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[Kagus]

Here's an interesting and appropriately-themed article for today!

No, nothing about today being the birthday of Adolf Hitler, George Takei and Killer Mike.

[scourge728]

Weed is bad tho

[wierd]

No, MISUSE of psychoactive drugs is bad.

There is a strong basis for the psychoactive compounds found in weed to have valid and greatly needed therapeutic properties for a wide range of conditions.

Just a small sampling of conditions that can be helped by said compounds:

Epilepsy
Alzheimer's dementia
Depression
Some forms of Anxiety

Saying "The WEED is bad, M'kay!" is absurdity. Abusing *ANYTHING* is bad. Not just weed.

The deal is, there are people with a vested interest in asserting straight up that THC, its analogues, and its derivatives are always 100% bad, because they are either idiots that bought into the reefer madness bullshit, or because they are involved in the revolving merry-go-round of the DEA, or have pharmaceutical products they want to push instead.

By definition, we have conclusively proven that THC is not schedule I, because it has legitimate medical benefit. We just have a very profitable prison industry that is sustained by marijuana use as its bread and butter crime to keep its prisons packed with people. /rant


Edit--
And if you want a real kicker--- The evidence in favor of benefits to treating anxiety and depression can be taken with the alarming statistics for anxiety and depression in US citizens-- (nearly 18% of US citizens suffer from an anxiety disorder, of which only 37% get treatment) coupled with the obscene incarceration rate for marijuana possession and a surprising case could be made that public health would IMPROVE by legalizing weed for recreational use, as more people at risk for anxiety and depression would self-medicate via recreational use without realizing, and significant portions of the population would no longer be institutionalized for profit.

[Kagus]

Uhh, ah, um... Pretty sure he was just making the obligatory facetious content.

Also the article specifically says that this study indicated a potential link between regular marijuana usage and an increase in depressive symptoms over longer periods.

[wierd]

Just means it needs to be used as part of a regulated treatment regimen that involves other factors.

[Kagus]

Just means it needs to be used as part of a regulated treatment regimen that involves other factors.

Or just not. There are already multiple things that it can be used for effectively and efficiently, marijuana doesn't have to be the "be-all end-all" panacea some folks make it out to be.

We don't know the full picture, and until the research is done properly and we have some decent data to go by, it's not really defensible to say that it should or should not be used in a particular situation.

[Max™]

Well, except for the most common situation: wanting a buzz.

Right now the legal option is booze, with all the horrifying stuff it brings or... opioid scripts?

Hey guess what people are dying from less in states with little or no anti-pot bullshit?

[scourge728]

I don't understand why people get buzzed, probably because I subscribe to the philosophy that people shouldn't intentionally and knowingly damage their mental states, minds in general, or ability to make rational decisions, even temporarily

[Frumple]

Because they enjoy it. For whatever reasons, having their cognitive capabilities mangled into a potentially life threatening and/or murderous mess is fun instead of an exercise in existential horror or whatev'. It wouldn't really be that big of a deal if it didn't kill/maim/ruin-the-lives-of so many people, heh.

[Kagus]

Well, except for the most common situation: wanting a buzz.

Right now the legal option is booze, with all the horrifying stuff it brings or... opioid scripts?

Hey guess what people are dying from less in states with little or no anti-pot bullshit?

Well, yeah, but the article was more about specific medical issues and how they interact with cannabinoids. Although I suppose "stress reduction" can arguably be labeled as recreational? I'unno.

I don't think anybody's arguing about marijuana's ability to buzz, or its relative harmlessness compared to certain popular alternatives.

I don't understand why people get buzzed, probably because I subscribe to the philosophy that people shouldn't intentionally and knowingly damage their mental states, minds in general, or ability to make rational decisions, even temporarily

Well, see, that's a tricky philosophy to abide by... Because then we get into the debate about whether or not a conscious lack of avoidance can be considered an action in itself, because there are a great deal of situations that will "damage your ability to make rational decisions", such as exhaustion, endorphins, stress, anxiety, interpersonal relations and more.

Additionally, if we're going to ignore (for the sake of simplicity) things like the research done on creativity and lateral thinking while under the influence of certain substances, the main reason is quite simply "it feels nice".

[Max™]

Yup, pot is bad because you have something shunned in public which makes sitting on your couch doing nothing seem fun.

Makes other stuff fun too, used to love getting baked and hiking in the hills near Louisville.

Done that drunk as well, but after getting high I never woke up with puzzling scrapes on my palms and a vague memory of vaulting a barbed wire fence with cops behind me.

[Trekkin]

I don't think anybody's arguing about marijuana's ability to buzz, or its relative harmlessness compared to certain popular alternatives.

We should probably draw a distinction between THC itself and the bulk plant though; people often point to the research surrounding the relative safety and efficacy of the former to justify consuming the latter in whatever way or quantity they see fit without considering things like the health risks inherent to smoking itself or what other compounds may be in the plants or added during farming. Cannabis in particular has a cultural problem here, since after all the "Reefer Madness"-style lies the government promulgated everybody with a pot plant growing in their backyard thinks they know better than real pharmacologists.

I'm just waiting for the day some pothead "biohacker" tries to either CRISPR "the genes for THC" into themselves or cobble together a TMV vector or something to make better cannabis.

[Max™]

True, haven't smoked in a decade myself but the breeding trends then would have me expect the plant to be damn near all thc by now.

Biohacking drug glands which you can activate and trigger the same pathways as thc would be neat.

[Teneb]

My main problem with alcohol (and, in far fewer cases, pot) is that refusing to partake turns you into a social pariah. Which is damn annoying.

[Max™]

That I can't comment on, took me years to figure out I was accidentally being smooth when my answer to "do you smoke?" was 'not cigarettes' because it led to me getting high with random people in a bizarre range of situations... by a lake on an island while homeless, with a substitute teacher while skipping school, in jail taking turns blowing smoke out the vented fan, railroad tracks with a kid who had just been part of group failing to beat me up, various bosses at work... and many more.