Robg,

You are right Marijuana does harm the health of its users. I don't think anyone can deny the facts.

However you have to look at any such facts in a proper context.

The health risks associated with MJ (and drugs like e) when compared to legal drugs such as alcohol are actually not that bad. The studies vary depending on weather you use hospital grade drugs or their illicit street varieties however the following table was recently released on the newscience website http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2563/25633101.jpg

As you can see many commonly used drugs such as Marijuana and Ecstacy are actually a lot safer than Alcohol. Robg I'll believe the medical experts over you, sorry.

And that is the whole point Robg - people should not be locked up for taking drugs that are safer than drugs like alcohol which are actively encouraged and accepted in Aussie society despite the risks. It is just pure hypocricy.

I might have even miniscule respect for the law if it actually had some consistency and covered booze as well. But in the current state I think it is a modern day witch hunt and nothing more.

There is an ex brother in law of mine who has been a very heavy 'dope' user all his life..hes now 47 and still he smokes...
He somehow believed that the smoking of dope and witch craft were integral to each other..

He found a human skull somewhere..he called it 'Yorak'..it looked real anyway..he used to mount it on a black velevt covered box..burn a lot of incense and sit inside some kind of circle..the circle was some kind of witch craft symbol and when he sat in there he smoked weed.
He thought at that point he was a white witch...now he thinks hes a warlock...Spooky.

At the same time he gazed into and chanted over a crystal ball...just gets better.

OZGIRL,

I know someone who is morbidly obese. She continues to eat burgers and fast food despite being 180kgs. She has heart problems, back problems, skin problems and is totally depressed. In all likelyhood she will die 20-30 years premature of some horrible illness or a heart attack. Her weight has made her sterile also.

Now society does not respond to people like this by locking them up, prohibiting fast food and spending billions of dollars chasing down burger eaters the world over regardless of weather they have a problem or not.

We rightly look at it as a health issue. What possible benefit would society get out of prohibiting burgers from the rest of us who can have them on the odd occasion and persecuting those who have eating problems?

The drug issue is exactly the same.

Most people have eaten a burger or 2 - most of them are totally healthy.

Many people have tried MJ and E - most of them are totally healthy.

Some people eat burgers regularly - Still most are reasonably OK, but a few have health issues.

Some people take drugs (and alcohol) regularly - Again most are still reasonably OK, but a few have health issues.

Just because you know someone who has a drug problem that hardly justifies the fact that hundreds of people are locked up in Australia every year for simply being in possession of small amounts of drugs.

"The illegal status of marijuana is because of the conclusive evidence that it harms human health."

Actually Marijuana became illegal long before the Government found anything to prove it was harmful. This didn't stop them making stuff up though. I'm referring to the American Government here. The Australian Government merely caved in to American pressure and copied their laws.

I remember the Rhesus monkey experiments used by US Law Enforcement agencies in their propaganda campaigns. They claimed that tests on Rhesus monkeys proved that Marijuana caused brain damage. This was peddled around schools and universities for years.

NORML (Pro-Marijuana Lobby Group) waited 6 years to get a copy of the research data after a formal request. When it finally came through they handed it to serious scientists who took one look and laughed. They described the Governments tests as "Gutter Science". This was how it worked.

A bunch of poor monkeys had masks fitted to their faces and were forced to inhale the equivalent of hundreds of reefers(marijuana cigarettes) a day. Then they were killed, their heads cut open and dead brain cells counted. There was a definite increase in dead brain cells and this became their long awaited smoking gun to legitimise
the prohibition.

A fact they deliberately left out is the masks fitted so tightly to the primates faces that they weren't getting much oxygen. Lack of oxygen causes dead brain cells(brain damage).

We now know that smoking dope does not cause brain damage.

When the majority oppose a law then that law is wrong. Marijuana smoking is a victimless crime.

Daniel06, I’ve never heard of anyone getting locked up just for possession of small amounts of drugs in Victoria – perhaps it’s different in other states. Having said that, possession charges are sometimes used to pad out charge sheets for more serious offences, and convictions and fines are often applied: I think it’s a really valid question whether criminal penalties for possession or use are an appropriate way of tackling the harm associated with substance use. I don’t have a firm view on that one.

As far as the addictive potential of cannabis, I’d rate it above alcohol but below heroin and amphetamines. Addiction, we are increasingly realizing, is more of a monolithic entity than we previously thought. The target drug (whether cannabis or alcohol or heroin) is less important than the overall clinical syndrome. Ten or fifteen years ago I would have dismissed the “gateway theory” of cannabis potentially leading to harder drugs as alarmist poppycock. I’m not so sure nowadays.

As to “the damage done” by cannabis in terms of health and social functioning I’d probably rate it well below alcohol, but of course it depends very much on the user and the way each drug is used. Drug dependency tends to dramatically increase the risk of other drug related harms, as does a predisposition to psychosis or other mental health problems – notably that grab bag of emotional and mood problems we call “depression”.

I was puzzled by the New Scientist “Danger list” rating of different substances, particularly their rating of inhalant abuse less dangerous or harmful overall than cannabis and roughly on a par with Ritalin. This certainly doesn’t gel with my experience. I’d love to know how they came up with this chart.