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This article seems to pose this as a problem... It's a victory! We have been working to end prohibition for decades, and it's working! In 22 states adults now
by vonwoodson 3y ago
This article seems to pose this as a problem... It's a victory! We have been working to end prohibition for decades, and it's working! In 22 states adults now have access to either medical or recreational marijuana and psychedelics, in general, are following a similar path. While the tone of this article (starting with the sad looking fellow with "addiction" in the caption) is what it is, I'm very happy and excited to see that people are coming to their senses to end this stupid "War on Drugs".
- seeknotfind 3y agoI agree. Though how much is too much remains to be seen. The pendulum will swing too far one day. The more progress we make, the sooner it's too much to take. In future generations we'll have the War on Drugs to look back on, so we won't make the same mistakes, but drug use will become too much at some point, and we'll look for other ways to curtail it.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y agoWell the pendulum has been so far on the other side for so long that I personally don’t mind and am looking forward to the day we have this entirely hypothetical problem because it will mean that the opposite, darker era is over.
- asfgsfionio 3y agoYou can oppose "prohibition" without supporting drug use. Most drugs are clearly harmful to the human body. This includes cannabis and alcohol. Hallucinogens can cause lasting psychological changes. Maybe you shouldn't be afraid of drug use, but you should be wary. And I can't think of anything much more self-destructive than binge drinking. It's right up there with opioids.
- btreecat 3y agoI'd be cautious using language that groups so many types of chemical inputs under a single umbrella despite the gulf between them.
- CameronNemo 3y agoHow is cannabis "clearly harmful to the human body"? Any amount?
- throwaway5d097 3y agoI guess dry mouth increases incidence of periodontal disease. Some people get cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, but that's somewhat rare. With long term, increasing use, I personally experienced insomnia, anxiety, and lack of appetite. Only with 1g of dabs a week. YMMV. I've quit weed and alcohol, but I consider weed usually a lesser evil. Alcohol really fucked my depression up.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- beezlewax 3y agoSmoking anything is bad for your lungs. Carcinogenic most likely.
- DoreenMichele 3y agoNot all cannabis is consumed via smoking. /pedant who finds it funny to comment on this because I don't even consume cannabis what with being allergic to it.
- CameronNemo 3y agoLet's assume the user isn't smoking or gaping it, but eating it instead.
- delta_p_delta_x 3y agoYeah, I don't understand why the grandparent commenter is so... happy about narcotics. Being in a permanent state of drug-induced euphoria isn't a good thing. Forget productivity—narcotics suppress every other natural emotion and memory, and people just become husks of themselves, always seeking that next high, that next injection. Alcoholism causes plenty of injury to others—drink-driving for one. It almost sounds like the grandparent is going to welcome The Matrix. Are things so bad that they would rather take the blue pill and forget the real world altogether?
- FreshStart 3y agoThe host is dead but the substance continues to write drug positivity diatribe. Just another narco zombie doing whatever will scan for the reward button push to continur. Name one negative thing about a drug should be a pre requisite to any adult discussion. Hell, I could do that about cofee, drug of my choice. It's most likely loaded with cancer causing chemicals due to the roasting process. There, enlightenment first, needs and feels second.
- broscillator 3y agoThank you, only on hackernews could one find levels of pedantry surpassing reddit, where someone will be so brain washed by the vestiges of the war on drugs propaganda that they'll try to demonize coffee consumption and call it enlightenment.
- devwastaken 3y ago"narcotics" is not a singular item. You do not inject a weed. You are describing hard drugs. Cocaine, heroin, opioids, methemphetamines, and I like to include alcohol over an excess amount. Psychedelics and green are not in the category of hard drugs. There is little to physical dependency. Nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar have much worse addicting properties and worse outcomes. narcotics do not generally all create a "euphoria". Thc especially does not do this. It allows you to experience things in different ways, makes new connections. Some people use this to enjoy things more, same as humans have done since someone figured out the plant that feels funny when you eat it can also be smoked. Psychedelics used in therapy bring out more natural emotion. That's why they're used.
- devwastaken 3y agoWithout being an expert that can elaborate on those points your comment is only a generic statement you likely read from somewhere else and are now telling everyone else that rhetoric. The idea of "drugs are bad" requires one to not have knowledge of how medicine works or why it's created because "drugs" are no different from all the other medical drugs. Have you taken anti-anxiety meds? Perhaps lithium? Those solutions are barbaric when compared with cannabis and some kinds of hallucinogens. Medical interventions must be fully encompassing. Everything is a compromise. Cannabis may be harmful, it is also very low on the list of significant harms, and high on gains for specific use. If you care about saving lives then regulate away sugar.
- vonwoodson 3y agoExcept, please don't create any new prohibitions. Turns out it's really difficult to re-legalize anything.
- tycho-newman 3y agoIf you don't want to use drugs, then don't use them. Leave the rest of us alone.
- iancmceachern 3y ago> "Hallucinogens can cause lasting psychological changes" So can art, movies, and relationships. This is the reason many show up to the show, not something to be afraid of. It's the feature, not the bug.
- broscillator 3y ago"The dose makes the poison" - Parecelsus
- throwaway82251 3y agoI find amusing how HN cheers on governments bullying the tobacco industries as far as forcing them to sell smokes with corpses on the packaging, while downvoting any dissenting opinion, but when it comes to drugs that actively ruin hundred of thousands of people's lives to the point years of rehabilitation are often not enough to fully recover, suddenly they love drugs. Contrarianism? Or is it something to do with political affiliation? Personally I think prohibitionism was a step in the right direction.
- shagmin 3y agoAre you possibly conflating hard drugs like crack with drugs like marijuana? I don't see people going to rehab over marijuana or even psychedelics.
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoI find it amusing how people can equate sending people to prison for their choice of drug to regulating product packaging.
- rkuykendall-com 3y agoThere is no contradiction here. Tobacco is legal and nobody is trying to make it illegal. Tobacco has very clear and present health risks which were lied about for decades and nobody is arguing we should lie about the health risks of other drugs. Nobody wants a "Don't you want to smoke what your doctor smokes" ad for weed.
- broscillator 3y ago[flagged]
- JimtheCoder 3y ago[flagged]
- LocalH 3y agoAlcohol is the only one of the drugs under discussion which actually ruins "hundred of thousands of people's lives".
- mythrwy 3y agoThe gaining of freedom is indeed a victory. The potential self destructive misuse of that freedom (as mentioned in the article) not so much.
- lafar6503 3y agoI don't think drug or alcohol prohibitions were aimed primarily at controlling the people and limiting their freedoms. The goal was to limit the harmful effects of substance abuse on society, even if the majority of people are reasonable and would not mess up their lives with drugs or alcohol. But the lawmakers solved it the standard way.