The parent company I work for makes hemp shampoo and lotions. We even give away the radiated seeds sometimes. Everyone wants the unradiated ones. LOL

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cdelena
[B]How do you know what is in the pot you smoke? Not like you it was produced from a known variant, or was protected from sprays, or was not dusted, or the stuff delivered to you was padded with some other weed, or was even culled by someone that washed their hands after going to the bathroom!

Illegal drugs don

 

Just for the sake of argument, if Big Bro shouldn't be able to prevent you from smoking out with your friends, then why should it be any different with more serious drugs, like smoking crack?

 

Alcohol is a legal drug. Marijuana should be a legal drug. Cocaine, heroin, pcp, LSD, methamphetamines probably shouldn't become legalized drugs. It's all about perceived risk vs. reward. Yet, alcohol probably contributes to more deaths than weed ever has or ever will. It's somewhat hypocritical to allow the legal consumption of alcohol and draw the line artificially there. Alcohol leads to "harder" drug use as much as weed does. Just my 2 Lincoln heads' worth. [Having undergone chemotherapy, I know firsthand that marijuana can be an excellent antidote for nausea.]

 

I think it's something that the ill person should decide for themselves. Pot may be illegal, but it's also terribly unhealthy.
The legality is avoided for medical purposes these days, so...
I say that the person merely needs to weigh the benefits.

Unfortunately it's anyone's guess as to what more healthy treatments are out there. Science could discover something tomorrow, or 50 years from now. It's a very sad truth, but really... if the politics are allowed to be set aside, then do whatever you decide to do, to feel better.

-S2-

 

There are many elements to this debate. The first is that of self-medication. Choosing to medicate oneself rather than to seek the advise of a doctor. It's not just pot, it's also alcohol, herbs, wing of bat and/or lucky beads. That is kind of the issue here but due to pot being added to the equation mortality, crime and society also come into play.

I think all doctors know that we self medicate and I think it's very important to tell them what you are taking so they can be fully aware of what's swimming around in your bloodstream. I'm not aware of any pharmalogical complications but there are serious mood altering effects that when combined with other mood altering medication can cause problems. You may not die but you may not get better or your symptoms can be harder to diagnose.

Yes, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night

 

I don't think this is true, is it?

 

It's an exageration.

Enhaling ANY smoke contains carcenagins(spelled way wrong). THC itself has no dangerous side effects. It's the way we injest it that can be dangerous.

If someone is that concerned you can eat it, or use a vaporizer.

 

Well, I'm going to go against the majority of opinions and say that I do not think that pot should be legal for recreational use. I don't have a problem with using it for medical purposes, but I don't think that that is really what motivates most of the medical use advocates. They are simply trying to find a way to make it acceptable to most Americans. As a drug to relieve physical pain, it may be a good source of relief, depending on the actual circumstances. However, this is not why most people smoke pot. They smoke it for the effect that it has on them mentally. If pot turns in to a legal alternative to other legal mind altering drugs, then it is as good as legal. Anyone can get a perscription for an antidepressant. Unfortunately, these drugs usually do not address the source of the problem, which is usually lifestyle, not a chemical imbalance in the brain.

My opinion about the recreational use of pot comes from what I have seen in my life. In high school, my friends who started smoking pot became less concerned about their grades and more concerned about getting stoned. They had trouble gratuating and most didn't go to college. In college I saw the same thing. My freshman year there was a minority of guys in my dorm that smoked pot. They were not motivated to study, but smoking pot was the excitement of their day. The vast majority of them did not finish the first year. I just think that it's a shame that so most potential was lost. I have a friend from high school that smoked pot in high school and during his first year at college. He failed out of college and really did not have any direction in his life for about eight years. He then stopped smoking pot. He says that since then he is motivated to better his life and can concentrate much better. He now has a good job and makes great money (just bought a new Prelude). I only currently know one person that smokes pot. He is the husband of one of my wife's friends. I really think that this guy is a jerk, so I can't necessarily draw any firm conclusions about how pot influences him. His wife tells my wife that his hobby is smoking pot. He doesn't spend any time with his daughter and will not help his wife with her or anything else around the house.

The experiences in my life have led me to the conclusion that pot smoking makes people very unmotivated. Sure, alcohol can do the same thing, but the vast majority of people that I know who drink do not have problems that result from it. The vast majority of people that I have known who smoked pot have had motivation problems. I really hope that anyone thinking about starting will consider this before they do.

 

Good, thoughtful post, Sheister.

Pot smoking does make people unmotivated. BUT...is it up to the government to decide how motivated a person should be? Don't drive when smoking pot, be 21 or older--fine, just like alcohol. Why should Big Brother ban it completely, though?

I've seen many kids' and adults' lives ruined by alcohol and the effects of that severe depressant (DEFINITELY more than those lives ruined by smoking pot)...but it's not a banned substance. The biggest problem is that alcohol is across-the-board socially respectable and pot smoking is not...thanks to the fact that socially-accepted alcohol consumption has been around for hundreds of years in America.

ANY drug overindulged in and used to excess is bad. But recreational use of any drug, just like alcohol, should be "regulated" but not "banned" by our government.