At 6/4/07 05:18 PM, unowned wrote:
it can cure boredom like work.. lol.. i dont watch television
See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. This has about the same merrit as someone trying to argue the positives of alchohol by saying
"Drinking makes driving more fun lol".
Be quiet, you're hurting the cause.
Marijuana is a good drug. It's far less dangerous the other more popular intoxicants that are legalized like your average perscription medicine and alchohol. In all the studies ever done none have ever proved that there are any long term side effects of smoking marijuana other then the affects smoking has on your lungs... which can easily be avoided by eating or drinking the marijuana through common methods like brownies or herbal-tea. Water pipes and glass peices also help filter the "bad" chemicals out of the smoke which can futher help the safety of smoking the drug in question.
Long time pot smokers show a decrease in short term memory but most effects are very mild and the most savere effects occure doing the process of being high. Most users regained their ability to remember after they stoped using the drug for some time. All studies that indicate that the drug kills brain cells have been proven false. Such claims came from the Sixties and early seventies and the most common used experiment was one done on a recess monkey. The findings of "Marijuana killing brain cells" have never been duplicated sense and it's been proven that those results where fasefied for whatever reasons. (You'll notice you don't see that "This is your brain on drugs" commercial anymore...)
Marijuana has no physical long term side effects that would effect the way one acts in daily life. There is no scientific link to link the abuse of marijuana to lazyness or a general lack of motovation outside the inital effects of being high. Such claims are little more the unjustified sterotypes coming from those who have watched people in the process of being high and an example of a few wortheless nobodies being placed in the lime-light in order to help fortify the anti-drug movement... it's little more then a marketing effect and a biast untrue sterotype.
Marijuana is not a gateway drug... well, nor more so then any other substance on the planet. Doing one thing does not automatically mean that you want to do something else. Lots of people, in fact most people, smoke pot regularly and never touch any other drugs... myself included. Marijuana does not have any effects on the brain that make you automatically want to do cocaine. People that do cocaine will probably smoke marijuana as well but not because marijuana made them do coke, but because their generally drug abusing people with addictive personalities that enjoy being high. Saying Marijuana is a gateway drug is like saying soda is a gateway to alchoholism. Although everybody that drinks alchohol probably drinks some form of soda... it doesn't mean the two are related in any real physical way.
Marijuana is safer then alchohol. It's users are more aware of their state and more likely to make the correct decesions when it comes to important factors in life... like driving. You always here drunks saying "I'm not drunk" seconds before driving their car into a wall. You rarely hear a marijuana user utter the words "I'm not high". Users are fully aware of their state and can compensate for their lack of motor skills. Like all intoxicants it should be used correctly and most "Legalize Pot" supporters agree that driving while under the influence is, and always should remain a crime. But, when it does happen, it's been proven that people driving under the effects of marijuana drive much better and safer then those under the effects of alchohol. Very few pot related traffic incidents are recorded... most of them are minor and usually invovle a mixture of marijuana and some other substance (Cocaine, alchohol, etc...)
Alchohol, on the other hand, does kill brain cells. it also effects your motor abilities and destroys your liver. It's long term effects are worse on the body and there is no safe way to enjoy the substance without damaging yourself. On top of that, alchohol is responsible for many deaths... nobody has ever died from smoking pot.
From a personal experiance, marijuana works wonders. I suffer from anxiety and all the Xanax in the world couldn't stop me from freaking out... not without mass usage and the risk of an unwanted addiction. Marijuana, on the other hand, cures all of my worry problems (believe it or not) without any serious risk of injury and no risk of addiction. It's been known to ease the pain of people suffering, increase hunger, and allow those that are having trouble resting sleep. In some cases, it's even been suposably reported toa ctually help battle cancer instead of causing it. It's medical uses are inarguable and so usefull that even though marijuana is against federal law, many states have legalized the use of medicinal marijuana anyways.
Besides that, it's a Victemless crime. The amount of time and spent on anti-drug patrols and marijuana arrestes could have bough the schools new books, desks, and funded a new field trip. It could feed the hungry or fix local roadways. The man power could be better spent stoping real crimes like rape and muggins, and the jails would be less crowded wich would reduce the cost on the average tax payer and free up room to hopefuly help in the rehibilitation of prisoners like jail is suppose to... instead of just being a crowded zoo for drug users.
Like all things, marijuana should be used intelligently. I'm not suggesting anyone go out and try it without first doing their own research and it's probably best to wait until you're done with puberty to insure the side effects marijuana does have doesn't effect growth. But this is no diffrent the anything else (lifting weights, drinking beer, etc..).
Also... I've had plenty of drunk nights and I've had plenty of "so stoned I can't talk" nights. I'll tell you this, I've never woken up the day after smoking massive amounts of pot and had to call my friends and ask what I did, why I have scrapes/bruses or had to apologize for anything I did. The same can't be said for alchohol.
When it comes down to it, marijuana is much safer and a much more enjoyable experiance for everybody then drinking. yet drinking is still legal and weed is a crime... go figure.