this is a good read

http://www.policymic.com/articles/73423/marijuana-legalization-is-about-so-much-more-than-smoking-weed

11/17/2013 8:33:40 PM

2/28/2014 1:13:43 AM

2/28/2014 8:15:05 AM

interesting

3/2/2014 4:47:43 PM

^^that picture seems to kinda sum up your douchey personality

3/2/2014 9:29:06 PM

3/2/2014 9:47:24 PM

He probably does pretty well for himself. Lawn care is a pretty lucrative business.

3/3/2014 10:26:57 AM

3/4/2014 1:16:02 PM

Quote :

"“The reality is that lives are at risk in a society where alcohol is consumed so frequently,” said Neil Yashinsky, president of Oakland County NORML. “Every Lions or Tigers game, every U of M or MSU football game, thousands of drunk drivers are on the roads … on the other hand, marijuana is socially unacceptable, perhaps because it is perceived by many to be more harmful than alcohol, but it is objectively the other way around.”"

More here...

3/7/2014 2:47:11 PM

I live in Denver and it's awesome.

3/7/2014 4:14:10 PM

http://www.policymic.com/articles/87743/harvard-scientists-studied-the-brains-of-pot-smokers-and-the-results-don-t-look-good

it still fucks your brain

Quote :

"According to a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from Harvard and Northwestern studied the brains of 18- to 25-year-olds, half of whom smoked pot recreationally and half of whom didn't. What they found was rather shocking: Even those who only smoked few times a week had significant brain abnormalities in the areas that control emotion and motivation. "There is this general perspective out there that using marijuana recreationally is not a problem — that it is a safe drug," said Anne Blood, a co-author of the study. "We are seeing that this is not the case." The science: Similar studies have found a correlation between heavy pot use and brain abnormalities, but this is the first study that has found the same link with recreational users. The 20 people in the "marijuana group" of the study smoked four times a week on average; seven only smoked once a week. Those in the control group did not smoke at all. "We looked specifically at people who have no adverse impacts from marijuana — no problems with work, school, the law, relationships, no addiction issues," said Hans Breiter, another co-author of the study. Using three different neuroimaging techniques, researchers then looked at the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala of the participants. These areas are responsible for gauging the benefit or loss of doing certain things, and providing feelings of reward for pleasurable activities such as food, sex and social interactions. "This is a part of the brain that you absolutely never ever want to touch," said Breiter. "I don't want to say that these are magical parts of the brain — they are all important. But these are fundamental in terms of what people find pleasurable in the world and assessing that against the bad things." Shockingly, every single person in the marijuana group, including those who only smoked once a week, had noticeable abnormalities, with the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala showing changes in density, volume and shape. Those who smoked more had more significant variations."

Study: http://www.sfn.org/Press-Room/News-Release-Archives/2014/Brain-Changes-Are-Associated-with-Casual-Marijuana-Use-in-Young-Adults

4/16/2014 2:21:43 PM

^That's true. It dramatically decreased my motivation to buy stuff and hate people.

4/16/2014 2:32:32 PM

^^ It drastically reduced my urge to binge eat, so yes I would say it's true as well.

4/16/2014 3:00:30 PM

those differences could just as easily be why those people are regular marijuana users, and not be differences that are caused by regular marijuana use

[Edited on April 16, 2014 at 3:03 PM. Reason : .]

4/16/2014 3:02:16 PM

^ could be, but very small probability of that.

seriously though, junk food has been shown to fuck up your brain, so why is it hard to imagine that marijuana could as well?

4/16/2014 3:24:04 PM

Drastically reduces my introvert tendencies, though I do always crave gyros when I'm high.

4/16/2014 3:28:37 PM

why are they automatically assuming the abnormalities are bad? pot use has been overwhelmingly positive for me. ymmv

4/16/2014 3:34:05 PM

all anxiety medicines reduce motivation, and doctors hand those out like candy and society doesn't have a problem with it. even if you assume that their observations are caused by marijuana, why is it bad?

4/16/2014 3:36:57 PM

i am not saying it is bad, just that it fuck up your brain.

but also, this doesn't sound good:

Quote :

"Using three different neuroimaging techniques, researchers then looked at the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala of the participants. These areas are responsible for gauging the benefit or loss of doing certain things, and providing feelings of reward for pleasurable activities such as food, sex and social interactions. "This is a part of the brain that you absolutely never ever want to touch," said Breiter. "I don't want to say that these are magical parts of the brain — they are all important. But these are fundamental in terms of what people find pleasurable in the world and assessing that against the bad things.""

4/16/2014 3:49:08 PM

Quote :

""Using three different neuroimaging techniques, researchers then looked at the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala of the participants. These areas are responsible for gauging the benefit or loss of doing certain things, and providing feelings of reward for pleasurable activities such as food, sex and social interactions."

I guess some people can see that as bad... unless they already have issues with these areas and weed helped.

4/16/2014 4:09:44 PM

Quote :

"i am not saying it is bad, just that it fuck up your brain."

uhh that sorta sounds like the same thing

Quote :

"I guess some people can see that as bad... unless they already have issues with these areas and weed helped."

or maybe it even improves those areas for normal people

4/16/2014 4:11:59 PM

http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-cannabis-and-potential-brain-abnormalities/

Quote :

" “We could wish that the Gilman et al study had a more informative design. “As one example, it is not clear from the paper where the 20 cannabis users came from, or where the controls came from, nor how well they represent cannabis users in the real world. MRI research is expensive, which keeps samples small, but small samples prevent us from extrapolating findings to cannabis users in the population. “The text of the paper refers to brain “changes,” but the paper says there was only one MRI session. Comparing pre-cannabis MRI to post-cannabis MRI is required to document change. “The paper shows group differences in brain structure, but unless these differences are accompanied by evidence of deficits in brain function (such as thinking, memory, attention), it is unclear whether the findings have implications for the debate about the safety of cannabis. The study could have tested for brain functions, or even interviewed the participants about their self-perceived cognitive complaints, but this key information was missing.” "

Quote :

" “This is an interesting piece of research where the authors have scanned the brains of students who had or hadn’t used cannabis. However, the research is limited as it is only a small study, it is not known whether the reported changes in the brain are necessarily bad (the main example being an enlarged nucleus accumbens) and nor is it known how significant the amount of the active ingredient THC is (it was not measured in the study). “Furthermore, there were only 40 people in the study and as they didn’t measure the brains before and after, it’s possible that people with a larger accumbens are more likely to take cannabis. “The main point is that, as usual, more research is needed.” "

4/16/2014 4:37:02 PM

Quote :

" The main point is that, as usual, more research is needed"

This is not at all how the media is portraying the study.

The study is pretty weak, and doesn't reach any firm conclusions, and it's being given WAY more importance than it should be.

c'est la vie though.

4/16/2014 4:38:19 PM

from that study you can conclude that weed is reducing those abnormalities with the exact same confidence that it is causing them or making them worse

4/16/2014 5:05:52 PM

from that study i can conclude, like, at least four liberal talking points are valid, mane.

4/16/2014 5:19:50 PM

i know some "don't tread on me" conservatives who like the weed, mane

4/16/2014 5:23:39 PM

hey im a fan of this particular liberal hangup.

but not because i inhaled.

4/16/2014 5:31:59 PM

When are we going to get the legal weed?

I'm a law abider, and my liver can't take any more alcohol.

4/16/2014 5:58:21 PM

^

4/16/2014 8:26:31 PM

^^as soon as NC gets tired of seeing states like Colorado rake in fat stacks of cash due to the weed industry

4/16/2014 8:28:27 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/marijuana-death-recommended-serving-student-jump_n_5168978.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

You cant smoke too much, but apparently you can eat too much!

4/17/2014 10:49:01 PM

there are much better drugs than drugs, thats hilarious

4/17/2014 10:57:32 PM

Quote :

"it still fucks your brain"

so does being in jail/prison


Which one is cheaper on tax payers?

4/21/2014 11:49:28 AM

believe me, i am all for it!

people just have to make informed choices, is all.

4/21/2014 12:08:40 PM

http://www.policymic.com/articles/88283/an-ohio-newspaper-just-accidentally-ended-the-legalize-marijuana-debate

lots of graphs, but this is what the article is about:

Quote :

"This is kind of awkward. While attempting to summarize the marijuana prohibition debate following full-scale legalization in Colorado and Washington, Ohio's Dayton City Paper accidentally proved how it's almost absurd to even call this a "debate." One DCP staffer was supposed to argue for and one against legal marijuana. The only problem? They couldn't find anyone who disagreed."

http://media2.policymic.com/cea556b52e8fe0357610efd58697a3fe.jpg

[picture too massive, click to see]

[Edited on April 24, 2014 at 1:37 PM. Reason : ]

4/24/2014 1:37:01 PM

4/24/2014 2:18:04 PM

Yep...

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/7/5877017/how-legalized-pot-could-make-america-healthier

7/20/2014 9:30:16 PM

Quote :

"It drastically reduced my urge to binge eat"

Quote :

"Drastically reduces my introvert tendencies"

Weed does exactly the opposite for me in both these departments. It's pretty neat how a drug can have not merely different, but 180 degree opposite effect in different people, and to a drastic extent in either direction.

7/20/2014 9:38:47 PM

My doctor told me about some studies for diabetes that show that it can be effective at reducing insulin insensitivity (although an increased desire to binge eat might counteract that)

7/20/2014 10:14:36 PM

as a long time dope smoker, I still don't think it should be legal anywhere

too many fucking dumb people use it

8/2/2014 10:38:26 PM

^if you ever needed proof that weed will make you dumb. there it is

8/3/2014 8:20:40 AM

I really think that the only legitimate reason for saying that pot should be illegal over alcohol, is that to buy pot you pretty much have to at some point or another meet some shady people that may at some point or another try to sell you something else. Whereas for your alcohol, you can just go to the grocery store with grandma.

8/3/2014 9:40:06 AM

^would that not be an argument FOR legalization?

8/3/2014 10:10:54 AM

i seriously can't figure out if banjotard is a really shitty troll or really fucking dumb

maybe if it's legalized you won't have to buy it from shady folks. those weed shops in Denver i've seen on tv don't look shady at all.

8/3/2014 10:29:36 AM

They should go ahead and decriminalize it, across the board, for personal use under a pound

8/3/2014 10:29:44 AM

^ This definitely

^^ I dunno, have never been to Denver. But, I have been to Amsterdam several times and some of the places where you would buy it there are still pretty definitely shady. I was propositioned for pils and acid a couple times, and I was only just dropping in to buy a joint.

Don't get so butt hurt about it man, it is a valid argument. It is associated with a shady culture, and there is no obvious way that I can think of that can easily change that. Culture is one of the most difficult things to forcibly cause some sort of change.

[Edited on August 4, 2014 at 12:05 PM. Reason : f]

8/4/2014 12:04:55 PM

The bodega where I buy my beer has some shady characters. they also sell lottery tickets and cheap fireworks, and i hear they have serious fireworks in the back.

8/4/2014 12:07:05 PM

You are just being ignorant. There are many positives to marijuana over alcohol; it is not that addictive, it does not give you horrible hang overs, and blah blah. But without a doubt, a major disadvantage is that it "opens the door" to a rather shady culture.

Potheads like to blame it on the alcohol industry, but I doubt it. Getting high does not make me less likely to splurge on my weekly alcohol budget.

[Edited on August 4, 2014 at 12:17 PM. Reason : d]

8/4/2014 12:17:05 PM

again, you are making another argument in favor of legalization.

8/4/2014 12:23:58 PM

Bars open the door to a shady culture.

Are you seriously being serious? I can't tell if you're a bad troll.

8/4/2014 12:28:30 PM