Many countries said it was a dumb idea, and refused to do it. For example, Mexico decided their drug policy should be run by doctors. Their medical advice was that cannabis didn't cause these problems, and they refused to ban it. The U.S. was furious. Anslinger ordered them to fall into line. The Mexicans held out -- until, in the end, the U.S. cut off the supply of all legal painkillers to Mexico. People started to die in agony in their hospitals. So with regret, Mexico sacked the doctor -- and launched its own drug war. "The scientific evidence suggests cannabis is safer than alcohol. Alcohol kills 40,000 people every year in the U.S. Cannabis kills nobody." But at home, questions were being asked. A leading American doctor called Michael Ball wrote to Harry Anslinger, puzzled. He explained he had used cannabis as a medical student, and it had only made him sleepy. Maybe cannabis does drive a small number of people crazy, he said -- but we need to fund some scientific studies to find out. Anslinger wrote back firmly. "The marihuana evil can no longer be temporized with," he explained, and he would fund no independent science. Then, or ever. For years, doctors kept approaching him with evidence he was wrong, and he began to snap, telling them they were "treading on dangerous ground" and should watch their mouths. Today, most of the world is still living with the ban on cannabis that Harry Anslinger introduced, in the nation-wide panic that followed Victor Licata's killing spree. But here's the catch. Years later, somebody went and looked at the psychiatric files for Victor Licata. It turns out there's no evidence he ever used cannabis. He had a lot of mental illness in his family. They had been told a year before he needed to be institutionalized -- but they refused. His psychiatrists never even mentioned marijuana in connection to him. So, does cannabis make people mad? The former chief advisor on drugs to the British government, David Nutt, explains -- if cannabis causes psychosis in a straightforward way, then it would show in a straightforward way. When cannabis use goes up, psychosis will go up. And when cannabis use goes down psychosis will go down. So does that happen? We have a lot of data from a lot of countries. And it turns out it doesn't. For example, in Britain, cannabis use has increased by a factor of about 40 since the 1960s. And rates of psychosis? They have remained steady. In fact, the scientific evidence suggests cannabis is safer than alcohol. Alcohol kills 40,000 people every year in the U.S. Cannabis kills nobody -- although Willie Nelson says a friend of his did once die when a bale of cannabis fell on his head. please log in to view this image Mason Tvert on Thursday, May 6, 2010. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) This is why, in 2006, a young man in Colorado called Mason Tvert issued a challenge to the then-mayor of Denver and eventual governor, John Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper owned brew-pubs selling alcohol across the state, and it made him rich. But he said cannabis was harmful and had to be banned. So Mason issued him a challenge -- to a duel. You bring a crate of booze. I'll bring a pack of joints. For every hit of booze you take, I'll take a hit of cannabis. We'll see who dies first. It was the ultimate High Noon. Mason went on to lead the campaign to legalize cannabis in his state. His fellow citizens voted to do it -- by 55 percent. Now adults can buy cannabis legally, in licensed stores, where they are taxed--and the money is used to build schools. After a year and a half of seeing this system in practice, support for legalization has risen to 69 percent. And even Governor Hickenlooper has started calling it "common sense." Oh -- and Colorado hasn't been filled with people hacking their families to death yet. Isn't it time we listened to the science -- and finally put away Victor Licata's axe? Cross-posted from The Influence. Follow them on Facebook here. Johann Hari is a British journalist and author. This article is adapted from his New York Times best-sellling book Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. To find out why Glenn Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, Bill Maher, Naomi Klein and Elton John have all praised it, click here. CORRECTION: This post has been updated to clarify that John Hickenlooper was the mayor of Denver in 2006. He became governor of Colorado in 2011.
The answer is educate being open and stop the political and religious groups hiding the facts behind fallacies that suit their agenda - explain the pros and cons teach about usage and moderation of intake - at the end of the day carrots are healthy for you - eat too many and you turn orange !
prohibition has and never will work, decriminalise it all. There is one reason and one reason only why cannabis is illegal in the uk. and believe me its got **** all to do with health. idiots on this thread with talk of weed killing kids braincells need to do some ****ing research regarding the health benefits of cannabis before they speak utter ****ing nonsense. same twats will sit there scorning a joint while sipping a glass of chardonnay the ****s. ****ing un educated dinosaurs them people.
A friend of mine had severe ms, used to throw fits and get the shakes something terrible, tried every prescription going to no avail, got so bad he considered cannabis (at the age of 33 btw, never touched a joint in his life before) and he vapes regularly now medicinally, its changed his life. hes a criminal in the eyes of draconian law.
Below is Sativex, cannabis medicine grown & processed legally by GWpharma (government contract no less lol) please log in to view this image This is THC please log in to view this image They cant patent a plant in its natural form. So they add some bullshit to cannabis, call it "Sativex" so it can be patented and sold at profit. And while our government hand out these mega money contracts to huge pharma companies who grow the weed, add some ****e then sell it on under the name "sativex" they tell us "we can find no medicinal value in cannabis" ****ing sad.
We go from this excellent informative post. To this utter ****ing drivel One makes you want to learn and understand more. The other makes you think '**** em, ****ing skag heads' Guess which one is which.
Mate if i hadnt had this conversation about a million times with people like you before id be arsed to bother putting some effort in. but i have so go do your own research or dont, whatever
Idiots like me have work experience of kids having extreme psychotic episodes culminating in hideous and permanent self-harming injuries. I've never disputed that there are beneficial medical applications of cannabis. But to suggest it has no detrimental effect from excessive use on adolescents is, erm, what's the word... oh yeh, idiotic.
Fair point, what i will say is that excessive use of anything will have a detrimental effect on anyone, eat too much cake and you get fat, the fact you got fat is more likely to do with you being a greedy ****er than cake being a bad thing. Same for weed. Not saying you said this but, Cannabis does not make people psychotic.
