i agree with jesse, i use to be a pot head but i stopped like 3 years ago opened my life up to a bunch more shit lol
J Clark saying that legalizing pot will turn the country into couch dwelling cheeto eaters is bogus. Under that logic the entire country is a group of binge drinking chain smokers because alcohol and tobacco are legal. I smoke pot pretty regularly and maintain a full time job. Several people I know including middle aged adults do as well.
Me too. I hate people around people when they are high out of their minds. I’d rather be around drunk tards.
Exaggeration yes, problem still yes.
LOL@ fuck hippies. I guess I’m used to them, I live in Bethel, NY.
Anyway. That’s my very point. This is going to be another drawn out, math filled post, so bear with me…
Statistically, 14.8 million people in the USA smoke marijuana in 2006.
Pot studies have shown that it is useful for nausea, migraines, aches and pains, cancer patients, MS patients, PMS (heh), and various psychoses.
Now let’s say that 30% suffer from nausea, 5% migraines, 15% various chronic aches and pains, 3% cancer, 1% MS, 30% PMS, and 17% for the various psychoses.
4,440,000 people x ~$5 for OTC nausea meds=$22,200,000
4,440,000 people x ~$5 OTC PMS stuff=$22,200,000
740,000 x ~$75 Migraines (average rx cost)=$55,500,000
2,220,000 x ~$40 rx painkillers=$88,800,000
444,000 x ~$150 cancer related meds=$66,600,000
148,000 x ~$115 MS rx=$17,020,000
2,516,000 x ~$90 average psychotropic=$226,440,000
So, that right there, is $498,760,000 the pharm industry just lost to KNOWN pot smokers. These figures were grossly underestimated I imagine. I’m going by generic Wal-Mart prices and given that 6,000 people a day try marijuana for the first time, I’m sure that figure is larger from 2006 to now. $498mil may not seem like much to a multi-billion dollar industry, but it’s enough to make a dent, especially with added competition from generics and lowballing reimbursement programs like Medicaid.
Now look at the taxpayer side of it. In 2007 the FBI reported 827,720 marijuana related arrests. Let’s use the figure of my county jail housing (as reported in a local paper report some time ago) as $80/day to house these “criminals”. Average sentence being 6 months.
180 days x $80=$14,400
$14,400 x 827,720=$11,919,168,000!!! That our beloved tax money just paid for. Again, that was just with assumptions and low ball guesstimations on the sentences.
Honestly, I’d rather be in a room filled with giggly retards than potentially violent, obnoxious drunks.
There is a book coming out called “The Chemical Muse”. Through research of old documents, a student wrote this for his Master’s dissertation. It points out people of influence, past and present, that used drugs. Including George Washington, Julius Caesar, and Nephertiti to name a few.
And again I say, whats wrong with competition, it will force the Pharm companies to make a better product or they will be taken over by something superior. Thats how Capitalism is supposed to work.
I dont think pot will begin to replace any of those drugs. I cant see people using it to treat anything other than boredom. Of course if I was pitching it to congress, I’d be using the same math.
Right, I am a huge supporter of legalization, but I think that its medical benefits aren’t as superheroish as people make them out to be. Sure it may help with some things like MS and such, but hey I’ve had back pains before and it didn’t do shit to cure it. Maybe it made me think about it a little bit less but the pain was still there.
Word. If weed was more effective than Vicodin for pain, it already would’ve been legal.
Yup really its only advantage over a lot of prescription painkillers are that if you do become addicted to it coming off pot is alot easier than trying to break and opioid dependency.
Don’t get me wrong, Skierdood. I agree on your point with competition. I’m just backing up my belief as to why the government keeps stalling on legalizing it. I won’t benefit from it, but I support it over alcohol. As I said previously, I think it’s a hypocracy. In 2000, there were ZERO marijuana related deaths versus 85,000 alcohol related deaths and 435,000 tobacco deaths (that’s the latest year I could find any solid stats for). JClark, you said yourself that you hate having to support the medical repercussions of tobacco users, yet you’re supporting alcohol related physiological & death issues over ZERO marijuana deaths?
I’ll be the first to admit that it creates some reeeeeal geniuses out there. When I was a lot younger I got into an accident while high. Although it was not my fault, I think back and realize that sober I could of reacted a lot better and possibly had avoided the collision altogether. I don’t smoke it anymore due to the stupid state it puts me in. Too much at stake to fuck up like I did when I was 16. I’m the same way with alcohol, too. I get overly obnoxious, therefore, I only drink at home and once in a blue moon. My hubby calls Captain Morgan my “liquid lesbian” hahaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
With the amount of people without health insurance in this country, you don’t think people will run to a cheaper alternative? $20 1/8 of pot vs $120 Rx? It’s definitely not a cure-all, but an alleviater. Cheap painkiller and psychotropic compared to the Rxs out there. Given the amount of people that try to buy meds online for less and out of Canada, I don’t think many people will hesitate at the opportunity. Speaking of Canada, they are using a THC extract in a Rx to treat MS.
Remember the MSRA (drug resistant super infection) scare? This is quoted from a reuters article:
In the 1950’s, topical preparations from cannabis sativa were explored for treating skin and mouth infections and for tuberculosis treatment. Recent research shows that both psychotropic (THC) forms, as well non-psychotropic forms of cannabis might be used as antibiotic. The current researchers isolated THC, CBD, and CBG from three strains of cannabis sativa to produce a single major cannabinoid. Powder was extracted from the plant, heated, and the active ingredients were then extracted and purified. The researchers then used MRSA cultures to test the effectiveness of the purified cannabis extracts - “All compounds showed potent antibacterial activity, and the researchers saw “potent activity demonstrated against EMRSA-15 and EMRSA-16, the major epidemic methicillin-resistant S. aureus strains occurring in U.K. hospitals
It’s been proven more effective than methadone to wean off Heroine users.
As shown above, it has antibiotic properties as well, in a processed form.
If you’d like, I could cite studies and post excerpts pertaining to ALL of the conditions out there it has shown to help.
It may not replace drugs like Vicodin, but again, the people that can’t afford that prescription may very well turn to the cheap alternative. 2 years ago I was befronted with a comment from my neurologist, “If you can’t afford the Topamax, smoke weed for the seizures”. I was beside myself, but it was due to that that I started to research those so called documented benefits of pot.
First off. Very nicely stated Vandal.
I am just speaking from personal experience and how I don’t notice any real medical gains from it. I can’t comment on how it treats debilitating diseases though as I have none.
I dont doubt for a second that pot has medicinal benefits, but that’s not why 98% of people want it legalized. The 98% want to smoke weed in public and be able to buy it super cheap. (Taxing it heavily will not make up for the distribution savings, it will be dirty cheap once legalized). Also, weed alters moods and personalities while on it just like alcohol. Soon you’ll have anti-weed groups just like anti-alcohol groups like MADD, etc. I digress; that’s not the part that bugs me.
Treat diseases with it - with a prescription. I just dont see the guy with MRSA running to his local dealer desperate to score a bag.
Re: Alcohol deaths - I dont support paying for ANYONE’s death but my own. I think me paying for someone else’s illness other than very extreme circumstances is socialist bull.
Also, how many studies calculated deaths from driving stoned? Because I’d bet there’d be a bunch. Not as many as alcohol, but then again alcohol is a little easier to come by.
My opposition to weed being legalized is strictly related to my being annoyed by people stoned out of their minds. It breeds laziness when stoners become satisfied with literally doing nothing when they could be improving themselves. Laziness in general bothers me; weed’s major side effect is laziness.
There are exceptions to every rules. One of my good friends is constantly high and is productive as hell when he needs to be. But for the general population, stoners are boring.
Like I said above, use weed for all of its positive medicinal benefits. But to legalize it and make it as common as Pepsi makes that $20 vs $120 a drop in the bucket. I’m all for everything it can do medically, but 98% of the people dont want it for medicinal use. They want it to be high all the time. Which bugs me. ;D
See in a perfect world it could be legal and people would be responsible enough to know if they can handle responsibility while incorporating it in their lives or not. Although also in a perfect world people wouldnt want to alter their minds because if shits already perfect its not needed.
I forget where I read it but they wanted to use the money given to them to purchase PR time on TV to apologize for fucking up. Priceless.
Anyhow, I have a hard time with CEOs making major bank. I am all for working hard there is something very wrong with $5M bonuses while the people who do the work are barely making it. Yes, I believe there’s definately the rich and the poor but too many CEOs are in for the quick buck and leave the company in shambles.
You love me. True story; you told me one night drunk. I hope Jammer doesn’t find out that you cheat. :lol
I am ify about this shit but part of me says you can do whatever the fuck you want in your own home. But, even smoking bothers me in public places because it affects other people’s health.
Abortion - Not touching that one…
Agree for the most part. I definately do not agree to pay for illegals.
They have a right to be miserable like everyone else. Who the fuck are we to define that? If anything, they should enjoy the financial/law aspect of it.
I cant find the reason to even reply to this dopey post above me. Shawn, your the most dangerous type of person out there… and by a danger, I mean a danger to America, and the capitalism it is , err, was built on.
I’ll just pile this post with the other substance-less posts of pure rhetoric. Again, typical GOP mud slinging when you don’t like/agree with someone else’s view point.
Want to know what’s dangerous? A gun-slinging president with an endless credit card that puked this company bankrupt, brought us into a war with a country that didn’t attack us, and ruined foreign relations with the world. Did I mention the civil liberties that he broke? I can write a book.
GWB has some of the lowest approval ratings in this nation’s history and WILL go down as one of the, if not, worst Administrations ever. I guess 80% of this people is dangerous. A thought: When you are on the side of 20%, you might want to re-consider YOUR position.
:rofl ^^ We really need to do this in person.
I’m a real heartbreaker when I’m drunk. Dont tell Jammer, he’s very trusting.
They have a right to be miserable like everyone else.
:rofl Congratulations btw.
I got 0wn3d. 