Locked: Re: Worst night of my life in Off Topic

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ID:183815
 
Apr 9 2007, 8:42 am
Marijuana is a hallucinogen, thusly making it more dangerous than alcohol. (Alcohol is bad, it's a depressant, but thinking the other car was a cookie and wanting it would probably be worse). Marijuana is also FAR worse for your lungs than cigarettes.

The British Lung Foundation studied this, and reported:

"According to the study, smoking three marijuana cigarettes a day can cause the same damage as 20 cigarettes. And those who smoke both marijuana and cigarettes are further increasing their risk of lung damage."
#1 Apr 9 2007, 1:13 pm
SSJ2GohanDBGT wrote:
Marijuana is a hallucinogen, thusly making it more dangerous than alcohol. (Alcohol is bad, it's a depressant, but thinking the other car was a cookie and wanting it would probably be worse). Marijuana is also FAR worse for your lungs than cigarettes.

Er, uh, alcohol has more hallucinogenic effects than marijuana, and were that not true, alcohol is still more dangerous. How many people have died from marijuana overdoses?

Marijuana is also not worse from your lungs than cigarettes, even when smoked in the same amounts. However, many cigarette smokers smoke a pack or two a day - no one really smokes that much marijuana.
#2 Apr 9 2007, 1:18 pm
In response to Ben G (#1)
Ben G wrote:
Marijuana is also not worse from your lungs than cigarettes, even when smoked in the same amounts. However, many cigarette smokers smoke a pack or two a day - no one really smokes that much marijuana.

Pretty much every serious study has shown that smoking marijuana delivers twice as many tars as smoking a cigarette, so yes, if the amounts were equivalent, you'd be in much worse shape. However you do raise a good point that a cigarette smoker smokes many more cigarettes per day.

Lummox JR
#3 Apr 9 2007, 1:20 pm
In response to Lummox JR (#2)
There has never been a case of lung cancer attributed to smoking marijuana (Dr. Donald Tashkin, one of America's top lung experts). I think that describes the comparative risk pretty well.
#4 Apr 9 2007, 1:35 pm
In response to Ben G (#3)
Because marijuana is outlawed in many countries. That stops it from becoming of mainstream use. It's not commercially available and not everyone can get their hands on it.

You can say "That just makes people want to use it more" or some of these crazy arguments I've heard in, was it, Knifo's last thread? It may make them want it more, but that certainly doesn't mean they are actually going to go out and find some. Marijuana also costs more.
#5 Apr 9 2007, 1:40 pm
In response to CaptFalcon33035 (#4)
CaptFalcon33035 wrote:
Because marijuana is outlawed in many countries. That stops it from becoming of mainstream use. It's not commercially available and not everyone can get their hands on it.

Marijuana isn't used in the mainstream? Over a hundred million Americans have tried it. 20-50 million are casual smokers. 34.3% of high school seniors have smoked in the past month. I think it's safe to say that it's mainstream. Regardless of this, there are people who smoke a lot of marijuana. If it caused cancer as much as some people like to say, wouldn't a doctor be able to pin ONE case on it?

You can say "That just makes people want to use it more" or some of these crazy arguments I've heard in, was it, Knifo's last thread? It may make them want it more, but that certainly doesn't mean they are actually going to go out and find some. Marijuana also costs more.

I have no idea what you're saying in this paragraph.
#6 Apr 9 2007, 1:42 pm
In response to Ben G (#5)
Ben G wrote:
Marijuana isn't used in the mainstream? Over a hundred million Americans have tried it. 20-50 million are casual smokers. 34.3% of high school seniors have smoked in the past month. I think it's safe to say that it's mainstream. Regardless of this, there are people who smoke a lot of marijuana. If it caused cancer as much as some people like to say, wouldn't a doctor be able to pin ONE case on it?

Where exactly are you getting these statistics from?
#7 Apr 9 2007, 1:44 pm
In response to Ben G (#5)
Over 70% of statistics are made up. What's your source, by the way?

I have no idea what you're saying in this paragraph.

I couldn't remember my arguments I thought of when I got to the end of the paragraph. It gave me some trouble getting my point across, but disregard it as my thoughts turned out to be false.
#8 Apr 9 2007, 1:45 pm
In response to Alathon (#6)
Alathon wrote:
Ben G wrote:
Marijuana isn't used in the mainstream? Over a hundred million Americans have tried it. 20-50 million are casual smokers. 34.3% of high school seniors have smoked in the past month. I think it's safe to say that it's mainstream. Regardless of this, there are people who smoke a lot of marijuana. If it caused cancer as much as some people like to say, wouldn't a doctor be able to pin ONE case on it?

Where exactly are you getting these statistics from?

The US Government.

A few are from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/du.htm
#9 Apr 9 2007, 1:46 pm
In response to CaptFalcon33035 (#7)
CaptFalcon33035 wrote:
Over 70% of statistics are made up. What's your source, by the way?

The Drug Enforcement Agency of America, mostly.
#10 Apr 9 2007, 1:49 pm
In response to Ben G (#8)
Those statistics are from 2004. You're also representing them in fashions which are entirely misleading. This is a pretty good example of why statistics tend to be a bad idea to base arguments off, unless you're absolutely certain to cite sources correctly.
#11 Apr 9 2007, 1:50 pm
In response to Alathon (#10)
Alathon wrote:
Those statistics are from 2004. You're also representing them in fashions which are entirely misleading. This is a pretty good example of why statistics tend to be a bad idea to base arguments off, unless you're absolutely certain to cite sources correctly.

Yeah, they are, and following the trends drug use is going up. How was my use of them misleading at all?
#12 Apr 9 2007, 1:56 pm
In response to Ben G (#11)
Ben G wrote:
Yeah, they are, and following the trends drug use is going up. How was my use of them misleading at all?

Ben G wrote:
34.3% of high school seniors have smoked in the past month.

This simply isn't true. Had you bothered to actually read the article that the website sources from, you would see that it states the exact opposite of what you said. Cited directly from the article that the website you linked to uses statistics from:

"Marijuanna - by far the most widely used of the illicit drugs - also showed a decline in 2004."

You can read on in the article for more information about decline in ease of retrieval of drugs, et cetera.
#13 Apr 9 2007, 1:59 pm
In response to Alathon (#12)
Alathon wrote:

This simply isn't true.

Why not?

"Marijuanna - by far the most widely used of the illicit drugs - also showed a decline in 2004."

A slight fluctuation over the course of a few years doesn't really affect the trend. Marijuana use is going up from the 80s and 90s. It is mainstream. I don't know what you're trying to prove.
#14 Apr 9 2007, 2:01 pm
In response to Ben G (#13)
Ben G wrote:
A slight fluctuation over the course of a few years doesn't really affect the trend. Marijuana use is going up from the 80s and 90s. It is mainstream. I don't know what you're trying to prove.

That the exact trend you're trying to suggest is soaring upwards is going downwards; Your statistics are not correct, are outdated, and you've misread the article you're referring to as proof of Marijuanna being an upward-going trend.
#15 Apr 9 2007, 2:01 pm
In response to Ben G (#13)
Without the statistics, you can't really prove anything. The 80s and 90s were 8-18 years ago. There may have been a trend now, but as of now, we don't know anything. For all you and I know, it could have been steadily dropping since year 2004.
#16 Apr 9 2007, 2:06 pm
In response to CaptFalcon33035 (#15)
CaptFalcon33035 wrote:
Without the statistics, you can't really prove anything. The 80s and 90s were 8-18 years ago. There may have been a trend now, but as of now, we don't know anything. For all you and I know, it could have been steadily dropping since year 2004.

Okay, here are some more recent statistics from the White House.

- 42.3% of 12th graders have tried pot
- 57% of people 19-28 have tried pot

These are from 2006. Pot is mainstream, and saying it isn't is stupid.

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/marijuana/ index.html
#17 Apr 9 2007, 2:13 pm
In response to Ben G (#16)
Ben G wrote:
These are from 2006. Pot is mainstream, and saying it isn't is stupid.

From your source:

"Among 12-17 year olds surveyed as part of the 2005 NSDUH, 6.8% reported past month marijuana use. Additional NSDUH results indicate that 16.6% of 18-25 year olds and 4.1% of those aged 26 or older reported past month use of marijuana.3"

This is a vastly different figure than the one you posted earlier. The statistics from your more recent source generally paint the following picture:

Roughly 10-15% of high school students have used Marijuanna in the past month. For 8th graders, the statistic is about 7%. This is also vastly lower than the previous statistic.

This suggests a downward-going trend. Not an upward-going trend.
#18 Apr 9 2007, 2:14 pm
In response to Alathon (#17)
The research was done by different firms, so I'd imagine different results. Regardless, the point I'm proving is that marijuana is mainstream. I think that that's been proven pretty thoroughly.
#19 Apr 9 2007, 2:37 pm
In response to Alathon (#10)
Alathon wrote:
Those statistics are from 2004.


Yeah, and it has only gotten worse since then.

Hell, I smoke weed. All three of my brothers smoke weed. All of my friends, and all of their friends smoke weed. I know over 80 kids that smoke it daily. I know tons and tons of kids who smoke once in awhile. This is only from people that I know. Imagine the rest of the country? If you do not believe those statistics, you must be living under a rock.


*EDIT: Also, to say weed is not getting more popular is ridiculous. To be honest, police officers stopped careing about weed. It is nothing now. The are looking for things like cocaine, heroine, etc. I have been caught with weed tons of times and the police officer just told me to go home, or to be careful, or just to do it in private next time.
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