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I send my deepest sympathies to you, your brother and your family.
You stated that your brother used, or abused, both alcohol and cannabis. I have seen the same symptoms occur without any cannabis use. Long term alcohol use can cause all these symptoms by itself. I witnessed many of them destroy my step father.
Although these drugs can cause irreparable damage to a few individuals the overall societal cost of prohibition is far greater. Our society is still paying for the damage done by prohibiting alcohol and is continuing to pay for the criminality created by prohibiting all the rest of the drugs. In this case society is not “our brother’s keeper” because it cannot afford it and remain civilized.
IMHO we should eliminate the prohibition of all of these “recreational” drugs and make them available, after suitable quality control, through government owned stores and prices high enough to support hospitalization for the people that have been damaged and rehabilitation efforts for the people wanting to quit. This will at least make the drugs pay for their own destructiveness.
Keep in mind that our tax dollars will also go toward the institutionalization of people who basically fry their brains on a substance that they believe is a "soft" drug and basically harmless.
Until this happened to my brother, I didn't consider weed to be a dangerous substance. I was wrong.
You are wrong. Your brother is a very rare exception. People with a predisposition die from eating strawberries, peanuts, aspirin and lot of other normally harmless things. Nothing is perfectly safe but cannabis is about as harmless as you can get. For every bad pot reaction there are countless cases of mortality and morbidity from alcohol overuse not to mention tens of thousands of deaths from prescription drugs.
The Missoula Chronic Clinical Cannabis Use Study examined the effects of long-term and legal medical marijuana use. Russo et al. (2002) demonstrated that regular use of cannabis for more than ten years does not cause major harm to patients:
My forty year old brother lapsed into substance induced psychosis - caused by marijuana - and is now permanently brain damaged.
First of all condolences to you and your family,these must be very hard times for you.
Some people just can't handle Cannabis,that is a fact.Just like some people can't handle drink,cocaine,or driving their car within the speed limit.
Cannabis doesn't cause brain damage though.Alcohol does. I think mixing Alcohol and Cannabis can be bad news since they both are depressants. Your brother must have had a predisposition for psychosis since they don't just develop out of the blue. There's always a story.
Finally,since your Brother also drank I take it you want Alcohol banned also? Or are you blaming it all on the weed?
I support legalizing marijuana. That being said, I don't smoke marijuana and don't encourage it either. The pro-marijuana crowd has gone to extremes to sell it like it is a benign substance with no harmful side effects. For example, there is 4 times the amount of tar in a joint than a cigarrette and may predispose you to lung carcinoma just like smoking can. The catch is most people don't smoke 20 joints a day like they do with cigarettes (1 pack). However, it's not some benign weed found in nature that has no harmful properties. It can provide relief in many instances but it carries harmful effects as well.
You are wrong. Your brother is a very rare exception. People with a predisposition die from eating strawberries, peanuts, aspirin and lot of other normally harmless things. Nothing is perfectly safe but cannabis is about as harmless as you can get. For every bad pot reaction there are countless cases of mortality and morbidity from alcohol overuse not to mention tens of thousands of deaths from prescription drugs.
The Missoula Chronic Clinical Cannabis Use Study examined the effects of long-term and legal medical marijuana use. Russo et al. (2002) demonstrated that regular use of cannabis for more than ten years does not cause major harm to patients:
You are overlooking the bulk of recent research which points out that frequent use of marijuana starting in ADOLESCENCE is more problematic than starting to use it after the brain is fully developed.
My brother is not a "very rare exception" at all - though of course this won't happen to the MAJORITY of people.
The thing is - you don't know if it will happen to you or a loved one UNTIL it happens. That's the gamble. I am trying to get the word out so that perhaps more people will think of the very real risks before they light up - ESPECIALLY teens.
First of all condolences to you and your family,these must be very hard times for you.
Some people just can't handle Cannabis,that is a fact.Just like some people can't handle drink,cocaine,or driving their car within the speed limit.
Cannabis doesn't cause brain damage though.Alcohol does. I think mixing Alcohol and Cannabis can be bad news since they both are depressants. Your brother must have had a predisposition for psychosis since they don't just develop out of the blue. There's always a story.
Finally,since your Brother also drank I take it you want Alcohol banned also? Or are you blaming it all on the weed?
Cannabis DOES cause brain damage over time, especially if it's use is started before the brain fully develops.
And yes, I made it clear in the OP that my brother - unbeknownst to him - did have a predisposition to psychosis. How would one know that though? That's the wild card. I am perfectly normal mentally, emotionally, etc but we are from the same parents and same background.
I'm not saying that this outcome is a given, or even the norm. What I'm saying is that it is a very real risk that many people are not aware of or minimize or refuse to consider.
Finally - yes, my brother also drank. However, his team of medical EXPERTS made it very clear to us that cannabis was the MAIN CULPRIT in his case. I don't know why they would have stressed that if it wasn't the case. And no, I don't think it's some big anti cannabis conspiracy. I think that the vast majority of medical experts would admit that cannabis does have some legitimate value as a medication, and generally speaking is not a particularly harmful substance if used only occasionally - by most people.
Yes, my brother is an exception - but this scenario is not as rare as many people would like to believe.
As someone who has personally been impacted by alcoholism (other family members, not my own) literally my entire 44 years on earth, the thought of another legal, mind impairing substance simply boggles my mind. What would be good about this?
Cannabis DOES cause brain damage over time, especially if it's use is started before the brain fully develops.
Yes,Cannabis can cause damage of the Brain Function.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
And yes, I made it clear in the OP that my brother - unbeknownst to him - did have a predisposition to psychosis. How would one know that though? That's the wild card. I am perfectly normal mentally, emotionally, etc but we are from the same parents and same background.
No,you don't know about a pre-disposition,unless there is a history in the family. Or physical brain damage,which Cannabis doesn't cause.
You and your brother having grown up in the same family means not a lot. Everybody experiences family differently,has different experiences and coping mechanisms and so on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
I'm not saying that this outcome is a given, or even the norm. What I'm saying is that it is a very real risk that many people are not aware of or minimize or refuse to consider.
Sure it's a real risk.That's why it is important to have legal weed so a higher CBD content can be ensured.High CBD content protects the brain and doesn't give such a nasty,paranoid high.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
Finally - yes, my brother also drank. However, his team of medical EXPERTS made it very clear to us that cannabis was the MAIN CULPRIT in his case. I don't know why they would have stressed that if it wasn't the case. And no, I don't think it's some big anti cannabis conspiracy. I think that the vast majority of medical experts would admit that cannabis does have some legitimate value as a medication, and generally speaking is not a particularly harmful substance if used only occasionally - by most people.
Yes, my brother is an exception - but this scenario is not as rare as many people would like to believe.
Yes,they were medical experts,but even they can be pre-dispositioned to blaming weed over drink.Psychiatric institutions are full of alcoholics.... FULL. Unlike Cannabis,Alcohol is actually proven to cause Brain Damage.
Wet Brain
Brain Shrinkage
Alcoholic Neuropathy and many more problems.
Alcohol actually damages every organ in the body.
Yet it was all the weed? Sorry,not buying it. Weed is far from harmless and I wouldn't recommend non-medical use,but it's too simplistic to say it was just the weed.
By the way,I still don't understand how you go from what happened to your brother to supporting Prohibition?
Did your brother not smoke because it was illegal? You know it's easier for kids in High School to get weed than alcohol,right? Putting kids at risk isn't good public policy.
Cannabis needs to be regulated and taxed,just like other substances that can cause damage. Prohibition is not Regulation!
Quote:
Originally Posted by usedtobeanyer
As someone who has personally been impacted by alcoholism (other family members, not my own) literally my entire 44 years on earth, the thought of another legal, mind impairing substance simply boggles my mind. What would be good about this?
Ok,so we don't have the substance now? Cannabis will be safer when legal.Neighbourhoods will be safer.Cities will be safer. We all will be safer!
P.s I don;t drink or use drugs myself,don't even smoke.
Some people can't handle aspirin or caffeine or dairy or bee stings. Some people die from these things, or are permanently damaged. Let's outlaw everything that anyone has ever had a bad reaction to!
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,854 posts, read 10,417,292 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LogicIsYourFriend
Some people can't handle aspirin or caffeine or dairy or bee stings. Some people die from these things, or are permanently damaged. Let's outlaw everything that anyone has ever had a bad reaction to!
Exactly, and nothing is ever totally benign or immune from being abused... so how should we choose? Yet the "anti-this, that, and the other thing" folks never really address this basic issue.
And BTW, folks with a history of metal instability in their family are probably the last ones I want dreaming up public legislation! Just sayin'...
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