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what an interesting thread!
there are argumants pro's and con's for the majority of drugs legal and otherwise, but it does seem that those who partake are slightly biased (understandably) to their preferred vice.
I occasionally smoke the odd doobie or 3 and i manage to hold down not 1 job but 4, i work stupid hours and yet still manage to wake up at a reasonable time after an avergage of 7hrs sleep and crack on with work, and yes i'm always on time and never lazy even when i'm toking which Terry i'm sure can vouch for me (remember the dam?) !wink!. i've given up before without any problem, the only thing that was harder was winding down after a busy day; which would sometimes mean i would still be hyper in the wee hours. personally i feel that a spliff or cake before bedtime is much less harmfull then say the standard 4 pack of your preferred ale or a bottle or 2 of pinot which i'm afraid is much more common.
what people don't hear about in the media is all the career mothers /housewives and professional women who do a bottle or 2 a day to wind down and the same goes for the men. all we hear about is the binge drinkers. on the other hand it's said that a glass of red a day can be benificial, but then who do you know, opens a bottle and stops at the one?
Alcohol which i consume rarely but enjoy nontheless has been used as a weapon throughout history (mainly by us) in a passive way i.e the aborigines and native indians of America plus many more, !annoyed!destroying beautiful cultures and valuable knowledge of natural cures and remedys. Never has there been a case of cannabis destroying native cultures.
As stated earlier, the cannaboids present in some strains of cannabis are pain relieving and have been increasingly prescribed by proffesionals who understand that the majority of pain relief we have available is derived from plants eg. opiate based pain killers, asprin etc all science has done is isolate the pain relieving property of the plant and synthesize it.
and funnily enough yes there are naturally occuring receptors in our brain for cannaboids but please take into account that cannaboids are also found in chocolate (ohhh no!!! !shocked! i've opened my big mouth they'll be banning Chocolate next! and i soooooo enjoy a bar of 80% after a big fat joint! and cadburys make the best chocolate liquer at christmas!)
in my opinon, make it all legally available, only in highly secure pharmacys, a rigourous health check first, you know the one you should (operative word here) get before a GP prescribes anti-depressents, certain painkillers etc and when/if you pass you can decrease you mortality at your leisure.
oh and if all these nasty things like cannabis, nicotine, and the likes are decreasing my life to a respectable 80 years, Great! i don't think i would want to go beyond being capable of a majority of things i do and if living till 120 means i have to go without fun and a little immorality at times then fuck that for a game of soldiers.
life's for living and occasionally indulging. we wouldn't have pleasure receptors to appreciate all these things if it wasn't.
each to there own just don't force it on others oh and can't remember who said it but i think it's in the bible about moderation in all things.
just my piece of waffle and yup i'm smokin!!!! !happy!
luv n hugs to all
Karina
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I would like to point out that I have never been a user of cannabis. The reason I have met many users is that I meet with lots of people in pain due to my line of work. When I talk about using cannabis I am talking about using the plant rather than resin which like most drugs is cut with all manner of crap. I think that when you look at some of the orthodox drugs that are prescribed for pain such as kapake, tramadol, pethidine and even ibuprofen and paracetomol the side effects very often outweigh the positive benefits and many of them causing long term health problems. The Opiate based pain killers can absolutely destroy a persons quality of life and can be addictive. Osteoarthritis is very often treated with NSAIDS
"There is mounting clinical evidence that using NSAIDs blocks the body's synthesis of proteoglycans. These are the molecules that draw water into the cartilage. The result? While you may be getting some pain relief, you are also increasing the problem with the damaged cartilage as well. And the worst news is still unconfirmed but suspected. The use of NSAIDs may actually cause osteoarthritis to increase. In other words, while trying to get some symptomatic relief, you are also hastening the very disease you are trying to control"
When you consider that prozac is one of the most widely prescribed drugs for a myriad of mental problems and then look at the damage it has done to a lot of people who have used it. It is prescribed for mental problems but exaggerates suicidal urges and many other problems .


It is unfortunate that there is so little independent research. The negative research is very often done by government or drug company or other anti cannabis organisations and the pro research is often done by the pro cannabis lot.
Yes it has its down sides but when you compare it to legal drugs and there down sides I am not sure it is any worse and in many cases less severe than legal drugs. When the arguments for keeping it illegal are that it isnt very good mentally well neither is booze or many pills. It can be addictive again so are most legal drugs. Of course I totally agree that using it to get stoned is not a good idea, and a climate where it is abused would be a bad thing. Bingeing is nearly always a bad thing. But would it be worse bingeing on space cakes than on absinthe, aftershock and vodka? I entirely agree society is thrill seeking and the instant gratfication we seek does not benefit us. Life would be better if we were taught to be more secure human beings rather than needing chemical stimulants.

There has to be a way of exploiting the positive sides and yes as I have said cooking with or as you said tea may be one way. There are plenty of community centres that do free lunches maybe they could organise pain relief lunches in a controlled environment, ( I am not sure how serious I am though when I say that, it conjures up some odd images) Some real unbiased research into the medicinal properties would be good though.

Hey, you may be right WRZ!

However you said Mike gave an opinion that was factual and without prejudice.

Since Mike has stated his use of certain 'substances' before, I was just pointing out that his opinion may well be prejudiced in it's pov, which makes your statement -at least- debatable.