Marijuana is drug most often linked to crime, study finds

Is there any evidence that tobacco companies are lobbying to keep marijuana illegal?

 

Tough to find evidence but you can see how Big Tobacco gives money to certain U.S. Lawmakers that vote against any legislation to make it legal.

AboveAlpha

 

Why are tobacco companies against legalizing marijuana?

 

Because if a person has a choice to legally purchase a pack of smokes and a bag of weed....there are going to be a percentage of people who choose the bag of weed.

Same thing with Beer and Liquor companies as they would prefer to hold the legal market upon getting a Buzz.

AboveAlpha

 

If marijuana is not physically addictive, how else could you explain these symptoms? These symptoms seem like physical withdrawal.

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/pot/a/pot_addiction.htm

Some of those withdrawal symptoms seem more like a psychological addiction, but those symptoms which I highlighted in black definitley seems like physical withdrawal symptoms.

 

If you want to believe it's addictive, go right ahead. In practice, it is not NEARLY as addictive as sugar, coffee, ice cream, and on and on and on.

And this might actually be the case. Not that the symptoms are all that serious, or all that common, but I guess you don't care about the effects on actual people, right? After all, you are cherry-picking from chronic users who quit cold turkey.

And your response actually underscores what you were trying to refute! The claim was that any addiction was mild compared with highly addictive substances. Your quote shows that this is indeed true.

Well, the experiences in Colorado and Washington should provide everyone with plenty of ammunition. Realists will point out that there are no associated social or medical problems at all, and opponents will dig to find the occasional exception, and pretend that's the norm. Happens every time.

 

Legalizing marijuana will not reduce alcohol consumption, and here's why.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1981/05/the-marijuana-epidemic

 

I never stated this.

I only stated that such producers do not want pot to be legal.

AboveAlpha

 

Here's why alcohol is less harmful than pot. Some studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption does not cause cognitive decline.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3157490/

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/10October/Pages/Grapes-of-Daft–wine-link-to-brain-damage.aspx

http://www.winespectator.com/webfea...Damage-But-Heavy-Drinking-Is-Study-Finds_3391

There's no studies which states that, "small amounts of marijuana does not cause cognitive decline". Even long-term moderate pot usage can cause cognitive decline. Alcohol will only cause cognitive decline if people drink too much.

 

I personally do not like Pot as I feel it slows the mind down.

But there are a good deal of medical benefits for Pot especially for people with Cancer as it increases Chemo-patients appetites.

As well it works for Pain Relief.

There many benefits from Pot as well their are benefits from having a few drinks every day...but for the Fed's to say there are no benefits for Pot...well that is simply not true.

AboveAlpha

 

Do you agree with me that alcohol is less harmful than pot (since moderate drinking does not cause cognitive decline)?

Besides, what's the whole point of medical pot? There's lots of other medications which stimulates appetite and gets rid of pain and nausea. Why use marijuana?

 

Not to mention, prohibition failed.

Because it works better for many people without anywhere near as serious side effects.

 

What are some of the serious side effects of those other medications?

Do you believe that pot is less harmful than alcohol to somebody's health? I strongly disagree with you. Moderate drinking causes cancers, but it does not cause cognitive decline. Only heavy drinking causes cognitive decline. Even small amounts of pot are harmful to cognitive abilities if used over a long period of time. This is why alcohol is safer than marijuana. People can consume it in smaller doses without having IQ loss or short term memory problems, etc.

Besides, even pot smoking is carcinogenic. Burning plant matter creates carcinogens.

Besides, while marijuana does not scar the liver (unlike alcohol), smoking pot does cause lung cancer. Saying that pot smoking is safe, just because it doesn't damage the liver, is totally ridiculous. Yes, pot smoking does not cause cirrhosis, but it does cause lung cancer, which is another fatal health condition. Both lung cancer and cirrhosis are horrible conditions to have. Pot smoking and heavy drinking are just as bad as each other-but in different ways. Just think of what a pot smoker's lungs look like from all of that smoke and tar.

Here's some proof that pot smoking causes emphysema and lung cancer.

http://www.webmd.com/lung/copd/news/20000320/regular-marijuana-emphysema

Besides, marijuana smoke has four times more tar, and 50% more benzopyrene than tobacco smoke. This shows that marijuana is NOT safer than alcohol, for somebody's health.

http://www.ukcia.org/research/EffectsOfMarijuanaOnLungAndImmuneDefenses.php

 

Aren't modern times and modern technologies wonderful; vaporizer pens can only get better at potentially lower cost due to advances in technologies.

 

I kind of gave up on this thread a while back, because Sam seems to be on a different train of thought.

The issue isn't whether marijuana is healthy or not. The issue is whether keeping it illegal has, on balance, worse side effects than legalization. The side effects of the current prohibition are well documented - billions of dollars in enforcement, huge numbers of people jailed, a wealthy dealer network worldwide, high crime rates, distrust of the police, and so on. The argument now seems to be that IF it's legalized, usage will rise (if so, not much. Nearly everyone who wants it has it already), and that the slight rise in use MIGHT lead to a slight rise in medical issues.

To me, this is a slam dunk no-brainer. The benefits of legalization outweigh the dangers 1000 to one. Refusal to recognize this is just plain dishonest. There is no valid argument here.

 

If it becomes legal, more teenagers will use it, since if it becomes legal, more of their older friends will start using it, and it will become less taboo.

 

anyone that wants it can get it now... drug dealers do not ask for id

 

Ah, the domino theory. Let's say, to be generous, that if legalized marijuana usage goes up 10%. NOW, compare the associated health problems (miniscule) with the cost of keeping it illegal - the billions in enforcement, the enrichment of organized crime, the highest jailed population of any nation in history, the increased crime rates necessary to afford the high prices enforcement enables the cartels to charge, and so on.

Go ahead. Like I said, it's 1000 to 1. It's a slam dunk no brainer. There is no valid argument here.

 

Predictions of an epidemic increase in drug usage have turned out to be simply flat false in other nations. Doesn't happen. Drugs are just too commonly available. But SOME people just don't want to hear it.

As they say in law, if the facts favor you, pound the facts. If the law favors you, pound the law. If neither one favors you, pound the table. What we have here is a table pounder. There simply IS no support for his position, so he just makes it up. When you have Truth, who needs facts?

 

how do you know that? where it is legal(netherlands) the use of pot has declined...part of the appeal of the drug is it's illegality...

 

Marijuana has been clinically tested and found to be capable of giving Cancer patients an appetite when undergoing Chemo when all other drugs have failed.

As well Pot relives certain pain specific to cancer and arthritis better than other drugs and has properties that help with Glaucoma patients.

Now as far as if it is more dangerous than alcohol there are many thousands of times more alcohol related deaths compared to pot use as well pot is not anywhere as addictive if at all compared to alcohol.

It really depends upon how much a person smokes or drinks.

AboveAlpha

 

I don't know of any of my acquaintances who died from the effects of pot, but
i know of a number who were killed by tobacco or alcohol...anecdotal I know but just my experiences...

- - - Updated - - -

I don't know of any of my acquaintances who died from the effects of pot, but
i know of a number who were killed by tobacco or alcohol...anecdotal I know but just my experiences...

 

Just for your own curiosity, here:

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death#sthash.InTN4WGk.dpbs

are the statistics for drug overdose deaths. Marijuana: Zero

And we learn that "epidemiological data indicate that in the general population marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality."

Oops, no deaths from overdose, no increased mortality from continued use. So is this more dangerous than alcohol? Well, we keep reading and we find:

"Excessive alcohol use* accounted for an estimated average of 80,000 deaths and 2.3 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) in the United States each year during 2001–2005, and an estimated $223.5 billion in economic costs in 2006."

Uh, I'd say no. I'd say Sam is Making Stuff Up.

 

I never met anyone who had just smoked a joint that was inclined to drive his car into his front living room and then beat his wife to death.

That would be a person who had been drinking Scotch.

The guy who smoked a joint would still be standing in front of the fridge with the door open trying to decide what to eat! LOL!

AboveAlpha

 

ya that matches my anecdotal experiences, I've seen family and friends drink themselves to death, I've seen family and friends smoke themselves to death but none have died of anything related to smoking pot...