By The Canadian Press Source: Canadian Press Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco and should be decriminalized, a federal committee examining the country's drug policies was told Friday. "If we discovered three drugs today and they were alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, there isn't an expert in the country who would recommend that marijuana be the one that is banned based on individual and societal harm," Dr. Patrick Smith of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto told the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs. Smith said removing marijuana possession from the Criminal Code and making it an offence punishable by a fine would not have any impact on its use. And decriminalization would allow police to focus drug enforcement efforts on growers and dealers, Smith added. But a counsellor who treats alcoholics and drug addicts called marijuana a harmful drug that must be curtailed. "It's our experience that of the people who are cross-addicted, 95 per cent of them started with cannabis or marijuana," said Randy Cormier. "There's no question that cannabis use destroys families, lives, relationships, results in increases in petty crime, results in poor work performance leading to loss of employment, is as deadly as alcohol if combined with driving and is the gateway to more serious drug use." Windsor police Staff Sgt. Danny Woods said efforts should be stepped up against growing operations, and that decriminalization would not alleviate the problem. "We know that there is violence associated with growing operations as well as other crimes which are often used to fund these growing centres," he said. "We expend a lot of time and manpower and we don't believe the problem will go away by legalizing cannabis." The committee will table its final report in August. Complete Title: Doc Says Pot less Harmful Than Booze and Tobacco; Calls for Legalization Windsor, Ont. Source: Canadian Press Published: Friday, June 07, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Canadian Press Related Articles & Web Site: Canadian Links http://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htm
I've been telling THAT to my doctor for years ... he's in his 70's ... an old dear family friend who keeps everything confidential the way it's supposed to be ... my Mom, bless her, has absolutely no clue about the weed use (she's 30 years, 3 months, 4 days, 3 hours and 35 minutes older than me & I'm turning 38 on 6-12) .... anyhoo .... getting back to what i was saying ... hubby & I invited Doc Everett over this past weekend for a bar-b-que with all our pot smoking friends ... he arrived about 30 minutes late, knocked on the door & someone hollered come on in ... he walked in and he couldn't even see for the smoke ... Doc Everett just stood there for like 3 minutes (seemed much longer) and then he said, and I quote, "Where's my hit?" The party really started then ... ever played Twister while high? how about charades? and that drawing game where u have 2 guess what the person is drawing ... whatever it's name is ...? trust me, it's really fun when you've got an old man trying to keep up with us younger folk ... party went from 7pm friday nite to 4am sunday mornin' ... and everyone cleaned up after themselves ... THAT was nice!! Keep tokin' my brothas & sistas! Peace!
if i got high with my doc i'd end up being close friends with him then i'd try to get him to hook me up with some pain killers, lol. That sounded like a fun night.
Yeah, it's abuse that harms. As a teenager with depression, I've abused it. I spent $160(32 hours work) on about an ounce of some okay herb, and smoked it in less than 3 weeks when my girlfriend dumped me. It all depends on how unhappy you allow yourself to be.
"It's our experience that of the people who are cross-addicted, 95 per cent of them started with cannabis or marijuana," said Randy Cormier. "There's no question that cannabis use destroys families, lives, relationships, results in increases in petty crime, results in poor work performance leading to loss of employment, is as deadly as alcohol if combined with driving and is the gateway to more serious drug use." oh not this old bull again. i thought everyone knew this was bullshit... to the point where the bullshitters stopped spinning this one. the gateway theory exists only because of the stigma attatched to cannabis by the prohibitionists and propagandists. remove the beleif that cannabis is as bad as these other drugs and you remove the gateway. if there is criminal activity associated with cannabis then it is because there are people out there who are already willing to break the law and commit violent acts... legalise cannabis and have legal controled trade of cannabis that undercuts the black market in price and also is of better quality and then there will be no ilegal trade from unscurpulous characters who use violence in their business practicess. cannabis can be a comoditee much like any other (except it causes no harm to the planet or the consumer) but it can only be so if it isn't being demonised. the problem is caused by it's ilegality not by it's existance.