🚀 go-pugleaf

Remic wrote:

> THE LIES ABOUT MARIJUANA USE
> 
> LIE NUMBER 1
> 
> Marijuana is Less Dangerous Than Alcohol and Tobacco Use.

there are fatal alcohol and tobacco overdoses Every Year in the US.

there have been -0- fatal overdoses of cannaabis in all of reported history.

> Even though the tar content of cannabis smoke is higher than that of an
> ordinary pure tobacco cigarette, no filter is used.

filters are often used, you just don't get out much.

> The risk of it causing cancer is greatly increased.

cannabis use has never been linked to cancer regardless of the method of 
administration... and even if it does contain twice the amount of tar 
ass a conventional tobacco cigarrette since the total amount consumed 
per day is so much less you're still ahead (ie 2 joints a day vs the 20 
times more tobacco in a single pack..)

> Marijuana use leads to an addiction.

even the DEA has admitted that cannabis isn't addictive.

also check the Merck manual.

> Users of cannabis move more easily on to using other narcotic drugs than
> their drug-free contemporaries. At least 80% of those who later become
> heroin and cocaine addicts started their career in drugs with hashish or
> marijuana.

what "drug free" contemporaries? I'd bet well over 90% of hard drug 
users first addictive drug used was caffeine in a soft drink.

> LIE NUMBER 2
> 
> Marijuana Is A Medically Necessary Drug
> 
> The facts remain, however, that in 1989, after an extensive inquiry, the US
> government issued an order rejecting an application to reschedule marijuana
> for medicinal use.

are you talking about Olsen et al vs the DEA?

you should read it again, Judge Young recommended rescheduling.

> In 1993, the US Congress issued another statement which confirmed the
> previous findings. It stated:
> Following exhaustive studies of existing data by the National Institute for
> Health, scientists concluded that there is no clinical evidence to suggest
> that smoked marijuana is superior to currently available therapies for
> glaucoma, weight loss and wasting associated with AIDS, nausea and vomiting
> associated with cancer chemotherapy, muscular spasticity associated with
> multiple sclerosis or intractable pain.
> 
> Similar conclusions have been published in reports from other countries,
> including the Netherlands (which is the home of one of the most liberal drug
> policies in the world).

odd... you can get prescribed cannabis on the national health plan in 
the netherlands now.

> LIE NUMBER 3
> 
> Police and Court Time Should Be Spent on More Important Matters

true

> Young people are confused and misinformed about the dangers of marijuana,

what "dangers of marijuana"? getting busted? that's a danger of prohibition.

> such proposals undermine the efforts of parents who are trying
> to influence their children not to use drugs to protect both the health and
> future of their children.

you mean while they sit their washing down a valium with a rum and coke 
(a legal addictive "speedball"... alcohol and caffeine) while reaching 
for a cigarrette?

> One of the major arguments is that the greatest harm is produced by the
> criminalization of the use of illicit drugs. 

true.

for example the greatest medical problem with daily opiate use is....

constipation.

> that marijuana use is a serious health and social risk. Criminalizing
> marijuana also enables those found guilty of using it to be given treatment,
> education and rehabilitation.

ok.... the Nixon study found that the greatest risk of soldiers using 
marijuana (in vietnam) was that they tended to gain weight.

I guess that's a health issue...

what's the social problem of legal/regulated/taxed cannabis?

in the netherlands where cannabis is regulated and taxed they have a use 
rate about half of the US rate.

> LIE NUMBER 4
> 
> Marijuana Use Does Not Lead to Other Drug Use
> 
> There is no doubt that most heroin and cocaine addicts started their drug
> taking careers with marijuana use. 

actually there is.

they undoubtedly started their use of addictive drugs with alcohol, 
nicotine, and caffeine... all addictive drugs.

> Clearly, if the numbers of cannabis users can be reduced, the number of
> users of other illegal drugs will be reduced as well. 

in the netherlands they found that taking cannabis OUT of the hard drug 
world both reduced hard drug useage and cannabis useage.