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The Forum > Article Comments > Why legal marijuana makes sense > Comments

Why legal marijuana makes sense : Comments

By David Leyonhjelm, published 25/6/2018

The ban on cannabis has dubious origins, having been the victim of a nearly century-long smear campaign launched by US anti-drug crusader Harry Anslinger in the dying days of alcohol prohibition.

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As Freud points out in his book “the interpretation of dreams”, it's not the important point, what is remembered of a dream, it's what is forgotten, that holds the key to interpretation.

As with this totally unreliable author, the truth lies somewhere between dusk and dawn.
Posted by diver dan, Monday, 25 June 2018 8:25:10 AM
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Makes sense? It would make even more people senseLESS.
Posted by ttbn, Monday, 25 June 2018 8:56:25 AM
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Indeed David.

And if the ban on anything is more illogical, it has to be the prohibition on thorium power.

And many terminal illnesses would cease to be terminal if they but had access to Miracle cures (proven western medicine) like bismuth 213.

Which the west has been able to make since the sixties! Or if you will, for over half a century!

Look, bismuth213, an alpha particle isotope that's attached to an antibody, is the highly accurate, fifty cal sniper rifle against cancer!

As seen in numerous European trials around 2006 efficacious against death sentence ovarian cancer, where reports included, no significant damage to surrounding healthy tissue and 400 times more effective than previously trialled, beta particle, (scattergun approach) oncology radiation.

Reportedly it has also been successfully trialled against death sentence cancers like myeloid leukaemia, allegedly incurable pancreatic cancer and some very nasty, inoperable brain cancers.

The latter taking more lives annually than the total road toll, even as incompetent, ILL-INFORMED pollies literally sit on their collective hands, David. And hardly a new or recent phenomenon!

However and to return to topic, if there was an age limit of 25 and older, most of the accompanying psychosis would be evident and hopefully treated before marijuana made it worse?

The effect of medical marijuana is already well known and should have been legal a long time ago as should be currently prohibited thorium power.

Because thorium is converted to U233, which is the single source of Bismuth 213. Thorium>U233>bismuth213! UNDERSTAND!?

Which is made elsewhere in an incredibly limited amount to make this comparatively common MIRACLE CURE isotope millionaire medicine.

And here the alleged medical fraternity ignorant to the point of arrogantly dismissing it as alternative or complementary medicine?

Listen, you'd destroy the huge profit curve of big pharma if we started to cure terminal (managed) illness!

And because this is so, I believe, preside over an unnecessary annual death toll that literally puts the road kill death toll in the shade by comparison!

What do we need to get you people to listen and act? A Noble prize?
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Monday, 25 June 2018 11:41:46 AM
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Maryjane is both not as dangerous as people think and not as wonderful a medicine as advocates would have you believe.

However, there is no justification for banning it, as it is less harmful than either tobacco or alcohol.
Posted by Shadow Minister, Monday, 25 June 2018 11:41:55 AM
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SM

Many people have addled their brains with weed, my granddaughter being one of them. I agree with you on alcohol, the most dangerous of all because it is legal and socially acceptable.
Posted by ttbn, Monday, 25 June 2018 12:11:32 PM
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Marijuana doesn't cause the psychosis ttbn, just amplifies what is already there. And just missing but essential brain chemistry.

And more than obvious following puberty and well before the brain is fully developed, around age 25.

So, prohibition, which has never ever worked, hasn't stopped the production or use of any illicit drug. The war on drugs is over 80 years old, no closer to stopping or preventing the sale or use of any of it!

In spite of trillions thrown at this problem and prison cells bulging with addicts and petty crims/drug users and pushers.

One would think that harsh penalties and or death sentences would have stopped the illicit trade! But to date, it has just driven it underground and cost more lives than the death toll from WW11!

Our law enforcement would be better occupied against real crime and real criminals!

A lot or the drug-related crime would just disappear if we but took a more rational approach like that used against legal addiction be it tobacco or alcohol! And by education that begins very early!

If the others were legal but taxed and regulated, we could finally crack down on crack or ice! And by icing the pushers and purveyors of this particular poison! Mandatory castration might succeed where other methods have failed?

Or a prefrontal lobotomy that reduces the individual to little more than a robot doing as he/she is told!

I mean there are far worse terrifying fates than death and might succeed where the death sentence has clearly failed.

If we but concentrated solely on ice and eradicated it and its pushers, we'd have a far more harmonious cooperative society, where education alone could eliminate all the other illicit drugs over time.

Without costing lives or a fortune of taxpayer's money! Which instead could be diverted to bulk up our minuscule defence budget!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Monday, 25 June 2018 2:47:50 PM
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Taking harmful drugs such as marijuana does not make sense - whether legal or otherwise.

People ought to exercise their intelligence and their conscience - their sense of knowing right from wrong, and never come near such harmful substances.

But alas, the above is prevented by law: when good and wise people automatically avoid a bad substance for fear of the police, they lose the opportunity to instead exercise their intelligence and good sense and allow them to shine.

A more serious reason to decriminalise the usage of bad drugs, is that one can never tell what a future government might consider, and subsequently prohibit, as "bad drug". Recall that someone in power already once declared that "religion is the opium of the people" - today it's marijuana, so who really cares for those fools who use it, but tomorrow it might be anything, including things that could be very very dear to you.

Religion?
Sports?
Music?
Bush-walks?
Pre-marital sex?
Ice-cream and cakes?
Women driving?

You name it - it begins with marijuana, but you never know where it will end!
Posted by Yuyutsu, Tuesday, 26 June 2018 12:13:33 AM
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Yuyutsu,

You should stop thinking Yuyutsu, your not good at it!
Posted by diver dan, Tuesday, 26 June 2018 10:15:16 AM
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Dear Dan,

«You should stop thinking Yuyutsu»

Thank you, I am trying, but it is not easy - as I meditate, thoughts keep creeping in, so it's a struggle and a very long and arduous road: please wish me success!
Posted by Yuyutsu, Tuesday, 26 June 2018 10:29:17 AM
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certainly not an expert however the only time I tried marijuana many decades ago it did little to me. The guy who gave it to me who was only about 17 and a regular user. He became schizo and then killed himself. I don't know what comes first but having that in my mind I have met many suffering from schizophrenia who were dope smokers. I doubt whether you would get any honest answers over those wanting their own personal use even though the wider society is affected.
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 26 June 2018 2:40:22 PM
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Alan B,

<<Marijuana doesn't cause the psychosis ttbn, just amplifies what is already there. And just missing but essential brain chemistry.>>

That’s not what the research indicates. In my view, we should not be advocating the legalisation of marijuana for these reasons:

(a) We do not need another means of sucking smoke into the lungs with the potential for more cases of lung cancer. Of course I know that smoking marijuana is not the only means of it entering the human system.

(b) The research shows its devastating impact on those who smoke joints of marijuana or consume it in other ways:

1. One cigarette impairs short term memory for at least six weeks. (Dr's. R. Schwartz, Gruenewald, M Klitzner et al "Memory Impairment in cannabis dependent Adolescents." 1989 Georgetown University)

2. Twenty four hours after one cigarette, experienced pilots performed severely impaired simulator landings. (Dr. J. Yesavage et al Stanford University 1985 & 1991)

3. There was a 600% increase in the incidence of schizophrenia in conscripts who had used 50 cannabis cigarettes or more in their lifetime. (Longitudinal Study at Karolinska Institute in Sweden - study over 15 years with approx 55000 conscripts -Andreasson, Allerbeck Engstrom et al -The Lancet - 1987).

4. There was a 500% increase in the overall incidence of major mental illness in conscripts who were users. (Same study reported in "Schizophrenia in Users and Non users of Cannabis" - 1989)

5. *Decreased empathy (perception of others problems)
*Impaired perception of past, present and future.
*Difficulty with information processing.
*Difficulty with sequential dialogue.
*Apathy, poor judgement, lack of self care, the so called, "Amotivational Syndrome" (Goodman & Gillman - 'The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics' 8th Ed. 1991)

6. Four times the cancer causing potential of tobacco cigarettes. Cancers of the mouth never seen in the young, found in young users. (P.J. Donald - "Marijuana Smoking - Possible Causes of head and neck carcinoma I Young Patients." - Otolaryngology Head and neck Surgery 1986 University of California.)

(continued)
Posted by OzSpen, Friday, 6 July 2018 7:58:53 PM
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Alan B,

The bad news regarding marijuana intake continues:

7. Depression of Immune system at both humoural [relating to a type of immunity caused by free antibodies circulating in the blood - Collins Dictionary] and cell immunity levels. (H. Friedman et al Florida University - 1985 1st International Symposium Paris 1990)

8. Decreased fertility in males and females (Hambree et al and Mendelson et al respectively). Impotence in males.

9. 1100% increase in the incidence of leukaemia in the offspring of mothers who used while pregnant. (Professor Neglia et al Minnesota University - reported 1990)

10. Marijuana is a drug of addiction with a recognised withdrawal syndrome (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry 3rd Edition)

11. Marijuana & THC accumulate in fatty tissues and they are still detectable 3 months after abstinence. (Cohen S 1986. Marijuana Research: Selected Recent Findings, Drug and Alcohol Abuse Newsletter Vol 15 (1):1-3. & Journal of Psychoactive drugs Vol 19 (2): ii.)

12. DNA metabolism is inhibited thus interfering with cell function and replication. (B. Desoise et al - "In Vivo Inhibition of Entrocyte Metabolism byTHC." 1986 - University of Champagne)

13. Marijuana use has been scientifically linked to the dramatic increase in drug induced schizophrenoform illness and the associated increase in teenage suicide rates (Same study - Karolinska Institute Sweden - 86 references which are available on request)

14. Dr Carlton Turner of the University of Mississippi has developed a data base of more than 10,000 scientific papers on marijuana - none gives marijuana a clean bill of health.

The libertarian advocacy of legalisation of marijuana will receive lots of resistance by me - based on the research.

If we want zonked, demotivated, lethargic people, get them to ingest lots of marijuana. And to make it look legit, get the feds to legalise it through legislation.

It's a pathway to destruction for youth and others.
Posted by OzSpen, Friday, 6 July 2018 8:05:20 PM
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David,

<<Those who have seen my aging visage but are not familiar with my libertarian principles may be shocked to learn that I am an enthusiastic supporter of legal recreational cannabis.

<<This is not because I am an enthusiastic toker [marijuana user], although I don't deny having inhaled. Rather, it is because the policy of prohibition does more harm than good. Moreover, we in the Liberal Democrats believe the government has no right to prevent adults from making choices that do not harm anyone else>>.

Of course you'd be in favour of liberalising marijuana laws. It's in harmony with a Liberal Democrat principle: 'People should be free to make their own choices and accept responsibility for the consequences, so long as nobody else is harmed' (<<https://www.ldp.org.au/>>).

Your LD policy is individual responsibility 'as long as nobody else is harmed'. Marijuana research shows the harm or potential harm done to self and others by marijuana use:

1. Twenty four hours after one cigarette, experienced pilots performed severely impaired simulator landings. (Dr. J. Yesavage et al Stanford University 1985 & 1991). What is the possibility of loss of life for pilots on marijuana?

2. Decreased fertility in males and females (Hambree et al and Mendelson et al respectively). It is associated with impotence in males. So does infertility impact others?

3. An 1100% increase in the incidence of leukaemia in the offspring of mothers who used while pregnant. (Professor Neglia et al Minnesota University - reported 1990).

4. Marijuana use has been scientifically linked to the dramatic increase in drug induced schizophrenoform illness and the associated increase in teenage suicide rates (Same study - Karolinska Institute Sweden - 86 references which are available on request). This psychosis impacts others.

Your claim that <<the policy of prohibition does more harm than good>> is a furphy. In this thread, I've demonstrated from research the harm of marijuana ingestion to individuals and to others.

Marijuana does harm others. Any govt that legalises marijuana will have to take responsibility for the damage it has chosen to allow.
Posted by OzSpen, Saturday, 7 July 2018 12:54:41 PM
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