Community | February 16, 2011 | 133 comments

Worth Repeating: Approved Drugs, 10,008 Deaths; Marijuana 0

source: http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/02/worth_repeating_approved_drugs_10008_deaths_mariju.php

Image
bundlebear
There has never been a single documented primary human fatality from overdosing on cannabis in its natural form in any amount.

When a new drug is being developed, phase two of studying it determines how safe the drug is, what would be a possible therapeutic dose vs. a fatal dose. Remember, the difference between a medicine and a poison is only the dose.

The LD 50 of a drug stands for how much of the substance being tested will kill 50 percent of a population of test subjects by overdose compared to their body mass (rats are used), and the amount of the drug that killed 50 percent is averaged according to animal body weight, and then that information is extrapolated for an average human's weight.

The amount is theoretical, because the test could never be ethically performed in real humans.

When THC is tested for its LD 50 in rats, researchers have a problem: They can't seem to kill the rats with THC, no matter how hard they try! THC is just too damn safe.

According to the Merck Index, 12th edition (the number one reference book for medical doctors), the LD 50 value for rats by inhalation of THC is 42 mg/kg of body weight. Comparing this to an average human being, one estimate of THC's LD 50 for humans indicates that about 1,500 pounds (680 kg) if cannabis would have to be smoked within 14 minutes. Warning: Don't try this at home! In the real world, the only way this could possibly happen would be something like you are trapped in a house made of cannabis, it's engulfed in flames and all the windows and doors are locked -- the mother of all bong rips!)

By contrast, with alcohol, chugging as little as 10 ounces of 100 proof on an empty stomach would likely put a 150-pound person into a coma, possibly leading to respiratory arrest.


Even aspirin can kill you. Moderate toxicity occurs at doses up to 300 mg/kg, severe toxicity occurs between 300 to 500 mg/kg, and a potentially lethal dose is greater than 500 mg/kg, i.e., the LD 50 for a 150-pound person would be approximately 100 to 125 325-mg tabs of aspirin.

Acetaminophen causes three times as many cases of liver failure as all other drugs combined, and is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States -- accounting for 39 percent of all cases. While it occurs through overdosing, even recommended doses, especially combined with even small amounts of alcohol, have caused irreversible liver failure. Four grams of Tylenol -- that is, just eight extra-strength tabs, taken all at once -- kills you by killing your liver.

Have you ever heard of any person committing suicide with a marijuana overdose? No, because it is impossible. If you smoke too much you just fall asleep; that's it.

THC has to be the safest drug known to mankind. Safer than water? Maybe. Ever heard of marathon runners over-hydrating before a race, and inducing a state of hyponaturemia in their bodies (very low sodium serum blood levels), which can induce a fatal cardiac arrythmia? Numbers are hard to find; it only happens to a handful of people a year, but it's serious enough that it's on runners' radar, and they are warned not to over-drink water before a big race.

Here are the 17 commonly prescribed drugs (in four groups) that were compared to marijuana in this study.

#1. Anti-emetics: Drugs to stop vomiting, common with chemotherapy in cancer patients. Examples are Compazine (15 deaths), Reglan (37), Marinol (4), Zofran (79), Anzemet (22), Kytril (36), and Tigan (3). In the 10 year look back, these seven FDA-approved drugs killed a total of 197 people with normal use.

#2. Anti-spasmodics: Drugs to treat muscle spasms, widely used for the treatment of spastic movement disorders, especially in instances of spinal cord injury, spastic diplegia, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), peripheral neuropathy and trigeminal. All are very serious medical conditions. Examples of drugs to treat these conditions are Baclofen (72 deaths) and Zanaflex (46 deaths). These two FDA-approved drugs killed a total of 118 people with normal use over 10 years. If there is one group that would benefit greatly from the peaceful effects of the herb, it's these humans who are in such need of joy.

#3. Anti-psychotics: Drugs used to treat psychosis. Haldol (450 deaths), Lithium (175), and Neurotin (968). These three FDA-approved drugs killed a total of 1,595 people with normal use over 10 years.

#4. Others: Drugs for depression, attention deficit disorder, pain, and erectile dysfunction. Ritalin (121), Wellbutrin (1,132), Adderall (54), Viagra (2,254), and Vioxx (4,540). These five FDA-approved drugs killed a total of 8,101 people with normal use over 10 years.

In total, 10,008 deaths due to company-tested drugs, with data reviewed by the FDA and approved for safe use in humans by M.D. prescription only -- vs. unregulated market cannabis, with ZERO deaths, with no M.D. overview, and about 15 percent of the U.S. population who make up the cannabis culture -- with NO recorded "marijuana deaths" in the death certificates or the news? No marijuana deaths, no matter how much you smoke at one time.

It is important to note that cannabis has been prescribed and used for centuries to treat some of these conditions, such as vomiting, muscle spasms, depression, pain control, anti-inflammatory and is somewhat of an aphrodisiac.

It doesn't always work -- but it DOESN'T KILL PEOPLE, EITHER!

Many times just being able to feel happy with no body pain and deep sleep is all a person needs to heal. Pain and suffering decrease immune system function. A big smile on your face turns the immune system on. When you are smiling, you are healing.

This huge psychological impact of cannabis is not recognized for its true worth. The "high" IS the cure!

The deaths recorded in relationship to these 17 FDA-approved drugs are all due to "adverse events." This means anything that caused people to die due to normal therapeutic doses, with the possibility of unforeseen major side effects, or accidental or purposeful overdose (both rare).

Mostly in these cases, people were just taking the normal dose as per doctor's orders and died directly due to the drug only.

Any time you take a prescribed drug, look it up and check its safety record. Remember all the drug commercials you see a hundred times a day? Part one, why you need this drug; part two, all the insane common major side effects -- like death! Hell, I almost died taking Lipitor!

Warning: Never discontinue taking a prescribed medicine on your own. Always talk to your doctor first before changing any drug treatment plan. Always talk with your M.D.; they are on your side.

So remind me again. Why is marijuana illegal?

Why is marijuana a "Schedule I" drug?

Why all the misinformation surrounding marijuana?

Why would drugs with such poor safety records be prescribed?

There is such an irrational resistance to this time-proven, gentle medicine.


http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/02/worth_repeating_approved_drugs_10008_deaths...
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Health,   Actual News,   16 more
  2. tags:
    News,  Marijuana,  Drugs,  Death,  4 more
  3.     
    |

133 comments // Worth Repeating: Approved Drugs, 10,008 Deaths; Marijuana 0

  • tommic
    • 0
      tommic  

    • Between tobacco, alcohol and prescription medications over one million die per year, directly attributed to those legal drugs and prescribed drugs. marijuana accounts for zero deaths from abuse of the drug, furthermore I would not call it abuse unless your stoned from the moment you awake until you pass out. I have had to deal with serious issues while high on Pot, like convincing my mother to admit herself to a mental hospital when she had a nervous breakdown, on more than one occasion, as it would take hours to convince her it was in her own best interests to get better. Self admit, you let yourself out when you feel better as opposed to being committed. Then depending upon the state a doctor or as many as three must agree to admit a person and also to release them. Had to do it once while tripping on LSD, talk about a wake up call, something no person can even imagine. It was incredibly difficult to keep that stupid smile off my face while discussing the whole situation with her psychiatrist and colors passing in front of my eyers like I was at a rock concert

    • 1 year ago
  • covertops
    • 0
      covertops  

    • I took the recommend dosage of Zyprexa for 3 yrs and it was not good for me either. My sugar went thru the roof and I gained almost 50 lbs in 3 yrs. I am 5'1". I went from 130 to 175. I came off the drug and wow I lost weight. I have Bipolar Disorder and will not take Lithium. I hate side effects.....Lamictal and Enviga screwed up my stomach. I could go on...but I wont.

    • 1 year ago
  • pmurph364
    • 0
      pmurph364  

    • The main reason that weed,puff,trees,green,dro or whatever it is called in your local hood will stay illegal is the vast number of "correct thinking" people employed in the business of managing all the non violent offenders in the country. Lawyers, Judges,Guards ,Probation, Bondsmen, and many more depend on the income derived from vast efforts to control a plant that grows in over 90% of the country.
      What would all the treatment center people do if weed were legal? So it must be kept the way it is to keep all these people employed.

    • 1 year ago
  • lottery_stone
    • 0
      lottery_stone  
    • pmurph364:

      I agree with you to an extent, and systems usually get comfortable with how they run, but that system can be restructured in a few generations - the time it would take to cycle through people who have been re-educated on how to "think correctly." The "system's" attitude towards marijuana is markedly different than it was 30 years ago, and it's sure to be just as different in another 30 years.

      This ought to happen since it often costs law enforcement several magnitudes more to seize marijuana than the actual street value of it. If you spend a million dollars a year to stop a billion dollars worth of crimes, sure, it paid off. But if it's a billion that you spent to stop a million dollars worth of crimes, then something is certainly off. What most likely is the case are overly fervent individuals who would go to enormous lengths to stop something that has been ingrained in them as bad for so many reasons as per the war on drugs.

      To be completely honest with you, I'm more concerned that people aren't afraid that the potential legalization of marijuana wouldn't become the new opiate of the masses. If the government knows who smokes, then they also know who doesn't smoke. You don't think that information could be useful?

    • 1 year ago
  • lottery_stone
    • 0
      lottery_stone  

    • Another one where they don't stress the fact that they're talking about tests involving THC and NOT marijuana, and then extrapolating the THC data directly to marijuana smoke. Some of the comments following the article addressed this, and others responded by saying there are non-smoked ways of getting high off THC. The problem is this type of propaganda never really addresses that. THC studies are vast and far between, but marijuana studies aren't quite so prevalent, other than bolstered personal recommendations. The same is true of many unbiased illegal drug tests. They can't typically use street drugs because they often vary in quality, even if it's something natural like psilocybin mushrooms. Instead they perform their tests using pure, standardized psilocybin, often synthetically made.

      And BURNING plant material is virtually always toxic and harmful to the lungs.

      Bottom line, EVERYONE I know who smokes marijuana has negative side effects compared to when they are not high, both physically and nonphysically, and time and time again quietly admit that that should probably stop smoking or that they're smoking too much. And that's not to say they don't experience some benefits, but it's important to look at the whole picture and not just what a psychological addiction is telling you. Everyone I know who uses marjuana virtually always smokes it, and really don't use it for "medical" reasons, although they often tout its medical benefits and champion any new advancements in isolated cannabinoids for medical use.

      In fact, the marijuana community had a diverse list of reasons why it should be legalized, until George Soros began funding the cause, and instructed that they should concentrate their efforts into trying to legalize medical marijuana. It worked, and medical marijuana began making breakthroughs in a number of states, but now you have an issue: TWO TYPES of "marijuana." Actual marijuana, and medical marijuana, which is evolving into mostly THC extracts. But you don't have marijuana advocates differentiating very much between the two.

      Regardless of what good it can do, a high is a high, and people shouldn't hide those reasons for supporting it. I virtually never hear users speak candidly about their use, of any good or bad it does.

    • 1 year ago
  • NC54
  • corndog67
    • 0
      corndog67  

    • How many people do you know that have COPD directly related to smoking weed? I know a few. They are going to die from lung ailments, and that is a fact, not the propaganda that is being spewed.

      The title of this article is bullshit.

    • 1 year ago
  • bundlebear
  • corndog67
    • 0
      corndog67  
    • bundlebear:

      OK, but believe everything that is pro-marijuana, right to the end. Gullible.

      If you want to smoke it, go ahead. But knock off all the bullshit about how it is completely harmless, or as some dumb ass put it, it cures cancer and everything else. Every knows that medical marijuana is getting all fucked up because 98% of the users are just telling bullshit stories to their doctors, while the 2% that can really use it for medical purposes are going to be the ones suffering because a bunch of spoiled little kids want to smoke dope, so they go to some Doc that "sells" them a recommedation for $150, in this county anyway, so they can buy it legally.

      Or are you going to tell me that everyone you know with a recommendation is legit? Everyone, but one guy, that I know that has the recommendation, is bullshitting, there is no doubt about that, they admit it. Here, tell the Doc you're stressed, tell him you have headaches, tell him your toenails look funny, for $150, they will give it to you.

      You can't smoke anything without it fucking up your lungs. That's just common sense.

    • 1 year ago
  • bundlebear
    • 0
      bundlebear  
    • corndog67:

      it's not bullshit no one has ever died from toxicity of THC you could smoke till the cows come home and you won't overdose on it. When it comes to cancer they have studies that it can reverse, suppress, or completely halt tumor development in lung, skin, and prostate cancers and that has been scientifically proven by people alot smarter than you and me. there are other ways to get THC in your system other than smoking it like eating, vaporizer and they just came out with a THC infused soda. look don't get me wrong i don't believe that marijuana is a miracle drug that's going to save the world or anything but locking people up and tearing families apart because of it is ridiculous to me

      here's that study on cancer
      http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/68/2/339.full

    • 1 year ago
  • sugarmountian
  • unimatrix0
  • dreamsenvoy
  • Sir_Mckenna
  • arbil333
  • arbil333
  • arbil333
  • arbil333
  • arbil333
  • arbil333
  • unimatrix0
    • +4
      unimatrix0  
    • arbil333:

      Friend,

      Next time, put down the pipe, try to gather your thoughts, and leave one coherent post, rather than littering the board with short, idiosyncratic, stream of consciousness posts. Such posts are tedious, make navigation needlessly time consuming, and prove an unpleasant aesthetic distraction.

    • 1 year ago
  • Kitten_of_D00M
    • +1
      Kitten_of_D00M  
    • arbil333:

      I've got to agree with unimatrix0 on this, though I've enjoyed some of your previous posts. Maybe you could use the editing feature to consolidate your one-liners into one comment and delete the rest? Would you please consider that? Thank you.

    • 1 year ago
  • arbil333
    • 0
      arbil333  
    • unimatrix0:

      wow.that was the rudest comment ever.instead of being a cool person who knows this site and helping people,you go immiture as a 3 year old with stupid short, idiosyncratic, stream of consciousness posts. Such posts are tedious.so new people get the 3rd degree.?not cool.anger? really? i guess your perfect.pipe? childish.really.

    • 1 year ago
  • arbil333
  • Sir_Mckenna
  • Sir_Mckenna
  • bundlebear
  • dreamsenvoy
  • Conniepae
    • +3
      Conniepae  
    • Sir_Mckenna:

      Well, cannabis is one of the top cash crops in America and has been for over 30 years. Are you saying everyone is going to be schizophrenic? One link is not enough. Many links can be supplied, which give the positives of cannabis.

    • 1 year ago
  • Sir_Mckenna
    • +2
      Sir_Mckenna  
    • Conniepae:

      Just trying to bring out the fact there is a connection between mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and smoking pot. However if i refer Terence as I did posting that another link... It´s kinda privilege to have schizophrenia in certain kind of societies, but not here in "the western world" where psychiatry rules.

      "Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy."

      -Paracelsus

    • 1 year ago
  • ApeFace
  • Sir_Mckenna
  • Conniepae
    • +2
      Conniepae  
    • Sir_Mckenna:

      I think the connection between schizophrenia and cannabis is, some with schizophrenic tendencies try cannabis. A certain number of our population will become schizophrenic, that's a fact. But stating one causes the other is a stretch. I think there would be many articles professing the association. I think it would be a 'weapon' in the war on drugs. It is not. Probably because they know the claim to be false.

      Just my opinion, but I do not agree with the schizophrenia analogy. It falls more into the category of 'Reefer Madness'.

    • 1 year ago
  • Conniepae
    • +1
      Conniepae  
    • Image
    • Sir_Mckenna:

      I don't think you are paranoid. I believe you read the study. Fortunately there is 'much' positive information about cannabis and 'little' negative information about cannabis. If you would have any true interest in the topic, I would strongly recommend you take a look at http://www.jackherer.com/ , The actual book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" is 1/2 fact and 1/2 documentation backing up the facts.

      Granted facts were removed from educational material in America, but a fact is a fact, whether it is hidden from the masses, or not. Politicians have used 'the war on drugs' for political gain. Not using facts, using the cover of war to spin disinformation. That's shameful.

      Some want to act as though people who prefer cannabis are doing something shameful, I personally think it is shameful to lie. I think it's shameful to spin disinformation for political gain. I think it's shameful to have a war on a plant for financial gain. The illegality of cannabis, keeps their competition (hemp) from coming to market. Hemp can be used to make many, many environmentally friendly products. it's a fact! Hemp could generate industry and jobs (IN) America. They can't 'outsource' our farm land! We could grow jobs literally and to lie about that is 'shameful'.

    • 1 year ago
  • Sir_Mckenna
  • LivingPong
    • +3
      LivingPong  
    • Sir_Mckenna:

      One of my friends hears voices when he smokes weed. It's not good for everyone. He already had schizophrenia before he smoked weed though. His family are pretty wacky too.

      I was always screwy long before I smoked the stuff due to extreme trauma as a child.
      I also had good times though. I can still enjoy the odd puff and it helps me sleep. I wish I could legally just have a bit to help me wind down now and then because I'm like a frigging super ball. I'm going to bounce off too bed and try and sleep.

      SProoooInG ~~~ ~~~> |

    • 1 year ago
  • pokinsmot
    • 0
      pokinsmot  
    • Sir_Mckenna:

      i didnt bother reading the link, so i dont know if it was mentioned. but THC does not CAUSE schizophrenia. if you are predisposed to it, meaning there is family history of it, then yes, you run the risk of schizophrenia surfacing because of your cannabis use.

      but it will not make schizophrenia appear where it wasnt before.

    • 1 year ago
  • kcaid
    • +5
      kcaid  

    • pharma (farma) hates cannabis because one cannabis plant can take care for many illnesses (medical issue), but it takes many pills/chemicals to take care of one illness (medical issue), thus rendering pharma worthless....... if cannabis where to become legal, federally, as a medical substitute, it could seriously kill pharma..... the information is out there, all you have to do is look for it and read the facts

      Facts, no matter how you spin it, they are still facts.

    • 1 year ago
  • HarukoHaruhara
    • 0
      HarukoHaruhara  

    • Tobacco, perfectly legal, 400,000-plus every year die from it.

      Alcohol, perfectly legal, 100,000-plus every year die from it.

      Marijuana, illegal, 0 overdoses (Hookay, it probably does cause some traffic deaths, but keep it illegal to drive while under the influence of it.)

    • 1 year ago
  • kirby_101
  • kirby_101
  • Patrick_Russo
    • +3
      Patrick_Russo  

    • It's a lack of bravery in our politics. Blatently obvious facts are no longer considered in debate, only voter response. In my opinion, when our founding fathers expressed their fear of the "Tyrany of the Masses" this is what they where talking about. Political will to make obviously beneficial changes can be staggered by politics in general.

      Could you imagine the fallout if the first black president ever legalized pot? Even during his campaign i was talking about it. If he does do anything with it it'll be in his next term, and I seriously doubt that. Whoever moves the (purposely) unwieldy cogs of our federal government will have a legacy, and i promise it wont be a totally positive one.

      Unfortunately, that's more a deterrent then freeing harmless "criminals" and educating the population is an encouragement.

      My very bright friend from work a few years ago was kicked out of school and denied the financial aid he needed to go because he had seeds on his floorboard at school. That's a system set up to keep the classes where they are, in my view... now I don't like to prescribe to conspiracy theories... but there are many people who would benefit from the proliferation of this "stoner" stereotype that allows the public to stay ignorant.

      If you smoke and want to help, but don't know how, work hard. Be altruistic. Give the naysayers nothing to say, and stand up for your beliefs among your peers and family.

      Now nobody's perfect. I don't take my own advice well. It's an idealistic mission, really. I think when idealism finally makes a meaningful transition into reality in our politics and lives, we'll be free. Just teach and live and hope you don't get caught before you can do something worthwhile with yourself. My two cents...

    • 1 year ago
  • madjik68
    • +1
      madjik68  

    • I believe Neurontin was originally designed as an anticonvulsant drug. I also used it for peripheral neuropathic pain. In my case it did not work and have found medical marijuana to be a god send.

    • 1 year ago
  • KSirys
    • +5
      KSirys  

    • These drugs are not meant to help anyone... they are only meant to keep you addicted and to never get better. This is the reason why, pharmaceutical companies should be closed down, NOW!!!!!

    • 1 year ago
  • juicie
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +2
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  

    • Bottom line: it should be decriminalized with all other recreational drugs. Consider the below, and adding decriminalization in a list of demands; because it's too threatening to votes which all politicians are lying, cheating and stealing for:

      If a "backward", less privileged people like the Egyptians, without a precedence for individual liberty and protections, can coerce changes in a begrudging government like Mubarak's, isn't it sinful to accept that we, the people of the United States, with a legacy of individual rights and liberties, can't do the same?!? We need a progressive activist organization within every U.S. community, with the ability to act in sync on cue; Middle Eastern style. If corporate America is imprisoning us with the effects of their control of government, why can't we do what half naked Indians did to Great Britain? If we were to stage work stoppage protests throughout this country, simultaneously and on cue, we could bring corporate America to it's knees! And, this may be our single biggest and best weapon against the war they are waging. Consider, boycotting every socially irresponsible corporation, and staging a national work stoppage culminating with a meet and greet on the capital lawn. I only hope that the streets surrounding the Capital are not so overcrowded, that our legislators can't get in or out! That would be upsetting, wouldn't it? P.S. Progressives United is not a new political agenda, merely a new name. We need to thread the multitude of small individual progressive orgs. into a cooperative. Who else has time to work on this?

    • 1 year ago
  • katyids
    • 0
      katyids  
    • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM:

      Whether people want freedom, democracy, or bargaining, what the world is saying is "I don't want to see this large disparity between the top 2% and the rest of us." I wouldn't mind seeing a wall street sit down. That would be so fun. Pass the bowl, please.

    • 1 year ago
  • bertkamp
    • +1
      bertkamp  

    • Besides my self, I can only think of a half dozen people with out a prescription. Every has either add or some kind of chemical imbalance. If I have leaned anything in my short life it is that there is no such thing as a chemically balanced person. I have also learned that Ganja is not a harmless plant, and can ruin a person's life. But when used with responsibility ganja = great. Seriously it is just wonderful. Best plant in the history of nature. To hell with rose marry, oregano and those sissy herbs.

    • 1 year ago
  • Patrick_Russo
    • +1
      Patrick_Russo  
    • bertkamp:

      Ah! I like this comment. "...can ruin a person's life. But when used with responsibility ganja = great"

      That's the message I want people who are hard-liners to hear. We know it's a drug. We know it can be abused. So can soda pop (which is infinitely more likely to kill you via obesity :P) and yet it's legal. The idea that the government should decide what I use to relax, or party, is not American.

      Every parent out there who's kid has died or gotten pregnant or just fucked their life away with alcohol should be for legalization. When people act irresponsibly, which is an inevitability, they shouldn't have to lose their lives and livelihoods for it. Pot offers an alternative to alcohol, and I REALLY REALLY REALLY (yeah, i know i'm probably wrong) don't understand how it's constitutional to force me to choose the greater of two evils. My bliss is NEVER with alcohol. I rather hate the stuff, but I drink it if i want to go hang out with friends socially. Otherwise we have to hide in our houses getting fatter and eating the addictive wal-mart brand cheezy poofs that will eventually clog my heart and kill me.

      My bliss would be some sublime, some sun, and a big fat spliff to smoke while I walk around at the park getting my exercise in for the day.

      I wanna just throw this out there... Get high other places then your house. You don't get sleepy and lazy unless you're sitting on ass. You wont get uber-munchies if there's no food next to you. I plan on getting arrested the day AFTER I don't need federal aid to go to classes. Got a week and some extra cash? Write up a sign and have a "Peaceful" protest outside the local wal-mart or court-house and express how harmless and happy you are... until you get arrested. Shake people up, and make them see that their view isn't the only one. That's the best possible thing for this country right now, i think.

    • 1 year ago
  • tommic
    • +7
      tommic  

    • I am 54 years old I have seen it all in the drug culture, from the days of imported thai weed from viet vets and LSD through to today. Now I am sober except for the occaisional cannibis. No war on drugs can ever win, it is an impossiblity to halt the desire in all who wish to use illegal drugs to do so, and now making designer drug meth from really bad shit. The answer is the total decriminialization of drugs, spend the money made taxing legalized pot, take all DEA money spend it on clinics where addicts get clean drugs , education, reduced drug use through public easy access and education, some will be saved many will not. Addiction is a compulsive mental problem, almost every human deals with an addiction of one kind or another, the concept of making an addiction a crime is itself a crime. Help addictive people, they need it, don't push them towards crime but away. Take away as much profit as possible and save thousands of lives, 30,000 in Mexico alone in the last year. While many will die from addiction, they will one way or another, its the personality. We facilitate tens of thousands of deaths in Mexico, by drug gangs, lets take that profit away, from them and help the Mexicans save their country, they are the ones really losing the war on drugs worse than us, they lose entire towns., we just waste 100 billion dollars plus, they lose lives evertday. Think on it

    • 1 year ago
  • juicie
    • +1
      juicie  
    • tommic:

      if ganja wasn't illegal, vendors would not sell spice. Same goes for ecstasy, if that were legal people would not buy "bath salts" aka mephedrone aka M-cat.

    • 1 year ago
  • suzanned63
  • Incredulous
    • +4
      Incredulous  
    • suzanned63:

      screaming at someone in all CAPS and multiple exclamation points because they misspelled something isn't psychotic behavior at all...have a nice day, and maybe another Neurontin.

    • 1 year ago
  • MsCyan
    • +1
      MsCyan  
    • suzanned63:

      Gabapentin (brand name Neurontin) is a pharmaceutical drug, specifically a GABA analogue. It was originally developed for the treatment of epilepsy, and currently, gabapentin is widely used to relieve pain, especially neuropathic pain, as well as major depressive disorder. Gabapentin received final approval for marketing in the USA on 30 December 1993 and is labeled only for use as an anticonvulsant. It is also used to treat individuals suffering from many kinds of pain problems, tremors, restless legs syndrome, hot flashes associated with menopause, and various psychiatric disorders.... - Check what you write before publishing it...

    • 1 year ago
  • im1mjrpain
    • +4
      im1mjrpain  

    • It never amazes me how so many people have been conditioned to believe marijuana is a dangerous drug/narcotic. The Cannabis plant from which the cannabis is derived has a long history of medicinal use, with evidence dating back to 2,737 BC.

      Researchers admit that they are unable to really study the benefits of cannabis because to pick up a few ounces for research purposes would just be illegal.

      Fact there isn't 1 documented case of marijuana causing a death. The following are statistics from various sources about deaths and Smoking tabacco:
      Death rate is 2-3 times higher than non-smokers
      Estimated to cause 10 million deaths per year worldwide by 2020 (WHO Web Site)
      1.2 million deaths in Europe (The European Heart Network)
      45,000 African American deaths each year in America (CBCF Health Organisation, 2004)
      1.2 million deaths from smoking in Europe (The European Heart Network, 2000)
      400,000 deaths annually in the US (Mayo Clinic)

      But yet we can buy cigarettes in any grocery store, gas station, corner market, the list goes on and on. Wake up people.

    • 1 year ago
  • LuvThyPlanet
    • 0
      LuvThyPlanet  

    • Whoops, forgot to address the cannabis subject. I do believe that most of it is true, I also believe that a very sick person in pain should be given the drug to help them without going through red tape and jumping through hoops.

      I also believe that every adult should decide for themselves to smoke it or not, and that they should somehow be allowed to purchase so much a year. How that would be done, I don't know.

      There are a lot of worse over the counter medications on the shelf of your local drugstore that would kill in a second if taken with other medications or mixed with alcohol.

    • 1 year ago
  • Jeremy_Benson
  • Incredulous
  • LuvThyPlanet
    • +1
      LuvThyPlanet  

    • Oh, when I get on the subject of drugs, I can rant and rave forever! My doctor's had me HOOKED on a lot of prescription medication for years. I woke up and saw the light in 2003, went through withdrawal, had major surgery, (not because of the drugs) and went home to recuperate and taught myself a healthy lifestyle, including my diet.

      I BUTTED heads with the PCP many times, and he HATED me teaching myself the benefits of supplements. I finally ditched him in 2007 and found a young, smart woman and I thank God everyday she is my doctor!!

    • 1 year ago
  • Incredulous
  • Jeremy_Benson
    • +3
      Jeremy_Benson  

    • I don't trust my doctor. Well, that's not completely true. If he tells me I have a broken arm or a flu, and my arm is bent in funny ways or I have chest congestion then I'm inclined to believe. But I have always ascribed to the philosophy that one should know all information possible about what you are consuming. If I am prescribed something seemingly innocuous - say even an anti bacterial - you best believe I'm looking that bitch up on the internet before it gets anywhere near my mouth. Same goes with food. Same goes with recreational drugs. If I am going to take a risk, I am damn sure going to know what those risks are.

    • 1 year ago
  • vaxart
    • +6
      vaxart  

    • Drug companies have the license to kill. Cannabis is cheaper and people might end up living....., so you see it doesn't fit the bill with drug companies' principle.

    • 1 year ago
  • Incredulous
  • lifestudentno83
    • +2
      lifestudentno83  
    • hindotka:

      So, a drug that makes you an "idiot" for several minutes is dangerous enough to be outlawed, but medicines that can kill you are fine?

      And your logic on this is because he or she might do something they would regret?
      How is this any different from alcohol, which is currently legal and kills people along with making them do stupid things?

      Your logic is flawed, and that flawed logic keeps Cannabis illegal while other drugs that cause death continue to be created.

    • 1 year ago
  • noxidereus
    • +6
      noxidereus  

    • The fact that marijuana is still controversial is a testament to how powerful propaganda really is. It demonstrates how readily politicians lie to us, as well as how easily we are duped/trained. I is also a glaring example, showing us just how powerful the corporations are as they have succeeded for so long in duping the public in order to maximize their precious profits (at the expense of truth, fairness, and their own humanity).

    • 1 year ago
  • hunzedog
    • +6
      hunzedog  

    • sorry but i think your numbers are off....
      for example....150,000 people die every year from complications from drugs...
      they just lie about what happened
      500,000 people die every year from tobacco...sells at wal-mart
      100,000 from booze....arrest budweizer.....14,000 killed by dui every year.....
      oxys kill 12 people every day in florida alone....
      i think 10,000 is a joke...........
      maybe you missed a zero....
      advangia killed 85,000 people for fucks sake....
      thats 500 people a month and the fda just kept cashing those checks.
      while doctors prescribed death over and over again...

    • 1 year ago
  • Tim_Patrick
  • alexandrek
  • Tim_Patrick
  • Kitten_of_D00M
    • +1
      Kitten_of_D00M  
    • Tim_Patrick:

      And Fox news won the right to lie about it (Monsanto is a huge sponsor) and the legal right to FORCE their reporters to repeat the lies, even after their research revealed dangerous problems with the bovine growth hormone. We are so fucked.

    • 1 year ago
  • LivingPong
    • +1
      LivingPong  
    • Kitten_of_D00M:

      they better not GM my pizza!
      Oh fuck, my cheese
      stay away from my buffalo
      crazy bastards
      if my bull was still alive I'd take him down the head office, he could spot a prick a mile away
      somehow I doubt my dog would have the same effect, but he can do a mean arse number on a big toe!

      Virgil the Poet Puppy Fights for Herbal Remedy
      The drugs I'm prescribed are way more dangerous than weed and have some wacky side effects. I find it hard to sleep and my libido is totally screwed up and the stuff I'm on is addictive. Unfortunately I just hide away from the world without it so I'm rather screwed.
      I am the result of corruption and big business, but luckily for me my grandmother was an angel and my great grandmother was a botanical genius
      hopefully soon I'll be able to get off these pills
      I should sleep

      Peace :D

    • 1 year ago
  • BenjaminDover
    • +8
      BenjaminDover  

    • This is one of the many reasons marijuana should never be considered medicine.
      Since it has no possibility for a fatal over dose there is no reason that a physician should be in charge of prescribing it.
      We should all move toward describing it as an herbal remedy, unregulated, over the counter, and most importantly not in the hands of big pharma!

    • 1 year ago
  • Kitten_of_D00M
    • 0
      Kitten_of_D00M  
    • BenjaminDover:

      If it were sold as an unregulated herbal remedy, I guaran-fuckin-tee you Phillip Morris would either buy up all of the growers and distributors, or buy off politicians to have cannabis made illegal again. Like they did with clove cigarettes. It's already illegal to sell cigarettes to minors, so why should adults be denied a product that they want? When I went to London and Paris in 1994, I was going through withdrawals because I couldn't find cloves anywhere. I ended up smoking gauloises and gitanes, which you can't get here anymore, either. Fuck Philip Morris!!! If I'm going to pursue an unhealthy habit, I should at least be able to get the brands I want.

    • 1 year ago
  • BenjaminDover
    • 0
      BenjaminDover  
    • Kitten_of_D00M:

      I loved cloves. Djarum no filters. And it's funny you mention Europe, I found them quite easily in Amsterdam. Over there they called them Kretek, a girl walked up to me in a club and said "Oh, you're smoking a kretek." . I didn't know what she was talking about til she showed me the word on the pack I had brought from America. Of course that was years ago.

    • 1 year ago
  • Travis_Shiels
  • arigg
    • +6
      arigg  

    • amen amen amen
      PLEASE IN MY LIFETIME FREEDOM FOR EVERYBODY - especially people who love innocent flowers - which by the way can be highly beneficial as opposed to harmful ...

    • 1 year ago
  • EtVoila
    • +5
      EtVoila  

    • It's a shame that all of the people opposed to marijuana are so closed-minded to factual information such as this. We present information, facts and statistics to them but they just plug their ears and refuse to hear it. It's just ignorance and refusal to accept what's true...really frustrating.

    • 1 year ago
  • Autisticmatt
    • 0
      Autisticmatt  
    • EtVoila:

      Their ignorance is simply fear. yet if the government says a certain drug made in a lab is fine- then it's ok to use- right? Then the right wing conservatives are in line for it.

    • 1 year ago
  • Conniepae
    • +4
      Conniepae  

    • I don't have time to also share hemp facts, but they matter also. Americans could have a whole new environmentally friendly industry, if they changed course in the war on drugs. Hemp is a casualty of the war on American soil, even though it is not a drug.

      We need new industry and jobs. It's time to 'move along' to a plant which has led us to victory in the past. Hemp was removed from educational material in America, enabling them to spin madness. It's time to end the madness and move along to victory.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne9UF-pFhJY

    • 1 year ago
  • Kitten_of_D00M
    • 0
      Kitten_of_D00M  
    • Conniepae:

      We need to wage our own war on conservatism! No more reaching across the aisle. I'm sick to death of living under absurd laws designed and enforced by assholes of inferior intellect!! How did we allow the stupidest people in the country to take control? It's obscene.

      Show your love for America. Bitch-slap a Conservative Today.

    • 1 year ago
  • Conniepae
  • katyids
    • +10
      katyids  

    • I also live in a state, oregon, that has med marijuana. Ya know, I have so many good things to say about it, that I really can't begin to figure how to parse it out for the sake of a post. Here's a bit, tho

      It is medically useful
      It is generally not harmful
      It is fun, people laugh a lot.
      People don't fight on it usually (unless it's over the last piece of pizza).
      Pot smokers tend to be progressive in outlook, and have been inspired to amazing, kind, and very organized achievements.
      My observation and experience is that it is often only addictive to those who believe it is
      Pot is very energizing (you just need to get up and start doing, before the mellowing state kicks in).
      It definitely does not dumb you down.
      I would say pot smokers are less likely to engage in robbery, assault, murder - it's just too much trouble.
      I don't know a single pot smoker who would go out and start a war. They may smoke in a war, and I know I'm generalizing. There's probably someone, somewhere, who might say, gee, I'm not doing anything today? How 'bout you? No. Well, let's go bomb __________. They might play war games, but that's different. It just isn't much of an aggressive drug. (great for a sit in. just pass bowls around)

      I so see myself at 90, hanging out on the front porch in my rocker drinking a glass of wine and smoking homegrown with the 90 yo next door, reminiscing about those fun old days of our youth when pot was illegal.

    • 1 year ago
  • twinite
  • Kitten_of_D00M
  • katyids
  • August_K
    • +4
      August_K  

    • Big pharma can't make money off natural substances.....every 20-30 years they try to push the FDA into classifying regular old OTC vitamins as drugs but there's
      always a huge backlash.....but it probably won't stop them from trying again and again.

      Watched a really good video with a guy named Mike Ruppert talking about the drug money wall street connection. The big cartels in S. America need to launder their money so they deal with corrupt banks.
      Some guy from Citibank went down to S.A. and tried to get some of them to invest some of their "cash" in wall street. They didn't want to apparently so Citibank up and bought some well known drug money laundering bank in South America.

      It's always about the Money.

    • 1 year ago
  • ozoneocean
    • +1
      ozoneocean  
    • August_K:

      There are too many subtitles here... One of the problems with NOT having vitamins treated as drugs is that the claims that vitamin producers make do not have to be tested. They can be selling useless sugar pills and telling people they can help cure AIDS and that's all fine and legal.
      Big pharma makes a LOT of money from vitamins because of that ;)

      The thing about money again is not straight forward: "Drug money" isn't some magical source of income, when it comes right down to it that's just the money that ultimately comes from ordinary people, rich and poor, who pay for the drugs. If they were legal, they'd STILL be paying for the drugs (paying less but more people would be buying so it balances out), the only difference is that the government could get a piece of that in taxes.
      Legal narcotics would benefit the government and business financially, but because the majority of people are ideologically opposed to legalizing drugs, such a move by any government would be suicide.

    • 1 year ago
  • ozoneocean
    • +5
      ozoneocean  

    • Oh you'd die from smoking too much cannabis right enough, if you want to go to theoretical extremes.
      *Short term- simple asphyxiation. You can't breathe the smoke like air ;)
      *Long term- Lung cancer. Carcinogens are endemic to smoke, inhaling it directly is not safe. But smoking marijuana is of course many times safer than normal cigarettes because marijuana isn't addictive so you are not compelled to smoke as much.

      Why are ANY drugs illegal? Almost all issues that are part of the drug problem (growing prison population, massive profits for organized crime, smuggling, fuelling the profits of terrorist groups through funding from drug profits etc) would begin to evaporate overnight if all drugs were legalized, regulated and taxed. But it's not logic that guides these things, it's community opinion. As long as there is a majority of community opinion that is still against the full legalization of cannabis (and other illegal drugs) it can't get any further.

    • 1 year ago
  • dreaddaze
  • Kitten_of_D00M
  • bundlebear
  • Earthwalker
    • +5
      Earthwalker  

    • just because someone has been doing something wrong for 8,9,10,100 years doesn't mean its right. I thank the gods for malpractice lawyers...AMEN notice all the pain doctors make you waive your rights to malpractice. and before any more debate over the simple fact that it is easier to bust a pothead than a murderer or rapist! just think how much safer our communities would be if the police had other things to contend with than the lowly pot smoker. and to elaborate on the comment of pot bad by association...I would have to blame pot for the reason a child was abducted because my police force was too busy busting the local pothead. The article was straight forward and factual X=amount of drug needed for overdose/(per)y=body weight equals z=overdose
      so...x/y=z(zero) maybe now you can better understand it ...."I see stupid people ...they're everywhere"

    • 1 year ago
  • Itsbatman_Durr
  • Incredulous
  • United_Federation_of_legalize_weed
  • Captain_Dad
    • +9
      Captain_Dad  

    • I spent 4 years in the military working a drug dog then retired as a city police sergeant. I spent several years on the street as well as working as an undercover narcotics detective. I've handled drugs and people under their affects and have witnessed first hand overdoses. My years of experience have led me to conclude that the war against marijuana is a sham.

      Alcohol was the biggest contributor to the problems I dealt with. Aside from lung damage, I never saw marijuana cause a single health problem. Reefer Madness is nonsense. I've seized pounds of marijuana and it didn't make a dent in the availability of it. Plenty of lawyers and state agencies were making a fortune from the arrests tho, despite the police spending valuable time and money targeting the evil weed. I'm voting to decriminalize it myself when the time comes.

    • 1 year ago
  • Kitten_of_D00M
    • 0
      Kitten_of_D00M  
    • Captain_Dad:

      Now that prisons are privatized, pot heads are a major money-maker for them, and preferred as "guests" because they tend to be mellow and easy to deal with. How fucked is that? I had a college professor who was a National Park Ranger for a while, then moved on to the DEA. He was so disgusted with the corruption he had to quit. Basically, the raids are about pocketing the money lying around and shaking down the dealers for more money. The DEA doesn't want to get drugs off the street- dealers are their very own little money farmers, and if they get out of line, they can just shoot them and write up one of their pre-planned scenarios for the incident report.

      I always thought the urban legend about the CIA introducing crack into Los Angeles to destroy the black community was a load of paranoid BS. Until a CIA whistleblower came forward to confirm it. If you haven't seen the documentary "American Drug War", you have to check it out. It's surreal that this film is out there, complete with footage from hearings, and Bush Sr. just received a medal from Obama. WTF.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5am_VXd2ik

    • 1 year ago
  • twinite
    • +9
      twinite  

    • Well shoot, this just blows Reefer Madness right out the door. I'm very fortunate to live in a state that allows alternative medication.

    • 1 year ago
  • madjik68
  • Itsbatman_Durr
12
1 - 100 of 133
more from Community:
from the community

top videos