More states legalize Pot 8) when for Oz?

[David]

Haha, you really think it'll take that long for SSM? Surely by 2020 at the latest (and to be honest, it's a complete absurdity that it hasn't happened by now).

[Skids]

Liberals to announce marijuana will be legal by July 1, 2018

The Canadian government is expected to introduce legislation the week of April 10, CBC reported, putting it on the path to become the second country behind Uruguay to fully legalize recreational marijuana for adult use. It said Bill Blair, a former Toronto police head who has been handing the marijuana file for the government, briefed the Liberal caucus on the matter this weekend.

Sorry, couldn't post the link from my phone.

Shares in the ASX listed MMJ spiked 15% to a high (pardon the pun) of 79 cents at the open of trade this morning.

[Mugwump]

Liberals to announce marijuana will be legal by July 1, 2018

The Canadian government is expected to introduce legislation the week of April 10, CBC reported, putting it on the path to become the second country behind Uruguay to fully legalize recreational marijuana for adult use. It said Bill Blair, a former Toronto police head who has been handing the marijuana file for the government, briefed the Liberal caucus on the matter this weekend.

Sorry, couldn't post the link from my phone.

Shares in the ASX listed MMJ spiked 15% to a high (pardon the pun) of 79 cents at the open of trade this morning.

It'll be very interesting to see whether this causes a rise in schizophrenia, memory dysfunction and other psychiatric disorders within Canada. I am sceptical that Dope is anywhere near as harmless as its advocates claim, but it'll be good to see the evidence, if it is used much more widely within a given nation. I lived in the Hague and the Netherlands for four years and I saw many blown-out hippies, brain damaged and unemployable, and that in a regime where supply is (despite the myths) carefully controlled.

Scrambling neurotransmitters on a regular basis for recreational purposes seems to me a very bad idea. This may help us clarify how bad.

It is certainly interesting that nearly every major terrorist atrocity in Europe, including the recent Westminster case, has been committed by people with a record of heavy cannabis use. It does not prove anything, but it suggests an hypothesis worth testing. The human brain is not designed to be messed about chemicals in this way, so it would be unsurprising if negative effects and structural changes arose with repeated, regular use by vulnerable people. The same is true of alcohol, of course - but the legalisation of another drug with even more powerful psychoactive effects is contraindicated by alcohol's depredations, I'd have thought.

[Skids]

[Mugwump]

But then again.... the British Medical Journal (one of the most respected medical journals in the world) begs to differ.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news ... c-symptoms

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31480234

This is an area where scientific opinion seems unusually divided. The source of a study, the background of the researcher, and who commissioned it, is presumably important.

Clearly dope in its milder forms does not seem to cause psychosis in most ordinary light users. That much seems clear. But then alcohol doe snot cause alcoholism in most users, yet it does a power of damage, and many people who use the light form will graduate to the heavier forms of it.

While the psychosis hypothesis is debatable, I don't think there is much serious dispute that repeated studies have shown deleterious effects on short term memory.

[Skids]

But then again.... the British Medical Journal (BML - one of the most respected medical journals in the world) begs to differ.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news ... c-symptoms

This is an area where scientific opinion seems unusually divided. The source of a study, the background of the researcher, and who commissioned it, is presumably important.

Clearly dope does not cause psychosis in most ordinary light users. That much seems clear. But then alcohol doe snot cause alcoholism in most users, yet it does a power of damage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31480234

This is the thing for me.
On one hand, we have a socially accepted, AND, heavily promoted drug, that causes 80% of calls that police respond to, domestic violence, road carnage and countless cumulative diseases (proven).
On the other hand, a taboo drug, that's biggest (proven) issue, is food is at risk! How many dope smokers participate in wild, violent, destructive behaviour? Not many, if any!

Abuse is the issue. Too many Big Macs, too many eggs, too many beers and yes, too many joints, are a recipe for disaster. That doesn't mean that people who enjoy a smoke should be made into criminals.

[Mugwump]

But then again.... the British Medical Journal (BML - one of the most respected medical journals in the world) begs to differ.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news ... c-symptoms

This is an area where scientific opinion seems unusually divided. The source of a study, the background of the researcher, and who commissioned it, is presumably important.

Clearly dope does not cause psychosis in most ordinary light users. That much seems clear. But then alcohol doe snot cause alcoholism in most users, yet it does a power of damage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31480234

This is the thing for me.
On one hand, we have a socially accepted, AND, heavily promoted drug, that causes 80% of calls that police respond to, domestic violence, road carnage and countless cumulative diseases (proven).
On the other hand, a taboo drug, that's biggest (proven) issue, is food is at risk! How many dope smokers participate in wild, violent, destructive behaviour? Not many, if any!

Abuse is the issue. Too many Big Macs, too many eggs, too many beers and yes, too many joints, are a recipe for disaster. That doesn't mean that people who enjoy a smoke should be made into criminals.

Good-oh, now let's do a thought-experiment : imagine as many people as use alcohol today are using marijuana with the same frequency in a few years : after all, both are legal, and presumably should therefore be equally available. Many will presumably use dope with alcohol, some in lieu of it .... now, would that really be a safer, better, more empathetic, clever and competitive Australia ?

From the Anzac spirit to the Prozac spirit in two generations, that was us. "Australians all let us rejoice/ for we are off our tree/With golden soil and cannabis oil/ Bad case of the mun-chies..."

[Skids]

[Skids]

Good-oh, now let's do a thought-experiment : imagine as many people as use alcohol today are using marijuana with the same frequency in a few years : after all, both are legal, and presumably should therefore be equally available. Many will presumably use dope with alcohol, some in lieu of it .... now, would that really be a safer, better, more empathetic, clever and competitive Australia ?

From the Anzac spirit to the Prozac spirit in two generations, that was us. "Australians all let us rejoice/ for we are off our tree/With golden soil and cannabis oil/ Bad case of the mun-chies..."

I strongly disagree with this projection. Making it legal wouldn't make me or anyone else smoke more. There will obviously be the odd exception.

What it's about is, not naking someone a criminal for partaking in, what I consider, one of the least harmful drugs around. How many people have died from a cannabis overdose? None!

People should have the choice, as they do with alcohol & ciggys.

Again, not everyone who smokes dope is a spaced out hippy. As long as it's not abused, i see no reason to leave it in the hands of criminals to make money. Prohibition never has and never will work. Trying to do so is a massive waste of resources.

[Culprit]

It's not going to happen in my lifetime. Neither the ALP or LNP are prepared to run for an election with the legalisation of dope as part of their policies. Could you imagine the media headlines on a daily basis?

[HAL]

Possibly, but I haven't given it much thought.

[stui magpie]

Good-oh, now let's do a thought-experiment : imagine as many people as use alcohol today are using marijuana with the same frequency in a few years : after all, both are legal, and presumably should therefore be equally available. Many will presumably use dope with alcohol, some in lieu of it .... now, would that really be a safer, better, more empathetic, clever and competitive Australia ?

From the Anzac spirit to the Prozac spirit in two generations, that was us. "Australians all let us rejoice/ for we are off our tree/With golden soil and cannabis oil/ Bad case of the mun-chies..."

I strongly disagree with this projection. Making it legal wouldn't make me or anyone else smoke more. There will obviously be the odd exception..

It won't make you smoke more but it would make more people smoke.

making it legal would open up a new market which would lead naturally to more users.

That's not a reason to not decriminalise it, it's a consideration that has to be factored into the decision making.

Dope can kcuk some people up. I used to know a bloke who would have a bong before getting out of bed and continue all day. By the time he was in his mid-late 20's and tried to get his shit together after his long suffering GF finally spat it and walked out, he was on struggle st, his brain was stuffed.

Yes, that can currently happen with booze and does.

If we're going to legalise and regulate it, it will be taxed and a portion of that tax needs to go to drug education, research and health professionals to deal with the inevitable result.

When the anti smoking nazis won't legalise cartomisers and vaporisers because they might encourage people to start smoking cigarettes when they're the best NRT around for smokers who want to quit, I can't see dope being legal soon.

[Mugwump]

^ given what you described , Stui - the ability of this drug to destroy a young man's brain in his twenties - why would you want it legalised ?

That alcohol is legal, with all of its terrible effects, is no argument for adding to the mayhem.

I recognise that this position might impair Skids harmless (as he sees it) use of it, and I recognise that that's a bit unfortunate, but I don't think that the damage to others is justified by that.

[Skids]

^ given what you described , Stui - the ability of this drug to destroy a young man's brain in his twenties - why would you want it legalised ?

That alcohol is legal, with all of its terrible effects, is no argument for adding to the mayhem.

I recognise that this position might impair Skids harmless (as he sees it) use of it, and I recognise that that's a bit unfortunate, but I don't think that the damage to others is justified by that.

Hardly, as I've stated, I have never had any trouble getting hold of cannabis during the 35 years I've used it. In fact, I could get ANY drug that I choose, pretty much anytime of the day.

Availability is not the issue.

[Skids]

Good-oh, now let's do a thought-experiment : imagine as many people as use alcohol today are using marijuana with the same frequency in a few years : after all, both are legal, and presumably should therefore be equally available. Many will presumably use dope with alcohol, some in lieu of it .... now, would that really be a safer, better, more empathetic, clever and competitive Australia ?

From the Anzac spirit to the Prozac spirit in two generations, that was us. "Australians all let us rejoice/ for we are off our tree/With golden soil and cannabis oil/ Bad case of the mun-chies..."

I strongly disagree with this projection. Making it legal wouldn't make me or anyone else smoke more. There will obviously be the odd exception..

It won't make you smoke more but it would make more people smoke.

making it legal would open up a new market which would lead naturally to more users.

That's not a reason to not decriminalise it, it's a consideration that has to be factored into the decision making.

Dope can kcuk some people up. I used to know a bloke who would have a bong before getting out of bed and continue all day. By the time he was in his mid-late 20's and tried to get his shit together after his long suffering GF finally spat it and walked out, he was on struggle st, his brain was stuffed.

Yes, that can currently happen with booze and does.

If we're going to legalise and regulate it, it will be taxed and a portion of that tax needs to go to drug education, research and health professionals to deal with the inevitable result.

When the anti smoking nazis won't legalise cartomisers and vaporisers because they might encourage people to start smoking cigarettes when they're the best NRT around for smokers who want to quit, I can't see dope being legal soon.

Wrong, if you read the link I posted and/or do some research on states/countries that have legalised it, you will find that to simply be false.