Medical Marijuana for Sleep Apnea!?

We have enough problems with drunks on the highways the way it is. I sure as Hell don't want people coming at me that are drunk AND stoned, too. Out-of-state and tourist drivers are bad enough.

As with almost all "substances", their abuse is what gets the users in trouble.

Cocaine and heroin were legal at one time, too. Should we legalize them again, too?


Den

Cocaine and heroine were legal at one time, too. Should we legalize them again, too?

For adults - YES

There is no reason for them to be illegal and alcohol to be legal.
Adults should be able to make their own choices.

BlackSpinner wrote:

Cocaine and heroin were legal at one time, too. Should we legalize them again, too?

For adults - YES

There is no reason for them to be illegal and alcohol to be legal.
Adults should be able to make their own choices.

We already have too many "adults" making other bad choices the way it is.......

You'd NEVER convince me on this one.

Den

[/quote]

We already have too many "adults" making other bad choices the way it is.......

You'd NEVER convince me on this one.

Den[/quote]


Are you referring to our elected officials?!?

SeaPappy wrote:

Wulfman wrote:
We already have too many "adults" making other bad choices the way it is.......

You'd NEVER convince me on this one.

Den

Are you referring to our elected officials?!?

That would be SOME of them. Others can be found on Wall Street, the financial institutions, the "too big to fail" corporations and many, many others.


Den

We already have too many "adults" making other bad choices the way it is.......

Every body makes bad choices - that is the way most people learn.

The only reason these kinds of drugs are banned is because they are intoxicating and make people feel high/good. It is a puritan / big brother thing.

Aspartame and lots of food additives can cause cancer, so can tobacco. Over eating can cause all sorts of health problems - bad choices - Do you want to legislate those too.

Prohibition is the root of organized crime.

You want to pay for health care? Fire the vice squads and tax recreational drugs.

TSSleepy wrote:...THC's effect as an inhibitor of serotonin receptors brought about increased respiratory stability in rats...
http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=25731

Now wait a minute, inhibition of serotonin receptor increases respiratory stability??? Depression = better breathing??? <mumbling to self gotta read that article...>

EDIT:
The image this creates is just too funny for words!

Participants: Eleven adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were instrumented for chronic polysomnography.

Gotta say, rustyoledude gave a great summary of the events leading to where we got to today in the US.

And the notion of paying for health care thru a marijuana tax is a splendid suggestion.
it also would significantly cut back on needlessly tossing people into prison -- at tremendous public expense and personal loss.

I don't think anyone would advocate decriminalizing driving while intoxicated. Simply being intoxicated, though, seems insufficient reason for government involvement to many.

I would agree that there's no reason for booze to be legal if cocaine and heroin aren't.

That said, I'd lean more towards outlawing the booze. I know, I'm weird.

I don't care if the "adults" who consume them can handle it. I'm worried about the car crashes, the neglected children (yes, I know kids get neglected by non-drug users, but it can't help), and the easier availability to people who are not of legal age - whatever we decide that to be.

My favorite quote when it comes to this sort of thing is from the movie Men in Black - "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

People are, collectively, not very bright. We've all delt with enough of them to know. I'm not anti-people, but I'm against them being able to legally obtain substances that could help them kill me.

My favorite quote when it comes to this sort of thing is from the movie Men in Black - "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

But you see this quote is totally wrong -2500 to 1500 years ago the chinese, Indians and the greeks and the romans knew the earth was round and not the center of the universe.

They tried to ban all intoxicating substances - It was called the "Prohibition" It was very exciting. Only the US had it and it created the biggest organizations of criminals ever existed. Lots of people died drinking bad booze - just like now lots of people die using bad drugs.

It also made lots of Canadians very rich.

"They tried to ban all intoxicating substances - It was called the "Prohibition" It was very exciting. Only the US had it and it created the biggest organizations of criminals ever existed. Lots of people died drinking bad booze - just like now lots of people die using bad drugs."

Now here's the question.

If you're doing something illegal - be it drinking during Prohibiltion or doing heroin now - are you going to do it in public?

I ask this because if we have to choose between people doing something that will potentially hurt themselves and potentially hurt others, I vote they hurt themselves. I'd rather - obviously - no one get hurt - but if a desire not to get caught keeps the stoned person from driving, then at least they're not driving. Do I want people to die from using bad drugs? Nope - but they're making a choice to use the drugs. A person killed or robbed by someone on said drugs does not get to make that choice. Even if they make it legal, it's not something I'd imagine insurance would cover, so people who become addicted may resort to crime to feed the addiction - just like now. This is less true of pot, but if we get into harder drugs, I would bet money on it happening.

It probably seems harsh, but I'm one of those people who thinks that if you kill someone by driving while intoxicated, you should be tried for murder, not vehicular manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary my rear end. A person knows when they get behind the wheel of a car and they're intoxicated, they could kill someone. If they don't know that, they shouldn't be drinking. If they do it anyway, they made a voluntary choice to engage in a behavior that ended someone's life.

I'm not trying to sound holier than thou - I'm really not. I just realize that the choices I make or don't make impact others. I don't drink and I really can't see the allure. Again, I'm weird.

It's already illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol, pot, or any other drug. The illegality (or legality) of the substance has no impact on that. I highly doubt that it has much of an impact on usage either as few seem to take possession/usage laws very seriously...

MGoBlue wrote:It's already illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol, pot, or any other drug. The illegality (or legality) of the substance has no impact on that. I highly doubt that it has much of an impact on usage either as few seem to take possession/usage laws very seriously...

If you're saying that the percentage of people on certain drugs driving while under the influence is the same for heroin as it is for booze, I want to see backup.

Of course they all *can* drive illegally but that doesn't mean they do, or that they do in as great of numbers.

Might have to look that one up myself when I get home from work.

teresamichele wrote: If you're saying that the percentage of people on certain drugs driving while under the influence is the same for heroin as it is for booze, I want to see backup.

No, what I am saying is that making heroin legal (for example) is not going to result in a substantial increase of heroin users driving. In fact I doubt very much that we would see much greater usage of heroin either as most know enough to stay away from it -- illegal or not. Furthermore, those who do use it can find it anywhere -- it's widely available despite being illegal.