[Diesel3]

As a EMS provider I can certainly tell you it can most definitely can be a gateway drug.
Ive spoken to too many parents that have said that their childs addiction to (insert drug here) all started with marijuana. The younger population has no idea that marijuana, while "safe", can lead you seeking other forms of getting high and chasing that next high comes at a very steep price.
Ive had to give narcan to the same people that were once only smoking pot.
As far as addiction is concerned, personally Im on the fence. A person can be addicted to just about anything. Ive had to transport quite a few patients that told me of the odd addictions they had to seemingly harmless things. I'd imagine marijuana wouldnt be that much different.

 

[Ghost1958]

This^

 

[kfox75]

Not a gateway drug???Non-addictive????

BULL-SCHIDT!!!

I've personally seen it far too often.

And how many of them really started with perfectly legal alcohol or cigarettes? Any addiction to marijuana is mental, not physical.

Alcohol and nicotine are physical addictions, complete with side effects, when trying to quit. Overdoses on either will kill you.

Something that doesn't happen, even if you smoke an ounce of weed in one sitting.

But I'll play along. It's a gateway drug, in some cases. I can agree with that. But here's the rub, on that count Loc.

Cannabis is a schedule 1 drug, IE, no medical use or purpose, placing it with LSD, and a couple other illicit substances.

Cocaine, heroin, PCP, Ketamine, methamphetamines, all are schedule 2 drugs, meaning they have a medical use, but are very strictly regulated and restricted. Same with most main stem opioids, which are schedule 3.

So, by labeling cannabis as a gateway drug, you are saying that it's a gateway to safer drugs, using the FDA scheduling system. Because I can list medical uses for each of those other drugs, that are listed and recognized by the FDA. Some off label, and some in the veterinary field.

Cocain is a strong local anesthetic, used in eye surgery. OCO and Ketamine are animal tranquilizers, n heroin is an opiate, used for pain management, in the lighter, legal form.

If it exists, and people use or consume it, people can become addicted to it. They can also use it, and not become addicts, even after using it, as well. And all banning something does is open up a black market, for that thing. Untaxed liquor, banned guns magazines, and ammo, drugs, and even everyday items, banned in jails and prisons, that people want, someone will always have them, and be willing to sell them. Legal marijuana wouldn't change that, just as having it illegal hasn't.

But, legal marijuana can reduce it, because it would allow development of better more potent strains. Someone looking for more kick, wouldn't have to try something harder, that could kill them, or hook them harder. Also, being able to go to a dispensary, or a "Coffee Shop ", as in Ansterdam, they aren't getting exposed to the other, illegal drugs.

Where weed is legal, the use of other illegal drugs, is way down.

And were not even getting into taxation revenue yet. Something we don't benefit from, in the current black market system.

Legalize it, tax it, regulate it, and there would be benefits from doing so, including in the medicinal end of things. Better strains, both for the high, and for high free treatments for certain conditions would come. With the federal ban, we have very limited research now, and some serious untapped potential, because of it.

On the comment of armed and stoned, here's a thought. Does that actually scare you more, in say my case, me being armed with a little THC, in a great mood, still completely functional, compared to half awake, close to zombified, waking up with night terrors, with a loaded handgun on the nightstand beside me? Because my wife's opinion on that may differ from yours, a lot. One of those meds, that I refused, included rare cases of waking up in a violent rage. Even weeks after you stop taking it.

A few hits of Blueberry Kush that's done affecting you in 2 hours.

On the pain, and illnesses, my condloences.

 

[Ghost1958]

As a EMS provider I can certainly tell you it can most definitely can be a gateway drug.
Ive spoken to too many parents that have said that their childs addiction to (insert drug here) all started with marijuana. The younger population has no idea that marijuana, while "safe", can lead you seeking other forms of getting high and chasing that next high comes at a very steep price.
Ive had to give narcan to the same people that were once only smoking pot.
As far as addiction is concerned, personally Im on the fence. A person can be addicted to just about anything. Ive had to transport quite a few patients that told me of the odd addictions they had to seemingly harmless things. I'd imagine marijuana wouldnt be that much different.

I was an EMS provider also .
Pot is simply easier to get for kids than most other drugs. If cocaine was as cheap and the first drug a kid usually is offered hed do it.

Pots been proven for decades to not be addictive or a gateway.

 

[Notrighty]

All drugs should be legal. That’s simply crazy.

 

[G66enigma]

All drugs should be legal. That’s simply crazy.

Oregon (via their Measure 110, just approved by voters) is going to provide a decent case example of how the thinking will work in practice. Now that "small amounts" of "hard" drugs are going to be no longer penalized with imprisonment, there should be a greater stream of addicted folks through treatment programs. Of course, it does nothing to stem the flow of larger distribution, nor alter the profits of such enterprises. Time will tell.


As for choosing, hopefully more people will push for decriminalizing face-to-face private transactions in their states. No need to choose, and no need to willingly get on the big G's radar.

 

[Notrighty]

If the founding fathers had meth heads wandering the streets of colonial Philadelphia I’m pretty sure they would have burned em at the stake.

 

[Notrighty]

Meth heads are dangerous because they are capable of extreme violence. They commit crimes to support their addiction.

 

[Notrighty]

Prescription pain pills are legal and they are abused by millions. Possibly one of our worst drug problems today.

 

[Notrighty]

Never heard of robbing a bank to buy a bottle of rum.

 

[Ghost1958]

Meth heads are dangerous because they are capable of extreme violence. They commit crimes to support their addiction.

True . But if not for gov " war on drugs" a total and complete flop btw, meth heads would be few in number.
Meth Crack etc only exist because of gov interference making cocaine etc illegal and artificially driving up price until meth and such drugs that can be made cheaply in a sink came about.
Gov did what it always does when social engineering. Created a multi billion dollar black market and all the problems that go with it.
Then use the problem they created as an excuse to infringe on individual rights and give more unconstitutional authority to police, and equipment they should not possess.

 

[Notrighty]

Maybe not exactly like that- but alcoholics steal all the time to feed their addiction. They also get drunk and their personality changes- they get violent and come home and hit their wife and kids- sometimes they even pick up a gun and shoot them. Pot users don’t do that.

I don’t care if they legalize pot and I never did. Meth and heroin are not pot. I know older people that smoked pot all their lives and never had an issue because of it. Show me some old meth heads or junkies. There are none.

 

[Notrighty]

Also in 2018 32% of overdose deaths were attributed to prescription meds. It seems to me to reign in our own drug producers along with stiff sentencing for dealers would go far to fix the problem. Even in places that have legalized pot there is still a thriving black market.

 

[kfox75]

Oregon (via their Measure 110, just approved by voters) is going to provide a decent case example of how the thinking will work in practice. Now that "small amounts" of "hard" drugs are going to be no longer penalized with imprisonment, there should be a greater stream of addicted folks through treatment programs. Of course, it does nothing to stem the flow of larger distribution, nor alter the profits of such enterprises. Time will tell.


As for choosing, hopefully more people will push for decriminalizing face-to-face private transactions in their states. No need to choose, and no need to willingly get on the big G's radar.

Or you can look at Spain, who decriminalized over a decade ago. Courts aren't tied up, seperate system entirely, with government and tax payer funded rehab prograns.

Their prison population has shrunk by close to 25 percent. Drug abuse also has dropped every year since.

Or look at Amsterdam and Copenhagen, both of which, you can walk into a coffee shop, and buy up to certain number of grams of MJ.

Sure, they still have a large amount of weed smokers, some resident, some visitors, but you know what they don't have much of? People using other illicit drugs. Because they don't have to go to a pusher, to get that weed, and don't get the sales pitch, for the hard ****.


Same trend also exists in states with legalized recreational Mary Jane. Use of harder drugs is down in those states, and part of the tax revenue goes to funding rehab programs. At least in CA, WA, and CO, where I have friends in the industry, including one that started a company out of Humboldt, that makes a water soluble CBD or THC smokeless option. One that I help beta test on the CBD end, when he is working up a new product. Their 25 mg CBD formula works to take away the pijs and needles pain of my neuropathy, and controls my phantom itch, fairly well.

Same with a couple friends who grow for the dispensaries in NY and PA, that I buy the CBD buds from, and tend them into oil, and cook with. Having a legal THC option, without losing my rights, state and federal here, would be a blessing on my bad nights, because I wouldn't use it during the day.

Here, I lose my LTCF if I get an MMJID, but a NY resident can keep their Pistol Permit, even with that ID.

I'm not trying to change anyone's mind on their personal views on MJ. Nor am I trying to push them to try it. But, some of you should talk to a few MMJ users, and ask about touring a dispensary. It's not what you think it is, or how it's portrayed in film and TV. The growers and specialists are very professional, and are not just sitting around doing bong hits all day. Every bud and product is inspected, checked for bugs, fungus, ect, and treated like any other marketed consumable. And most clients have a valid medical reason, on the MMJ end of things, that is not just about getting baked. And most if theno have no desire or need to try harder drugs, because of the potency of the current strains. Many are using weed, after having spent years on opioids, and are not addicted to weed, like they were on oxycontin, percocet, and vicodin.

Same place I was, years before any of you on here knew me. A little weed every now and then, helped me get off it, back in 2008, back when doctors were handing out those pills like candy, and it was barely regulated. Same deal in the mid 99s, when I was trying to get off lor ets and booze, after the last of my reconstructive surgeries on my knee and face. But if you urine or blood tested me right now, I'd pass with flying colors. Because it's been years since I last imbibed. That was 3 trips to CA, and 4 to CO, ago.

 

[kfox75]

Prescription pain pills are legal and they are abused by millions. Possibly one of our worst drug problems today.

And mostly by the young, because they can steal from a parent's scriot. No need to go down the street, when you can get it down the hall.

And most ODs in my area involve perfectly legal opioids, with a few fentanyl deaths in the mix.

How many of those parents would switch to weed, as a safety measure, because you can't OD on it? Especially those with my own mindset? The song Weed with Willie, best describes it, as I was always quality over quantity. I didn't smoke brick because it lacked potency, and was only good for rending into oil, for baking. One hit wonder, as in one hit, you wonder who and where you are, and can't get off the couch, was my preference.

Without the physical dependency that comes with opioids. Long term users report back pain, when trying to quit opioids. Their brain sends a false signal to the nerves in the back, when there are low amounts in their blood. Certain ones, like heroin, can make them physically ill, hence why we have methadone clinics. A controlled gradually reducing daily dose, meant to wean an addict off that monkey riding on their back.

And that monkey is one mean SOB, to try to get rid of, as he digs deep, and won't willingly let go. Personal experience, and part of why I barely used the precocets I was prescribed when I lost my big toe in 2016, and did the same when recovering from getting shot in the chest, in 2018, with a 30 day script for vicodin.

Both times I turned in close to full scripts to the EPD, on their drug collection dates. Something I wouldn't have had to do, if I had the option of legal THC oil, short term, while still having my carry rights.

 

[locutus]

Bullmoose,
Liberal, libertine, libertarian, all the same in my book.

 

[Notrighty]

Medical grade meth and LSD? So you should be able to go down to the government approved dispensary and buy some heroin and that will fix all our problems. If I don’t agree I’m a nanny state liberal.

 

[Notrighty]

Pot is only legal because so many x politicians are invested in it. That don’t make it a good idea.

 

[Notrighty]

You have the right to do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t cause harm to others. Hard drugs users routinely cause harm to others.

 

[partdeux]

As a EMS provider I can certainly tell you it can most definitely can be a gateway drug.

They all started on milk.