Cannabis - Best as a Class B or C

[Bear]

But it changes your brain... so it's not JUST "will-power", you're also fighting against your brain chemistry that has changed. It's not half as simple as you're trying to make out.

As I said, if it does indeed change your brain then it would be a physical effect then it would be totally understandable.

So how would a person that is addicted to say gambling have their brain altered due to their addiction ??

 

[Richdog]

As I said, if it does indeed change your brain then it would be a physical effect then it would be totally understandable.

Thus since cannabis also alters the brain by your logic it is also physical.

So how would a person that is addicted to say gambling have their brain altered due to their addiction ??

They wouldn't.

 

[Bear]

Thus since cannabis also alters the brain by your logic it is also physical.

If that is genuinely the case then I conceed that it is physically addictive in the mind altering sense. Im not a neurologist/neurophsycologist so could never say for certain.

They wouldn't.

So although gambling is an addiction to some, since there isnt any physical addiction and only a psychological one and nothing alters the brain then it follows that certain psychological addictions are therefore down to lack of will power. If not, then what is it with gambling ??

 

[Richdog]

If that is genuinely the case then I conceed that it is physically addictive in the mind altering sense. Im not a neurologist/neurophsycologist so could never say for certain.

The info is all there for you on Google... will take 20 secs to search for it.

So although gambling is an addiction to some, since there isnt any physical addiction and only a psychological one and nothing alters the brain then it follows that certain psychological addictions are therefore down to lack of will power. If not, then what is it with gambling ??

As you say, gambling isn't a drug and doesn't change you on the same sort of level... so I would say of course say that yes it is 100% psychological and purely down to character. However it's still a powerful addiction in its' own right.

 

[Bear]

The info is all there for you on Google... will take 20 secs to search for it.

Ive searched on google and I have seen anything that is in anyway convincing http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=is+cannabis+physically+addictive&btnG=Search&meta=

 

[Richdog]

Ive searched on google and I have seen anything that is in anyway convincing http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=is+cannabis+physically+addictive&btnG=Search&meta=

All I said was that it alters your brain chemistry and neurotransmission (due to the THC)... and that's proven fact. You concluded that if it did that it must be physical.

 

[Bear]

All I said was that it alters your brain chemistry and neurotransmission (due to the THC)... and that's proven fact. You concluded that if it did that it must be physical.

I agree as I said that if it does change your brain, it is a physical effect, but that has to have some definition. I have searched google and it is inconclusive as to whether cannabis is addictive. There are plenty of pages that say it isnt and a few that say it is.

Put it this way. If you took a load of test subjects and they all abused heroin, more likely that not after prolonged regular use, they would be physically addicted and would have trouble giving it up.

If you took a load of test subjects and they all abused cannabis, after prolonged regular use I very much doubt many would have trouble giving up. Perhaps some would have problems but not all would, so what is it that causes some people to have problems and some not to ??

Im not here to go round in circles or bother people. Im an engineer and I like to understand the mechanics/nature of things. I dont take what people tell me as fact but want to know the scientific reasoning behind the nature of the addiction. If there is an article explaining how cannabis addiction works on the brain then I will accept it, not because someone tells me it is so.

 

[Scania]

Either B or C - it made no odds to people who smoked it prior to the de classification.

 

[anarchist]

Class B... I smoked it solid for 4 years and in that time it more to screw my head up than anything else i've ever tried. It is HIGHLY addictive and will find whatever chinks in your mental armour it can and blow them wide open. My character changed completely, and it took me a good two years to fully recover after I quit.

Some people get addicted to alcohol, gambling, shopping, and many other things. Should we ban all of those too?

 

[Richdog]

Some people get addicted to alcohol, gambling, shopping, and many other things. Should we ban all of those too?

Nope, you can't compare them like for like. Alcohol has been a major part of our culture for centuries, banning it just wouldn't happen. Gambling isn't an actual llegal drug, and neither is shopping.

 

[cosmogenesis]

yes but that does not make it a good thing. Cars were only invented 50 years ago and hence alcohol and cars do no go. Hence we ban drinking and driving but people are free to drug and drive because there are not equivilent laws. There will be a law here soon enough, weird considering it is banned already.

 

[anarchist]

Nope, you can't compare them like for like.

But my point was that "It has a bad effect on me" is not a valid reason that something should be banned, because everything is bad for somebody.

 

[Richdog]

But my point was that "It has a bad effect on me" is not a valid reason that something should be banned, because everything is bad for somebody.

I agree it's not a valid reason... but I never said it was. What we're talking about is cannabis, which has a bad effect on many people, changes the way your brain works, and can cause serious mental illness. It's also an illegal drug, so in effect already banned...

 

[anarchist]

What we're talking about is cannabis, which has a bad effect on many people, changes the way your brain works, and can cause serious mental illness.

Alcohol and tobacco have a bad effect on many more people. Seems strange to crack down hard on cannabis and yet continue to allow widespread use and abuse of alcohol and tobacco.

 

[Richdog]

Alcohol and tobacco have a bad effect on many more people. Seems strange to crack down hard on cannabis and yet continue to allow widespread use and abuse of alcohol and tobacco.

It's not strange, as I already said that alcohol/tobacco are already ingrained in UK society and are massively widespread. In comparison, cannabis isn't.

 

[Mulder]

It's not strange, as I already said that alcohol/tobacco are already ingrained in UK society and are massively widespread. In comparison, cannabis isn't.

Don't you think it's wrong to judge the harmfullness of a substance on the number of users and its historical context? The relative dangers of cannabis, tobacco and alcohol should be discussed on the basis of emperical evidence and not on historical or cultural influences.

 

[Richdog]

Don't you think it's wrong to judge the harmfullness of a substance on the number of users and its historical context? The relative dangers of cannabis, tobacco and alcohol should be discussed on the basis of emperical evidence and not on historical or cultural influences.

Wrong? Possibly. Realistic? Definitely. Ask yourself what the chances are of alcohol being banned. Then think about what the chances of cannabis remaining illegal are.

The very fact that alcohol is as embedded in our society as deeply as our blood-vessels in our bodies may not be "objective" to your eyes when comparing the two, but it's an obvious factor in the different ways in which cannabis and alcohol are judged. A large part of our economy and social practises/behaviour relies on alcohol... I can't think of much of it that relies on cannabis.

 

[Edinho]

Legalise it. Legalise them all.

The current system doesnt work and will never work until someone changes it radically. Will a British government ever do anything radical, doubt it.

 

[Skunkworks]

Will a British government ever do anything radical, doubt it.

Exactly.

If we were talking about classify substances on health grounds, then tobacco would be banned, and many illegal drugs would be made legal. But we have to remember that a governments number one priority is re-election, so it won't be happening for a long while, as the average voter seems to think that legal drugs must be ok, and illegal drugs are just plain bad.

 

[Heaven Can Wait]

Legalise it, licence it, tax it.

It is your body so you should be free to do whatever you want with it. Decriminalise it, legitimise the supply and then you can make sure it is clean, a particular strength and you can keep tabs on who is selling it and to whom. Do the same for all drugs. Educate about the risks and let adults make informed choices.

Libertarians away!