Stronger Pot May Make Reefer Madness Real, U.S. Fears

[LynneSin]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&e=3...

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alarmed by reports that marijuana is becoming more potent than ever and that children are trying it at younger and younger ages, U.S. officials are changing their drug policies.

Pot is no longer the gentle weed of the 1960s and may pose a greater threat than cocaine or even heroin because so many more people use it. So officials at the National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) and at the White House are hoping to shift some of the focus in research and enforcement from "hard" drugs such as cocaine and heroin to marijuana.


While drug use overall is falling among children and teens, the officials worry that the children who are trying pot are doing so at ever-younger ages, when their brains and bodies are vulnerable to dangerous side effects.

---

You know, I don't smoke the stuff but this sounds like crap to me

[sniffa]

1. i can't wait to try it

some of this "more potent than ever" marijuana i keep hearing about. i mean, the stuff i smoke is good, but i want the "more potent than ever" strand.

[LynneSin]

4. Can you please PM me your address

I'm going to send you a copy of Reefer Madness (the Movie) so you can see the life of hell you're about to embark on by smoking this nasty nasty stuff. Plus I'm sending you a new box turtle

[sniffa]

12. i've aLways wanted to see that movie

i've heard it's great to watch whiLe smoking.

i remember growing up thinking that if i ever took a puff of weed, heLen hunt wouLd throw herseLf through a 2nd story window.

[bkcc]

16. that was only if you tried angel dust.

That Helen Hunt thing is one of the most unintentionally funny after-school specials ever.

[sniffa]

25. i didn't know the difference

between dust, weed, etc. drugs were drugs and they wiLL aLL ruin your Life.

i gotta see if i can find at Least the name of the "after schooL speciaL" as it was probabLy heLen's onLy competent acting.

[bkcc]

34. It was called "Angel Dusted".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082019/

[tigereye]

28. the movie is very funny

but I think Lynne is right. It's not your "father's pot" - and I guess that would mean mine as well! and there are nasty effects for kids who start too young. I know the research is contradictory and the whole drug war extremely ineffective, but. But then again what do I know, I haven't imbibed for many a year and don't have any idea how strong it is now.

[sniffa]

32. i haven't imbibed in 7 hours

i don't doubt that ganja is stronger now... i just don't buy into the "reefer madness" predictions.

i'm surprised the articLe didn't detaiL how drug deaLers are Lining up kindergartners during recess and forcing them to inhaLe so they'LL become addicted to new potent stuff.

[tigereye]

33. I have read that the chemical composition is different

of course people were saying this in the 80s too. NOt sure how this is achieved. I tell my son, no drugs. I can't wait until he asks what we used to do, but I suspect we will be honest. I waited until I went to college and never really liked the stuff. And my husband will have some "splainin'" to do.

[sniffa]

37. i didn't touch the stuff untiL junior year in high schooL

and then my Life was ruined.

[tigereye]

39. most of the freinds I knew who did drugs

turned out fine. And some of them did a lot of drugs. I go back and forth about whether they should be legal or not, since in my work, I have also seen a lot of families and children's lives ruined by drugs.No easy answer.

[sus]

44. another good one is a documentary

narrated by woody harrelson. i think the name was "weed." i don't remember.

hey. check it out. i'm being ironic.

[frylock]

2. well i do, and it is..

pure krap propaganda, that is.

[CO Liberal]

3. Has Dubya Been Smoking It??

[DenverDem]

5. Total red herring propaganda

If it's actually stronger, which it may marginally be through breeding, then you smoke less and it is actually more healthy for the user.

The real national problem with substance abuse is the legal drug, alcohol.

[Fovea]

6. Remember kids--

When the government tells you something about drugs, it is always true!

[Radical Activist]

7. After reading Reefer Madness

by Schlosser, I'm sure this is complete BS. Its a great book, BTW. This sounds like they want another excuse to throw minorities and left-wing pot smokers in jail.

[Reverend_Smitty]

8. They have been saying this stuff for years

every now and then a study comes out saying pot is more dangerous than ever before...shield your children and don't inhale because it will irreparably harm you. And for the life of me I can't think of anyone overdosing on pot.

[LynneSin]

9. You can't OD but I've known people who were obsessed with smoking it

Those people do scare me a little bit. Pot, like booze, should be used in moderation. If you feel you can't function without being stoned/drunk/whatever your drug is, you might want to take a look at your habits!

[gpandas]

23. if you are worried about how much grass...

another person smokes, you might want to take a look at your habits!

[LynneSin]

29. To be honest, I'm not worried about my habits

I drink, but maybe twice a month tops, sometimes more sometimes less.

My ex-boyfriend had a roommate that smoked the stuff constantly. I know for a fact that the stuff is not harmful, but this guy couldn't do anything until he smoked 'a little' first. It was just irritating.

I don't think any substances no matter how harmless, should control your life and the way you live it. It's one thing for someone to enjoy smoking a little weed or having a drink. But we should all take a look at our habits and make sure that we control them and not the other way around.

[gpandas]

36. the point of my post is,

about telling others how to behave. i smoke mj heavily, and have for over thirty years. during this period, i have never missed work, i scored the highest among 3500 people to qualify for an apprentice program, completed the program, returned to college, and recieved "a" for the most difficult classes, such as different techniques of integration, statistical and probability analysis and grad level math and physics courses. seems like everyone wants to blame the drug when it is really the weak-willed saps who use it as an excuse. btw, i don't believe in addiction, or in accidents.

[LynneSin]

48. Then you have no reason to worry about what you do

But this guy - he does. He was a major ass slacker.

Some folks can handle what they do and some can't. I apologize for the confusion, I really wasn't saying that everyone who smokes weed heavily has a problem, but instead that there are those out there that have problems. My ex's roommate was one of them!

Sorry to lump you in there, I stand corrected!!!

[gpandas]

52. i think people have a problem first ...

and then begin to drink, or smoke, or become extreme in their behavior in an attempt to relieve the pain of the problem and end up making their problems worse. any time i get high, it's to laugh and have fun. i know the problems will still be there. btw, i wasn't really put off by your post, but have always admired your outspoken nature and just sought an argument. i see now that we are both too nice and too intelligent to argue.

[LynneSin]

54. You just wanted me to suck up to you with the :loveya: smilie

I know your type

[gpandas]

55. guilty eom

[LynneSin]

56. Now I'll have to use the :spank: smilie on you

Yer a bad boy!!

[gpandas]

58. it will feel better...

when you stop!

[gpandas]

10. overdose result-sleep eom

[Medical Speaking]

15. Pot

Just more BS from this misadministration. I have a friend who has smoked the stuff for 35 years was in top Management for a large company until he retired. And he is still smoking away.

Kerry/Edwards 2004

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. Amen...how much have major corps payed getting people

dried up from alcohol and the US gov is still pursuing pot without a shred of objective evidence.

[regularguy]

22. Maybe not an overdose technically,

but you might get too complacent about the KILLER BEES!!!!!

[Generic Other]

11. Frigging lightweights

[ronatchig]

13. This old chestnut

is making the rounds again? for about the 1000th time at least. What a complete crock of crap. The herb is good for you. Period.
It would be nice if the idiots who spend their lives making a fortune on persecuting those who partake would get a life.

[jus_the_facts]

14. What BULLSHIT.....

......whoever did this study musta been huffin' some WD40..they're obviously a TOOL?!

[SheepyMcSheepster]

17. and for god sakes keep that stuff away from terminally ill patients!

who knows what they would do if they had an affordable and effective way to combat pain and nausea! drugs are bad mmkay, well except the ones that are made by drug companies who have lobbying groups.

[woofless]

18. Such Horseshit!

I lived in Turkey for a year and a half as a young man. We smoked hashish exclusively. Marijuana was unavaiable. The idea that MORE THC is somehow more likely to lead one into hard drugs is ludicrous and easily disproved anecdotally. We all know major dopers that would never touch heroin, or opium. I have had more trouble conrtolling my alcohol use and tobacco use than I ever had with any of the "illicit" substances and I do not nor will I believe that I am somehow unique.

Woof

[tridim]

20. "dangerous side effects" ???

Pot has no "dangerous side effects". Everybody knows that except for the government and the people who believe government propaganda with no questions asked.

This exact article is published every 6 months. It never changes.

[jmowreader]

51. Of course it has dangerous side effects!

Man, you know what those munchies will do to your waistline?

Seriously, guys, I see this shit as much as you do...and of course the first thing I think is, "if the weed's stronger than it was last year, won't you smoke less, save your lungs and save some coin?"

[sundog]

21. So when's the party?

[HuckleB]

24. This issue has been hitting the news for a couple years now.

My favorite headline was: "It's not your father's marijuana" --

[jukes]

26. OF COURSE

they need to demonize reefer, gots to protect their new afgani heroin import biz.

hypocritical fux.

[TX-RAT]

27. Lets be honest

In 21 yrs of law enforcement I've never responded to a

Marijuana related vehicle accident
Marijuana related overdose
Marijuana related domestic disturbance
I can't say that about the other options.
Anybody that thinks pots to strong now, didn't try Tai Sticks in Vietnam. They'll kick your ass.
Haven't smoked since 72.

[Webster Green]

35. You hit the nail on the head re: thai sticks....

The pot is so strong today because of the Thai-Afghani and Pakistani-Afghani crosses that were done by Northern California hippies in the late seventies and early eighties. Most of the killer strains coming out of Amsterdam and elswhere today are descendants of this rather important era of selective breeding.

[jukes]

42. TX-RAT

cambodian red made you beaucoup dinkidau, too.

hey, you're out from under, now. time to spark a j!

[TX-RAT]

43. Made guard duty fun. ( especially watching the flares come down)

(time to spark a j!)
I better stick to Crown.

[jukes]

45. different strokes

i'm an ugly drunk, & my amerind blood tells me not to stop 1ce i start.

i'm a much nicer person when i smoke: my SO loads my pipe when i get sulky!

[Nlighten1]

59. Thai stick in Amsterdam...

will kick your ass too.

I found out the hard way.

[Caution]

30. There were saying this when I was in high school

about 15 years ago. My High School health teacher made a big deal out of this. Much like the $cientologists who came to my school and told me that LSD is stored in fat cells, so that if you take LSD and a year later you play basketball you might burn off a couple of fat cells that have stored LSD and end up on an acid trip you hadn't planned on taking. the upshot of this? Bullshit. plain and simple.

[LifeDuringWartime]

31. old news

theyve been doing this for years

when was the last time you saw an anti-drug advertisement about cocaine or heroin?

they should be talking about abusing OTC/prescription drugs... they are the most heavily abused drugs in the united states. pot isnt even an issue, or at least it shouldnt be.

[Reverend_Smitty]

38. very true

they should have anti-drug ads that will prevent kids from doing the drugs that will really mess you up.

I can see it now "this is your brain...this is your brain onoxycodone and cut to a picture of Rush"

THAT would scare the crap out of me!!!

[LynneSin]

49. We could make Rush Limbaugh the poster boy for that one

Then again, I'll bet $50 he's taken scripts again!

[Bridget Burke]

40. There was Big Taste in the old days, too.

Somebody has already mentioned Thai sticks. It depended on who you knew & what you were willing to pay.

Sure, I've seen those centerfolds in High Times. Glad to see that progress is being made. But nobody is going to get that stuff "by accident".

There's still plenty of cheapo Mexican pot that will do the job. It costs more than it used to but that's just inflation.

It's probably not a good idea for young kids to smoke. But there's a big problem about anti-pot campaigns. When somebody tries it & realizes it's not the demon weed with its roots in hell, they might think all the anti-drug talk is nonsense.

[NoPasaran]

41. Marijuana's bad, m'kay?

There was a story in the Guardian Weekly recently refuting this tale. I'll try to find a link.

[Sparrow]

46. why do you all let republicans frame the debate?

who cares if its harmful or not, the issue is freedom.
Every adult should be free to take any substance they want, heroin, pcp, plutonium, floor wax stripper, you name it.

[jukes]

60. Sparrow

hi, & welcome under dirt!

& damn straight on your post!

[Cybergata]

47. Haaa...haaaa...haaaa....

I don't get to smoke often these days, but I did in the 70s. The last time someone passed me a joint and I took a hit, the high I got wasn't anything different from those in the 70s. Sound like more of the Scare tactics used to discourage people from smoking pot.

The thing that bugs me about this kind of message is that when kids try pot and realize the truth about the crap told them, then they think everything else they've been warned about is crap too. There are some really scary drugs out there, and they really should heed the warnings. But why would they if they've been told horror stories that aren't true!

[southpaw]

50. My sentiments, exactly...

I work in substance abuse prevention, and the overblown scary stories about pot are debunked as soon as one tries it for the first time.

"Hey, I just smoked a joint and I didn't turn into a dead jazz musician, like my teacher told me I would... I bet meth aint so bad either."

Recipe for disaster.

[politicat]

53. Eric Schlosser's Reefer Madness makes a good point that strong pot would

mean fewer health risks in general.

A stronger pot means you don't have to smoke as much, and don't get all the tar and particulates that smoking anything will bring about.

In other words, instead of a big cigar of low quality pot, you smoke a tiny little joint, get the same high, and have less to worry about in terms of health risks.

Now, since I'm allergic to pot in all sorts of nasty, deadly ways, I'm not going to try this, but I seem to recall that the active ingredients in pot work as anandamide mimics - anandamide being a neurotransmitter that has a high number of receptors in the hippocampus, cerebellum and basal ganglia. Since those areas are associated with short term memory, time sense, coordination, and such, it seems to me that the effects of pot make sense - you get a bit spaced out, a little relaxed, time spins out, and everything's calm. At least, so say my pot-head friends who are good about not getting it around me.

Heroin and cocaine are totally different in the way they act on the brain - they're both dopamine mimics. Dopamine being the neurotransmitter that rewards us for being good do-bees and eating, having sex, getting out of the way of that charging mammoth, it is our natural "high". Coke and heroin both mimic that natural response - which Delta-9 THC most definitely does NOT.

So the only way I could think of from the neurochemistry for a new pot to be as dangerous as cocaine and heroin would be gene-surgery, and surely no one's going to want a Frankenpuff, GMO joint, right??

Pcat

[scarlet_owl]

57. And how the hell do I get some of this "stronger pot"?

Sure, there's some pretty good stuff out there, but I can't afford it. How on Earth are these schoolkids getting their hands on it? Folks have such a problem with kids smoking weed, but they are all too willing to pump them full of Ritalin and other shit.

Side note: I do not condone drug use among children.

[jukes]

61. buy seeds

gardening is a pleasant hobby, indoors is easy, they've got feminized strains available, so no wasted male plants.

you know what you're inhaling, don't have to hang out in wierd places to score, don't have to carry.


worse that can happen is your seeds get confiscated @ customs, & i've never heard of that happening. you have to be a complete loser to get busted growing.


google "cannabis seeds".

[medeak]

62. It's true

4 yrs ago took son to ##@# College. Parents were taken aside by the dean and told (mind you this is a very liberal college) and told there was genetically enhanced pot on campus. Warned us that they know immediately if student has used...misses 3 days of classes.

Out for three days! The school is very cool and profs go visit students to make sure they are ok.

Son confirmed. Posted experience on another board and psychologist emailed me if it was @##@ College as he had heard about it.