or as harmless as some people claim.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

My co-workers and I were pretty surprised in 2000 (or so) when we went to the annual NIDA conference in Seattle and heard that they had discovered that pot was addictive. The main opinion by professionals at the time was that it wasn't. It's not comparative to say cigarettes, alcohol or heroin but the threat is still present. The other health studies though show that marijuana is really low on the health risks, especially when compared to other narcotics. That's not to say it's all roses for your body but I can't help but laugh when I hear people who smoke and drink say pot should be illegal cause its bad for you.

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I used to be a hair to my ass hippie and let's just say I've had my fair share of controlled substances over the years.
I used to be one of the absolute legalization advocates who would annoy people with my rants.
I used to belong to NORML.

Is it physically addictive?
Not in my amateur opinion because I've been physically addicted to things.

Is it psychologically addictive to the point where someone may, say, spend all their money on it and forego other necessities and their own health?
Without a doubt.

Some people can handle that responsibly, some cannot.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

my room mate was like that. he lived to smoke so he stopped going to classes and failed out of western.

he also stole from us to sell the stuff to pay for pot.

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I've had a few friends that turned from respectable gentlemen to complete dicks. Hang around with all the wrong people to get pot.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

I understand that. I just can't even put it on the same level as alcohol.

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Alcohol's a tad worse. But that's just because of the drunk driving and other things that take place when you're drunk, not necessarily health wise.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

No way man, alcohol is ridiculously bad for your brain and body. I've escorted way too many jaundiced, liver pickled, esophogus torn people to SARC units in my time. Marijuana has way less in the terms of nasty side effects like lung cancer or mouth cancer and you don't smoke as much pot (most people) as you would cigarettes to boot. Aside from smoke related issues I haven't read anything about pot having permanent health impacts. Shit, it doens't even make you a dick like alcohol does so you don't risk getting your jaw broke in a fight! Personally I wish the shit didn't make me paranoid. I'd love to smoke a bit here and there.

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i always feel like a loser when i smoke. and its not very enjoyable for me.

being drunk is 10 times more fun then being high.

though neither vice is good for you. haha.

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I mean, if I weren't already taking two compressed classes, I'd probably do the research on it.

I'm saying in the grand scheme of how it affects the public, alcohol is worse, in my opinion.

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I don't care really about whether mj is physically or mentally addictive, or any health concerns, although I tend to agree with crosschecks opinion.

What I concern myself with is the crime aspect. There will still be crime regardless of legalization. OTOH, if nobody smoked marijuana... Yes, I know there will never be an end to potheads' demand, but if only legit medical mj users were around, there wouldn't be a cartel/DTO in existence. There would be a lot less dead Mexican police officers too.

I don't know the stats out here but you hear the nightly news saying quite often that the crime rates have dropped downtown since the dispenseries have opened up. A lot of talk has been going on about if that trend would continue if we legalized it completely and sold it through controlled shops like the current medical system. I mean clearly prices would have to remain low to keep people from just going to some dealer but I think it would curb a lot of the demand for illegal pot and of coure you have the taxes rollng in as profit to boot.

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Wait... are you talking about alcohol, or marijuana?

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Wheelhouse

unless you're making a joke...he said NORML, so...

also i don't know how anyone can compare small amounts of alcohol with small amounts of marijuana. 1-2 beers does not impair anyone and it's not a hallucinogen in amounts that you'd have casually.

1-2 joints does impair functions. as far as i would guess, that is the main issue with legalizing it to the public. the effect on the body of a small amount.

with that said, i think it should be legalized and taxed.

I think it is really hard to compare "highs". Smoking a whole joint by yourself will have a much bigger effect on you than one beer. I haven't seen any studies that try to quantify it though. I'd love to read a study about it if anyone knows of one. I'm also talking about the effects on people who don't have any tolerances.

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1-2 beers can in fact impair individuals. It's a flat out lie to say it doesn't affect anyone.

Yup, there have been many many tests done on this and depending on your size etc you could be over the legal limit after 2 beers. Of course it depends on how strong the beer is, the absorption factors such as weight, what you ate, gender, and rate of consumption but yes, 2 beers could land you in jail if you got behind the wheel.

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in general, you can drink 1-2 beers and in the time it takes to drink them in most situations, the majority of people will have no issues and any behavioral sobriety tests will call them sober.

you guys can swoop in and nitpick but the fact remains for the majority of people and the majority of beers, my point is accurate.


that's the point i made.

I'm not trying to be contrary just for "nitpicking's" sake, honestly. Cops, universities and research groups do this kind of test all the time. Most peope go in thinking like you do that two beers don't effect them much but the driving tests and other reaction time tests tell a different story. If you were to drink two beers in say 45-60 minutes you will be effected and that effect increases with lower weight, if you're a woman, if you didn't eat etc. I'm not saying that you'll be shit faced, just that it does impare your ability to drive and make decisions.

I know this was your point, I was expanding on that point and said I would love to read any research that has been done on it. trying to quantify the high you get from pot and compare it to booze would be interesting to learn about BECAUSE it is so different.

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