In the spirit of democracy a "pot" poll

[Bobby J]

One of my all time favorite Doctors is a guy named Dr. Beach. He is an addiction specialist out of Pensacola. I won't go into details of how I know him but let’s just say there was a time when we were pretty close. If you ever hear of him speaking locally do yourself a favor and go listen to this guy speak. He really knows his stuff. One of the things that really stand out in his lectures is his take on marijuana. He feels that marijuana is one of the most dangerous drugs of all. After reading this thread I am sure this theory will have the pot stirred. I surely can not defend his stance like he can but he has many years of direct experience with drug addicts and users. He would say that many hard core drug users tend to get to their bottom rather fast. Heavy marijuana users tend to drag out the bottom or never really expericance a bottom until very late in life. They almost kind of put life on the back burner and never really realize life’s true potential. Keep in mind he is talking about heavy users. People that are addicted to marijuana. We all have that doctor/lawyer friend that gets high and his life has not been affected. Dr. Beach would say the scary thing about marijuana is that it is becoming socially acceptable and real addicts will have lots of problems with this. Marijuana makes old things feel new and more interesting. Sometimes life is supposed to be old and not interesting so we move up and over that part of our life. Chronic users wake up when they're 50 or 60 and go, "dude, where did my life go?" More hard drug users tend to hit the bottom within a couple years and move on with their life.
At this time I would be hard pressed to understand how the legalization of marijuana could benefit society. I do agree with Susan Horn and feel hemp should be legal. BTW, I have smoked my fair share of marijuana but I have never inhaled!:lie:

 

[WhoDat1]

One of my all time favorite Doctors is a guy named Dr. Beach. He is an addiction specialist out of Pensacola. I won't go into details of how I know him but let?s just say there was a time when we were pretty close. If you ever hear of him speaking locally do yourself a favor and go listen to this guy speak. He really knows his stuff. One of the things that really stand out in his lectures is his take on marijuana. He feels that marijuana is one of the most dangerous drugs of all. After reading this thread I am sure this theory will have the pot stirred. I surely can not defend his stance like he can but he has many years of direct experience with drug addicts and users. He would say that many hard core drug users tend to get to their bottom rather fast. Heavy marijuana users tend to drag out the bottom or never really expericance a bottom until very late in life. They almost kind of put life on the back burner and never really realize life?s true potential. Keep in mind he is talking about heavy users. People that are addicted to marijuana. We all have that doctor/lawyer friend that gets high and his life has not been affected. Dr. Beach would say the scary thing about marijuana is that it is becoming socially acceptable and real addicts will have lots of problems with this. Marijuana makes old things feel new and more interesting. Sometimes life is supposed to be old and not interesting so we move up and over that part of our life. Chronic users wake up when they're 50 or 60 and go, "dude, where did my life go?" More hard drug users tend to hit the bottom within a couple years and move on with their life.
At this time I would be hard pressed to understand how the legalization of marijuana could benefit society. I do agree with Susan Horn and feel hemp should be legal. BTW, I have smoked my fair share of marijuana but I have never inhaled!:lie:

Has he written any papers or books on the subject that may sway some of our SoWal Forum comrades?

 

[Bobby J]

Has he written any papers or books on the subject that may sway some of our SoWal Forum comrades?

Not sure. I have tried to get him to come out here to speak buy unfortunately he stays very busy.
This has always been a touchy subject for many. I also use to believe the stuff was not addictive.

 

[30ashopper]

One of my all time favorite Doctors is a guy named Dr. Beach. He is an addiction specialist out of Pensacola. I won't go into details of how I know him but let?s just say there was a time when we were pretty close. If you ever hear of him speaking locally do yourself a favor and go listen to this guy speak. He really knows his stuff. One of the things that really stand out in his lectures is his take on marijuana. He feels that marijuana is one of the most dangerous drugs of all. After reading this thread I am sure this theory will have the pot stirred. I surely can not defend his stance like he can but he has many years of direct experience with drug addicts and users. He would say that many hard core drug users tend to get to their bottom rather fast. Heavy marijuana users tend to drag out the bottom or never really expericance a bottom until very late in life. They almost kind of put life on the back burner and never really realize life?s true potential. Keep in mind he is talking about heavy users. People that are addicted to marijuana. We all have that doctor/lawyer friend that gets high and his life has not been affected. Dr. Beach would say the scary thing about marijuana is that it is becoming socially acceptable and real addicts will have lots of problems with this. Marijuana makes old things feel new and more interesting. Sometimes life is supposed to be old and not interesting so we move up and over that part of our life. Chronic users wake up when they're 50 or 60 and go, "dude, where did my life go?" More hard drug users tend to hit the bottom within a couple years and move on with their life.
At this time I would be hard pressed to understand how the legalization of marijuana could benefit society. I do agree with Susan Horn and feel hemp should be legal. BTW, I have smoked my fair share of marijuana but I have never inhaled!:lie:

Heavy users of any drug have behavioral traits that make them prone to substance abuse in general. Whether its marijuana or alcohol or coke or crack or chocolate or fast food, they have a tendency to over indulge. Keeping marijuana illegal isn't going to help or hurt people like that. They need to learn to simply stay away from substance use as it can become abusive.

Your doc friend is making the common mistake of blaming a drug for the bad habits of the people he treats.

 

[30ashopper]

Not sure. I have tried to get him to come out here to speak buy unfortunately he stays very busy.
This has always been a touchy subject for many. I also use to believe the stuff was not addictive.

There is little if any scientific proof that marijuana is physically addictive. Alcohol, coke, and other similar drug are. Which isn't to say marijuana use can't be habit forming, but there is an important distinction between the two.

 

[Bobby J]

Heavy users of any drug have behavioral traits that make them prone to substance abuse in general. Whether its marijuana or alcohol or coke or crack or chocolate or fast food, they have a tendency to over indulge. Keeping marijuana illegal isn't going to help or hurt people like that. They need to learn to simply stay away from substance use as it can become abusive.

Your doc friend is making the common mistake of blaming a drug for the bad habits of the people he treats.

The point I was trying to make is Dr. Beach feels it may be one of the most dangerous drugs of all. I stated why earlier. Based on his first hand experience working in the field of addiction(over 25 years), I would have to lean on his judgment and experience that legalizing marijuana would not turn out to be a positive move for our country. I really don't understand how making it legal would help with anything.

 

[Bobby J]

There is little if any scientific proof that marijuana is physically addictive. Alcohol, coke, and other similar drug are. Which isn't to say marijuana use can't be habit forming, but there is an important distinction between the two.

Long term [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]marijuana use can lead to emotional, mental and physically addiction. No scientific study needed here. Seen it first hand. [/FONT]

 

[traderx]

The point I was trying to make is Dr. Beach feels it may be one of the most dangerous drugs of all. I stated why earlier. Based on his first hand experience working in the field of addiction(over 25 years), I would have to lean on his judgment and experience that legalizing marijuana would not turn out to be a positive move for our country. I really don't understand how making it legal would help with anything.

I am willing to wager that alcohol has ruined more lives and families than pot.

Don't you want to make alcohol illegal?

 

[Bobby J]

I am willing to wager that alcohol has ruined more lives and families than pot.

Don't you want to make alcohol illegal?

I could really care less if alcohol is illegal or legal. I would agree with you that alcohol has ruined more lives and families than pot.

So pot should be legal because alcohol has ruined more lives than pot and alcohol is legal?

 

[LuciferSam]

The point I was trying to make is Dr. Beach feels it may be one of the most dangerous drugs of all. I stated why earlier. Based on his first hand experience working in the field of addiction(over 25 years), I would have to lean on his judgment and experience that legalizing marijuana would not turn out to be a positive move for our country. I really don't understand how making it legal would help with anything.

It's an issue of individual rights, not whether it would help with anything. Not all of our constitutional rights have to be explicitly enumerated.