Article: Marijuana: Legal Doesn't Mean Right

[mikekle]

So you are in favor of an alcohol prohibition?

Im definitely in favor of tough new laws on alcohol, talk to any ER nurse or Doctor, alcohol is the number one problem they deal with, all the health and safety problems it cause for society, and still no one ever dares to even suggest new regulations…??? Yet when opiates become a mild problem, they go off the deep end and create new regulations very quickly and boy do they enforce them…they have most doctors scared to death to write a prescription for vicoden nowadays!!Please explain how that makes sense?

I dont get it, they KNOW alcohol prohibition did not work, yet they try the exact same thing with drugs, but unlike alcohol prohibition, they will just not admit the drug prohibition has been a complete failure??!

At least they had the guts to admit prohibition was not working and dumped it back then!

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Im definitely in favor of tough new laws on alcohol, talk to any ER nurse or Doctor, alcohol is the number one problem they deal with, all the health and safety problems it cause for society, and still no one ever dares to even suggest new regulations…??? Yet when opiates become a mild problem, they go off the deep end and create new regulations very quickly and boy do they enforce them…they have most doctors scared to death to write a prescription for vicoden nowadays!!Please explain how that makes sense?

I dont get it, they KNOW alcohol prohibition did not work, yet they try the exact same thing with drugs, but unlike alcohol prohibition, they will just not admit the drug prohibition has been a complete failure??!

At least they had the guts to admit prohibition was not working and dumped it back then!

It seems all the fashion to talk about “regulation” be it guns, drugs or anything. But what regulations do you think would help? You already have to be 21. Older than the age to drive and fire a tank at a village. DUI is one of the most heavily prosecuted crimes and the penalties are incredibly severe. Etc.

If prohibition does not work for drugs, then why not legalize all drugs including cocaine? Meth and others.

We don’t legalize things because people will break the law.
I will say a big ol wall might help…

But honestly marijuana is way more harmful than the potheads would have you believe. Many families have been harmed by pot. People have chosen pot over jobs, children, parents, and even millions of dollars contracts in sports. It’s a drug. People depend and are addicted to the point they will risk jail, personal harm, and thier futures on getting high.
Alcohol is easier to point to, for obvious bloody bodies on the highway and bloodied spouses at home. But mj. Is a more subtle, tempting evil. Altering ones mind all the while whispering into Eve’s ear, “surely you will not die”

Think about it. Get high and risk your education. Risk your life, risk your family, risk your reputation, your family name, your freedom, your job. Or in the case of spots stars, risk 100 million dollars. Here is 100000000, or a joint.

Harmless natures candy, brining man closer to nature. Or an addictive self destructive drug?

The same is to be said for alcohol. Why is it that people who get sloshed on wine find themselves morally superior to those who drink a 12 pack of bud, or some old English? When it comes down to it they are all drunks.
Same with drugs. Marijuana is the wine of drugs.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

It seems all the fashion to talk about “regulation” be it guns, drugs or anything. But what regulations do you think would help.

If prohibition does not work for drugs, then why not legalize all drugs including cocaine? Meth and others.

We don’t legalize things because people will break the law.
I will say a big ol wall might help…

But honestly marijuana is way more harmful than the potheads would have you believe. Many families have been harmed by pot. People have chosen pot over jobs, children, parents, and even millions of dollars contracts in sports. It’s a drug. People depend and are addicted to the point they will risk jail, personal harm, and thier futures on getting high.
Alcohol is easier to point to, for obvious bloody bodies on the highway and bloodied spouses at home. But mj. Is a more subtle, tempting evil. Altering ones mind all the while whispering into Eve’s ear, “surely you will not die”

Think about it. Get high and risk your education. Risk your life, risk your family, risk your reputation, your family name, your freedom, your job. Or in the case of spots stars, risk 100 million dollars. Here is 100000000, or a joint.

Harmless natures candy, brining man closer to nature. Or an addictive self destructive drug?

The same is to be said for alcohol. Why is it that people who get sloshed on wine find themselves morally superior to those who drink a 12 pack of bud, or som old English? When it comes down to it they are all drunks.
Same with drugs. Marijuana is the wine of drugs.

 

[graciew]

And rightfully so as alcohol has destroyed and continues to destroy millions of lives be it through addiction or alcohol related illnesses and most of all drunk driving.

Pot, not so much.

Oh my…yes,it has…
Not to so much is many years spoilt forever in the life of a child,or a family.
The more it gets legalized the more diffficult it is for families to go against this tide …

 

[Tim_D]

Im definitely in favor of tough new laws on alcohol, talk to any ER nurse or Doctor, alcohol is the number one problem they deal with

And talk to mental health professionals and they will tell you that pot is the biggest problem in dealing with behavioral problems in teens and young adults.

 

[Tim_D]

Says you. Show me that medical marijuana has only negative effects.

Why don’t you talk to the parents of children with behavioral problems that can be directly linked to marijuana usage.

Remember Cheech and Chong? People didn’t laugh at their act because they were presented as fine, upstanding productive citizens who occasionally indulged now and then. They laughed at them because they were deadbeat bums who said and did funny things while stoned out of their mind all day long.

And it is also a known fact that some people with psychotic tendencies tend to become psychologically addicted to marijuana. The fact that some users are “happy” while using pot is completely irrelevant to the fact that there are others who have destroyed their lives with such a “harmless” drug.

 

[Tim_D]

I used to smoke it, but have stopped since after searching my conscience, I knew I wasn’t doing it for medicinal purposes. But I think saying it is dangerous is really stretching it.

If pot is so harmless, then why did you stop and why was it necessary to search your conscience? You even admit that you don’t think it to be dangerous.

 

[on_the_hill]

Yet when opiates become a mild problem, they go off the deep end and create new regulations very quickly and boy do they enforce them…

Oh good grief, mikekle. I think we’ve butted heads on this one before. There is nothing at all mild about the problems wrought by opioids
This is from the website of the American Society of Addiction Medicine:

• Of the 21.5 million Americans12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers and 586,000 had a substance use disorder involving heroin.
• Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses in 2014.
• Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014.
• From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales and substance use disorder treatment admissions related to prescription pain relievers increased in parallel.
• The overdose death rate in 2008 was nearly four times the 1999 rate; sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times those in 1999; and the substance use disorder treatment admission rate in 2009 was six times the 1999 rate.
• In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills.
• Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers.
• As a consequence, the rate of heroin overdose deaths nearly quadrupled from 2000 to 2013.
• During this 14-year period, the rate of heroin overdose showed an average increase of 6% per year from 2000 to 2010, followed by a larger average increase of 37% per year from 2010 to 2013.

 

[mikekle]

Oh good grief, mikekle. I think we’ve butted heads on this one before. There is nothing at all mild about the problems wrought by opioids
This is from the website of the American Society of Addiction Medicine:

• Of the 21.5 million Americans12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers and 586,000 had a substance use disorder involving heroin.
• Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses in 2014.
• Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014.
• From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales and substance use disorder treatment admissions related to prescription pain relievers increased in parallel.
• The overdose death rate in 2008 was nearly four times the 1999 rate; sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times those in 1999; and the substance use disorder treatment admission rate in 2009 was six times the 1999 rate.
• In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills.
• Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers.
• As a consequence, the rate of heroin overdose deaths nearly quadrupled from 2000 to 2013.
• During this 14-year period, the rate of heroin overdose showed an average increase of 6% per year from 2000 to 2010, followed by a larger average increase of 37% per year from 2010 to 2013.

Yes, I think we have tangled on this topic before. LOL

Your figures are correct, but why would they seek to create new laws that are basically similar to prohibition though, they learned their lesson with prohibition when they tried it the first time…if it didnt work for booze, why in the world would they think it will with any other drug?

Not to mention, ALL those opioid prescriptions were bringing in big bucks for the pharma industry, (especially Oxycodone, which is a fairly cheap drug to produce), you do not think its a bit strange they just agreed with Govt that tighter restrictions should be placed on their products, knowing it will result in much lower profits, much less prescriptions being written? They didnt even try to legally fight the new laws?

Something very strange about that imo.

Furthermore, when all these new opiate laws went into effect back in 2012, surprisingly heroin was suddenly available everywhere, and it was stronger and cheaper than it was in the past, this all happening around the same time is too much to be coincidence.

I see an addiction doctor every 2 weeks for my past problem with heroin, he has been very vocal locally about the heroin epidemic, he is asked to speak at numerous conferences and city council meetings,and he actually specializes in opiate addiction, he has told me more than once there has to be some type of ‘collusion’ going on between the drug cartels and US DEA, or high level law enforcement, says there is really no other explanation for the current heroin boom.

If you could see the numbers on how much heroin the cartels need to supply, in order to keep it as available as it is, across the entire US, you would be amazed at how much product they have to consistently get into the US! Keep in mind, this is a post 9-11 world.

His opinion on why none of the big pharma companies complained about the new restrictions on their opioids were due to them knowing there would be a huge market for getting off those drugs in the future, and what do you know, they were right!

 

[Theo520]

A Catholic newspaper in Oregon recounts what is happening there now that it is legal in that U.S. state to buy and use marijuana.
see catholicsentinel.org/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=35&ArticleID=31782

The problem with atheists in general is they tend to believe anything that’s legal is good, which is why they want to make anything they don’t like illegal: guns; big gulps; etc.

The beauty of religion is that is provides a clear direction on ideal behavior rather than just a boundary fence that shouldn’t be crossed.

 

[Strydersroom]

The problem with atheists in general is they tend to believe anything that’s legal is good, which is why they want to make anything they don’t like illegal: guns; big gulps; etc.

The beauty of religion is that is provides a clear direction on ideal behavior rather than just a boundary fence that shouldn’t be crossed.

Hello, but could it also be said religion wants to make things it doesn’t like illegal? I know several here have told me they feel gay marriage and gay couples adopting children should be illegal in their opinion. So perhaps it’s unfair to generalize all atheists as well as all religious people imo.

 

[zamyrabyrd]

Hello, but could it also be said religion wants to make things it doesn’t like illegal? I know several here have told me they feel gay marriage and gay couples adopting children should be illegal in their opinion. So perhaps it’s unfair to generalize all atheists as well as all religious people imo.

Hello, murder is also illegal, except the carnage of war, I suppose.
Religion provides a guide to good behavior, assuming it is a good religion.
Protecting the rights of children to have a mother and father is not “feeling” but plain commonsense.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Hello, but could it also be said religion wants to make things it doesn’t like illegal? I know several here have told me they feel gay marriage and gay couples adopting children should be illegal in their opinion. So perhaps it’s unfair to generalize all atheists as well as all religious people imo.

What standard should be used to define legality?

 

[Rosebud77]

Oh good grief, mikekle. I think we’ve butted heads on this one before. There is nothing at all mild about the problems wrought by opioids
This is from the website of the American Society of Addiction Medicine:

• Of the 21.5 million Americans12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers and 586,000 had a substance use disorder involving heroin.
• Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses in 2014.
• Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014.
• From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales and substance use disorder treatment admissions related to prescription pain relievers increased in parallel.
• The overdose death rate in 2008 was nearly four times the 1999 rate; sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times those in 1999; and the substance use disorder treatment admission rate in 2009 was six times the 1999 rate.
• In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills.
• Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers.
• As a consequence, the rate of heroin overdose deaths nearly quadrupled from 2000 to 2013.
• During this 14-year period, the rate of heroin overdose showed an average increase of 6% per year from 2000 to 2010, followed by a larger average increase of 37% per year from 2010 to 2013.

You mean codeine? We are having national hysteria here in Ireland too. Codeine containing meds can still be bought OTC BUT you get very publically grilled and humiliated by the pharmacist if you ask for them. These are the 8% type…

I get Tylex on prescription. For very real pain. Had terrible issues with one GP as she just could not realise that after I broke my wrist the hospital had increased the dosage as it wa s bad break and there were complications

Consequently I got hauled over the coals publically in one pharmacy and then another set a computer alert on my scrips

Fine as there are plenty of pharmacies here and I changed GP too. No longer a problem

Not increased dosage for years and if i get a bad patch I compensate in following days .

But it is the only thing that even touches the pain.

 

[Rosebud77]

Hello, murder is also illegal, except the carnage of war, I suppose.
Religion provides a guide to good behavior, assuming it is a good religion.
Protecting the rights of children to have a mother and father is not “feeling” but plain commonsense.

“religion” is not a choice either but a reality.

 

[Rosebud77]

What standard should be used to define legality?

This will be interesting…

 

[mikekle]

You mean codeine? We are having national hysteria here in Ireland too. Codeine containing meds can still be bought OTC BUT you get very publically grilled and humiliated by the pharmacist if you ask for them. These are the 8% type…

I get Tylex on prescription. For very real pain. Had terrible issues with one GP as she just could not realise that after I broke my wrist the hospital had increased the dosage as it wa s bad break and there were complications

Consequently I got hauled over the coals publically in one pharmacy and then another set a computer alert on my scrips

Fine as there are plenty of pharmacies here and I changed GP too. No longer a problem

Not increased dosage for years and if i get a bad patch I compensate in following days .

But it is the only thing that even touches the pain.

What would happen if they changed that and it became very tough to get a doctor to even prescribe codeine…people would turn to whatever drug was most available illegally, that is exactly what happened in the US when they put tough new prescription drug laws in place on all narcotic pain meds, most addicts just went to heroin, mysteriously, it was suddenly available everywhere about the same time the new pill laws went into effect.

Now, instead of having lots of people hooked on narcotic pain pills, they have lot of heroin addicts, so they jumped from the frying pan into the fire thanks to the new laws.

At least back then, the addicts were using a pill that was made in a controlled, sterile lab, they knew what they were getting, now though, they use heroin, made God knows where and you never know what else is in it…Gee, great idea!!

 

[Rosebud77]

What would happen if they changed that and it became very tough to get a doctor to even prescribe codeine…people would turn to whatever drug was most available illegally, that is exactly what happened in the US when they put tough new prescription drug laws in place on all narcotic pain meds, most addicts just went to heroin, mysteriously, it was suddenly available everywhere about the same time the new pill laws went into effect.

Now, instead of having lots of people hooked on narcotic pain pills, they have lot of heroin addicts, so they jumped from the frying pan into the fire thanks to the new laws.

At least back then, the addicts were using a pill that was made in a controlled, sterile lab, they knew what they were getting, now though, they use heroin, made God knows where and you never know what else is in it…Gee, great idea!!

It IS very tough to get codeine even on prescrption here. And I agree totally with you and hold my breath every time I ask fro my 3 month prescription . The 2 pharmacies I stopped going near used to look at me as if I were simply an addict,

Probably am addicted but have not increased dosage in years and at my age ,and it really is the only thing that eases the pain and lets me sleep

The OTC tabs containing codeine were being massively abused so I have no doubt that your idea is flourishing here in Ireland already. There have been this year several young deaths at parties involving new illegal drugs

Then there is eh tramadol, a new synthetic opioid type with a terrible addiction record

The BIG question in my mind is though WHY excessive drink and WHY so called recreational drugs, The idea of these weed smokers lying around feeling mellow ?

 

[twf]

Technically, pot remains criminal in Canada under federal law. Medical marijuana is very much legal and here in Vancouver one can now find a medical marijuana dispensary on pretty much every street corner… From what I’m told they have doctors on speed dial who will approve you there on the spot for “im having trouble sleeping” type deals.
That being said, I am very much optimistic about the promised legalization of pot next year (the Liberal government has promised to address it in parliament in 2017). Not because I am a proponent of its use, but merely because I would like to see some actual, enforced regulations around its use. While it is technically illegal right now, it isn’t enforced (at least not here in Vancouver). People smoke it openly day and night in parks, on the beach, and on the sidewalk. My neighbour smokes it on his patio. It’s everywhere, I smell it constantly, and it’s driving me nuts. Once legalized I am hoping it will be treated like alcohol. British Columbia has very strict liquor laws. You can’t drink in parks or at beaches. You can’t drink in public period. You can’t buy alcohol in (most) grocery stores or convenience stores. Alcohol is only sold in liquor stores and can only be drank at home or in licensed restaurants / pubs. The police truly enforce this too… I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen cops dumping cans of beer at the beach. So… I am hopeful that new laws around the use of pot will mean it’s use will actually be regulated rather than the free for all in the current “illegal but we don’t care” environment.

 

[mikekle]

It IS very tough to get codeine even on prescrption here. And I agree totally with you and hold my breath every time I ask fro my 3 month prescription . The 2 pharmacies I stopped going near used to look at me as if I were simply an addict,

Probably am addicted but have not increased dosage in years and at my age ,and it really is the only thing that eases the pain and lets me sleep

The OTC tabs containing codeine were being massively abused so I have no doubt that your idea is flourishing here in Ireland already. There have been this year several young deaths at parties involving new illegal drugs

Then there is eh tramadol, a new synthetic opioid type with a terrible addiction record

The BIG question in my mind is though WHY excessive drink and WHY so called recreational drugs, The idea of these weed smokers lying around feeling mellow ?

Tramadol is a very mild synthetic opioid, its usually the first thing pain management doctors will give to someone, I used it for a few years, it did work OK at first, but after time my tolerance built up and I even blacked out a few times from it.

And really codeine is not a strong opioid, There are MUCH stronger meds, like Oxycontin, MS Contin, Oxymorphone (opana), these were the pain pills most abused here in the US, at one time a single Oxycontin 80 mg sold for $130. on the street.