Any substance you inhale into your lungs is damaging to them. Why risk it??? Same w/alcohol….it damages lots of organs and brain. WHY risk it??? I’ve done w/o either all my life…have a lot of fun…enjoy life….no need to damage the only body your are ever going to get.

I would for people like you. I would for people with anxiety disorders(most of the time it helps them, I can’t do drugs because it actually gives me anxiety). Problem is I have done and read a few case studies where Marijuana actually has induced a schizophrenia, whom prior didn’t have symptoms. Ethically, we could ask if they wouldn’t have just suffered from it anyways. We don’t know. Psychology is still a soft science.

Also, it could be taxed and better regulated if the government controlled it. Another point. People can get a DUI if weed is in their system, but I have never heard of it being the cause of a fatal accident.

Absolutely! And there are many reasons why I believe it should.

#1) The Constitution gives the government absolutely NO authority to tell you what substances you can or can not put into your body. Our founding fathers would NEVER have approved of such laws. Not only is it a violation of your god-given, birth rights and freedoms, but it is an insult. The government believes you and I are too stupid to live without them filling in the “omnipotent and omnipresent shepherd” role. It’s time for us to quit acting like a bunch of dumb sheep.

#2) The response about tons of deaths from raw opium overdoses is a lie. It’s extremely rare. Since opium is usually smoked, you are more likely to fall asleep before you can smoke any lethal amount. Even with purified opium it’s nearly impossible, especially considering that even hard up opium addicts only smoke a tiny bit at a time. And btw, Oxycontin, Percocets, and Lortabs are NOT opium. They are all pharmaceutical drugs produced in a laboratory from chemicals found in opium. Hence the name “opiates” or “opioids”. You can die easily by swallowing a handful of pills, however, dying from smoking opium is extremely unlikely (unless you are really, and I mean really bound and determined to succeed at it).

#3) To the person asking “why risk it?” and “why smoke opium?”, I can just say you are very blessed, but naive. Not everyone is so fortunate to be able to live normally without severe and debilitating pain. If you had to deal with the sort of pain I, and many others, go through, I promise you that you would either take drugs or shoot yourself. The suffering is that bad. If you would like to experience it, jump off of your roof and land on your neck or jump in front of a speeding bus. It’d be but a small taste…but I’m sure you don’t. So please, don’t be so judgmental of others you can not relate to. We are not stupid, and we are not drug addicts.

#4) It costs just under $1000 dollars to pay for my prescription each month, not to mention the cost of doctors visits. Now these idiots we call “the government” have changed the laws, once again. I’m forced to drive nearly 100miles to the doctor’s office, EVERY month now. No longer can I make the visit once every three months. Patients receiving treatment for severe pain are the only ones who have to deal with this sort of prejudice. Plus it’s not like my problem is going to change each month, or even each year. This month: Yes, I’m hurting badly. Ten years later: Yes, Doc.. I’m still hurting badly. Thanks a lot, “good ol” Uncle Sam… you idiots…

And plenty others are even less fortunate than you and I. They’re forced to resort to illegal means to paying for their doctor visits and medications. Then we throw them in jail and call them scum while their kids starve. We’ve got more people in prison than any other nation in the world, and a staggering amount of them are totally non-violent drug “offenders”. It really is stupid. Especially considering that the fact drugs are illegal is what gives them their street value and makes drug dealers into billionaires. What’s made illicit becomes lucrative. If they made Twinkies illegal today, their value would skyrocket in hours. If people wanted their Twinkies bad enough that they’d pay a couple hundred dollars per box, then we’d have gangs distributing them and killing people over it. You’d figure we’d have learned something from prohibition, but I guess our politicians are just as ignorant as ever.

I have MUCH more to say about this, but I’ll save it for later. I’m too tired, and I have to work tomorrow…

P.S.- @ “B”

I’m a Christian, and I absolutely agree with you. I believe God created those plants for mankind to use. It’s no man’s place to tell another man it is “bad” or “evil”. But welcome to the USSA: The new Hyper-Socialist Police State. It’s not just Bush, it’s ALL of them. Obama too. Screw Republicans AND Democrats. It’s about time we go Libertarian! 😉

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: Some Drug Trivia

American population: 306,000,000
Est. Drug Users : 12,800,000 (90% Marijuana once)

So, 11,520,000 of the 12.8 million smoked weed only once in the past month. This means only 1,280,000 used other drugs. The statistics become very misleading after this is established. They say that 90% used marijuana, but 1/3 used cocaine or prescription pills, and 1/5 used LSD?

9/10 + 1/3 + 1/5 = 27/30 + 10/30 + 6/30 = 43/30?

How can 43/30 represent the total? They never specify if some of the people used more than one substance, or if the 1/3 and 1/5 are of the 1,280,000 left after marijuana smokers are deducted. They also did not specify that this 90%, 1/3, and 1/5 were percentages of the 12.8mill total who used within the past month. So technically, those percentages/fractions can be of people who’ve just used once in their entire life (and they would not be *legally* lying). Their intentions are clearly to mislead…

I also found it funny how they try to strike fear into you by telling you that these drug users are everywhere, and they are invading your life. They insinuate that they are hiding right under your nose, and only appear to be normal, just like you! They say:

“Almost three quarters of drug users are employed.”

Then why do we bother these people again? Also note how they leave much of the math undone, because they’d hate for this to come off under-dramatized not sounding terrible enough to scare you.

So doing the hidden math ourselves, according to their own (probably over-blown) scare stats, less than 13 of every 308 people you meet have used drugs this month. About 1 in every 308 people you meet used some other substance within an unspecified time frame, under unknown circumstances.

*Statistics come from a government propaganda website. It’s almost funny how they address the issue.*