Comment

Comment by Luara on April 8, 2014 at 9:35am

I looked around a bit on the marijuana/schizophrenia issue, and I didn't see anything except some research suggesting that teenagers, especially young teenagers, who smoke a lot of marijuana - like daily - are more likely to become schizophrenic. 

Other research suggests otherwise - that the family predisposition to schizophrenia is the cause, not marijuana use:

While cannabis may have an effect on the age of onset of schizophrenia it is unlikely to be the cause of illness

Correlation is not causation. A long time ago, someone observed to me that people seemed to choose drugs that were similar to their own natural tendencies.  So people with a tendency to schizophrenia might choose marijuana, since it's a mild hallucinogen.  

Or, BOTH the schizophrenia and marijuana use might be encouraged by someone's preference for fantasy.  We don't know which way the causation works. 

Anyway, nobody (at least around here) wants to make recreational drugs available to teenagers.  And it seems likely that that legalized drugs are less available to teenagers than illegal drugs, since the sale is controlled.

Comment by Sven Andersson on April 2, 2014 at 4:42pm

A few weeks ago I would have said: yes, clearly!

Now I am beginning to seriously doubt that. I recently read an article about a scientific study of the effects of cannabis use on the human nervous system. They had found that cannabis is a much greater contributing cause of serious and even permanent  psychosis of different kinds than was previously thought. It also often led to the outbreak of schizophrenia in cases where there was predisposition. Permanent psychosis and schizophrenia are conditions that destroy your life on every level.  

Comment by Luara on March 30, 2014 at 11:05am

No one should question the harm that drug addiction causes.  That includes prescription drugs

Most drug prescriptions are given to women. In the USA, one in four women is dispensed medication for a mental health condition, compared to just 15 percent of men.

Recently one of the allergists I'm seeing suggested that I get medicated for stress.  It gave me a queasy feeling as if experiencing sexism, because he's not a psychiatrist and I know women tend to get medicated and tranquilized.  A medication for stress sounds likely to be some kind of (perhaps addictive) tranquilizer.  I hadn't complained about stress or anxiety, and suggesting medication for it seems inappropriate.  I told him that a lot of my anxiety around him was because my allergy problems are extreme but I don't have extreme test results to back up what I say. 

This sort of thing is done to women a LOT. 

Comment by Daniel W on March 30, 2014 at 10:12am

NB pretty much sums it up.  

It has criminalised decent people and ruined their lives through incarceration. It has created a wealthy powerful criminal class and corruption in law enforcement and government. It has been a complete failure.

The drug war in Mexico, funded by Americans buying illegal drugs in pursuit of a high, may have killed 100,000 people.  The drug war is racist in application and effect, resulting in proliferation of misery, disproportionate incarceration of people of color, and increased distrust of government.

No one should question the harm that drug addiction causes.  That includes prescription drugs, which bring billions of dollars into the coffers of drug companies while resulting in a sanitized form of drug addiction that still costs thousands of lives -60% of overdose deaths are prescription drugs.

Marijuana?  People will overuse it.  There is no question in my mind misuse can be harmful, especially among the young and old.  I don't know what is the success rate of public education, and school education, public service announcements, billboards and ads, about safe and responsible use of marijuana, but that seems like a much better approach than criminalization and support of drug cartels.

We should do the same with fried snickers bars.  

Comment by Craigart14 on March 29, 2014 at 6:28pm

Deep fried Snickers bars

eeuww!

In the Deep South you can get anything deep fried.  Chicken fried steak is considered haute cuisine.

Comment by Luara on March 29, 2014 at 10:17am

Drug prohibition is recent phenomena pertaining to only the last century.

I read when heroin was legal, heroin addicts were able to have normal lives, as long as they could get their heroin.   I think it was in the Consumers Union book Licit and Illicit Drugs, which didn't toe the gov't propaganda line.

Comment by Luara on March 28, 2014 at 12:06pm

Deep fried Snickers bars

eeuww!

Comment by Craigart14 on March 28, 2014 at 11:38am

Marijuana should be legal.  Deep fried Snickers bars, on the other hand . . . .

Comment by Future on March 28, 2014 at 10:22am

It should be legal, not only to buy for recreational purposes but to grow for personal recreational purposes. I get disappointed when I see states considering legalization for no other reason that the dollar signs in their eyes. It should be treated no different than beer or wine.

Comment by Luara on March 28, 2014 at 10:21am

To solve a mirade of complicated problems brought on by our "war on drugs" it should be made legal again and abuse of it handled in the same way as alcohol abuse.

Yes, and tobacco gives a good example of how to control use of a dangerous drug. Tobacco advertising is very restricted and - perhaps partly because of this - people's attitudes towards tobacco use have become more negative, and the use of tobacco has declined. 
When people have problems with drugs, it's a kind of health problem and they need better help than giving them a criminal record.
Drug problems becomes a criminal issue when people drive impaired or otherwise directly harm others.
I like your neologism "mirade", by the way. I know you mean "myriad", but "mirade" sounds like a French word. Perhaps a French exclamation against extravagance :)

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