scruffy
Notorious Olive Counter
Saying that drugs hurt/kill/heal/whatever is silly. A baggy of cocaine never jumped up off a table and throttled anyone. People's use of drugs is what does it.
When asking whether tobacco kills or saves lives:
- habitual use of medium or large quantities of highly processed, high nicotine tobacco has killed thousands (recreational cigarette smoking).
- infrequent ritualistic use of small quantities of natural, low nicotine tobacco has saved thousands of lives (wars ended or avoided through use of the peace pipe).
So, when comparing tobacco to marijuana, what I'm really comparing is the use of each, according to my own assumptions about what constitutes typical use. I could compare moderate use of each - one 1/2 gram joint shared among two or three people, three or four times a month vs. an entire cigarette consumed by one person, 8-10 times a day - and conclude tobacco is far worse.
Or I could compare chronic heavy use of each - a couple of grams of pot a day, vs. a pack of cigarettes a day (what's that, about 80-100 grams of tobacco?) - and come to a much more questionable conclusion.
Or I could compare the two gram for gram - which would be very stupid, because nobody ever smokes 100 grams of pot a day, and barely anyone smokes 2 grams of tobacco a month spread out over several sessions - I'd be comparing nonsensical data.
(or, I could consider that some people don't smoke pot at all, they eat it in brownies or omelettes or whatever, and so avoid lung damage altogether, or or or...)
All that being said, when it comes to the overall effects on society, I consider that the harm done by prohibition far far outweighs the harm done by drugs. And that goes for any drugs, from legals like booze to soft illegals like pot, to hard drugs like heroin.
Since we seem to be in a confessional mood today, here's my narcotic curriculum vitae (narcoticum vitae?)
- I smoked a fair amount of pot (and hashish, and cannabis oil) through high school (they call it high school for a reason), stayed off it for a year or two, and now use it in moderation.
- I have a glass of beer or wine nearly every day with supper, and occasionally a few more drinks than that. I brew most of my own booze, since I enjoy brewing, and the commercial stuff costs more than it's worth to me.
- I drink more coffee than I should. Sometimes a little more, when I was at school it was far too much...
- I occasionally smoke tobacco on a narghile (a water pipe; the tobacco is marinated in molasses and lit with charcoal)
- I've used LSD and mushrooms. I consider them something valuable, to be taken rarely and with respect.
When asking whether tobacco kills or saves lives:
- habitual use of medium or large quantities of highly processed, high nicotine tobacco has killed thousands (recreational cigarette smoking).
- infrequent ritualistic use of small quantities of natural, low nicotine tobacco has saved thousands of lives (wars ended or avoided through use of the peace pipe).
So, when comparing tobacco to marijuana, what I'm really comparing is the use of each, according to my own assumptions about what constitutes typical use. I could compare moderate use of each - one 1/2 gram joint shared among two or three people, three or four times a month vs. an entire cigarette consumed by one person, 8-10 times a day - and conclude tobacco is far worse.
Or I could compare chronic heavy use of each - a couple of grams of pot a day, vs. a pack of cigarettes a day (what's that, about 80-100 grams of tobacco?) - and come to a much more questionable conclusion.
Or I could compare the two gram for gram - which would be very stupid, because nobody ever smokes 100 grams of pot a day, and barely anyone smokes 2 grams of tobacco a month spread out over several sessions - I'd be comparing nonsensical data.
(or, I could consider that some people don't smoke pot at all, they eat it in brownies or omelettes or whatever, and so avoid lung damage altogether, or or or...)
All that being said, when it comes to the overall effects on society, I consider that the harm done by prohibition far far outweighs the harm done by drugs. And that goes for any drugs, from legals like booze to soft illegals like pot, to hard drugs like heroin.
Since we seem to be in a confessional mood today, here's my narcotic curriculum vitae (narcoticum vitae?)
- I smoked a fair amount of pot (and hashish, and cannabis oil) through high school (they call it high school for a reason), stayed off it for a year or two, and now use it in moderation.
- I have a glass of beer or wine nearly every day with supper, and occasionally a few more drinks than that. I brew most of my own booze, since I enjoy brewing, and the commercial stuff costs more than it's worth to me.
- I drink more coffee than I should. Sometimes a little more, when I was at school it was far too much...
- I occasionally smoke tobacco on a narghile (a water pipe; the tobacco is marinated in molasses and lit with charcoal)
- I've used LSD and mushrooms. I consider them something valuable, to be taken rarely and with respect.
