I also think other drugs I have no stake in should be legalized and taxed too. Making them illegal doesn't stop use, it just creates a crime filled black market and makes otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals.

In the big picture it doesn't matter if it's legal or not. Pot smokers will keep smoking.

It is the duty of every man to defy unjust laws.

It is the duty of every man to defy unjust laws.

I will go even further: I think any consensual"crime" -- between one or two or more consenting adults -- should be legal.

And if drugs were somehow defeated, who would sign the surrender?

The large growers would disapear since they would no longer have access to a customer base.

Really no deaths due to cannibas. So your saying that someone operating a vechile under the influence of that narcotic has never killed anyone. It is funny you use a source from an organization that is actively promoting the legalization of narcotics. Would you want your aircraft mechanic under the influence of cannibas? How about the trucker working 11 hours with a 40 ton tractor trailer? These examples are where it would become a public safety issue.

The abolition of the black market, well it depends on the tax. There will always, be someone trying to get around the system. I know that there is currently a black market for cigerettes. In addtion to that there is still a active moonshine market.

As far as requiring identification, we see how well that works in both underage smoking and drinking.

A victory in the war in drugs is would be a 1% usage within the USA. This is reconizing that narcotics abuse and use will never completely be erraticated

Really no deaths due to cannibas. So your saying that someone operating a vechile under the influence of that narcotic has never killed anyone. It is funny you use a source from an organization that is actively promoting the legalization of narcotics. Would you want your aircraft mechanic under the influence of cannibas? How about the trucker working 11 hours with a 40 ton tractor trailer? These examples are where it would become a public safety issue.

Canibus is a poison. The THC varies from plant to plant therefore, making it an unreliable medicine, (pain releiver). Some of the side effects include cardiac arrest, as well a mild psychois in some users. Therefore it is my belief that it should remained controled. I would agrue that it should not be a schedule one narcoitic. Schedule 2 might be better designation.

Would you want your aircraft mechanic under the influence of cannibas? How about the trucker working 11 hours with a 40 ton tractor trailer? These examples are where it would become a public safety issue.

Would you want your aircraft mechanic under the influence of cannibas? How about the trucker working 11 hours with a 40 ton tractor trailer? These examples are where it would become a public safety issue.

No, but I don't want them drunk on the job either, what's the difference?[quote/]

The difference is the amout that impairs a person. However, this was more in response to another poster that stated how unfair it was that a trucker to loose his/her license due to failing a UA. If we are going to discuss drug policy we need to think about the unintended consequences.

am saying about identification requirements that underage individuals will still be able to gain access "banned" substances. There is plenty of underage smoking an drinking in the states even with the identification requirements for its purchase.

As far as reefer madness, never seen it.

Cannibas has caused cardiac arrest

Pot is NOT a narcotic. No matter how many times you were forced to watch reefer madness, it isn't true.

What are its effects?
Pleasant

A ‘high’ - a sense of relaxation, happiness, sleepiness, colours appear more intense, music sounds better.



Unpleasant

Around 1 in 10 cannabis users have unpleasant experiences, including confusion, hallucinations, anxiety and paranoia. The same person may have either pleasant or unpleasant effects depending on their mood and circumstances. These feelings are usually only temporary – although as the drug can stay in the system for some weeks, the effect can be more long-lasting than users realise. Long-term use can have a depressant effect, reducing motivation.



Education and learning

There have also been suggestions that cannabis may interfere with a person's capacity to:

concentrate
organise information
use information
This effect seems to last several weeks after use, which can cause particular problems for students.

However, a large study in New Zealand followed up 1265 children for 25 years. It found that cannabis use in adolescence was linked to poor school performance, but that there was no direct connection between the two. It looked as though it was simply because cannabis use encouraged a way of life that didn't help with schoolwork.



Work

It seems to have a similar effect on people at work. There is no evidence that cannabis causes specific health hazards. But users are more likely to leave work without permission, spend work time on personal matters or simply daydream. Cannabis users themselves report that drug use has interfered with their work and social life.



Of course, some areas of work are more demanding than others. A review of the research on the effect of cannabis on pilots revealed that those who had used cannabis made far more mistakes, both major and minor, than when they had not smoked cannabis. As you can imagine, the pilots were tested in flight simulators, not actually flying... The worst effects were in the first four hours, although they persisted for at least 24 hours, even when the pilot had no sense at all of being 'high'. It concluded "Most of us, with this evidence, would not want to fly with a pilot who had smoked cannabis within the last day or so".



What about driving?

In New Zealand, researchers found that those who smoked regularly, and had smoked before driving, were more likely to be injured in a car crash. A recent study in France looked at over 10,000 drivers who were involved in fatal car crashes. Even when the influence of alcohol was taken into account, cannabis users were more than twice as likely to be the cause of a fatal crash than to be one of the victims. So - perhaps most of us would also not want to be driven by somebody who had smoked cannabis in the last day or so.


Mental health problems
There is growing evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of time in the past. Regular use of the drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or long-term schizophrenia. However, does cannabis cause depression and schizophrenia or do people with these disorders use it as a medication?



Over the past few years, research has strongly suggested that there is a clear link between early cannabis use and later mental health problems in those with a genetic vulnerability - and that there is a particular issue with the use of cannabis by adolescents.



Depression

A study following 1600 Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life.



Schizophrenia

Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26. They found no evidence of self-medication. It seemed that, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop symptoms.



Why should teenagers be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? No one knows for certain, but it may be something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of ‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance, that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological effects.



Recent research in Europe, and in the UK, has suggested that people who have a family background of mental illness – and so probably have a genetic vulnerability anyway - are more likely to develop schizophrenia if they use cannabis as well.

Physical health problems
The main risk to physical health from cannabis is probably from the tobacco that is is often smoked with.

Is there such a thing as ‘cannabis psychosis’?
Recent research in Denmark suggests that yes, there is. It is a short-lived psychotic disorder that seems to be brought on by cannabis use but which subsides fairly quickly once the individual has stopped using it. It's quite unusual though – in the whole of Denmark they found only around 100 new cases per year.



However, they also found that:

Three quarters had a different psychotic disorder diagnosed within the next year.
Nearly half still had a psychotic disorder 3 years later.


So, it also seems probable that nearly half of those diagnosed as having cannabis psychosis are actually showing the first signs of a more long-lasting psychotic disorder, such as schizophrenia. It may be this group of people who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of cannabis, and so should probably avoid it in the future.

Is cannabis addictive?
It has some of the features of addictive drugs such as:

tolerance – having to take more and more to get the same effect
withdrawal symptoms. These have been shown in heavy users and include:
- craving

- decreased appetite

- sleep difficulty

- weight loss

- aggression and/or anger

- irritability

- restlessness

- strange dreams.

These symptoms of withdrawal produce about the same amount of discomfort as withdrawing from tobacco.



For regular, long-term users:

3 out of 4 experience cravings;
half become irritable;
7 out of 10 switch to tobacco in an attempt to stay off cannabis.


The irritability, anxiety and problems with sleeping usually appear 10 hours after the last joint, and peak at around one week after the last use of the drug.



Compulsive use

The user feels they have to have it and spends much of their life seeking, buying and using it. They cannot stop even when other important parts of their life (family, school, work) suffer.



You are most likely to become dependent on cannabis if you use it every day.



What about skunk and other stronger varieties?
The amount of the main psycho-active ingredient, THC, that you get in herbal cannabis varies hugely from as low as 1% up to 15%. The newer strains, including skunk, can have up to 20%. The newer varieties are, on the whole, two or three times stronger than those that were available 30 years ago. It works more quickly, and can produce hallucinations with profound relaxation and elation – along with nervousness, anxiety attacks, projectile vomiting and a strong desire to eat. They may be used by some as a substitute for Ecstasy or LSD.



Legally, these strains remain classified Class B drugs. While there is little research so far, it is likely that these stronger strains carry a higher risk of causing mental illness. A major study currently underway, has already reported problems with concentration and short-term memory in users of stronger types of cannabis.