Gordon Brown wants to make pot a class B drug.

[T-BagBikerStar]

Originally Posted by Zay

Why the hell would you want to synthesize a THC alternative when it can be grown so cheaply and easily as Marijuana? Fucking stupid if you ask me.

That's a good question, however, it is not quite as fucking stupid as you may expect if you do not have a firm understanding in medicine or chemistry. Luckily, Robert L. DuPont, M.D., President of the Institute For Behavior, has expertise in both of those and told ProCon.org in a 1/12/02 email:

"There is no possibility of approval of any plant as a medicine to treat any illness, now or ever because the chemicals in whole plants (to say nothing of smoked plants which are composed of many, many more chemicals) could be approved as a medicine. Plants are unstable mixtures of different chemicals which cannot be used directly to provide a 'dose' of a specific chemical to be used as a medical treatment."
http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.or...6160386338 91

[ZeroMalarki]

Stupid Scottish motherfucker. I had no problems with him but it needs to be decriminalized and legalized completely.

He's gonna want to spend millions on fighting the drug war against cannabis. Waster.

[zuffy]

Originally Posted by Zay

Why the hell would you want to synthesize a THC alternative when it can be grown so cheaply and easily as Marijuana? Fucking stupid if you ask me.

It's not stupid in the slightest. Synthesised THC is much easier to dose, and it also means it is easier to market as a medicine rather then an illegal substance.

[among_the_living]

The possible effects of marijuana is like saying "drinking coffee CAN cause these effects.....but is mostly harmless"

If you think you know more than the head toxicologist at new york state university and more than the Dutch who obviously have their heads screwed on right then please...tell me what your degree is in? what branch of science or toxicology?

It is completely pathetic to criminalize people who smoke pot just as it would be to arrest those drinking coffee.

There was a report on a drug which was a new danger to society ages ago, it was the worst thing ever! and know what it was?.....tea, thats right.....tea got all the pot treatment.

Putting someone who smokes pot in jail for up to 5 years is in my eyes....totally and utterly pointless and pathetic, or jails are already overflowing and filling them with potheads wont help.

The home secretary and the minister for police have both come out today saying yep, we smoked pot when we were younger......and now they want to class it as bad as amphetamines. Hypocrites.

I emailed the Labour party on this but got the usual mass constructed email sent out to everyone and typical spin. The government is on such a power trip.

[Dre Crabbe]

Originally Posted by among_the_living

And are you insane? it belongs at class B?....five years in jail for smoking grass? really?

Agreed.

The Netherlands has a higher standard of living than the UK and guess what.....it isnt an offense there.

Where's the connection?

[KikoSanchez]

The Dutch's usage of cocaine is much lower, it's some correlation...

[Sanguinans]

Originally Posted by T-BagBikerStar

Tobacco and alcohol should absolutely be illegal in the same sense that marijuana is... However, smoked marijuana... ...has been described by addiction medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky as being nearly as difficult to treat as opiate addiction. Furthermore, marijuana has also been shown to "lead to abuse, tolerance and dependence. After long term use, withdrawal symptoms can develop if the marijuana usage is stopped suddenly Generally the withdrawal symptoms are mild and may include nausea, tremor, sweating, weight loss, insomnia, agitation and irritability. "
[

I don't believe any substance should be illegal, but thats just me.
Thats pretty much bullshit, the only reason MJ addiction could be as difficult to treat as opiate because there is less incentive to quit. If you want to, opiates are infinitely more difficult to quit than MJ. To develop withdrawal symptoms you usually need to be smoking almost every day, which relatively few people do. I've gotten the impression that cannabis was a fairly widely accepted treatment for pain, especially due to glaucoma, I'd have to say THC seems to be a safer and often more effective treatment than hydrocodiene etc.

[Lewcifer]

Originally Posted by T-BagBikerStar

Tobacco and alcohol should absolutely be illegal in the same sense that marijuana is, the fact that we are unable to pass laws further regulating those is no reason to leagalise another drug that is harmful.

You forget that behind the statistics for tobacco/alcohol/drugs related illnesses are people. Human beings have had since the dawn of their existence the ability to assess risks, and make their own decision based on their evaluation of these risks. In the last 100 years we haven't suddenly de-evolved and lost our ability to judge risk, as our governments tell us we have.

The recent ban on smoking in enclosed public places was the perfect opportunity to legalise marijuana, as the only valid argument against it had been taken away. (that it would effect those who chose not to smoke it)

[fredfish]

Because gordon brown has said that there will be no radical departures from many of blair's policies, there is a certain extent to which I believe Gordon Brown is keen to be seen to be moving away from at least some of the decisions made by his pedecessor so that at least people can see that this is a genuinely new government.

Picking on this particular policy, however, seems trivial and unnesecary and a touch hypocritical of the circle of government as a whole, more and more of whom are owning up to trying the drug in their youth. linky

[T-BagBikerStar]

Originally Posted by Lewcifer

You forget that behind the statistics for tobacco/alcohol/drugs related illnesses are people. Human beings have had since the dawn of their existence the ability to assess risks, and make their own decision based on their evaluation of these risks. In the last 100 years we haven't suddenly de-evolved and lost our ability to judge risk, as our governments tell us we have.

The recent ban on smoking in enclosed public places was the perfect opportunity to legalise marijuana, as the only valid argument against it had been taken away. (that it would effect those who chose not to smoke it)

Tobacco addicts still affect the lives of those who choose not to smoke it, and put their kids at exponentially higher risk than others for having problems with tobacco in the future.

Alcoholics absolutely still affect the lives of those around them, even if they do not drink in public.

Why should we possibly expect marijuana to be any different in this regard?