@MaxWilder

I wrote something here but erased it because I want to go to sleep. We essentially have the same position. Cheers!

Cannabinoid receptors as novel targets for the treatment of melanoma research paper:

Abstract:
http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/14/2633.short

Full paper:
http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2006/10/25/fj.06-6638fje.full.pdf

>> ^MaxWilder:

^ The proper course to take is full LEGALIZATION.
Regulated, but fully legal sale and possession of all drugs is the only way to break the back of these cartels. It will also solve the prison overcrowding issue and provide a nice tax income for local governments who are currently being squeezed to death.
Anybody who is still against the legalization of recreational drugs is simply ignorant or idiotic.


Hear hear, but I do have an issue with saying that anyone against legalization is ignorant or idiotic. Although this rhetoric is very common these days, it simply kills conversation that might occur with people who are open to discussing different sides of this issue.

Of the people that I feel may change their mind or at least be truly open, I have most often run into an emotional argument against full legalization. This emotional argument is usually based on personally knowing someone brought low by drugs or fear of what would happen. For someone having a loved one/associate/etc who was hurt by drugs, you can sympathize with them and bring up the point that legalization will open the doors for support services and remove some social stigma from seeking help before they hit bottom or kill themselves (accident or purposefully.) The general fears can be talked out and likened to other things in life which are fearful... because really this is the fear of the unknown. The Netherlands has lower adult and teen marijuana use despite its lax laws on it, and if I remember correctly, one of officials made the comment about this stat, "We have succeeded in making marijuana boring." It's a standard of desire, things forbidden are simply tantalizing.

>> ^Fusionaut:

How to end the drug war and take power away from organized crime: decriminalize drugs.


No. Decriminalization of drugs will have very little affect on organized crime.

Decriminalization is simply moving the common citizen's punishment from being caught using illegal drugs from criminal to civil - it does nothing about the supply chain for these drugs. In many cases, criminal punishment will still exist for anyone falling under the growing/producing, selling, or transporting category.

But decriminalization isn't completely ineffectual; it will dramatically raise the quality of life of users and provide an official avenue for addicts to get help before hitting rock bottom (although it may just open up the avenue for people/organizations to step into rather than actively providing.)

To disrupt the organized crimes' profit from illegal drugs, you have to provide other sources of these drugs. Pure and simply, this is supply and demand. There will always be some demand.

I got my first high school girlfriend obliviously - of course, I've always lived a little in my own world. Our school had a mixer and I just started dancing with different girls. I ended dancing more with one because she was fun to dance with. We ended up dancing 6 or 7 times together. At the end of the dance, she came up to me and said that she was so glad that "we finally got this out in the open." I had no idea what she was talking about, but we started dating... It was a funny kind of dating as we really didn't see much of each other outside of school, mainly because, while she was cute, I wasn't very interested in her. It did lead to an awkward situation in the locker room. One of my teammates didn't like me and I couldn't think of a reason, so I asked a friend about it. Apparently I had stolen his girlfriend that night without trying or intention. Needless to say, that first girlfriend didn't last more than 6 or so months. I never told anyone about that because I figured it would needlessly hurt people's feelings.

*dead

Nice sift. Thank you.

Unintentional double entendres are the best.

I remember one night... it must have been July 4th, some friends and I wandered down a a party at house of a girl another friend was dating. On the other side of the road was a cliff overlooking the freeway and lake below. Someone had take one of those round 100- or 150-missile fireworks and propped it up on a rock so it would shoot over the cliff towards the water. On the first missile, the firework came off the rock and rested on its side. A missile would shoot out and cause the firework to spin around almost slowing to a stop before the next missile. Everyone was ducking behind parked cars to make sure they didn't get hit. I think I may have ended up behind a car laying on the ground laughing. Of course a couple a beer and a handful of mushrooms can put someone in a very good mood. Ah, the joys of a well-spent youth.

We're cool. I figured it was a plural you, but I wanted to double-check.

In reply to this comment by Ornthoron:
It wasn't directed at you personally at all; the 'you' was intended as an unspecified subject pronoun. Rest assured that nothing in your description caused my downvote. Everything in my comment was directed at the video itself. I'm glad you share some of my concerns about it. I have just seen too many unfounded claims about miracle cures to accept that this particular video brings anything new and valuable into the discourse. Peace
>> ^curiousity:

>> ^Ornthoron:
Oh, another cure for cancer. Sorry, but you're only hurting the cause of marijuana legalization by drawing conclusions from one man's anecdote about his skin cancer being cured. I could let that pass without a downvote, hadn't it been for the completely irresponsible advise to drop chemotherapy in favour of an as yet unproven snake hash oil treatment. Add to that the normal conspiracy buzzwords about Big Pharma, and this is far into woowoo land.

Eh? Who's the "you"? Who's drawing conclusions? Perhaps there is some confusion because I used the title of the YouTube video? (I did add the "(cancer)" so that the gist of the video is more readily understandable by viewing the title only.) Hopefully my joking about inserting a Big Pharma rant, etc in my description didn't add to your dislike of the video... I did put a smiley face at the end to show I was joking around about that line.
I see it as a man that tried an alternative and it worked for him. I guess I missed the explicit advice to drop chemotherapy. One point I had a problem with was when the guy started talking about how the hash oil was pulling the cancer out of him... I have a hard time believing that. Hopefully this man continues to see a doctor to ensure the cancer is in remission/gone.

>> ^Ornthoron:

Oh, another cure for cancer. Sorry, but you're only hurting the cause of marijuana legalization by drawing conclusions from one man's anecdote about his skin cancer being cured. I could let that pass without a downvote, hadn't it been for the completely irresponsible advise to drop chemotherapy in favour of an as yet unproven snake hash oil treatment. Add to that the normal conspiracy buzzwords about Big Pharma, and this is far into woowoo land.


Eh? Who's the "you"? Who's drawing conclusions? Perhaps there is some confusion because I used the title of the YouTube video? (I did add the "(cancer)" so that the gist of the video is more readily understandable by viewing the title only.) Hopefully my joking about inserting a Big Pharma rant, etc in my description didn't add to your dislike of the video... I did put a smiley face at the end to show I was joking around about that line.

I see it as a man that tried an alternative and it worked for him. I guess I missed the explicit advice to drop chemotherapy. One point I had a problem with was when the guy started talking about how the hash oil was pulling the cancer out of him... I have a hard time believing that. Hopefully this man continues to see a doctor to ensure the cancer is in remission/gone.

Looks like I have to wait for a while before before fixing?

@MrFisk
I found a replacement on YouTube broken up into 4 parts. Here is the playlist's url so you can grab the embed:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=14A7C72DB93099C5

*dead

It made me laugh when he was wistfully reminiscing about how serfdom was better than capitalism. It was good to see at the end that he said that no one would defend serfdom anymore.

I fell out of love with capitalism quite a few years ago. I still like it, but see it as a torrential river that needs firm boundaries. Unfortunately those boundaries have greatly eroded over time (both by willful efforts and by lack of involvement or understanding) so that the capitalistic never-satisfied hunger has seeped into areas best left untainted by that attitude.

>> ^GDGD:

So, let me get this straight, a fake news publication, 'The Onion,' transitioned out of print and onto the internet seemingly more successfully than all of the other printed news media?


Humor eases the burden of hopelessness.