Colorado is making so much money from cannabis it's having to give some back to citizens

I'm saying that taking a wider view there is no support indicating that weed causes the majority of people in psych wards to lose their minds. It's not a controversial view. I didn't say that there is no support for his direct experience.

I took the view that:

"Having had two stays in Psych wards, I can say that the majority of people there (who could talk), had a weed smoking habit before going insane."

logically leads to if the poster believes this is true of the majority of people on Psych wards with mental health issues. I said 'if'. He's the ideal person to answer not you. And it's simply a question, not something to anger yourself over.

Edited by imbored (18 Feb 2015 9.22pm)

Bootleg booze and fags are in the whole produced from legal sources, they're effectively purchased legally, and smuggled to evade tax.

The level of violence and crime involved in the bootleg cigs and booze is hardly comparable to the illict drug trade. The criminal element is essentially low key, non-corruptive and not involved in controlling the market through violence.

Which is why the key factor is production under licence, through established businesses not by just 'legalising the existing sources'. Its important to note that the states approach is flawed in that it doesn't or hasn't approached the issue of where the drug comes from.

Which is irrelivent - The state tacitly approves the consumption of alcohol and tabbacco. Plus the state may disapprove, society itself generally seems quite happy to provide tacit approval.

Possibly, but it will also free up an enormous amount of law enforcement spending. Studies suggest that short term, the use will rise, long term its stabalises to around similar levels seen in current use. The reality is that these drugs are pretty freely available anyhow.

Maybe, but what you want your kid doing, and what they'll do are two entirely separate facts, and a society 'that shrugs' isn't the only choice. We have a society that approaches legal smoking with a rather different approach, and it would be wrong for any society to move to a 'hey lets all get high', what legalisation needs to do is target a health problem as a health problem, not a criminal justice one.

Most of the people I know who are or were drug users are just ordinary members of society, from all walks of life, I don't really think its a sign of failure at all. Its a long time since drug use was synonymous with fringe cultures that reject society - Esctasy pretty much changed that.

I'm fairly certain that you don't want your son getting a criminal record, just because he smoked some weed with his mates, one time, and was unlucky. Or have him drinking himself into a state on a Friday night. Doesn't mean he won't, because you and the law state otherwise. In fact quite the opposite.

I think the criminal justice approach failed, and was doomed to fail, creating far more problems for users, addicts and society in general than it ever resolved. Most notably, problems for people who don't take drugs.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

I will take the mental illness aspect from a personal experience of someone I knew, I don't know all the facts but the best I knew was that in her younger years she suffered I believe sexual abuse by a family member, she had always been quite loud and bubbly as a teenager whilst I was around 11/12.
In her late teens she had a good job, drinking, smoking weed, going clubbing, popping pills etc etc I think it might have been a case of anything and everything.
She met a fellow settled down still took substances to whatever degree had 2 kids then family life broke down, they separated and not long after that she ends up in bethlam after hearing voices, to come out and never be the same person I knew.
This never stopped her from still smoking cannabis after but I believe it was not the root cause just part of a contributing factor.

I used to drink but am teetotal to a degree as prior to christmas day where I had 1 pint with the father in law (which got me quite smashed) I hadn't had one for around 3yrs.
I smoke cannabis regularly and have done since 16 I'm 33 now(I tried earlier but not often) and have dabbled in certain other substances, I was hooked on cocaine for around 2yrs in my mid twentys after I stopped that I quite alcohol.
I've tried ecstasy a few times, crack once, heroin once, never really cared for them.
I have had some things go on in my life but probably not as bad as what happened to my friend above, but what I guess I'm trying to say is I have done that without any mental or psychotic episodes and I really believe that whoever claims cannabis was or is the main root of mental health is talking absolute bollocks there will most likely be an underlying condition that will manifest and trigger whatever receptors it is that causes it much the same as depression.

So old Jon Snow Whitey can stick his "it's much worse then a war zone" bollocks, as many people have said if you stuck him in a better environment to carry this out you would have got a different result but this is not what channel 4 want oh no as channel 4 look to be some kind of political propaganda tool as there is an election a foot and the waning public feeling on cannabis prohibition on public polls had started to take quite a rise in favour of legalization.

If they wanted to make this experiment fair they should also have a regular smoker do the same as I cannot see what would be much different in comparison of brain scans.
Or let a first time drinker down a bottle of pure rum and stick them in a sterile cold environment and stick them in a whirring conveyor belt.

So enough of this morals s*** as we as a society don't have them

We know alcohol causes multiple damages to the individual and sometimes those around but we don't stop selling it, just tell people to "drink responsibly" as it's deemed a health issue, well why can't we do the same with cannabis.

We know tobacco does the same as the above.

We know bankers caused the majority of the world to go into financial meltdown but we still let them trade and give them more money to bail them out.

We knew the very people in the heart of our government were molesting young children at the time, but prevented anything being done to stop it.

Those with there snouts in the trough benefit from those wealthy enough to see cannabis legalization as a threat and will pay anything to keep it that way, GW pharmaceuticals would not want any old MS sufferer growing there medicine when they sell it at god knows the mark up on there cannabis spray sativex.

definately a correlation but its not the thc. Even this report suggests that its not the thc, but the intense strength strains. I wouldn't say cannabis is harmless or without risks either given that its generally smoked, with tabbacco etc.

The issue isn't whether its harmful, it whether or not the legal prohibition is more harmful than the drug itself and whether those laws serve the best interests of society, including the drug users.

Edited by jamiemartin721 (20 Feb 2015 9.34am)

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]