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What about tobacco as a gateway drug? Would a person who smokes one thing be more open to smoking another thing? Of course, Oxycontin is a gateway to heroin. Some people smoke cannabis because they favor the least harmful substance that helps them feel better. Also there is an internet article "marijuana, the anti-drug" that tells about people using cannabis to get away from drugs that are really harmful.
My thought is poor memory can be caused by many things. Some people who smoke pot could have some memory problems temporarily. But intense general anxiety, obsession with a specific problem, prescription drug use, ADHD, autism, and alcohol can cause poor memory.
The list shows that the compilers who probably use it could remember the names or remember how to look them up. A few more names for the list: Owen Wilson, actor, using it to treat depression; Barack Obama (mentioned by another on here), Art Garfunkel, musician & actor; Benjamin Franklin was said to smoke hashish in at least 1 biography; Rodney Dangerfield (comedian & actor) for his biography said he used "marijuana" daily for 60 years.
So at the least we can say some cannabis users have excellent brains at least sometimes, and they have made important contributions to the world. It is also important to remember that having problems with anxiety, depression, anger, ADHD, autism &/or (distracting) physical pain makes people more likely to use it.
Exactly, so why double our trouble by legalizing pot?
Legalizing pot would not double out trouble, IMO. Alcohol users are more likely to speed & weave. Cannabis is less intoxicating than alcohol, and many cannabis users are aware of possible impairment, so they might not drive while possibly impaired, or they may drive slower to have increased time to react to unexpected situations.
A recent study claimed cannabis users were twice as likely to have an accident. Alcohol users 16 times more likely & texters 19 times more likely.
Wasn't there something in that article indicating the driver used alcohol?
While it may be possible to have a marijuana related accident, it is rare and most likely driver was also using alcohol. A retired police officer at the scene of about 2,000 accidents said none were caused (only) by cannabis.
Cannabis makes people peaceful, if anything will. 1/3 of alcoholics admit they are sometimes violent.
Suicide: Some commit suicide while under influence of alcohol. I've never heard of anyone committing suicide under influence of cannabis. A survey of medical cannabis users said 26% were using it to treat depression, which causes 31,000 Americans to commit suicide annually.
Cannabis has been shown to sometimes work better than pills for about 126 medical conditions, according to retired Harvard prof Dr. Lester Grinspoon. So it should get at least equal legal availability to pills like Ambien, that can cause a person to drive a car while sleeping.
"A mother in Arizona left her 5-week-old baby on top of her car and drove away, not even noticing when the seat and the baby fell off in the middle of an intersection. Fortunately the baby was uninjured and was later found by neighbors still strapped into his safety seat, according to ABC. Catalina Clouser, the infant’s 19-year-old mother who had allegedly been smoking marijuana, was arrested for charges of child abuse and driving under the influence. She reportedly drove a dozen miles before realizing her baby was missing, states The Tucson Citizen."
Yes - that's the whole thing about drugs and alcohol. People don't use them just because they like to spend their money on something that doesn't affect them more than V-8 juice would.
They use drugs for the escape, or for the high, the buzz, the effect the drugs have on them. The drugs affect the brain, the thought processes. The drug users think their problems went away because the drug made them forget, or the drug users feel popular, witty, exciting because the drug made them forget they are not.
Cannabis can block out feelings like depression, anxiety, anger, pain. Are any of those considered good things?
Cannabis can block out feelings like depression, anxiety, anger, pain. Are any of those considered good things?
Sounds like pharma manufactured psych drugs. Are these legal? Has anyone who taken an anti-depressent not enjoyed that hypo-mania it can give you? Or the wonderful calm of an anti anxiety pill? We give these out like candy when you ask the GP, who is authirized to perscribe them.
I have shifted to St.John's wort, not so efficent but it doesn't have the side effects, and valerian root, ditto. Life's got more ups and downs, but its not lost in a cloud of side effects either.
Given the wash of doctor's drugs I don't want anything that gives you a 'high' ever again, but thats my personal disgust with the whole system, not an insistance that everyone has to agree.
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Legalizing pot not double the trouble
