Should we be promoting SMOKING of marijuana?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

If we legalize a drug that is often smoked is this not a step backwards?
We all know the dangers of smoking = heart disease, head and neck cancer etc.
If marijuana is to be legalized then it should only be available in capsule/tablet form, preferably for medicinal use? Unless the FDA has a problem with the effect of the drug on say the fetus or on general physiological systems.

Comments?

[msongs]

1. eat, drink, and be merry.....

lovely tea, some arugula and maryjane with your 1000 island dressing, a bit of pot laced spaghetti sauce or some ... brownies. Smoking is not required.

Msongs

[tridim]

5. That'd be pretty cool if you could buy buds at the grocery store, right next to the lettuce.

:)

Like you implied, people smoke pot because it's so damn expensive on the black market. I would guess that the majority of medical patients would prefer ingestion over incineration.

There's always the vaporizer too.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. If you have nausea as a result of cancer treatment

It can be difficult to keep anything down, even water. Smoking is the most instaneous way to deliver THC to the bloodstream which is why it's the preferred method for most users, medicinal or otherwise. I hear they are trying out a vaporizer that's fast acting.

[SeattleGirl]

25. It does come in pill form, though.

My mom took them for awhile. Her doctor prescribed them to help her eat more. She could not smoke it, because much of what she was sick from was MRSA in her lungs.

[provis99]

3. smoking marijuana is fun!

It makes people feel goofy and hallucinatory. What's wrong with that? In fact, that's the only reason it's banned. It if didn't make you feel good, it wouldn't be banned. This "cancer" nonsense is just a smokescreen by the anti-fun religious wackos.

[Political Heretic]

60. So is smoking cigarettes. And any smoke you're inhaling is toxic.

"cancer nonsense" riiiiiiight...

[Teaser]

83. please stop talking science.

science only matters when we're criticizing republicans.

[Sebastian Doyle]

4. "If marijuana is to be legalized then it should only be available in capsule/tablet form"

And which pharmaceutical company do you trust to do that?

[tridim]

12. I saw a show on BBC where the reporter tried Marinol..

Which I believe is just synthetic THC. It freaked her out, she described the feeling as extremely unpleasant.

Real Cannabis is much more complex than just a big dose of THC. It also has the beneficial side effect of making you feel good.

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. Yeah, i've heard the same thing about Marinol

Fuck that, stick with the natural. If smoking it isn't an option, bake brownies or get a vaporizer. No reason to pay a chemical company for something nature put on the planet for all of us.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. It is was legal people wouldn't have to smoke it as much

People smoke stuff because it's so efficient. You smoke expensive things because it takes less drug to get you off.

Hence crack cocaine.

Heroin is so expensive people shoot it into their veins because they'd have to eat or smoke a lot of it.

If pot were legal there would be consistently dosed lozenges, or cookies, or whatever. Or one-shot inhalers like they have for nicotine-replacement.

Yes, many would smoke, but there would be more options not to.


And nobody, even the ganja king who lives in the clouds, smokes 50+ joints a day! (50 cigs/day is usual for a heavy smoker.)

[janx]

7. Marijuana is not tobacco. n/t

[Political Heretic]

61. Inhaling smoke is inhaling smoke.

You cannot make a case that inhaling smoke is healthy for you. You can only make a case that the benefits outweigh the costs.

[DJ13]

8. Oh, God no

Can you imagine the stupid ideas someone as whacked out as Michelle Bachmann would come up with when she was stoned?!

[jberryhill]

23. That would be awesome

I'd pay for that.

Her, Palin, and Katherine Harris.... I'd shell out big bucks to see them get stoned.

[panader0]

9. Naw. I prefer joints.

Besides, a joint a day isn't like a pack of cigarettes or two a day. I don't know anyone who smokes that much weed. Usually a joint is shared between two or more folks.

[Demobrat]

10. There is no link between pot smoking and lung cancer.

Or heart disease. If there was the drug companies would be spending billions on ads to scream it from the rooftops.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

11. If we use your danger criteria.......

then we have to get rid of both booze and cigs. Think anyone will go that far?

[ohheckyeah]

13. Info:

May 8, 2000 (Boston) -- Marijuana, unlike tobacco and alcohol, does not appear to cause head, neck, or lung cancer, says a researcher from Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore who presented findings from a study here recently at a meeting of internal medicine physicians.
http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20000508/marijuana-unlikely-to-cause-cancer

[bigwillq]

14. Hello.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[ohheckyeah]

Thank you very much. n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

24. Thank you!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

28. but however from M. D. Anderson Cancer center TX

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9808/18/marijuana.cancer/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. Those studies are not contradictory.

Marijuana smoke, as all smoke, contains carcinogens and could concievably lead to cancer.

That said, most marijuana smokers do not smoke excessively, one or two packs worth a day like cigarette smokers, and as such their risk of cancer is far lower, and you would not expect to see a significant proportion of cancer suffers in a pool of 500 random individuals.

Now if you studied specifically heavy marijuana smokers (ten joints a week?!), then you might see more cancer than people who smoke nothing at all.

[gabby garcia]

33. irie...

and welcome!
:pals:

[ohheckyeah]

34. Thanks! n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Yes.

I fully encourage the smoking of marijuana, the drinking of wine, and the viewing of decadent artwork.

"If marijuana is to be legalized then it should only be available in capsule/tablet form, preferably for medicinal use? Unless the FDA has a problem with the effect of the drug on say the fetus or on general physiological systems."

The FDA has already cleared the use of marijuana in pill form. Twenty some years ago.

[lame54]

17. how the hell would people grow capsule/tables in their backyard?

[Demobrat]

35. The wouldn't, that's the whole point.

(But you knew that). This isn't about people's health, this is about protecting drug company profits at any cost - and how the hell are they supposed to profit from a plant that anybody with a basement and a grow lite can produce by the pound?

[Irreverend IX]

76. Making capsules is easy.

Grind up the actives, then use this:

http://www.capsuleconnection.com/

[Bluenorthwest]

18. smoking tobacco is not the same as smoking that which is

not tobacco. Taking an aspirin does not have the same effect as taking a Valium. And so on.
The medicinal qualities of marijuana can be delivered in smoke free ways, the method of ingestion is personal choice, or chosen for the best theaputic reaction.
Eat it. Vaporize it. Drink it. Use a disolving pastel. But only smoke it if you want to!

[JTFrog]

19. Comments? You're fucking Refer Madness type of Propaganda Sucks.

How's that for a comment.

[FormerDittoHead]

45. That's just about MY kind of comment too.

>We all know the dangers of smoking = heart disease, head and neck cancer etc.

Oh, I get it. You smoke cigarettes. You smoke pot. Cigarettes cause cancer. Pot must cause cancer.

Even stoned, I can see that's BS.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. Marijuana is a bronchial dilator, NOT a bronchial constrictor.

[Political Heretic]

63. And inhaling a bunch of smoke is still bad for you. Any way you slice it.

But so are a lot of things we human beings freely elect to do.

So that may not be enough of a reason to make it illegal. I ate at Wendy's the other day - that's bad for me too, not illegal. :)

[Starbucks Anarchist]

74. Different smoke has different chemical compositions.

It's not like inhaling smoke from a wildfire or from a cigarette.

[LiberalFighter]

21. Make it legal only in states that are predominantly red.

Then those commie red conservatives can get smoked out of the country.

[Agent William]

22. Have you ever smoked it?

Cannabis lacks many of the carcinogens that tobacco has, also marijuana lacks addictive substances such as nicotine, so the urge to smoke is far less...for some.

As far as relegalization being a step backwards for society... I disagree, it would be a huge step forwards. Morality can't be legislated, and if the prohibition of weed fails it will prove the will of people can't be cowed by oppressive laws.

[mrbscott19]

26. We need to ban cigs and alcohol instead of legalizing pot

Then this country can see who the REAL addicts are.

[FormerDittoHead]

46. If pot DID cause cancer they'd just say so without the word-dance. n/t

[Political Heretic]

65. "many" is not all. Inhaling smoke is inhaling smoke.

Say the health risks are less than.... or say they are minor, or whatever. But don't be some dogmatists that skews the truth to make a point.

Inhaling a bunch of smoke isn't a health activity. It might not be a serious problem - as I said elsewhere I ate at Wendy's the other day and that is not healthy for me either but its not illegal.

So acknowledging that inhaling a bunch of smoke is not some sort of pro-health activity, we can still make the case that it shouldn't be illegal.

[NYC_SKP]

27. If you're not high naturally, then you might have happiness issues.

I said, "might".

Anyone who wants to "recreate" by drinking or using, well knock yourself out, but promoting it is a different matter.

If it's for medicinal reasons, which can be many, then sure, any natural substance should be free to use.

:donut:

[Runcible Spoon]

31. Umm, human beings in every culture throughout time have sought out drugs.

Hoo boy, I feel bad for your partner...extending your logic would mean that fucking for pleasure means you have "happiness issues" too. :cry:

[NYC_SKP]

38. WTF, Why bring my partner in to it, that's just a sad attempt to be mean instead of...

thinking about what I wrote and responding like an adult.

In my experience, daily smokers and drinkers often get to where they "don't feel quite right" unless they get their fix.

I used the word "might", maybe you missed it.

It's the truth. Some users have trouble being happy without their mood altering substance of choice.

If you think about it long enough, or ask others, there is no way that you can't agree.

Some users have trouble being happy without their mood altering substance of choice.


And WTF bringing my partner into it??? Way to out yourself to the rest of the board as....whatever.

[Runcible Spoon]

42. ????

I said "partner" because I was too lazy to look up your gender and it's a neutral term for everyone regardless of orientation/gender/etc. What the hell do you think I've "outed" myself as? Calm the fuck down. :eyes:

You putting the word "some" in your post does not negate the fact that you obviously judge anyone who likes to get a buzz. Even if they ARE chronic abusers, it doesn't really take away from the argument to legalize. People who need to use are going to find it regardless of legal status.

[walldude]

37. And if you don't get high you might be missing out on something...

I SAID MIGHT... you never know. It's just possible that the Tibetians, and the Native Americans, and many other ancient cultures who used drugs as a religious ritual might have been on to something..

[NYC_SKP]

39. And I heartily agree with that.

I felt I left enough latitude in my comment to allow for these.

I'm more thinking about the chronic users....I've known some with problems and some without.

[iamthebandfanman]

29. i didnt know we were.

i thought we were promoting the use of marijuana in general. not just smoking it.

id love for there to be a pill form or an inhaler, and id imagine there would be if it were legal.


this isnt about the right to smoke something, its about the right to consume a drug in general.

there are tons of ways to use pot without smoking it.

but if people would rather smoke it, thats on them.

[Cha]

32. Alice B Toklas

Brownies:bounce: there's your answer.

"Take 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 whole nutmeg, 4 average sticks of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon coriander. These should all be pulverized in a mortar. About a handful each of stone dates, dried figs, shelled almonds and peanuts: chop these and mix them together. A bunch of canibus sativa can be pulverized. This along with the spices should be dusted over the mixed fruit and nuts, kneaded together. About a cup of sugar dissolved in a big pat of butter. Rolled into a cake and cut into pieces or made into balls about the size of a walnut, it should be eaten with care. Two pieces are quite sufficient. Obtaining the canibus(sic) may present certain difficulties.... It should be picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green."

Cecil must sternly advise that you shouldn't try this at home. If you do anyway, at least you won't have to worry about the munchies.

— Cecil Adams



http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/880/alice-b-toklas-brownies-the-recipe

[joshcryer]

36. We should be promoting growing it.

I assure you that smoking is the least most profitable of its qualities.

[Two Americas]

40. that didn't take long

It has nothing to do with what we are "promoting" or what we like or agree with.

This is about what the authorities can and can't do.

In think that people expressing authoritarian ideas are a greater threat to the health and well being of all of us. Should we outlaw that and arrest those people?


...

[WeDidIt]

41. In a word?

YES!

[Drunken Irishman]

43. The government shouldn't promote it...

And if legalized, they should take the same steps they take with alcohol and tobacco use.

Live and let live, I think. Moderation is key to everything. If you eat too many fast food burgers, you run the risk of heart disease. However, if you're only eating one once every month or so, it's probably not going to kill you.

Same with pot and alcohol. The problem with tobacco, obviously, is that it's far more addictive than the other two.

[pipi_k]

44. I think it should be added to Preparation H

Let's all buy SupPOTsitories


:7

[Rosa Luxemburg]

69. that would be an interesting use!

[Catamount]

47. ABSOLUTELY!

It should be promoted as a healthy alternative to tobacco and alcohol.

I also believe that all the same rules that we have for alcohol use and tobacco should apply.

There I said it!

[WestSeattle2]

48. Marijuana.....

I think our new drug czar will push to decriminalize pot, but not legalize it. The effect will be about the same. What that will do is stop the courts from sending people to jail and prison for carrying small amounts of pot. Growing up in Seattle, that's the way it was "back in the day". As I recall, Seattle buckled under to federal pressure to criminalize what had been a misdemeanor offense.

A few years ago we passed a citizens initiative that directed the Seattle Police Department to place marijuana at the bottom of their priority list. Most voters consider murderer's, rapists, robbers, and burglars to be a higher priority than their meek and mild neighbor who grows pot in his basement.

Sadly, the "war on drugs" is nothing more than a jobs program, and as such there is a vested interest by millions in law enforcement, the prison industry, the judicial system, the "re-hab industry", Republicans, and assorted Christofascists, to continue to impose an ineffectual and prohibitively costly scam on the American taxpayers.

[tnlefty]

49. If it was only in a pill I wouldn't touch it.

I could take a couple of hits off of a joint extinguish it and hang on to it for later. I can smoke half of a cigarette and do the same. I can have a glass of wine, and if that glass is more than I want I can put the glass in the 'fridge for later.

I'm controlling how much of what I consume. I'll be damned if I want someone else deciding for me as their dose could be a hell of a lot more than what I want at any given time.

[Trajan]

50. Should we NOT promote personal FREEDOM and RATIONAL public policy ?

I think so ....

It is WAY past time for decriminalization of ALL drugs ..... simply because it is a better public policy than trying to use law enforcement as a Grand Momma ....

One good thing about this, perhaps, from your perspective: Drug users would be OUTSIDE of prison, and available for moralizing talks with you, personally: You cannot save them from themselves if you cannot see them ...

[Skip Intro]

64. Freedom, yes. Who the hell is the govt. to tell me what I can't do with my own mind/body/time?

I'll never vote for a repuke, but Ron Paul makes a lot of sense when talking about drug use/laws.

[fishwax]

51. it should be completely decriminalized

I don't see how legalizing something that has no business being illegal would be a step backwards.

Restricting it to capsule/tablet form only makes sure that corporations will get their cut.

[MadLabrador]

52. Smoking does not equal heart disease

Smoking carcinogens does, but marijuana does not have carcinogens, and water-filled bongs filter out toxins.

Legalize it.

[eridani]

53. Only with vaporizers n/t

[Geek_Girl]

54. I think Marijuana should be legalized for Medical Use

this should be a no brainier.

However I am a little dubious about legalizing it for recreational use. Though I think it would cut down the drug violence in our country and Mexico.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

55. Why are you dubious?

[lynne]

56. Legalizing marijuana ingested via smoking will totally negate the fight against tobacco -

- as it is impossible to outlaw/discourage the smoking of one recreational drug while encouraging the legalization of another. For medicinal purposes is an entirely different animal and they could legalize the production of marijuana in a controlled environment for use in pills and capsules via prescription without legalizing it for recreational use.

You're truly blowing smoke if you think it will be legalized so that everyone can grow and roll their own. The FDA and ATF would be controlling it with an iron fist.

[hollowdweller]

57. The Art and Science of Cooking With Cannabis

If shake was easier to get I'd guarantee you more people would eat it than cook it.

Have you ever read The Art and Science of Cooking With Cannabis by Adam Gottleib??

The "Marakesh White Cookies" are awesome.

A "THC PBC" (peanut butter cookie) will keep you high thru a whole concert and not stink out your neighbors or get you busted.

"Majoon" made with good bud and spread about 1/8" thick on a mini rice cake with tea is a super pleasant buzz.

I think if legal way more people would get into eating.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

66. the peanut butter cookies sound nice!

[Medusa]

58. We shouldn't be promoting smoking of anything.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

67. I agree with that

[BlooInBloo]

59. Of course not. That's why the potheads make shit up about pot being a cureall and do-anything item.

It's all about marketing.

[Skip Intro]

62. It's a matter of freedom, first. And what is wrong with a little euphoria?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

68. as long as there's no smoke

[Starbucks Anarchist]

75. All. Smoke. Is. Not. The. Same.

The propaganda on DU of all places is mind-blowing. :banghead:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

77. unless

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9808/18/marijuana.cancer/

[Starbucks Anarchist]

88. The amount of pot necessary to replicate a "pack a day" is cost-prohibitive.

Not to mention, smoking that much pot in one sitting (to compare it to tobacco smokers and their pack-a-day habit) would lead the user to fall asleep long before that amount can be finished.

[Teaser]

81. actually, all smoke is the same

It's all composed of tiny granulated material. Which is *NEVER* good to inhale. It's just one more piece of shit your body needs
to filter out.

Now some smoke is worse than others, but inhaling particulate matter is a problem, whatever the particle.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

87. It's pointless to compare it with tobacco smoke in terms of volume as well.

The amount of smoke inhaled from a pack of cigarettes would be hard to duplicate with marijuana, both in terms of cost and time necessary.

[Teaser]

92. I never said anything about volume.

I was referring to the quality of the smoke itself, not its quantity.

Regardless, marijuana smoke smells even more like ass than does tobacco smoke, which is quite an achievement.

[ohheckyeah]

70. Legalizing marijuana is not promoting marijuana.

People who want to smoke it don't need to be encouraged to do it.

[babydollhead]

71. It reminds me to be in the moment

it reminds me to open my heart.
it reminds me that i am alive.

[zulchzulu]

72. Eating pot makes you higher for longer periods than smoking it

A little birdie told me that once.

:smoke:

[Teaser]

82. that way I don't have to smell that nasty shit.

awesome.

[martymar64]

73. You can use a similar argument to prohibit alcohol

Wonder how that worked out . . .

[asdjrocky]

78. Silly, silly and more silly.

I would suggest in the future doing a little more research before forming an opinion. The pills don't work and the last thing a medical marijuana patient wants to do is hand over their care to big pharma. Besides that, the pills don't work.

[saltpoint]

79. If marijuana remains illegal, people who smoke it now will still smoke it.

If it becomes legal, my guess is by and large the same people who smoke it now will still smoke it then.

The legal status of the compound does not appear to dramatically curtail use.

Cigarettes -- regular ol' tobacco -- kill something in the neighborhood of 400,000 people a year. That's likely a conservative estimate. It seems to me that tobacco and alcohol are less "legal drugs" than they are sanctioned killers.

Prohibition was tried, and tried strenously, and it failed spectacularly. It created far more problems than it ever set out to solve.

Just a few comments from the peanut gallery.

[Teaser]

80. Nah. Makes your breath reek.

.

[phleshdef]

84. The amount of marijuana an average user smokes on a daily basis is so small, the smoke is irrelevent

The vast majority of marijuana users smoke a cigarrettes worth or less on a daily basis. On top of that, cannibanoids are known to actually help prevent lung cancer.

I think you need to go back and educate yourself a bit more on what most marijuana users actually do and the realistic possibility of it causing harm. Your principles are flawed here because your understanding of typical marijuana use is severely lacking.

[ZombieHorde]

85. People like to smoke it, I don't think you should worry about it. nt

[sniffa]

86. Um, no

:thumbsdown:

[mdmc]

89. won't somebody think of the children

[cbc5g]

90. Not all smoke is the same is the correct answer here

Obviously nobody and I repeat nobody should smoke it all the time because it will make you slow, lethargic and probably coughing a lot with phlegm and black junk..blegh. But in moderation, and it can easily be used in moderation because it isn't physically addictive, it hasn't been scientifically proven to be harmful or cause any diseases or cancer.

Smoking pot shouldn't be promoted unless someone needs it medically.

[Politicalboi]

91. I enjoy smoking it

It's a lot better for you than smoking cigarettes and drinking. We should be able to whatever we want with it. There has been no link to lung cancer and smoking pot. It helps asthma patients too. I'm tired of my rights being fucked with due to other peoples children. Oh what will we tell the children now? Tell them the truth. I get to pay more taxes on cigarettes for children I don't have. But yet being gay I am treated like a second class citizen. And in Australia they use pot for mothers who tend to miscarry and it works. When I gave blood they used my blood for premature babies because of the THC.