Cannabis

I look forward to a good debate with you Incredebater. And I would firstly admire your attitude towards health, particularly your proposal on children cooking healthy meals, and I would like to note that I am completely in support of promoting health and health education to the public. However I feel this debate is concerned with matters that go beyond public health. I will attempt to answer your statement as completely as I can, going through your words piece by piece from start to finish. You ask if legalising marijuana is not a step backwards in society. I would say that less control over people's lives is more typically forward leaning than backwards, I cannot think why outlawing practices could be considered forward thinking. I think you mean (correct me if I'm wrong) that the last few decades have seen a movement towards eradicating cannabis and that allowing it to be legal would essentially be 'giving in' or reverting back to old ways or something. But I would say that societies are not as linear in their social development, nor as simple as that. I believe a perfect society would have members that would not abuse drugs because they didn't need/want too, not because they would be prosecuted. Now this article has many truths. It is clearly not written by a user of cannabis. There is no evidence (that I have herd) that proves cannabis causes psychosis. Much, if not all, of the research is based surveys that; note all people with psychosis, and then note what percentage smoke cannabis; and compare this percentage that smoke cannabis in the general public. This research doesn't account for variables such as; poorer people more likely to have psychosis, poorer people more likely to smoke cannabis; people who think differently and are rebellious are more likely to be psychotic, but are also more likely to smoke cannabis because of its 'rebellious persona'. This shows how cannabis use can appear to be the cause of the psychosis when in fact it may be just a symptom or a typical trait of a person who has psychotic tendencies. From my own experience I can see how cannabis can provide a crutch to a person that he would perhaps be bettor of not having. It can make it much easier to seclude yourself and separate yourself from society but it is by no means the cause of the behaviour. The fact that it is illegal doesn't help with the seclusion either, but bigger factors, such as poor education, materialistic culture, bad diets and un-satisfying jobs are the main reasons for bad mental health in my opinion. As for the other claims in the article; personally I have experiences memory loss, though I know some who have smoked it their whole lives (age 30 something) and have brilliant memory. Though I don't doubt cannabis smoking, or the inhalation of any plant matter, is bad for you. But it is cause for concern that not one human, in the history of recorded deaths, has died from smoking marijuana. Now when you consider that up to 6000 deaths a year are from caffeine, you are aware that we know when a substance has cause a death, and yet cannabis still has no victims. You argue many more people would smoke the drug and this would be bad. Okay, probably true. Though not quite so simple as some smoke it to be cool because its illegal, and I'm sure many would merely 'swap' there normal drug of choice (typically alcohol) for cannabis. If you are concerned with more people doing cannabis or drugs then the approach should be on reducing the need for it. People who didn't do drugs (alcohol included) before wouldn't start smoking weed when it became legal, and obtaining cannabis isn't much harder (in many cases easier) than going to the shop now anyways, so the increased availability may not have as strong effect as you may think. Yer, the whiskey at the gas station may be more tempting if its legal-but I would much prefer someone at the gas station to buy marijuana than a bottle of whiskey! The 'want' for drugs may take easiest available option, but that is alcohol, if cannabis was there too then some would chose that instead. And I know this isn't an argument about alcohol being better than weed, but in my experience people smoking cannabis are typically much more socially acceptable (in behaviour)than drunk people.