Originally Posted by
greybeard
Let me say first I am for decriminalization of all drugs, beginning with weed. I think it will reduce use. If there ain't people "pushing" the product, I think use will go down. In any case, the costs are obscene of this failed war.
That said, it was kind of scary to investigate the brain-imagining research that has been done on habitual users of weed, teenagers especially. Dr. Amen, just search "Amen clinics", a noted physician/psychiastrist researcher, PBS regular, and read em and weep. The effects on important portions of the brain, as in no brain cells where there should be millions upon millions, is vivid.
The data on the addictive quality of regular weed use, while much disputed, is also out there. Given that the boutique "hot house" plants and the pursuit of developing ever more potent plants, smoking ain't what it used to be. The potency of the hot-house products has lead to a takeover of the deep interior of the forests out West by the Mexican drug cartels who embed growers in remote areas who build elaborate irrigation systems that are used at night to avoid detection by in-flight heat sensors if done during the day; the cartels can no longer "afford" the costs of importation as they compete with more the sellers of the more potent brands by lowering the price.
Strange world. Dangerous too.