Does marijuana make you stupid?

[another day]

Quote by: pikatore I don't care if one was smoking roses, if it' affects your health in that manner, then I'd prefer to get pissed twice a week.

Hilarious...alcohol does you far more damage to your health. Cirrhosis of the liver and brain damage for one. Marijuana cannot kill you. Alcohol can easily kill you. Have fun with your harmless drug.

[Osborn F Enready]

Captain Chaos said: 1) The government exists to help foolish people determine what is best for their lives.

Do you mind telling me if you were taught that, or how you "personally" arrived at that, since it is not the "reason" for government?

Captain Chaos said: 2) Pot encourages relaxation rather than maximum productivity.

I am entitled a right to pursue individual happiness. I define my happiness, as I am allowed, until it infringes upon the rights of others. Consuming pot does not infringe upon the rights of others.

Care to define your reasoning?

Captain Chaos said: 3) People exist to serve their masters in the government.

While that is not why people exist, a being not familliar with this system could easily surmise that from simple observation, due to our structural systems. There are many ways to arrive at sustinence, individual satisfaction and happiness, unfortunately, often this is corrupted by systems we create to protect and effect that goal.

(thanks for the sarcasm at my expense as intended though.)

Captain Chaos said: Thus, what is best for people is to work hard to serve their masters. Pot is a disincentive for this kind of submission.

A great quote from the corporatist elite, are you job searching?

Captain Chaos said: Osborn, especially, is a societal malcontent.

You could more specifically say a "current" American Government malcontent, arguing that basic foundational premise has been subverted by laws that reduce or remove the very foundation they were supposedly enacted to preserve and protect.

My active definition of "malcontent" for my usage of it above:

Malcontent \Mal"con*tent`\, n. [F. malcontent.] One who discontented; especially, a discontented subject of a government; one who expresses his discontent by words or overt acts. --Spenser. --Berkeley. [1913 Webster]

Captain Chaos said: The thought police need to visit you, to help reform your views on the evil weed.

I have been looking for some thought police to back up their logic in a widely viewed, public forum, but no takers as of yet. I think they fear its repercussions.

[Captain Chaos]

Quote by: Osborn Do you mind telling me if you were taught that, or how you "personally" arrived at that, since it is not the "reason" for government?

It seemed like the thing that you would find most incendiary. I, of course, do not actually believe that.

I believe the best purpose of government is to maximize individual empowerment. I believe that when this is thought through to its logical conclusion, you wind up with a government that is similar to the libertarian ideal, except with heavy investments in education and similar investments in human capital that greatly pay back the taxpayers.

I am entitled a right to pursue individual happiness. I define my happiness, as I am allowed, until it infringes upon the rights of others. Consuming pot does not infringe upon the rights of others. Care to define your reasoning?

I was channeling the borg again, sorry. I gotta get those brain implants taken out some day.

My true opinion is that punishing people for smoking pot is just plain bizarre. I can see value in investing in low-cost 12-step-style rehab programs for people with addictions to hard drugs and alcohol. I have a hard time seeing the value of spending so much taxpayer money on fighting marijuana use.

While that is not why people exist, a being not familliar with this system could easily surmise that from simple observation, due to our structural systems. There are many ways to arrive at sustinence, individual satisfaction and happiness, unfortunately, often this is corrupted by systems we create to protect and effect that goal. (thanks for the sarcasm at my expense as intended though.)

Truly, that was not sarcasm at your expense. That was playfulness from a warped mind.

[pikatore]

Alcohol and Marijuana: A Point-By-Point Comparison

Here's a nice little comparision of alcohol to marijuana. The lesser of two evils, maybe?

[brien]

Captain Chaos said: 2) Pot encourages relaxation rather than maximum productivity.

Oh that evil weed, it is the opiate of the masses.

CC, your statement reads as though it could be taken right out of the totalitarian rule book in China. :eek:

I can't figure out if I should use it to maximize my vacation time or not use it to maximize my working day. Perhaps both.

[pikatore]

Quote by: brien I can't figure out if I should use it to maximize my vacation time or not use it to maximize my working day. Perhaps both.

... well... you wouldnt use it to 'maximise' your working day, because you'd end up not working.

[Captain Chaos]

CC, your statement reads as though it could be taken right out of the totalitarian rule book in China.

I am an advance agent for the Borg.

[Praxius]

Quote by: pikatore ... well... you wouldnt use it to 'maximise' your working day, because you'd end up not working.

It can at times. I can use it to make me focus right onto one project and I can come up with something good, but at the same time is also has the potential for relaxation as well.... it all depends on what you yourself want.

I could use weed for work, but I would rather keep it as a relaxation thing after work or on weekends.

[pikatore]

Quote by: Praxius It can at times. I can use it to make me focus right onto one project and I can come up with something good, but at the same time is also has the potential for relaxation as well.... it all depends on what you yourself want. I could use weed for work, but I would rather keep it as a relaxation thing after work or on weekends.

I know, do it for both work AND relaxation, and you can be stoned around the clock! Wouldn't that be great? Would you do it if laws permitted it?

[another day]

Osborn, captain chaos's post was blatently tongue-in cheek.

[pikatore]

If it's such an amazing way to relax and think clearly, surely all the world's best minds and scientists should be smoking the stuff daily!

[another day]

Quote by: pikatore If it's such an amazing way to relax and think clearly, surely all the world's best minds and scientists should be smoking the stuff daily!

Some do. What's your point? No one is calling it some kind of miracle drug. We are addressing the claim that it causes brain damage ie, makes you stupid, which it clearly does not.

[pikatore]

Quote by: another day Some do. What's your point? No one is calling it some kind of miracle drug. We are addressing the claim that it causes brain damage ie, makes you stupid, which it clearly does not.

Why do you think that marijuana induces memory loss? Why do you find it hard to remember things? THC damages the nerve cells in the part of the brain where memories are formed, making it hard to remember things.

It can't be good for you.

[Praxius]

Quote by: pikatore If it's such an amazing way to relax and think clearly, surely all the world's best minds and scientists should be smoking the stuff daily!

Should.... no.... but they are by choice.

[brien]

. well... you wouldnt use it to 'maximise' your working day, because you'd end up not working.

Not true, in any sense. I own my own business, and if I don't work on any given day, the work doesn't get done. The last time I missed a day at work for medical reasons was over 5 years ago. It was a Friday. I wouldn't smoke pot and come to work, but if I did, I still could get my work done.

I don't smoke much pot anymore, but I zealously support the legalization of drugs to take the criminal element out of the mix. Drug prohibition is every much destructive to society as the outlawing of booze was during prohibition and modern American society is suffering the same exact results from criminal activity as we did during that prohibition.

[pikatore]

The legalisation of cannabis would be a good idea, it would seriously screw up drug dealing.

But heroin and cocaine I'm against.

[brien]

But heroin and cocaine I'm against.

Why? Analgesic addiction needs compassion not punishment. Physical addiction is a public health issue not a criminal one. The only reason drug addicts commit crime is to feed their habit. Take the crime out of the mix by treating addicts for their sickness, not punishing them for it.

[Praxius]

Quote by: brien Why? Analgesic addiction needs compassion not punishment. Physical addiction is a public health issue not a criminal one. The only reason drug addicts commit crime is to feed their habit. Take the crime out of the mix by treating addicts for their sickness, not punishing them for it.

I kept a so-called friend alive for three hours by pumping his chest when he OD'd from Cocaine. I didn't care about his habit or what he did with himself, but I figured I would keep him alive because I knew what to do.

I didn't find out until a few weeks later, that he was OD'ing off of cocaine that he bought from money he stole from me. In fact, he was stealing money from me for some time prior for his cocaine habit.... .long story.....

But to say it swiftly and boldly..... he owes me his heart and his life and I won't soon forget that. Good thing he disappeared shortly after, because he'd be a cripple right now.

I am against the legalization of physically addictive drugs. Even if cocaine was legal, people would still have to get money somewhere to pay for it, and wouldn't deter them from stealing to get it..... as I know from first hand experience.

Some physical addicting drugs are not as bad as other's but the heavily addicting ones I have a beef with.

[pikatore]

Quote by: brien Why? Analgesic addiction needs compassion not punishment. Physical addiction is a public health issue not a criminal one. The only reason drug addicts commit crime is to feed their habit. Take the crime out of the mix by treating addicts for their sickness, not punishing them for it.

Praxius basically put it forward for me.

[brien]

I am against the legalization of physically addictive drugs. Even if cocaine was legal, people would still have to get money somewhere to pay for it, and wouldn't deter them from stealing to get it..... as I know from first hand experience

What if it were made available for free to addicted abusers so long as they enter into treatment? Legalizing Cocaine and Heroin would take the criminals out of the mix and the price would be negligible. This would remove the incentive to commit a crime to get money to buy the drug.

People who abuse analgesics eventually need to get treatment or they die. Once they admit themselves to treatment, there is a road back for them. It is similar to alcoholism. Alcohol being legal doesn't create alcoholics who would otherwise be alcoholics anyway, whether it is legal or not in the US. If it were illegal, it would be more expensive, the quality would be suspect, and moonshiners would once again flourish in the backwoods of America.

No, legalizing analgesics, just like alcohol, will lead to more treatment and less crime, even if your friend did rip you off. Perhaps your subjective situation tends to influence your feelings on this subject. Punishing addicts is lke punishing alcoholics. It is punishment when treatment is in order, and that is the fundamental important difference between legality and illegality of analgesics.