4 ms·

I believe alcohol is already pretty destructive. It’s been shown no level is really safe, it causes brain damage, although as to how much it’s not clear. I thin

by foxes 5y ago

I believe alcohol is already pretty destructive. It’s been shown no level is really safe, it causes brain damage, although as to how much it’s not clear. I think weed is fairly similar. Tobacco gives you lung cancer. I don’t think we should just let people destroy themselves. We want a caring society.

rantwasp 5y ago
we should educate/inform people and let them make their own choices. we want a caring society but not at the cost of restricting personal freedoms
throwawayboise 5y ago
> Tobacco gives you lung cancer. And smoking weed doesnt? They are both plants.
- samatman 5y ago
  Unclear actually. The content of cannabis smoke is quite different from tobacco smoke, and in particular it contains a lot of terpenes, and the cannabinoids themselves, which are potent antioxidants. Last I checked, cannabis smoke was implicated in COPD, but doesn't appear to contribute to lung cancer. That was at least a decade ago, however.
pmoriarty 5y ago
"I don't think we should just let people destroy themselves. We want a caring society." The problem is that, like the old "we had to destroy the village to save it" cliche from Vietnam, the War on Drugs destroys the very lives it purports to protect. The illegality of drugs means that the drugs people buy are either not what they're sold as or are of an unknown purity, which leads to overdoses. Such unintentional overdoses from mistakes in gauging substance or purity would virtually disappear if drugs were legal. The organized crime that runs the drug trade kills many people and has a corrosive effect on our justice system and government and that of many other nations. That too will be greatly reduced with legalization. Arrests of users, killing of them and their families by police during raids, imprisonment, separating families and ruining lives by all of the above and on top of that criminal records for possession are yet another horrific consequence of the War on Drugs. Rights are thrown away, police power and surveillance of the population is ratcheted up to ever greater levels in the name of fighting the WOD. Billions of dollars are wasted and billions more given to organized crime instead of paid as taxes to governments. And on top of it all the WOD is not even effective. People continue to use drugs anyway, if they want to. So what is the point?

by foxes 5y ago

rantwasp 5y ago

we should educate/inform people and let them make their own choices. we want a caring society but not at the cost of restricting personal freedoms

throwawayboise 5y ago

> Tobacco gives you lung cancer. And smoking weed doesnt? They are both plants.

samatman 5y ago
Unclear actually. The content of cannabis smoke is quite different from tobacco smoke, and in particular it contains a lot of terpenes, and the cannabinoids themselves, which are potent antioxidants. Last I checked, cannabis smoke was implicated in COPD, but doesn't appear to contribute to lung cancer. That was at least a decade ago, however.

pmoriarty 5y ago

"I don't think we should just let people destroy themselves. We want a caring society." The problem is that, like the old "we had to destroy the village to save it" cliche from Vietnam, the War on Drugs destroys the very lives it purports to protect. The illegality of drugs means that the drugs people buy are either not what they're sold as or are of an unknown purity, which leads to overdoses. Such unintentional overdoses from mistakes in gauging substance or purity would virtually disappear if drugs were legal. The organized crime that runs the drug trade kills many people and has a corrosive effect on our justice system and government and that of many other nations. That too will be greatly reduced with legalization. Arrests of users, killing of them and their families by police during raids, imprisonment, separating families and ruining lives by all of the above and on top of that criminal records for possession are yet another horrific consequence of the War on Drugs. Rights are thrown away, police power and surveillance of the population is ratcheted up to ever greater levels in the name of fighting the WOD. Billions of dollars are wasted and billions more given to organized crime instead of paid as taxes to governments. And on top of it all the WOD is not even effective. People continue to use drugs anyway, if they want to. So what is the point?