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My ex husband started smoking pot in Jr HS with his friends and older siblings. He graduated to hash and coke while some of his friends went on to Heroin. One Heroin user OD'd and his wife, also a user, tried killing herself. That's when I left. I could not condone my ex's escalating use.. During the seven years following my departure he had developed a taste for legal prescription drugs. He OD'd leaving his wife and babies behind.
IMHO the potential for pot as a gateway drug is related to the age in which the user started. I realize this is anecdotal, but the people I knew who were getting high in 7th, 8th, 9th grade were the ones whose lives went awry.
What really scares me is that I know of several MDs who smoke on their days off, and who are putting patients under anesthesia during the week.
The problem with the "gateway" drug concept is that it's really hard to sort out whether marijuana led to harsher drugs, or whether those who went on to hardcore drugs were already of the curious mindset to try the stuff. I mean, it's not like anyone starts with meth or heroin--they start with smokings cigs and drinking beer and then a doobie and so on. Really I think people of that mindset just use whatever is available once they get past a certain point. I'm not even going to put them down--some people just can't see past their very depressing situation and they feel a strong need to fit in. Most everyone I knew in HS had tried pot but very few went on to harsher drugs, and those who did usually got into that later on.
Anyway, how is medical marijuana a gateway drug? Gateway to what?
BTW, I do agree with those who question the effectiveness of the so-called "war on drugs." I question it as well. However, the myth that pot is harmless has certainly muddied the waters when it comes to this discussion.
He'd really be scared if he knew how many resident physicians were on coke during pgy 1 to stay awake. Scared about some weed smoking docs when more are drunks and go to work drunk.
I traveled around the world to interview medical leaders, experts, growers and patients. I spoke candidly to them, asking tough questions. What I found was stunning.
Long before I began this project, I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana from the United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive. Reading these papers five years ago, it was hard to make a case for medicinal marijuana. I even wrote about this in a TIME magazine article, back in 2009, titled "Why I would Vote No on Pot."
Well, I am here to apologize.
What really scares me is that I know of several MDs who smoke on their days off, and who are putting patients under anesthesia during the week.
Why would that scare you? The effects of pot wear off within hours, so I doubt their joint on a weekend would affect work on Monday. Do you also worry about the doctors who go out for drinks after work?
It's just disgusting when people generalize about a group of people on a topic they don't know much about because they have an agenda to advance.
I agree, but liberals do the same about conservatives all the time...yet I wonder if you are equally disgusted with those posts when you see them on CD
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, all the studies, all the articles in Time magazine, there are those who will continue to believe that marijuana is a gateway drug, etc. They are not swayed by science or facts. They know what they believe and that's that.
Look at the number of people who believe the earth was created a couple thousand years ago, even going to the effort of insisting this belief be included in science textbooks. If you've ever had a conversation with someone who gets all their information from Fox News you know what I mean. It's like you've entered the Twilight Zone.
Last edited by GotHereQuickAsICould; 01-14-2014 at 04:08 AM..
Legalizing something does not make it "safe". Let's see... alcohol, tobacco, unprotected sex, prescription benzos/narcotics, driving a car, need I go on?? Oxycontin is legal yet could easily kill you if manipulated/ abused. Not sure where you are getting these messages of harmlessness. I think the message lies in usefulness. Ask anyone undergoing wicked chemo treatment or diagnosed with a painful, terminal illness how THEY feel.
Are you speaking of Colorado, a state with a Democratic Governor, 2 Democratic Senators, and 3 (all in the Denver metroplex) Democratic Representatives? I'm afraid you will have to point out the hefty dose of Libertarians; they don't see to be listed.
If my mind is snapped shut it is because it is informed.
It wasn't passed in the vacuum of a state office, it was passed by a public referendum, in a state that is very definitely "purple" with yes, a good number of libertarians as well. If only liberals wanted it, it would NOT have passed, so clearly it's not just liberals who are for this.
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